Position in chronology
SAA 04 218. Fragment of a Query on Behalf of Esarhaddon (PRT 073) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard that ......]...[...]. (2) [Disregard the (formulation) of today's case, be it] good, be it faulty. (3) [Disregard that a clean or unclean person has touched the sacrificial sheep], or [blocked] the way [of the sacrificial sheep]. (4) [Disregard that an unclean man or woman] has come [near the place of the] extispicy [and made it unclean]. (5) [Disregard that an unclean person has performed] extispicy [in this place]. (r 1) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to your divinity for the performance of] the extispicy is deficient [or faulty]. (r 2) [Disregard…
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/P240289/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ni ši ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [e-zib šá di-in UD an-ni-i GIM DÙG]-⸢ab⸣ GIM ḫa-ṭu-⸢ú⸣ [o] / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú SISKUR.SISKUR TAG-tú] ⸢lu⸣-ú a-na IGI [SISKUR.SISKUR GIL-MEŠ] / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu-ʾu-ú-tú KI] ⸢MÁŠ⸣ DIB.⸢DIB⸣-[ma ú-le-ʾu-ú] / [e-zib šá ina KI NE-i lu-ʾu-ú] ⸢MÁŠ⸣ [MÁŠ-ú] / [e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA DINGIR-ti-ka šá a-na MÁŠ] MÁŠ-ú LAL-ú [ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá TAG-it…
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 P240289.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240289). 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/P240289/.
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