Position in chronology
SAA 21 004. Perhaps Babylon Can Still be Saved (ABL 0571)
Translation · reference
High confidenceBeginning destroyed (1') [The king's word to the Babylonians: I am well]; you can be glad. (2') [The day] you see this [letter], speak [with] your hearts, take with you any number of the Babylonians, your brothers, whose hearts you know and who have (any) responsibility (left) in [them], and come over before Milki-r[am] the cohort commander and Aššur-da[''inanni], the commander-in-chief, because they are about to throw (their forces) agai[nst] Babylon, in accordance with what you said: (14') "Let us go and speak to our brothers, rend our garments, take heart, and discuss with them the things…
Source: Parpola, S. 2018. The Correspondence of Assurbanipal, Part I: Letters from Assyria, Central Babylonia, and Vassal States. SAA 21. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa21/P393854/
Why it matters
Transliteration
lu-u DÙG.GA-ku-nu ina* [UD-me šá ši-pir-tú] / an-ni-tu tam-ma-ra [it-ti] / ŠÀ-bi-ku-nu du-ub-⸢ba*⸣ / TA ŠÀ LÚ.TIN.TIR.KI-[MEŠ] / ŠEŠ-MEŠ-ku-nu man-nu i-⸢ba⸣-[áš-ši] / ša ŠÀ-ba-šu-nu ti-⸢da⸣-[a] / ù pu-us-su-nu kal-áš-[šú-nu] / ina ŠU.2-ku-nu ṣab-ta et-⸢qa*⸣ / al-ka ina IGI mmil-ki—⸢ra⸣-[am] / LÚ.GAL—ki-ṣir maš-šur—⸢KALAG⸣-[an-ni?] / LÚ.tur-tan áš-šá-a ina ⸢UGU*⸣ / TIN.TIR.KI i-nam-⸢du⸣-[ú] /…
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence under Assurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 21, 2018). ORACC text P393854.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393854). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 2018. The Correspondence of Assurbanipal, Part I: Letters from Assyria, Central Babylonia, and Vassal States. SAA 21. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa21/P393854/.
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