Position in chronology
SAA 04 248. Fragment of a Query (PRT 062) [unclassifiable]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 4(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer 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. (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, or changed or altered the proceedings]. (Rest destroyed)
State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Transliteration
[e-zib šá ik-rib] di-nim [UD 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-ti lab-šú] / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL] ARAD-ka TÚG gi-né-e-[a ár-šá-ti lab-šá-ku] / [mim-ma lu-ʾu-ú a]-ku-lu NAG-⸢ú⸣ [ŠÉŠ-šú ku-un ŠU.2 BAL-ú uš-pe-lu]
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 P240378.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P240378). 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/P240378/.
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