SAA 19 185. Urarṭian Fort Commanders in Arbela (CTN 5 p. 107)

~730 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P393671

Translation · reference

High confidence

(1) To the king, [m]y lord: your servant Šulmu-beli. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) The Urarṭian fort commanders, whom the governor of Calah brought, are (now) in Arbela. Will they stay there, (or) shall we bring them to Calah? What are the king [m]y [lord's ord]ers? (Break) (r 1) Now [what] are the king my lord's orders?

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/P393671/

Why it matters

Transliteration

a-na LUGAL EN-⸢ia⸣ / ARAD-ka mDI-mu—EN / lu-u DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ía / LÚv.GAL—ḪAL.ṢU-MEŠ KUR.URI.KI-a.a / ša LÚv.EN.NAM ša URU.kal-ḫi / na-ṣa-ni ina URU.arba-ìl šú-nu / ⸢ŠÀ⸣-ma-a lu-u šú-nu ina URU.kal-ḫi / nu-bal!-šú-nu mì-nu ša LUGAL / ⸢be*-lí*⸣ [i]-⸢qa-bu-ni⸣ / ⸢ú-ma-a⸣ [mi-nu] ⸢ša LUGAL EN⸣ / ⸢i⸣-qa-⸢bu⸣-ni

Scholarly note

Royal correspondence from Kalḫu (Nimrud) under Tiglath-pileser III or Sargon II, edited by Mikko Luukko (SAA 19, 2012). ORACC text P393671.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393671). 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/P393671/.

Related tablets

Related sources

~2050 BCE

Drehem Cattle-Distribution Tablet

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.

~1340 BCE

Amarna Letter EA 153 — Abi-milku of Tyre

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.

~3300 BCE

Clay tablet, late Uruk period, 3300-3100 BCE. Proto-cuneiform signs, food issue list " rations" written by combining a human head and a bowl. Purchased via Christie's in 1989, with contribution from the British Museum Friends