Position in chronology
SAA 10 169. Ṣillaya Does not Wish the Rebuilding of Babylon (ABL 0702) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The king appointed [Ṣillaya ...] with the sons of Eṭeru of the Sealand, and they have seized [...], saying: "It is the king's order: Give us [the ... which ...] gave to your fathers as a nishu payment!" (4) The Babylonians and the(ir) commandant Ubaru (said to them): "There is no such order of the king! Last year, in Calah, when you appealed to the king for the collection of old debts (incurred) while Babylon was still intact, the king lost his temper with you, (shouting): 'What is there in Babylon (to collect)? The city was in ruins, and I have resettled it and established its freedom!'…
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P236964/
Why it matters
Transliteration
DUMU-ME šá me-ṭè-ru KUR—tam-⸢ti x⸣+[x x x x x x x x] / LUGAL it-ti-šú-nu ip-te-qid [x x x x x x x x] / uṣ-ṣab-bi-tum um-ma a-mat LUGAL ⸢ši⸣-[i um-ma x x x x x] / a-na AD-ME-ku-⸢nu šá⸣ ni-is-ḫi id-di-nu bi-na-na*-a*-ši* LÚ*.TIN.TIR.KI-[MEŠ] / ù mú-ba-ru LÚ*.GAR*—UMUŠ um-ma ul a-mat LUGAL ši-i / ⸢um⸣-ma šad-da-qad i-na URU.ka-làḫ a-na UGU su-ud-du-nu / [šá] ⸢ḫu⸣-bul-lu la-bi-ru-tú šá i-na šá-la-mi…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P236964.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P236964). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P236964/.
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