Position in chronology
SAA 10 357. Interrupting the Elul Festival of Babylon (ABL 0338) [miscellaneous]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Mar-Issar. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! May the great gods bestow long days, well-being and joy upon the king, my lord! (8) As to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "The month Elul (VI) is intercalary; do not perform the ceremonies this month" — (12) Ammu-salam entered Babylon on the evening of the 6th day; the god Nabû had come before him, on the 3rd. The gate was kept open before Bel and Nabû on the 4th, the 5th and the 6th, and sacrifices were performed. (r 6) When I saw the king my lord's sealed order, I issued the order: the rest of the ceremonies of Elul (VI) will be performed in the coming month, as the king, my lord, wrote to me.
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334218/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ía / ARAD-ka mDUMU—d15 / lu-u DI-mu a-na MAN EN-ía / dPA u dAMAR.UTU a-na MAN EN-ía / lik-ru-bu UD-me ár-ku-ti / ṭu-ub UZU u ḫu-ud ŠÀ-bi / DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ a-na MAN EN-ía / liš-ru-ku ša MAN be-lí / iš-pur-an-ni ma-a ITI.KIN / da-a-ri ITI an-ni-i / par-ṣi la te-ep-pa-šá / MI ša UD 06-KÁM mam-⸢mu*⸣—sa-lam / a-na KÁ.DINGIR.KI / e-tar-ba / [pa]-na-tu-uš-šú / UD 03-KÁM dPA it-tal-[ka]…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334218.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334218). 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/P334218/.
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