Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 17 059. The Letters of Nabu-taklak are Written by his Delegates (ABL 0524)

~710 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237833

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 17
High confidence
(1) To Sargon, king of the universe: thus say your servants Ha'il-il and Zabdi-il, who guard the fortress of Šabhanu for the king, their lord. The king's fortress is well. Good health to the king, our lord! (7) The letter(s) which Nabû-taklak sends to the king — it is not Nabû-taklak (himself) but his delegates who write them. And what they are (now) writing to the king, viz., "Remove the prefect from Bit-Dakuri!" — the king should write to them: "Why do you write (about) injustice? [If he] is doing injustice to you, [br]ing [...]!" (Break) (r 1) [...] they are going (r 2) [...] against them…

State Archives of Assyria, volume 17 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Transliteration

a-na LUGAL—GIN LUGAL ŠÚ um-ma LÚ.ARAD-MEŠ-ka / mḫa-il—DINGIR ù mzab-di—DINGIR / šá URU.bir-ti šá URU.šab-ḫa-a-ni / a-na LUGAL be-lí-šú-nu i-na-aṣ-ṣa-ru / šul-mu a-na URU.bir-ti šá LUGAL / lu-ú šul-mu a-na LUGAL be-lí-i-ni / ši-pir-ti šá mdAG—tak-lak / a-na LUGAL ú-šeb-bi-la / ul mdAG—tak-lak ki-i i-šaṭ-ṭa-ru-ši / LÚ.qí-pa-ni-šú i-šaṭ-ṭa-ru-ši / ù šá a-na LUGAL i-šap-pa-ru-ú-ni / um-ma LÚ.šak*-nu…

Scholarly note

Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P237833.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237833). source
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/P237833/.

Related tablets

Related sources