Position in chronology
SAA 04 221. Fragment of a Query [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [Disregard that] I have per[formed extispicy in this uncl]ean [place]. (r 2) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to your great divinity for the performance of the extisp]icy is defici[ent or faulty]. (r 3) [Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep has touched the (libation) be]er, the maṣhatu-flour, the water, [the container and the fire]. (r 4) [Disregard that I, the haruspex your servant], have e[aten, drunk, or anointed myself with anything] unclean, [have seen fear and terror at night, have altered or c]ha[nged the proceedings, or (that) the oracle query has become jumbled in my mouth]. (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/P239304/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá i-na KI an-ni-e lu-ʾu]-ú MÁŠ ab-[ru-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 pu-ut UDU.NÍTA mi-iḫ]-⸢ḫa⸣ ZÍD.MAD.GÁ A-⸢MEŠ⸣ [ḫaṣ-bu IZI TAG-tú] / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD-ka mim-ma] lu-ʾu-u a-[ku-lu NAG-ú ŠÉŠ-šú] / [i-na MI LUḪ-tú pi-rit-ti a-mu-ru ku-un ŠU.2 BAL-ú] ⸢uš⸣-[pe-lu ú—lu ta-mit]
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 P239304.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239304). 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/P239304/.
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