Position in chronology
SAA 04 306. Should Bani be Appointed as Priest of Anu? (PRT 122) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The 'station' is curled [...], (2) its place [...]. (3) The 'path' is curled. The 'strength' is absent. (4) If the right side of the 'increment' is split: the owner of the sacrificial sheep will lose [his] posses[sions]. (6) The top of the right surface of the 'finger' is split (and) is held by a filament. (7) If the back of the lung is split: retreat of [my] ar[my]. The enemy will see the back of my army. (9) The base of the middle 'finger' of the lung is 'bound.' (10) The breast-bone is lying on its back right and left. (11) If the coils of the colon are damp: disease. Downfall of the…
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/P336363/
Why it matters
Transliteration
BE NA ka-pí-iṣ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] / KI-šú e-[x x x] / BE GÍR ka-pí-ìṣ KALAG NU [GAR] / BE 15 MÁŠ DU₈ EN—UDU.SISKUR mim-[mu-šú] / ina ŠU.2-su ⸢È⸣ / BE SAG EDIN 15 U DU₈ GU DIB-⸢bít⸣ / BE ku-tal MUR DU₈ suḫ-ḫur-tu ⸢ERIM⸣-[MU] / ku-tal ERIM-MU KÚR IGI-mar / BE U—MUR MURUB₄ SUḪUŠ-sà KÉŠ-is / BE GAG.ZAG.GA 15 u 150 na-pár-qud / BE ŠÀ.NIGIN sal-ḫu mas-la-aʾ-ti ŠUB-ti ERIM-[ni] / BE GAG.TI šá 15 kàṣ-ṣa-at /…
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 P336363.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336363). 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/P336363/.
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