Position in chronology
SAA 01 224. The King’s Work is a Burden on Me (ABL 0888)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Samnu[ha-beli-uṣ]ur. (3) Good health to the king, my lord! (4) The king's work has become a burden to me. [I released] my [me]n in early winter, but those who were released entered strongholds in order to evade the king's work. [O king my lo]rd, let a royal bodyguard be commissioned to bring them out, and let them do the king's [work]. (14) Samnuhu-bessunu, a citizen of Šadikanni (r 1) [......] holds [...; ...] have passed into the possession of the people of Kannu'.
Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334610/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-[a] / ARAD-ka msa-am-nu-[ḫu—U]—⸢PAB⸣ / DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-a / [dul]-⸢lu⸣ LUGAL ina UGU-ḫi-a KALAG-an / [LÚ.ERIM]-MEŠ-a ku-ṣi* ḫar-pi* / <$x x x x$> / ⸢ša*⸣ i-pa-ṭar-u-ni / [TA] ⸢IGI*⸣ dul-li MAN / [ina] ⸢ŠÀ* É⸣.KALAG-MEŠ-ma e-tar-bu / [LUGAL be]-lí LÚv.qur-bu-ti / [lip]-⸢qi⸣-du lu-še-ṣa-šú-nu / [dul-lu] ša LUGAL / [le]-pu-šu / [m]dsa-am-nu-ḫu—bé-su-nu / ⸢URU*⸣.še*-di-kan*-a.a / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ me* / [x x x] ú-kal / [x x]+⸢x⸣ ŠÀ* ina KI.⸢TA⸣ / [LÚv].⸢kan*⸣-nu-uʾ-a.a / e-tar-bu
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence under Sargon II, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 1, 1987). Letter from a governor or high official to the king of Assyria. ORACC text P334610.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334610). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334610/.
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