Position in chronology
SAA 04 307. Should Urda-... be Appointed as Priest of Sin? [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) The to[p ......]. (2) If the l[eft] fissure [...] (3) is not visible: [...]. (4) The 'finger' and 'increment' are no[rma]l. (5) [If the front] of the atrophied part is effaced [...]: taking booty. (7) The base of the middle 'finger' of the lung is 'loose.' (8) If the left side of the 'cap' grows a 'finger': divine compassion for the man. (10) If between the 'cap' of the lung and the 'lift of the head' of the lung a piece of flesh is ...: the sun in its rising. (12) [...]... for a headband (14') (Break) (r 1) Should Assurbanipal, [ki]ng of Assyria, your creature,…
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/P238755/
Why it matters
Transliteration
BE ⸢SAG⸣ [x x x x] / BE DU₈ ⸢150?⸣ [x x x x x] / NU IGI-mar [x x x x] / BE ŠU.SI u MÁŠ ⸢šal-mu⸣ / [BE IGI] KAR-tim pa-šiṭ / [x x] È-ú šil-lat / BE U—MUR MURUB₄ SUḪUŠ-sà BAR / BE 150 U.SAG ŠU.SI DÙ-nu / ta-a.a-rat DINGIR ana LÚ / BE ina bi-rit U.SAG MUR u MU.SAG MUR / UZU mun-dur dUTU ina MÚ-šú / [x]-nun-ma ana ku-lu-lu / [x x] uš? LUGAL? x KAR? ⸢x⸣+[x] / [x x x] UD šá-lim [x x x x] / [LÚ šá]…
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 P238755.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238755). 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/P238755/.
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