Position in chronology
SAA 04 321. Is the Rumour of Insurrection against Assurbanipal True? (ABL 1367) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) I ask you, Manlaharban: (2) This rumor of an insurrection which was reported to Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, thus: (5) "They are making an insurrection against you," (6) is it decreed and confirmed? (r 1) Will it happen? Is it true? Will they catch me? Will I die? Will they capture me in the course of it? (r 4) Disregard that a woman has written it and placed it before you.
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/P334866/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dma-an-la-ḫa-ar-ba-⸢an*⸣ / a-šá-ʾa-al-ka da-ba-bu / an-ni-i ša si-ḫi ša a-na maš-šur—DÙ—A / MAN KUR—aš-šur.KI DUMU maš-šur—PAB—AŠ MAN KUR—aš-ma / iq-bu-u-ni ma-a si-ḫu ina UGU-ḫi-ka* / ep-pu-šú qa-bi-i ku-nu-u / i-ba-áš-ši-i ket-tu-u o* / i-kaš-šá-du-ni-i a-mu-a-ta / ina ŠÀ-bi i-ṣab-ba-tu-ni-i / e-zib ša MÍ ta-áš-ṭu-ru-ma / ina ma-ḫa-ri-ka ta-áš-ku-nu
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 P334866.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334866). 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/P334866/.
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