Position in chronology
SAA 21 016. Cuthaeans in Samarra (652-VIl-5) (ABL 0944)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The king’s word to Zakir (and) Kabtiya: I am well, you can be glad. (4) Concerning the Cuthaeans (and) the ar[chitect] who [receive provisions] in Samarra, whom you wrote me about, originally a[ll who went there] were servants whom [NN] int[roduce]d in the t[empl]e of Cutha, saying: “The son of Zakir [...] (11) the architec[t ......]” (rest broken away) (beginning broken away) (r 1') 4 servant[s ......]. (r 2') I will divid[e ......]. (r 3') Fear not, and don’t be negligent [...]! blank line (r 5') Month of Tishri (VII), 5th day, eponym year of Aššur-duru-uṣur. (rest blank)
Source: Parpola, S. 2018. The Correspondence of Assurbanipal, Part I: Letters from Assyria, Central Babylonia, and Vassal States. SAA 21. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa21/P452784/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-mat LUGAL a-na mza-kir / mkab-ti-ia DI-mu a.a-ši / ŠÀ-ba-ku-nu lu-u DÙG.GA-ku-nu / ina UGU [LÚ].GÚ.DU₈.A.KI-MEŠ / LÚ*.⸢še*⸣-[lap-a.a] šá ina URU.šur-mir-ra-te / ṣu-⸢du*-u*⸣ [ša taš]-pur*-an-ni / re-es-su ma-[la? il-lik?]-⸢ú⸣-ni / ARAD-MEŠ šá ina ⸢É?—DINGIR?⸣-MEŠ ša / ina GÚ.DU₈.A.KI ⸢m?x x⸣ ú-še-[ri]-⸢ib*⸣ / um-ma DUMU-šú šá m⸢za-kir x⸣ [x x] / LÚ.še-lap*-⸢a*⸣.[a x x x x x] / [x] ⸢x⸣ [x x x x x…
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence under Assurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 21, 2018). ORACC text P452784.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P452784). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 2018. The Correspondence of Assurbanipal, Part I: Letters from Assyria, Central Babylonia, and Vassal States. SAA 21. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa21/P452784/.
Related tablets
Related sources
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.
Part of the earliest known body of international diplomatic correspondence. Akkadian, written in cuneiform on clay, was the lingua franca of Late Bronze Age statecraft — used between Egypt, the Hittites, Mitanni, Babylon, Assyria, and the Levantine vassals.