SAA 04 063. Will Chief Eunuch Ša-Nabu-šu Capture Amul? (PRT 009+) [military and political]

(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm positive answer [to what I am ask]ing you!

(2) [Should Esarhaddon, king of] Assyria, send Ša-Nabû-šû, chief eunuch, [and the army] at his disposal [to take the road, and] to go to capture the city Amul?

(4) If they go and set up ca[mp be]fore [that ci]ty, [Amul], will they, be it by means of war, [... o]r by force, or through tun[nels and breaches, or by means of ramps, o]r by means of battering rams,

(7) or through fri[endliness or peaceful negotiation]s, or through insurrection and rebellion [......], [or through any ruse of] capturing a city,

(9) [capture] that city, Amul, enter [that city], Amul, [conquer that city, Amul]?

(12) Will it be delivered to them? [Does your great divinity know it]?

(13) [Is the cap]ture of that city, [Amul, by Ša-Nabû-šû, chief eunuch, an]d the army of Esa[rhaddon, king of Assyria], in this expedition of theirs, decreed and confirmed i[n a favorable case, by the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord]?

(16) Will he who can see, [see it? Will he who can hear, hear it]?

(17) Disregard what (happens) in besieging the city, or [in ...].

(18) [Disregard the (formulation) of] (the prayer for) today's case, b[e it good, be it faulty].

(r 1) [Disregard that a cl]ean person or an unclean man or [woman has touched the sacrificial sheep, or blocked the way of the sacrificial sheep].

(r 2) [Disregard that an un]clean man or wo[man has come near the place of the extispicy and made it unclean].

(r 3) [Disregard that an unclean person has performed extispicy i]n this place.

(r 4) [Disregard that the ram] (offered) to your great divinity [for the performance of the extispicy is deficient or faulty].

(r 5) Disregard that [he who touc]hes the forehead of the she[ep is dressed in his ordinary soiled garments], has eaten, drunk, or anointed himself with [anything unclean, (or) has altered or changed] the pro[ceedings].

(r 7) Disregard that I, the haruspex yo[ur] servant, [am dressed in my ordinary soiled garments], have seen [fear] and terror [at night], or (that) [the oracle query has become jumbled and impaired in my mouth].

Let them be taken out [and put aside]!

(r 9) [I ask you, Šamaš, great lord, whether, (should) Ša-Na]bû-šû, [chief eunuch, with the army of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], go [to capture that city, Amul],

(r 12) [they will capture that city, Amul, enter th]at city, Amul, and conquer [that city, Amul, (and whether) it will be del]ivered [to them].

(r 14) [Be present] in [this r]am, place (in it) a fir[m positive answer], favorable designs, [favorable, propitious] omens [by the oracular command of] your great divinity, and may I se[e (them)].

(r 17) May (this query) go [to your great divinity, O Šamaš], great lord, and may an oracle be given as an answer.

(r 18) [......]. The left of the 'finger' is split in 2 places. The 'weapon'-mark of the 'increment' rises on the left.

(r 19) [......] is present. The coils of the colon are 16 in number. The vertebrae are recessed on the left.

(r 20) [......] is present. The 'crucible' is curled upward left and right.

(r 21) [......] and equals in height a 'weapon'-mark. The 'strength' and 'base of the throne' are present.

(r 22) [...... the to]p of left surface of the 'finger' is split.

(e. 1) [......]. The upper part is elevated. The [base of the] middle part [......].