Position in chronology
SAA 21 158. Fragment Relating to the Šamaš-šumu-ukin War (CT 54 161)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2') We will [... Šamaš-šumu]-ukin [...], (3') [...] another [ki]ng [......]. (4') He [...] to [......] (5') [...] of Nabu-deni-epuš and [NN] (6') [...] and the levy of 20 soldiers [......] (7') [...] ... [......] (8') [...] Babylon [......] (9') [...] messages [......] (10) [...] to the magnates of/who [......] — (Rest destroyed)
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/P238524/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] ti [x x x x x] / [mdGIŠ.NU₁₁—MU]—GI.NA nu-[x x x x x x] / [x x] ⸢LUGAL⸣ šá-nam-ma [x x x x x x] / [x x] ⸢x šu⸣-ú a-⸢na x x⸣ [x x x x] / [x x x] ⸢šá*⸣ md+AG*—⸢DI⸣—DÙ*-uš* ù ⸢m⸣[x x x] / [x x x] ⸢ù di-ku šá 20 ERIM-MEŠ⸣ [x x x x x] / [x] ⸢nu x x x x x⸣ [x x x x x] / [x x] ⸢x x TIN.TIR.KI x⸣ [x x x x] / [x x] šip-re-e-ti it-[x x x x x] / [x x x]-ḫa a-na LÚ.GAL-MEŠ šá ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x] / [x x] ⸢x⸣ di ⸢x x⸣ [x x x x x x]
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence under Assurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 21, 2018). ORACC text P238524.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238524). 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/P238524/.
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.