Position in chronology
SAA 15 072. Adda-rami and Horses (CT 53 606)
About this tablet
A badly broken Neo-Assyrian letter to the king — one of the thousands of reports sent to Sargon II's court from officials across the empire. The writer, whose name survives only as Bēl-erība, mentions a man called Adda-rami, something happening 'on the other side' (across a river or border), a journey, and above all horses — three of them, twice named. Horse procurement was a constant obsession of Assyrian provincial administration, since the army's chariotry and cavalry depended on a steady supply. Too little survives to know whether this was a routine delivery report or a complaint about something gone wrong.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
To the king, my lord — from your servant Bēl-erība. I wish good health to the king, my lord. The opening of my report is lost, but it concerned Adda-rami and something on the far side of the border, and matters brought before the king, my lord. People were moving about, together with someone whose name is broken away. Something I took, and something they carried on the journey. The truth is this — and now: horses. Three horses. Concerning those three horses, they became agitated. The rest of the letter is too damaged to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[To the king, my lord]: [your servant] Bēl-erība. [Good health to the king], my lord! [......] Adda-rami [......] on the other side [......]-iq [...... the king], my lord [..................] [......] ... [......] [......] they move about, with [......] [......]-imma which I took [......] they brought on the road (journey) [...... the tr]uth. Now [......] horses [......]... 3 horses [......] concerning 3 horses [......] they trembled [......] ... a [..................] (The text breaks off; the remainder is lost.)
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo5 uncertain terms ↓
- md10—ra-mi — The divine determinative + logogram 10 (= Adad/dAdad) + ra-mi; the name is Adda-rami, 'Adad is exalted/merciful.' The reading of the first element as Adad (10) rather than another deity is standard for this name in Neo-Assyrian.
- a-ḫu-la — Context broken; possibly a toponym, a personal name, or a form meaning 'he wept/lamented' (aḫālu). Cannot resolve without more context.
- ir-tu-ʾu-bu — Restored verb, likely from raʾābu ('to tremble, be agitated') in the G-stem preterite 3pl, describing the horses. Restoration is plausible but not certain given the lacuna.
- ke-e-tu — Standard Akkadian kēttu/kītu ('truth, justice'); here used adverbially 'in truth, truly.' Restoration partially supplied by editors.
- KASKAL ú-bi-lu-ni — Literally 'they brought (it/them) on the road/journey'; KASKAL can mean 'road,' 'campaign,' or 'journey.' Context suggests transport of horses.
Reasoning ↓
Photo examination: The tablet is identified as K.15011 (British Museum), a small clay fragment photographed from multiple angles — obverse, reverse, left and right edges, top and bottom. The obverse (upper centre panel) shows roughly 10–12 lines of Neo-Assyrian cursive cuneiform; the surface is heavily eroded and chipped along all edges, with the upper-left corner and lower portion broken away. Individual wedges are visible in the upper rows but increasingly indistinct toward the lower half. The reverse (upper right panel) shows further faint impressions, partially legible. The lower fragment views show the edges and bottom, largely unscribed or too worn to read signs individually at this resolution. Cross-check: The visible wedge clusters on the obverse are consistent with short Neo-Assyrian signs in the expected positions for a letter incipit and body, broadly matching the transliteration's layout; I can tentatively confirm sign groups in lines 1–4 align in spacing with [a-na LUGAL] / [ARAD-ka] / [DI-mu] formulae, but cannot verify individual signs due to resolution and erosion. The personal name m10-ra-mi (= Adda-rami, where '10' is the Sumerogram for Adad) and the horse terminology (ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ) in the lower lines are consistent with SAA 15 072 as published by Luukko & Van Buylaere (2002). The verb ir-tu-ʾu-bu ('they trembled/were agitated') is restored and uncertain. Cannot verify the broken passages from the photo alone.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v3-conventions · May 11, 2026 · 3395 in / 972 out tokens
Transliteration
[a-na LUGAL be-lí-ía] / [ARAD-ka md]⸢EN⸣—SU / [lu DI-mu a-na LUGAL be]-lí-ía / [x x x x x m]10—ra-mi / [x x x x x a]-ḫu-la / [x x x x x]-⸢iq⸣ / [x x x x x LUGAL] EN-⸢ía⸣ / [x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x x] ⸢ab x⸣+[x x] / [x x x i]-du-lu i-si-[x] / [x x x x]-⸢im⸣-ma šá al-qu-u-⸢ni⸣ / [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ KASKAL ú-bi-lu-⸢ni⸣ / [x x x ke]-⸢e⸣-tu ú-ma-a / [x x x x] ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ / [x x x x]-ni 03 ⸢ANŠE.KUR⸣.RA-MEŠ / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ina UGU 03 ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ / [x x x x ir]-⸢tu⸣-ʾu-bu / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ a / [x x x x x x x]
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence from Babylonia and the eastern provinces under Sargon II, edited by Andreas Fuchs & Simo Parpola (SAA 15, 2001). ORACC text P314018.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P314018). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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