Position in chronology
SAA 17 081. We are not Sending Lady Šumatti to the King (CT 54 012)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Tablet] of the magnates of the Hamureans of [... to the ki]ng, their lord: (4) [The king s]ent [the le]tter of Balassu, (and) for three years we have kept [the guard] with the noblemen [of As]syria, (and) our [land] has feared the king. (10) [...] now as [...] (11) [...] Marduk-šarru-uṣur [...] (12) [...] we have kept guard (13) [...] we have kept guard (14) [...] the king, our lord, (15) [...] we have sustained (16) [Ana-Na]bû-taklak [has handed] over to us the letter of the king, [our lord]. (18) [...] ... (19) [...] he adds (Break) (r 2) [... in]to wastelands (r 3) [...] our wives…
Source: Dietrich, M. 2003. The Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib. SAA 17. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa17/P237994/
Why it matters
Transliteration
⸢IM⸣ LÚ.GAL-[MEŠ] / ⸢LÚ⸣.ḫa-mu-ru šá ⸢x⸣+[x x] / [a-na] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-lí-šú-[nu] / [LUGAL ši]-pir-ti mba-laṭ-[su] / [il]-⸢tap⸣-ra-áš-⸢šú⸣ / [it-ti] LÚ.DUMU—DÙ-⸢MEŠ⸣ / [KUR—aš]-⸢šur⸣.KI 03 MU.[AN.NA-MEŠ] / [EN.NUN] ni-it-ta-⸢ṣar⸣ / [KUR]-⸢nu⸣ LUGAL ip-ta-[làḫ] / [x x]-⸢ni⸣ a-kan-na ki-⸢i⸣ / [x x x] mdAMAR.UTU—LUGAL—PAB [o] / [x x x] EN.NUN ni-it-ta-[ṣar] / [x x x] EN.NUN ni-ta-aṣ-ra / [x x x] LUGAL…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P237994.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237994). 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/P237994/.
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.