Position in chronology
SAA 16 068. Disloyal Officials (CT 53 080)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 16(Beginning destroyed or too broken for translation) (15) [who ...] without the king, my lord's permission, [about whom the king, my lord], said: "Who are the[y?" — they are ...s] of the governor, 'third men,' [...s], recruits, a chariot fighter, [...], the horse trainer of the governor. The towns [...] (20) upon Nasi'-bar, [the village manager ......] (Break) (r 5) the me[n of ...], the [...s], (r 6) Sumutî, the scribe [...], (r 7) Nasi'-bar, the village manager [...] (r 8) [Th]ey know [and will say it] to the king, [my lord]. (r 9) [As t]o Zeru-ken, when he [...] (r 10) [t]o become a 'third…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 16 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x] man ni? [x x x] / [x x x x x x] áš ⸢x⸣ [x x x] / [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ LÚ.si-[x x x] / [x x x x x x] ⸢LÚv.x⸣+[x x x] / [x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ [x x x x] / ša la LUGAL EN-ía ú-⸢x⸣+[x x x x x] / iq-bu-u-ni ma-a man-nu šu-⸢nu⸣ [x x x x] / ša LÚv.EN.NAM LÚv.⸢03⸣.U₅-⸢MEŠ⸣ [LÚv.x x x] / LÚv.rak-su-MEŠ LÚv.A—SIG LÚv.[x x x] / LÚv.GIŠ.GIGIR ša LÚv.NAM URU-MEŠ [x x x] / ina UGU-ḫi mna-si—bar…
Scholarly note
Political letter at the court of Esarhaddon, edited by Mikko Luukko & Greta Van Buylaere (SAA 16, 2002). ORACC text P313495.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P313495). source
Translation excerpted from Luukko, M. & Van Buylaere, G. 2002. The Political Correspondence of Esarhaddon. SAA 16. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa16/P313495/.
Related tablets
Related sources
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.
Part of the earliest known body of international diplomatic correspondence. Akkadian, written in cuneiform on clay, was the lingua franca of Late Bronze Age statecraft — used between Egypt, the Hittites, Mitanni, Babylon, Assyria, and the Levantine vassals.