Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 04 351. Fragment of a Report [unclassifiable]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237030

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning destroyed) (r 2) [...... If the up]per and the lower part are in equ[ilibrium: strife. Lovers will be estranged.] (r 3) [......] the upper and the lower part are in equ[ilibrium ......] (r 4) [......] The top of the 'finger' is small. [......] (r 5) [......] the lung [......] (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/P237030/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x x x] / [x x x BE AN].TA KI.TA ⸢šit⸣-[qu-la] / [x x x]-tum AN.TA KI.TA šit-⸢qu⸣-[la] / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ BE SAG U TUR MU? [x x x] / [x x x] ⸢x⸣ ba MUR a? ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [x x x x x x x] ⸢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 P237030.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237030). 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/P237030/.

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