Position in chronology
SAA 04 346. Fragment of a Report [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) The base of the middle ['finger' of the lung] is 'loose.' The left [...]. (3) [The breast-bo]ne is thick. (If) the coils of the colon are raised [and turned] on the left, and are 16 in number, my army's g[ods] will lead it [in its onslau]ghts. (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/P336632/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x]+⸢x⸣ ḫa [x x x x x x x] / [BE U—MUR] MURUB₄ SUḪUŠ-sà BAR 150 ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [BE GAG.ZAG].⸢GA⸣ e-bi ŠÀ.NIGIN 150 ZI-[MEŠ x] / [u GUR-MEŠ] 16 ŠID-MEŠ-šú-nu ERIM-ni ⸢DINGIR⸣-[MEŠ-šá] / [ina IZI].⸢GAR⸣-MEŠ UŠ-MEŠ-ši [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 P336632.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336632). 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/P336632/.
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