Position in chronology
SAA 13 025. Arrest of Temple Thieves (ABL 0150)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant, Sin-na'di, mayor of the Inner City, whom the king, my lord, appointed. May Aššur and Ešarra bless the king, my lord. (7) ...[...]... (8) ... of the thieves (9) ... [...] ... (10) gold. [...] ... (11) I interrogated (him and) recovered half a mina of gold. [W]hen I re[cove]red it, I wrote to the king, my lord. Now there is another thief. I arrested him on the 21st. I myself and Ṭab-šar-Sin interrogated him and recovered the gold. (r 6) Perhaps they [will sa]y to the king, my lord: "[He is] a st[aff-bearer]." (But) Nabû-ahhe-šallim captured temple thieves…
Source: Cole, S.W. & Machinist, P. 1998. Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. SAA 13. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa13/P334096/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ia / ARAD-ka md30—I / LÚ.ḫa-za-nu ša URU.ŠÀ—URU / ša LUGAL be-lí ip-qid-u-ni / ⸢aš-šur* É*.ŠÁR*.RA*⸣ a-na LUGAL / EN-[ia lik]-ru-bu / UD ⸢x⸣+[x x x]+⸢x⸣ me / GIŠ.⸢x ša? sa?-ru?-te⸣ / an ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] ka / KUG.GI ⸢x⸣+[x x x] zu / as-sa-ʾa-⸢al⸣ KUG* 1/2* MA.NA / us-se-ṣi-a / ⸢UD⸣-mu ša ⸢ú*⸣-[še]-⸢ṣu*⸣-ni* / a-na LUGAL EN-⸢ia⸣ / a-sap-⸢ra⸣ / an-nu-rig sa-⸢a*⸣-[ru*] / šá-ni-iu*-⸢um*⸣-ma…
Scholarly note
Letter from a temple priest or ritual official to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Steven Cole & Peter Machinist (SAA 13, 1998). ORACC text P334096.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334096). source
Translation excerpted from Cole, S.W. & Machinist, P. 1998. Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. SAA 13. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa13/P334096/.
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.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.