Position in chronology
SAA 04 294. Fragment Referring to Messengers [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [... Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, your] creature (2) [......] to the land (3) [......] their [mes]senger [...] (4) [......] Assurbanipal, king of [Assyria] (5) [......] now [...] (r 1) [......] the ground [...] (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/P237208/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x mAN.ŠÁR—DÙ—A LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠÁR] DÙ-ut [ŠU-ka] / [x x x x x x x x x x x]-ti ana KUR.[x x] / [x x x x x x x x x LÚ].A—KIN-šú-nu i-[x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x m]AN.ŠÁR—DÙ—A LUGAL KUR—[AN.ŠÁR] / [x x x x x x x x x x x] i-na-an-na ⸢i⸣-[x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x x]-i qaq-qar ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x x] ŠU?-su [x x x x]
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 P237208.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237208). 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/P237208/.
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