Position in chronology
SAA 04 205. Query Concerning a Rebellion in(?) Urartu (AGS 136) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a] firm positive answer [to what I am asking you]! (2) [......] their [......] (3) [...... of Ur]arṭu was taken by the sword [...] (4) [......] will he see [...]? The day [...] (5) [......, will he survive], be rescued and live on? [Will] the rebellion which [......]? (6) [Is the su]rvival and re[scue of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord]? (Break) (r 1) [Be pre]sent [in this ram, place (in it) a firm] positive answer, [favorable designs, favorable, propitious omens by…
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/P336105/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an]-na ⸢GI⸣.[NA a-pal-an-ni] / [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢ši?⸣-na [x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x x KUR].URI? i-na pi* GÍR* ⸢na?-ši?⸣ [x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢x i?-mar?-ra-a⸣ UD*-⸢mu⸣ [x x x x] / [x x x x x x i-šal-li-mì KAR]-ir TI-ṭu bar*-tu* šá ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢šá*⸣-lam*-⸢šú* KAR*⸣-[šú x x x x] / [i-na ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA NE-i GUB-za]-am-ma…
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 P336105.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336105). 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/P336105/.
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