Position in chronology
SAA 04 197. Fragment Similar to No. 196 (PRT 059) [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [... should he take the hand of his god, or the h]and of his goddess, or [the hand of his city god, or the h]and of a god of heaven, or [the 'hand' of a god of earth], (4) should he pay [attention, (and) frequent] the holy places of [his] go[ds, (so that) the wrath of] god and goddess [may not befall him]? (6) Is it decr[eed] and confirmed [by the command of] your great divinity, [Šamaš, great lord]? Will he who can see, see it? [Will he who can hear, hear it]? (8) Disregard the (formulation) of today's case, be it good, [be it faulty]. (9) The base of the 'path' is curled [...]. (10) [... in the] left of the gall bladder [...]. (Rest destroyed)
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/P240235/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣ lu-⸢ú⸣ [qa-at DINGIR-šú] / [lu-ú] ⸢qa⸣-at d15-šú lu!-⸢ú⸣ [qa-at DINGIR URU-šú] / [lu-ú] ⸢qa⸣-at DINGIR AN-e lu-⸢ú⸣ [qa-at DINGIR KI.TIM] / [TI-ma x x]+⸢x⸣-šú lid-di áš-rat ⸢DINGIR⸣-[MEŠ-šú liš-te-ʾi] / [šib-sat] DINGIR ù diš-tar a-⸢na⸣ [šá-a-šú la TE-ḫe-e] / [i-na KA DINGIR]-ti-ka GAL-ti d[UTU EN GAL-ú] / qa-[bi-i] ku-un IGI-[ru] IGI-⸢ru⸣ [ŠE-ú ŠE-e] / e-zib šá di-in UD NE-i GIM DÙG-ab [GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / BE SUḪUŠ GÍR ka-pí-ìṣ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] / [BE ina] 150 ZÉ [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 P240235.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240235). 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/P240235/.
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