Position in chronology
SAA 04 336. Fragment of a Report (PRT 133) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) The 'fi[nger' ......]. (3) The [middle] 'finger' of the lung [......]. (4) The lower part [......] and the left of the gall bladder [......], (6) nothing [......]. (Break) (r 1) Favorable. (r 2) Month Tammuz (IV), 8th day, [eponym year of NN]. (r 3) D[annay]a (and) Marduk-šu[mu-uṣur, reporters]. (r 4) The great gods [of heaven and earth] have sent health to the ki[ng, my lord ...]. (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/P239155/
Why it matters
Transliteration
⸢BE⸣ [x x x x x x x x x] / BE ⸢ŠU⸣.[SI x x x x x x x] / BE U—MUR [MURUB₄ x x x x x x x] / BE KI.TA-[tum x x x x x x] / u 150 ZÉ [x x x x x x x] / mim-ma NU ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x] / BE ⸢x x⸣ [x x x x x x x x] / (blank) DÙG.GA [o] / ⸢ITI⸣.ŠU UD 08-KÁM [lim-mu mx x x] / m⸢dan⸣-a mŠÚ—⸢MU⸣—[ŠEŠ EN-MEŠ—UMUŠ] / DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-⸢MEŠ⸣ [šá AN-e KI.TIM] / SILIM-mu a-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ [be-lí-ia] / il-tap-⸢ru⸣ [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 P239155.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239155). 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/P239155/.
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