Position in chronology
SAA 04 212. Fragment of a Query (PRT 064) [unclassifiable]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 4(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking [you]! (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this ram, place (in it) a firm positive answer, favorable designs], favorable, [propitious] omens [by the oracular command of your great divinity], and [may I see (them)]. (r 4) [May (this query) go to] your great [divinity], O Šamaš, [great lord, and may an oracle be given as an answer]. (r 5) Month Elul (VI), 16th day, eponym year of [NN].
State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL]-⸢ú šá a-šal-lu⸣-[ka] ⸢an⸣-[na] ⸢GI⸣.[NA a-pal-an-ni] / [i-na ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA NE-i GUB-za-am-ma an-na GI.NA GIŠ.ḪUR-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ] / [UZU-MEŠ ta]-mit SIG₅-MEŠ [SILIM-MEŠ šá KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti] / [šuk-nam]-ma [lu-mur] / [UGU DINGIR-ti]-ka GAL-ti dUTU [EN GAL-ú lil-lik-ma KIN li-tap-pal] / ITI.KIN UD 16-KAM lim-me m[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 P238836.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P238836). 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/P238836/.
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