Position in chronology
SAA 04 347. Fragment of a Report [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) [...] faces the [...]. (3) [...]; secondly, pitrustu. (4) [If ... (and)] there is a hole in its [...], (5) [...] his [...] will abandon him. (6) [......] (7) [... the upper/lower] part is elevated. (8) The base of the middle ['finger' of the lu]ng is 'loose.' (9) [... The coils of the colon ...] are doubled, (and) are 16 in number. (10) [...] the heart of the sheep is normal. First 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/P336633/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] BE / [x x x x x] IGI / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ šá-niš DU₈.UŠ / [x x x x x]-šá BÙR ŠUB-di / [x x x x x]-⸢šú⸣ TAG₄-šú / [x x x x x]-úr / [x x x x AN].⸢TA⸣-tum DU-ik / [x x x x U]—⸢MUR⸣ MURUB₄ SUḪUŠ-sà BAR / [x x ŠÀ.NIGIN x] TAB?-MEŠ 16 ŠID-šú-nu / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ŠÀ UDU SILIM IGI-tú? / [x x x x x] ku
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 P336633.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336633). 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/P336633/.
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