Position in chronology
SAA 04 236. Fragment of a Query (PRT 081) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard that a clean or un]clean person [has touched the] sacrificial [sheep or blocked the way of the sacrificial sheep]. (2) [Disregard that an unclean man or wo]man [has come near the] place of the extispicy [and made it unclean]. (3) [Marduk-šumu-uṣur and] Naṣiru [......]. (r 1) [Disregard that an unclean person has performed extispicy] in this place. (r 2) [Disregard that the] ram (offered) to [your] divinity [for the performance of the extispicy is deficient or faulty]. (r 3) [Disregard that he who] touches the forehead [of the sheep is dressed in his…
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/P240161/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá KUG lu]-ʾu-ú SISKUR.[SISKUR TAG-MEŠ ú—lu a-na IGI SISKUR.SISKUR GIL-MEŠ] / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu]-ʾu-ú-ti ⸢KI MÁŠ⸣ [DIB-MEŠ-ma ú-le-ʾu-ú] / [mdAMAR.UTU—MU—ŠEŠ u] mna-ṣi-ru [x x x x x x x x] / [e-zib šá i]-⸢na⸣ KI an-ni-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 SAG.⸢KI⸣ [UDU.NÍTA TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-šá-a-ti lab-šú mim-ma…
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 P240161.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240161). 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/P240161/.
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