Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 314. Why Cannot the Princes Go Out? (ABL 0594) [from physicians]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P334409

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning lost) (1) (The prince) [NN] is doing well; [the king, my lord], can be happy. (3) As to what the king wrote [to me]: "Adjure Adad-šumu-uṣur! Why did he say that the crown prince and Šamaš-šumu-ukin should not go outdoors before the 22nd day of Tishri (VII)? Has he seen some portent?" — (r 1) I sent word, and he was adjured in the city of Akkad. He swore by the gods of the king: "I have seen no portent; (however), until he has completed the 100 days [...]" (Break) (e. 1) About the substitute king he said: "[He should go] to his fate [on the 22nd of Tishri (VII)]."

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334409/

Why it matters

Transliteration

DI-mu a-⸢na⸣ [x x x x] / ŠÀ-bu ša [LUGAL EN-ia] / lu DÙG.GA ša LUGAL ⸢iš-pur⸣-[an-ni] / ma-a ta-am-mì-i / a-na mdIM—MU—ú-ṣur / ma-a : a-ta-a iq-bi / ma-a DUMU—MAN TAv mdGIŠ.NU₁₁—MU—GI.NA / ma-a : a-du UD 22-KÁM ša ITI.DU₆ / a-na qa-an-ni la ú-ṣu-u / ma-a it-tu-u / me-me-ni e-ta-mar / as-sa-ap-ra / ina ŠÀ URU.ak-ka-di / ú-ta-am-mì-<$u*$>-šú / ina ŠÀ DINGIR-MEŠ ša LUGAL it-te-me / ma-a šúm-ma it-tu…

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334409.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334409). 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/P334409/.

Related tablets

Related sources