Position in chronology
SAA 13 060. The Festival of Babylon (ABL 0971)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [To the king, my lord: your servant, Urdu-Nabû. Good health to the king, my lord. May Aššur, Sin, Šamaš, Marduk, Zarpanitu, Nabû, Tašmetu, Ištar of Nineveh, and Ištar of Arbela — these great gods who love your kingship] — [allow] the king, my lord, to live [100 year]s. May they grant the king, my lord, the satisfaction of old age, extreme old age. (12) [Concernin]g the offerings about which the king, (my) lord, wrote to me, saying: "Be on the alert! Let there be nothing lacking," [every]thing is in very good order. The king, my lord, can be glad. (16) [Nob]lemen of Babylon and of Borsippa…
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/P334651/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-na LUGAL EN-ia] / [ARAD-ka mARAD—dPA] / [lu-u DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ía] / [aš-šur d30 dUTU dAMAR.UTU] / [dzar-pa-ni-tum dPA dtaš-me-tum] / [d15 ša URU.NINA d15 ša URU.arba-ìl] / [DINGIR-MEŠ an-nu-u-te GAL-MEŠ] / [ra-i-mu-te LUGAL-ti-ka] / [01 me MU].AN.NA-MEŠ a-na LUGAL EN-ia / [lu]-⸢bal⸣-li-ṭu ši-bu-ti lit-tu-tu / [a-na] LUGAL EN-ia lu-šab-bi-u / [ina] ⸢UGU⸣ UDU.SISKUR-MEŠ ša LUGAL EN…
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 P334651.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334651). 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/P334651/.
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