Position in chronology
SAA 13 071. Measures Against Fungus in the Nabu Temple (ABL 0367)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant, Nergal-šarrani. Good health to the king, my lord. May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord. (8) A certain kamunû-fungus has appeared in the inner courtyard of the temple of Nabû (r 1) and a katarru-fungus on the walls of the central storehouses. There is an apotropaic prayer against them, and there is a ritual Adad-šumu-uṣur will perform tomorrow. He should perform them both together.
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/P334243/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ía / ARAD-ka mdU.GUR—MAN-an-ni / lu-u DI-mu / a-na LUGAL EN-ia / dAG u dAMAR.UTU / a-na LUGAL EN-ia / lik-ru-bu / ka-mu-nu-u šu-u / ina tar-ba-ṣi ša É-a-ni / ša É—dPA / ù ka-tar-ru / ina UGU É.SIG₄ / ša a-bu-sa-a-te / qa-ba-sa-a-te / it-ta-mar / NAM.BÚR.BI-šú-nu / i-ba-áš-ši / dul-lu i-ba-áš-ši / mdIM—MU—PAB / i—ši-ʾa-a-ri i-pa-áš / TAv-se-niš le-pu-uš
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 P334243.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334243). 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/P334243/.
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.