Position in chronology
SAA 04 243. Fragment of a Query (PRT 083) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard that an unclean man or] woman [has come near the place of the extispicy and made it unclean]. (r 1) [Disregard 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] or[dinary soiled] garments [......] (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/P237443/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá KI MÁŠ lu-ʾu-ú] lu-ʾi-⸢i⸣-[ti DIB-MEŠ-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 SAG.KI] ⸢UDU⸣.NÍTA [TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-šá-a-ti lab-šú] / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD-ka] TÚG ⸢gi⸣-[né-e-a ár-šá-a-ti lab-šá-ku]
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 P237443.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237443). 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/P237443/.
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