Position in chronology
SAA 04 278. Fragment Similar to No. 277 (PRT 101) [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...]...[......] (2) [Sho]uld they make him perform [the ritu]al for (determining) the nature of [his] ill[ness ...]? [Will his] illn[ess leave him]? (4) Will he escape, be rescued? [......] Will he be saved? [Will] one [......]? (6) The 'station' is turned around and [......] (7) The 'paths' are t[wo ......]. (Break) (r 1) [Month ..., ...]th [day], eponym year of [Labasi], (r 2) [...] Chief [of Trade] (657) .
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/P336356/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x] ⸢IGI?⸣ BAR-MEŠ [x x x x x] / [dul]-lu šá ši-kin ⸢GIG*⸣ [x x x x x] / ⸢lu⸣-še-pi-šu-uš ⸢GIG⸣-[su x x x x x] / i-šet-ti-i KAR-ir [x x x x x] / ú-še-zi-ba 01-en [x x x x x x] / ⸢BE⸣ NA NIGIN-ma ana [x x x x x x] / [BE] GÍR [x x x x x x x x x] / [ITI.x UD x]-KÁM lim-mu [mla-ba-si?] / [o] LÚ.GAL—[ka-a-ri?]
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 P336356.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336356). 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/P336356/.
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