Position in chronology
SAA 13 020. Shepherds Turned Criminal (ABL 0727)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant, Dadî. Good health to the king, my lord. May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord. (6) Arbailayu and Girittu, the shepherds responsible for the cultic meals, from Luddin-ilu — It has [no]w been seven years [sin]ce they have given sheep [to] the king. [They re]fuse to come in [for the tax col]lection. They do not fear [the king]. They rove about like runaways. (r 4) I have now written to them as follows: "Why do you not fear the king?" Ten men run around with them, draped with weapons, saying: "Whoever comes against us we will cut down with (our) bows." (r.e. 12) I have now written to the king, my lord. The king, my lord, should c[all] his servants [to account].
Source: Cole, S.W. & Machinist, P. 1998. Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. SAA 13. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa13/P334516/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ia / ARAD-ka mda-di-i / lu DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia / dPA dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL / EN-ia lik-ru-bu / marba-ìl-a-a mgi-ri-tu / LÚv.SIPA nap-ti-ni / URU.lud-din—DINGIR-a-a / [an-nu]-rig 07 MU.AN.NA-MEŠ / [TA] ⸢bé⸣-et UDU-MEŠ / [a-na] LUGAL i!-de-e-nu-ni / [šu-nu la] ⸢i⸣-ma-gúr / [a-na pi]-⸢ir⸣-ri / [la] e-ru-bu / [LUGAL] la i?-pa-lu-ḫu / ⸢ḫal⸣-qu i-du-lu / ú-ma-a as-par-šú-nu / mu-uk…
Scholarly note
Letter from a temple priest or ritual official to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Steven Cole & Peter Machinist (SAA 13, 1998). ORACC text P334516.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334516). source
Translation excerpted from Cole, S.W. & Machinist, P. 1998. Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal. SAA 13. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa13/P334516/.
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