Position in chronology
SAA 04 207. Fragment Referring to Hardships of Travel [miscellaneous]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (3) [Disregard that ......] the army of of Esarh[addon, king of Assyria]. (4) [Disregard that they (may)] turn him [... and that they may experience] illness and hardsh[ips on the road]. (5) [Disregard that ... an] evil [god] (or) [an evil] godd[ess ......]. (r 1) [Disregard that a clean or an unclean person has touched the sacrificial] sheep, [or blocked] the way [of the sacrifice]. (r 2) [Disregard that an unclean man or woman] has come near [the place of the exti]spicy [and made it unclean]. (r 3) [Disregard that an unclean person has performed extispicy in th]is [place]. (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/P239279/
Translation · AI engine
read from photo[...] ... [...] [...] ... his [...] [Aside from the fact that ...] the forces of Esarhaddon, [king of Assyria,] [aside from the fact that ...] the hardships of [previous] journeys [weighed upon him with sickness,] [aside from the fact that ... evil] god, evil Ištar, [evil ... ...] [aside from the fact that the ritually impure ...] a ram [the sacrifices were performed,] [or were interrupted] before [the sacrifices,] [aside from the fact that impurity with] an extispicy they [seized and were unable (to proceed),] [aside from the fact that on] a [fire-]site [an impure extispicy was performed]
7 uncertain terms ↓
- e-zib šá — Formulaic 'aside from the fact that' — a standard clause-introducer in Assyrian oracular query texts (tamītu); translation is well-established but the restorations of each clause-opening are heavily reconstructed from parallel texts.
- ma-na-aḫ-ti šá KASKAL.2 IGI-MEŠ — 'Hardships of previous journeys' — KASKAL.2 (harrānu) 'journey/road'; IGI-MEŠ 'previous/former'; manaḫtu 'fatigue/hardship'. Reading and restoration plausible from parallels but partly broken.
- ú-ta?-ru-šú GIG — Tentative reading (note '?' in transliteration): 'it (the sickness) weighed upon him' or 'returned to him as sickness'. The verbal form is uncertain.
- DINGIR? ḪUL dINNIN? ḪUL — Both DINGIR and INNIN are tentative (marked with '?' in transliteration). 'Evil god, evil Ištar' is the standard restoration from parallel query formulae, but the signs are not confirmed on the tablet surface.
- KUG lu-ʾu-ú — 'Ritually impure' — lu'û used repeatedly for ritual impurity; KUG (ellu, 'pure') combined with lu'û may indicate a specific cultic contamination formula; the exact nuance of the phrase is debated.
- MÁŠ DIB-MEŠ-qu-ma ú-le-ʾu-ú — 'They seized an extispicy and were unable' — referring to an invalid or inauspicious liver inspection; restoration from parallel SAA 4 texts.
- KI NE-i — Typically read as 'fire-site' (kinûnu?) or 'that place of fire'; the interpretation of NE here is uncertain — it may denote a brazier or ritual fire-pit used in extispicy preparation.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination: The photograph shows multiple fragments from British Museum tablet K.14599 (visible ink-written museum number on several pieces). The clay is reddish-brown, heavily worn and eroded; surfaces are pitted and abraded throughout. On the third and fourth fragments from the top, rows of cuneiform wedges are faintly but unmistakably visible — horizontal and diagonal impressions consistent with Neo-Assyrian script — but individual signs cannot be reliably read at this resolution and given the surface damage. The two smaller fragments at the top show almost no legible sign detail. The bottom two fragments show the best-preserved inscribed surfaces but the wedges are still too eroded for sign-by-sign verification. Layer 2 (transliteration-based): The text belongs to the genre of oracular/divinatory queries (tamītu or related), cataloguing ritual impediments — impurity, hardship of travel, evil omens — that may have affected a campaign or journey, with Esarhaddon (Aššur-aḫa-iddina) named in line 3. Cross-check: The photo confirms the general format of a multi-line inscribed tablet with heavy lacunae, consistent with the heavily bracketed transliteration, but individual signs cannot be verified. No discrepancies can be confirmed or denied at this resolution. The text belongs to SAA 04 and its genre and royal name are consistent with Neo-Assyrian query texts of the Esarhaddon period (cf. Starr, SAA 4, 1990).
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v3-conventions · May 11, 2026 · 3430 in / 1122 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x] ⸢x x x⸣ ṣu ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-šú (blank) [x x x x x x x] / [e-zib šá x x] ⸢e⸣-mu-qu šá mdaš-šur—⸢ŠEŠ⸣—[SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] / [e-zib šá x x ú]-⸢ta?⸣-ru-šú GIG ma-na-[aḫ-ti šá KASKAL.2 IGI-MEŠ] / [e-zib šá x x x DINGIR?] ḪUL d⸢INNIN?⸣ [ḪUL x x x x x x x] / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú] ⸢UDU.NÍTA⸣ [SISKUR.SISKUR TAG-MEŠ] / [ú—lu a]-na IGI [SISKUR.SISKUR GIL-MEŠ-ku] / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu-ʾu-ú-ti KI] ⸢MÁŠ DIB⸣-[MEŠ-qu-ma ú-le-ʾu-ú] / [e-zib šá ina KI NE]-i [lu-ʾu-ú MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú]
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 P239279.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239279). 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/P239279/.
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