Position in chronology
SAA 04 192. Is Lady NN Ill with the ‘Hand’ of Nanaya? (AGS 103) [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm positive answ[er to what I am asking you]! (2) [The lady NN, who] is placed [before] your great [divinit]y, [who is now ill and on who]m the 'hand' of Nanaya [of Uruk is being placed in extispicy] — (4) will the 'hand' of Nanaya [of Uruk be pl]aced on her [in extispicy]? Does your great divinity know it? (6) [Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command of yo]ur [great di]vinity, [Šamaš, great lord? ......] (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this] ram, place (in it) [a firm positive answer, favorable designs, favorable, propitious] omens…
Source: Starr, I. 1990. Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria. SAA 4. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa04/P336082/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka] ⸢an⸣-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni / [MÍ.x x x x šá i-na IGI DINGIR]-⸢ti⸣-ka GAL-ti šak-na-tu / [šá i-na-an-na mar-ṣa-tu-ma] ŠU.2 dna-na-a / [šá UNUG.KI i-na bi-ri iš-šak-na-áš]-⸢ši⸣ ŠU.2 dna-na-⸢a⸣ / [šá UNUG.KI šá i-na bi-ri iš]-⸢šak⸣-na-áš-ši ⸢DINGIR-ut⸣-ka GAL-ti ZU-e / [i-na SILIM-tim i-na KA] ⸢DINGIR⸣-ti-⸢ka⸣ [GAL-ti] / [dUTU EN GAL-ú qa-bi-i ku-un-i x x x x] / [x x x…
Scholarly note
Extispicy query addressed to Šamaš, the sungod and patron of divination, edited by Ivan Starr (SAA 4, 1990). The king asks the deity to render a yes/no verdict on a political or military question. ORACC text P336082.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336082). source
Translation excerpted from Starr, I. 1990. Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria. SAA 4. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa04/P336082/.
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