Position in chronology
SAA 04 344. Fragment of a Report [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) [...] The base of the [middle par]t is 'bound.' (Break) (r 1) [......]. The gall bladder is flattened. (r 2) [......]. The right side of the 'finger' is split. (r 3) [...] in the middle [...] there is a 'request'-mark. (r 4) [There are] 5 unfavorable omens [in the extispicy]. (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/P336631/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] ⸢im ki?⸣ [o] / [x x x MURUB₄]-⸢tum⸣ SUḪUŠ-sà KÉŠ-is [o] / [x x x x]-is ZÉ šub-bat / [x x x x] 15 ŠU.SI DU₈ / [x x x x] MURUB₄ KAM-tum ŠUB-⸢át⸣ / [o] (blank) 05 TAG-⸢MEŠ⸣ [ina ŠÀ]
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 P336631.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336631). 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/P336631/.
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