Position in chronology
SAA 04 301. Will Sin-tabni-uṣur Side with Šamaš-šumu-ukin? (PRT 129) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) There is a hole [over the wide part of the left side of the 'finger' toward] the side of the middle surface of the 'finger.' (2) There is a ...[......]. (3) [The upper part] extends beyond the [surface] of the right [lung] and [...]. (4) [...] it is called an atrophied part that is not .... (5) [The right side ab]sorbs [the middle 'finger' of the lung], but leaves its stump. (6) [...] my border town will be delivered to the enemy. (7) [...] is split. (8) [If] the left side of the [mid]dle ['finger' of the lung] 'takes' the left side: victory of the enemy. (9) [The breast-bone] is curled…
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/P393717/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[BE ina UGU DAGAL 150 U ana] ⸢Á⸣ EDIN BÙR MURUB₄ U ŠUB-[di] / [x x x x x x x] KUR? ⸢x⸣ BE ŠUB-di / [BE AN.TA-tum EDIN MUR] šá 15 i-bir-ma / [x x x x x x x] ⸢KAR⸣-tum la mu-še-ṣi-ti MU-šú / [BE U—MUR MURUB₄ 15 it]-bal-ši-ma ki-sít-ta-šú TAG₄ / [x x x x x x x] ⸢URU⸣ ZAG-MU ana KÚR SUM-ma / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ DU₈-MEŠ / [BE ŠU.SI—MUR] ⸢MURUB₄⸣ 150-šá 150 TI-qi KUR-ti ŠU KÚR / [BE GAG.ZAG.GA 150]…
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 P393717.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393717). 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/P393717/.
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