Position in chronology
SAA 21 080. Collecting Horses (652-vii-3) (ABL 1210)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2') Concerning what you wrote to me: [“NN] is here. [I asked him: “Is the ilku-duty wr[itten down?” “Since they] have incre[ased the quota], will horses that [are ...] be acceptable?” — no[w] stop your [ask]ing! (9') We have to send for herds in [...], a[s] in the time of my grandfather; they come, (and) where do they rest? (13') Those of the chief victualler, those of Idru [...], (and) those of the gods [are ...]. Bring me ones that (are) in [...]! (r 1) [As to what you wro]te, it is really [not] fair that one who is not able to collect horses, takes (them) from these…
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/P452064/
Why it matters
Transliteration
u ⸢ú⸣-[x x x x x x x x] / šá KIN-an-ni [ma-a x x x] / an-na-ka ⸢a⸣-[sa-al-šú muk?] / il-ku-u šá-⸢ṭir⸣ [ma-a ki-i] / ÉŠ.QAR ú-šá-⸢ti⸣-[ru-ni] / [0] ANŠE*.KUR*-MEŠ*-e šá [x x x] / [šá] ma-ḫa-ri an-nu-[rig] / ⸢šá⸣-la-ka kil ina ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [ana] sa-kul*-la-a-te ki-[i] / ⸢šá*⸣ ina* LAL-ṣi AD—AD-ia / ⸢niš*⸣-pur DU-MEŠ-ni / a.a-ka i-nu-ḫu / šá LÚ.GAL—da-⸢ni⸣-ba-tim-ma / šá mid-ru [x x x]-me* / šá…
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence under Assurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 21, 2018). ORACC text P452064.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P452064). 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/P452064/.
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.