Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 21 138. Bel-ibni is My Mortal Enemy (CT 53 402)

~660 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P313816

Translation · reference

High confidence
Beginning destroyed (2) [......the he]art [...] (3) [...... a]mong the guest(s) [...] (4) [......] ... my people [...] (5) he goes [......]. Now then [...] regarding [...], by the thoughtfulness of the Lord of Gra[ce],the king, my lord, sent a messenger tome. (8) Bel-ibni is not my enemy for blood (spilled by me), nor is he my enemy for deaths (caused by me).They say: "Why [did they] appoint [him] over the people here?" — that´s why he hates me ...[...He has ...ed] their sons and daughters to Arabi[a ...], and the rest he has gathered and brought into [...].He has also [...ed] my [...]. He…

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/P313816/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢a⸣ [x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢ŠÀ⸣-bu ⸢x⸣+[x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢ŠÀ⸣-bi ub-ri-[x x] / [x x x x x x x x]-⸢ḫu⸣-ru UN-MEŠ-ía [x x] / [x x x x x x x x] ⸢il*-lak⸣ an-nu-ri ⸢x⸣ / ina ⸢UGU⸣ [x x x x x] ina ŠÀ ⸢ḫi*⸣-sa-te EN re-e-⸢mu?⸣ / LUGAL be-lí LÚ.A—KIN is-si-ia is-sa-par / mEN—DÙ la EN—MÚD-MEŠ-ia ù la EN—mu-ta-⸢ti⸣-ía šu-u / ma-a a-ta-a ina UGU UN-MEŠ ša…

Scholarly note

Royal correspondence under Assurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 21, 2018). ORACC text P313816.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P313816). 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/P313816/.

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