Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 04 324. Fragment Similar to No. 323 (PRT 110) [unclassifiable]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237809

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [If ......, ...] will get ill and keep falling down. (2) [If ...] will take [......]. (3) [If ... is fi]rm, I will defeat the enemy. (4) If the top of the 'station' is split and the gall bladder is flattened: the enemy's army will not achieve its enterprise. (6) If the 'paths' are two, and the right 'path' is located on the left 'path': the prince's weapons will pr[evail] over the enemy's weapons. (8) [...] strengthening of the prince. The prince's country will expand. (9) [...] the 'base of the throne' [......]. (10) [The heart of the she]ep is normal [......] (11) [...] the right 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/P237809/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ GIG u ŠUB.ŠUB-⸢ut⸣ / [x x x x x] ⸢ti⸣ TI-qí / [x x x x x] ⸢GI⸣.NA IGI.IGI-e KÚR a-dak / BE ⸢SAG⸣ NA DU₈ u ZÉ šub-bat / ERIM KÚR ŠÀ.SÈ.SÈ.KI-šú NU KUR-ád / BE GÍR 02-ma GÍR 15 UGU GÍR 150 GAR-in / NUN GIŠ.TUKUL-MEŠ-šú UGU GIŠ.TUKUL-MEŠ KÚR-šú ⸢ŠEŠ⸣-[MEŠ] / [x x]-⸢ú⸣ KALAG-an NUN NUN KUR-su DAGAL-[eš] / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ ME.NI ⸢dam⸣-[x x x x x] / [ŠÀ] ⸢UDU?⸣ SILIM-im an [x x x x x x x]…

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 P237809.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237809). 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/P237809/.

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