Position in chronology
SAA 04 238. Fragment of a Query (AGS 053) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard the (formulation) of the pray]er for today's case, be it good, be it [faulty]. (2) [Disregard that the] ram (offered) to your divinity for the performance of the extispicy [is deficient or faulty]. (3) [Disregard that he who] touches the forehead of the sheep is dressed in his ordinary soiled garments, [or has eaten, drunk, or anointed himself with] any[thing unclean]. (r 1) [Disregard that] I, the haruspex your servant, [am dressed in my ordinary soiled] garments, have eaten, drunk, [or anointed myself with anything] unclean, [have altered or changed the proceedings, (or) jumbled the oracle query in my mouth]. (r 3) Let [them] be taken out [and put aside]! (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/P237367/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá ik]-⸢rib⸣ di-nim UD-mu NE-i GIM DÙG-ab GIM [ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá] ⸢UDU⸣.NÍTA DINGIR-ti-ka šá ana MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú [LAL-ú ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá] ⸢TAG⸣-it pu-ut UDU.NÍTA / TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-šá-tú lab-šú mim-[ma lu-ʾu-ú KÚ NAG-ú ŠÉŠ-šú] / [e-zib šá a-na]-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD-ka TÚG [gi-né-e-a ár-šá-tú lab-šá-ku] / [mim-ma lu]-ʾu-u a-ku-lu NAG-[ú ŠÉŠ-šú ku-un qa-ti BAL-ú uš-pe-lu] / [ta-mit ina KA-ia up-tar-ri-du] ⸢lu⸣-u ZI-[MEŠ lu-u BAR-MEŠ]
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 P237367.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Ivan Starr, Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria (State Archives of Assyria, 4), 1990. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2018, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P237367/..
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/P237367/.
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