Position in chronology
SAA 04 202. Dream(?) Seen by Prince Assurbanipal (CT 54 492) [miscellaneous]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking you! (2) [The dream which] Assurbanipa[l, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], (3) [... in the month] Tishri (VII) of [this] ye[ar ...] (4) [...] saw [......] (5) [...] Šamaš [......] (6) [...... Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case], by the com[mand of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord]? (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/P237119/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL]-ú šá a-šal-lu-⸢ka⸣ [an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [MÁŠ.MI? šá] mdaš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.[UŠ DUMU mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] / [x x x x ITI].DU₆ šá MU.[AN.NA x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x] i-mu-⸢ru⸣ [x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x] dUTU [x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x] i-na ⸢KA⸣ [x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x] ⸢TUKU?⸣ [x x 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 P237119.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237119). 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/P237119/.
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