Position in chronology
SAA 17 101. Report on the [Son of Yakin]; Shipping Barley to Bab-bitqi (ABL 0893)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 17(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Badâ. Good health to the king, my lord! Say to the king, my lord: The fortress and the troops of the king are well. The people of the land are well. The king, my [lord], can be glad. (6) Concerning the ne[ws of ...] (Break) (r 2) [...] at the disposal of the[ir] people (r 3) [... of the ki]ng [is] with them (r 4) [...] I did not wi[sh] them to be deported (r 5) [... will he]ar: "The kin[g ...] (r 6) [...] and Badâ [did not wish] them to be deported" (r 7) [...] this, which in front of them (r 8) [...] was accomplished particularly well. (r 9) As [...] I…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 17 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia ARAD-ka mba-da-a / lu-ú šu-lum a-⸢na⸣ LUGAL be-lí-ia / um-ma-a a-[na] LUGAL be-lí-ía-a-ma / šu-lum a-[na URU].⸢bi⸣-ra-na-a-ti ù e-⸢mu-qí⸣ / šá LUGAL ⸢be-lí⸣-[ia šu]-lum a-na UN-MEŠ ma-a-⸢ti⸣ / ⸢ŠÀ*-bi*⸣ [šá LUGAL be-lí]-ía lu-[ú DÙG].⸢GA*⸣ áš-šú ṭè-[e-mu] / [x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x] ⸢i⸣ [x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x]-nu / [x x x x x x x x x x x]-šú-ú / [x x x x x x x x x x x…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P238724.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238724). 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/P238724/.
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.