Position in chronology
SAA 04 229. Fragment of a Query (AGS 074) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) Disregard the (formulation) of today's case, [be it good, be it faulty]. (2) Disregard that [an unclean person has performed extispicy] in this place, or (that) unclean people [have come near] (the place of the extispicy) [and made it unclean]. (r 1) [Dis]regard that the ram (offered) to your divinity [for the performance of the extispicy is deficient or faulty]. (r 2) Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep [is dressed in his ordinary soiled garments]. (r 3) Disregard that I, the haruspex your servant, [am dressed in my ordinary soiled garments],…
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/P336065/
Why it matters
Transliteration
e-zib šá di-nim UD-⸢mu⸣ [an-ni-i GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / e-zib šá i-na KI NE-i [lu-ʾu-ú MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú] / ú—lu lu-ʾu-ú-⸢ti⸣ [DIB-MEŠ-ma ú-lá-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 SAG.KI UDU.NÍTA [TÚG gi-né-e-šú ar-šá-a-ti lab-šú] / e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD-ka [TÚG gi-né-e-a ar-šá-a-ti lab-šá-ku] / mim-ma lu-ʾu-ú KÚ NAG-ú ⸢ŠÉŠ⸣-[šú ú—lu 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 P336065.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336065). 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/P336065/.
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