Position in chronology
SAA 04 329. Fragment Similar to No. 323 (PRT 140) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...] are present. (2) [The 'strength'] is doubled. (3) The front of the [gall] bladder is located to the right. (4) [The ba]se of [the gall bladder] is loose on the right, [firm] on the left. (5) There is a cross-shaped marking [in the t]op of the gall bladder. (6) [...] its [bas]e is [...]. (Break) (r 3) [NN, rep]orter. Month Tebet (X), [...th da]y, [eponym year of Sa]gab (651) . (r 5) Performed [in ....] (r 6') (Rest destroyed)
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/P237191/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x] ⸢MEŠ?⸣ GAR-MEŠ / [BE KALAG] uš-te-eš-ni / [BE] ⸢ZÉ⸣ IGI-MEŠ-šú ana 15 GAR-[MEŠ] / [BE ZÉ] ⸢SUḪUŠ⸣-MEŠ-šá 15 ZI 150 [GI.NA] / [BE ina] ⸢SAG⸣ 150 ZÉ BAR-[tum] / [x x] ⸢SUḪUŠ⸣-sà ⸢ka?⸣ [x] / [x x x] tú? [x x x x] / [x x x] MU [x x] ⸢ṣir⸣ / [mx x x] ⸢EN!—ṭe⸣-mu ITI.AB ⸢UD⸣ [x-KÁM] / [lim-mu m]⸢UD⸣-gab / [ina x x] ⸢e⸣-pi-iš / [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 P237191.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237191). 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/P237191/.
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