Position in chronology
SAA 04 310. Should NN be Appointed as Royal Delegate in the Temple of ...? [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) The 'base of the throne' is overtu[rned ......]. (2) If the top of the right surface of the 'finger' is spl[it: defeat of my army]. Revolt of my army. My army will not achieve its enterprise. (4) If the top of the 'finger' is atrophied: the enemy will attack the vanguard of my army. (5) An attack will be assigned to the king. (6) The 'increment' is normal. If the upper [part] extends beyond the surface of the right lung: devastation of the steppe, loss of cattle. (8) If the middle 'finger' of the lung is o[vertur]ned and [is located in] the place of the 'treasure'…
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/P336628/
Why it matters
Transliteration
BE ŠUB—AŠ.TE ⸢BAL?⸣ [x x x x x x] / BE SAG EDIN 15 ŠU.SI ⸢DU₈⸣ [SÌG-iṣ SAG.DU ERIM]-⸢MU⸣ / GABA.RAḪ ERIM-MU ṣú-mi-rat ERIM-MU NU KUR-MEŠ / BE SAG ŠU.SI KAR-im IGI-it ERIM-MU KÚR TAG-[at] / [ZI]-⸢bu⸣ a-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ ip-pa-qid / BE MÁŠ SILIM-im AN.[TA?] EDIN MUR šá 15 i-bir / KAR-tum EDIN ZI.GA MÁŠ.ANŠE / BE ŠU.SI—MUR MURUB₄ ⸢BAL-at⸣ KI MÍ.ŠEŠ MUR / šá ki-di ana ŠÀ URU šá ŠÀ URU ana ki-di ⸢TU?⸣ /…
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 P336628.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336628). 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/P336628/.
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