Position in chronology
SAA 10 210. Putting the ‘Farmer’s’ Nails in a Bottle (ABL 0004) [from exorcists]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the 'farmer,' my lord: your servant Adad-šumu-uṣur. Good health to the 'farmer,' my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the 'farmer,' my [lord]! (6) On the 13th of [Tam]muz (IV), tomorrow, [the 'far]mer' goes to the qirsu, [ent]ers the reed hut, sits down, (then) [ret]urns [from] the qirsu and goes [...]. A barber enters. The nails [which] he cuts are put into a bottle (which) is sealed and brought [to] the border of the enemy country. (9) Alternatively, they go and do it in the same way on the 15th day.
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P333956/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LÚ.ENGAR EN-ía / ARAD-ka mdIM—MU—PAB / lu DI-mu a-na LÚ.ENGAR EN-ía / dAG dAMAR.UTU a-na LÚ.ENGAR / [EN]-ia lik-ru-bu / [ITI].⸢ŠU*⸣ UD 13-KÁM iš—ši-a-ri / [LÚ].⸢ENGAR⸣ a-na qí-ir-⸢si⸣ / [il]-⸢lak⸣ ina ŠÀ ki-ik-ki-si / [e-ra]-ab uš-šab / [TAv qí]-ir-si / [i]-⸢sa*⸣-ḫu-ra / [x]+⸢x⸣ il-la-ka / [LÚ].ŠU.I / [o] ⸢e⸣-ra-ab / ⸢ṣu⸣-up-ri / [šá] ⸢i⸣-ka-sa-pu-u-ni / [ina] ⸢DUG⸣.la-ḫa-ni / [i]-šak-ku-nu…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P333956.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P333956). 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/P333956/.
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