Position in chronology
SAA 17 027. Assurances of Loyalty (CT 54 025)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 17(1) [Your servant Bel-iqiša. I would gladly die for the king of the world! May Nabû] and Mardu[k bl]es[s the king, my lord! S]ay to the k[ing, my lord]: (4) (As to) the ... of the city conquered [by the ki]ng, my lord, [...], may the king, my lord, command: "[Let] Ana-Na[bû-taklak ...] and steadfastly [... befo]re the king. Stay [...] with them like these men, and [...] with them!" (9) I shall write the king's [...] according to the comma[nd of the kin]g, my lord. (10) [...] their brother [...] (11) [...] ... [...] (12) [...] the king [...] (13) [...] ... and to [...] of Sargon (14) k[ing of…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 17 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[ARAD-ka mdEN—BA-šá a-na di-na-an] / [LUGAL kiš-šá-ti be-lí-ia lul-lik] / [d.AG] u dAMAR.⸢UTU⸣ [a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia lik]-⸢ru-bu⸣ / [um]-⸢ma⸣-a a-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ [be-lí-ia-a-ma x x x]-at šá ⸢URU⸣ kal-du / [šá] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN-ía [x x x x] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN ⸢liq-bi⸣ / [um]-ma ma-na—d⸢AG⸣—[tak-lak x x x]-ma ina ⸢kun-nu⸣ / [x]+⸢x⸣ i da [x x ina pa]-⸢ni⸣ LUGAL ki-i [ERIM]-⸢MEŠ⸣ an-nu-tú / [lu]-⸢ú?⸣ it-⸢ti⸣-[šú-nu x x…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P238083.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Manfried Dietrich, The Neo-Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib (State Archives of Assyria, 17), 2003. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2009-11, as part of the AHRC-funded research project “Mechanisms of Communication in an Ancient Empire: The Correspondence between the King of Assyria and his Magnates in the 8th Century BC” (AH/F016581/1; University College London) directed by Karen Radner. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P238083/..
Translation excerpted from Dietrich, M. 2003. The Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib. SAA 17. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa17/P238083/.
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.