SAA 04 224. Fragment of a Query (AGS 140) [unclassifiable]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336108

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 4

High confidence

(Beginning destroyed) (2) [Disregard that ...] in the heart of the army [...]. (3) [Disregard that ...] and the dead [...]. (4) [Disregard the (formulation) of today's case], be it good, [be it faulty]. (r 1) [Disregard that a clean or an unclean person] has touched [the sacri]ficial sheep, or [blocked] the [way of the sacrificial sheep]. (r 2) [Disregard that an unclean man or woman] has come near the place of the extispicy and [made it unclean]. (r 3) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to your great divinity for the] performance [of the extispicy] is deficient [or faulty]. (r 4) [Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep] is dressed [in his ordinary] soiled [garments]. (Rest destroyed)

State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).

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Transliteration

[x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢x x⸣ [x x x x x] / [e-zib šá x x x x] ⸢a-na⸣ ŠÀ-bi ⸢LÚ.ERIM?⸣-[MEŠ x x x] / [e-zib šá x x x x] ù mi-ti ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] / [e-zib šá di-in UD-mi an-ni]-i GIM DÙG-ab [GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú SISKUR].⸢SISKUR⸣ TAG-tú lu-ú a-na pa-[an SISKUR.SISKUR GIL-MEŠ] / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu-ʾu-ú-tu a]-⸢šar⸣ MÁŠ DIB-MEŠ-qu-ma ⸢ú⸣-[le-ʾu-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 TÚG gi-né-e-šú] ar-šat ⸢lab⸣-[šú]

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 P336108.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P336108). 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/P336108/.

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