Position in chronology
SAA 17 095. Withholding Hostages (to the Vizier) (ABL 1316)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...] Now th[en ...] (2) [...] your enemy [...] (3) [...] as soon as someone [...] (4) At the time of Šamaš-buna[ya ...] a certain Ha'ir used to send ...[...] (as) hostages. They were caught [...], and [...]. (8) [In the days] of Aššur-belu-taqqin, who [...], I myself used to do a lot to [...] (and) to eliminate the host[ages ...]. (11) Now in the days of [Marduk-šarru-uṣur] they h[ave taken] a hostage of mine [...] (13) in his youth ... [...] (14) we are not trusted [...] (15) and not [...] (16) who in the kin[g's] palace [...] (17) and (whom) the king, your lord,…
Source: Dietrich, M. 2003. The Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib. SAA 17. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa17/P238385/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] a-du*-[ú x x x x] / [x x x] LÚ.EN—KÚR-⸢ka⸣ [x x x x] / x [x]+⸢x⸣ ina É man-nu ⸢ib⸣-[x x x x] / UD-MEŠ šá mdUTU—bu-na-a.[a x x x] / mḫa-a.a-ir šú-ú ṭa-ab [x x x] / LÚ.maš-ka-na-MEŠ i-šap*-[x x x] / ṣu-ub-bu-tu ù ši-[x x x ina UD-MEŠ] / šá maš-šur—EN—LAL*-in šá [x x x x x x] / a-na-ku [x x] ⸢ma⸣-da a-⸢na⸣ [x x x x] / LÚ.maš-⸢ka⸣-[na-MEŠ] sa*-pa-ni [x x x x x] / en-na [ina] UD-MEŠ šá…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P238385.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238385). 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/P238385/.
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