Position in chronology
SAA 04 333. Fragment Concerning an Extispicy in Year 650 (PRT 120) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The top of the 'station' is overturned [...]. (2) The 'paths' are 2, the lo[wer one ...]: the prince [will ...] good [...]. (Break) (r 1) Dan[naya, haruspex;] B[a... (and) NN], re[porter]s. (r 4) Month Ab (V), [...th day], eponym year of Bel-[Harran-šadû'a] (650) . (r 6) Written [......].
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/P238323/
Why it matters
Transliteration
BE SAG NA BAL-ut [x x] / BE GÍR 02-ma ⸢KI⸣.[TA-ú x x x] / NUN DÙG.GA [x x x x] / ⸢x ma?⸣ [x x x x x] / mdan-[a.a x x x x] / md⸢ba⸣-[x x x x x] / EN-⸢MEŠ?⸣—[ṭè-e-me] / <<u>> ITI.NE [x x x x x x] / <$šá$> lim-mu mEN—[KASKAL—KUR-u-a] / šaṭ-ru [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 P238323.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238323). 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/P238323/.
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