Position in chronology
SAA 19 021. Works in Turmuna (CTN 5 p. 257)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the ki[ng], m[y lord]: your servant [...n]i. (3) The city Turmuna where the king appointed me is well. The land has been subjugated. They are cultivating the fields and plastering roofs. We are sta[nd]ing [in the cit]y like one (family). [Wher]e there were criminals, [there are ...s; w]here there were [......] (Break) (r 1) [...] ... ra[in o]n it [...] (r 3) [... occ]urred. They have not got [..., an] ox, (or) anything.
Source: Luukko, M. 2012. The Correspondence of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II from Calah/Nimrud. SAA 19. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa19/P393696/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-⸢na LUGAL⸣ [be-lí]-⸢ia⸣ / ARAD-ka ⸢m⸣[x x] ⸢ni?⸣ / URU.tur-mu-na bé-et ⸢LUGAL⸣ / ip-qi-da-ni-ni DI-mu / a-dan-niš KUR : ka-ab-sa-at / ŠE.NUMUN-MEŠ e-ru-uš / ú-ri : i-si-⸢ru⸣ / [ina] ⸢URU a⸣-ki 01-en ni-za*-[za]-ma / [bé]-⸢et?⸣ LÚv.pa-ri-ṣu-⸢te⸣ / [x x]+⸢x x x bé⸣-et / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x]+⸢x x x A.AN⸣-[MEŠ] / [ina] ⸢UGU⸣-šú ⸢:?⸣ gi? [x x] / [x x it]-⸢ta⸣-áš-⸢ki⸣-[in] / [x x 01]-⸢en? GUD?⸣ me-me-ni / [la]-⸢áš⸣-šú la ⸢ra⸣-ši-iu-u
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence from Kalḫu (Nimrud) under Tiglath-pileser III or Sargon II, edited by Mikko Luukko (SAA 19, 2012). ORACC text P393696.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393696). source
Translation excerpted from Luukko, M. 2012. The Correspondence of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II from Calah/Nimrud. SAA 19. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa19/P393696/.
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.