Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 203. Never Mind the Earthquake, Let him Come! (CT 53 153) [from exorcists]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P313568

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) To [the king, my lord]: your servant Ad[ad-šumu-uṣur]. [May] Nabû and Marduk bless [the king], my lord! (5) Concerning the crown prince's visiting the king, my lord, is it because of the earthquake that he has said: "The crown prince should not go outdoors"? (12) It is (already) a fortnight today since the earth quaked, the pertinent ritual has been performed twice, and the king, my lord, knows the relevant interpretation. As they say, what has it to do with this? The visit of [the crown] prince would be [perfectly] all right now. (Rest destroyed or uninscribed)

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P313568/

Why it matters

Transliteration

a-⸢na⸣ [LUGAL be-lí-ia] / ARAD-⸢ka⸣ [md]⸢IM⸣—[MU—PAB] / d⸢AG⸣ [d]AMAR.UTU [a-na LUGAL] / EN-ia ⸢lik⸣-ru-⸢bu⸣ / ina UGU e-ra-⸢bi⸣ / ša DUMU—LUGAL / ina IGI LUGAL be-lí-ia / TAv IGI ri-i-bi / iq-ṭi-bi-i / ma-a DUMU—LUGAL / KÁ la uṣ-ṣa / 14 ina UD-me an-ni-i / TAv bé-et / ri-i-bi / i-ru-bu-u-ni / 02-šú dul-lu-šu / e-pi-iš / ù pi-šìr-šú / LUGAL be-lí ú-da / ki-i ša qa-bu-u-ni / ina UGU an-ni-i / mi-i-nu qur-bu / ú-⸢ma⸣-[a] e-ra-bu / ⸢ša⸣ [DUMU]—LUGAL / [a—dan-niš] SIG₅-iq

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P313568.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P313568). 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/P313568/.

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