Position in chronology
SAA 03 029. Warning to Bel-eṭir
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Open the tablet container and re[ad] the stele, [learn the fate] ... like a dog, Bel-eṭir, the son of Ibâ: (2) When Ṣallâ had not yet met his fate, he, a lowly [...] — the king did not know him —, a slave waiting upon Šamaš-ibni, the son of a lowly fisherman, not suit[able for ki]ngship, the shit bucket of Zeru-kinu, an empty talker, a raped comrade of Nummuraya, ...... said: (5) "In Assyria and in Babylonia there is no-one equal to me! The woman Nasqat has praised me; where in the whole world is my rival?" (7) ......[...] her, who did [...] to him reverently. (8) [...] did not drink, did…
Source: Livingstone, A. 1989. Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea. SAA 3. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa03/P238051/
Why it matters
Transliteration
ṭup-šin-na BAD-ma NA₄.NA.RÚ.A ši-⸢tas⸣-[si x x x x x] u GIM UR.KU mdEN—KAR DUMU mi-ba-a / ul-tu a-⸢di?-ni?⸣ mṣal-la-a la im-me-du KUR-šú u šu-ú [x šap]-⸢lum?⸣ la ZU-šú LUGAL / ARAD da-gíl—pa-an mdUTU—DÙ DUMU LÚ.ŠU.ḪA šap-lum ⸢la⸣ [si-mat] ⸢LUGAL⸣-ú-te / iš-pik ŠÈ mNUMUN—GIN TU₁₅-a-nu tap-pe-e mnu-um-mur-a.a ni-i-ku / ⸢x x la? iḫ-ru?-ṣu?⸣ um-ma ina KUR—aš-šur.KI ù KUR—URI.KI GABA.RI ul i-ši /…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian court poetry or literary text, edited by Alasdair Livingstone (SAA 3, 1989). ORACC text P238051.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238051). source
Translation excerpted from Livingstone, A. 1989. Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea. SAA 3. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa03/P238051/.
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.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.