Position in chronology
SAA 13 143. Exemption of the Servants of Ištar (ABL 0533)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, [my] lord: your servant, Aplaya, the temple steward of Ištar of Arbela. Good health t[o the king, my lord]. May Aššur and Ištar bless the king, my lord. (8) When the sealed order of the king, my lord, came before the servants of Ištar, with the message: "Let them be exempted," we blessed the king. (r 1) Now the chief of servants, whom your father appointed over them — they gathered and unanimously dismissed him, saying, "You will not exercise the office of prefect, the king has made the ap[pointmen]t." What is it that the king, [my lord], commands? (r 12) All the chief of servants are taking [...] from the major domo.
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/P334364/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-[ia] / ARAD-ka mA-ia / LÚ.láḫ-ḫi-nu ša d15 / ša URU.arba-ìl / lu DI-mu a-[na LUGAL EN-ia] / aš-šur d15 a-na LUGAL EN-ia / lik-ru-ub* / UD-mu ša un-qu / ša LUGAL EN-ia / ina IGI LÚv.ARAD-MEŠ-ni / ša d15 ta-lik-an-ni / ma-a lu za-ku-u / LUGAL* ni-ik-ta-rab* / ú-ma-a LÚv.GAL—ARAD-MEŠ / ša AD-ka / ip-qi-du-u-ni / ina UGU-ḫi-šú-nu / ip-tu-ḫur gab-bi-šú-nu / up-ta-ti-iu-šu* / ma-a la…
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 P334364.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334364). 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/P334364/.
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