Position in chronology
SAA 13 062. The Key is Lost (ABL 0115)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant, Urdu-Nabû. Good health to the king, my lord. May Aššur, Sin, Šamaš, Marduk, Zarpanitu, Nabû, Tašmetu, Ištar of Nineveh, and Ištar of Arbela — these great gods who love your kingship — allow the king, my lord, to live 100 years. May they grant the king, my lord, the satisfaction of old age, extreme old age. (14) On the 29th of [...], an apprentice of Adad-[...] lost the key to the lock of the temple of [...] and the temple of [...] in the tem[ple of ...]. (r 2) It is being rumor[ed that ...]. (r 4) Let the king, [my] l[ord ......]. (r 5) [Could we possibly] act [without] the king, [my lord]? We will act (only) when the king, my lord, says so.
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/P334063/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia / ARAD-ka mARAD—dPA / lu-u šul-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia / aš-šur d30 dUTU dAMAR.UTU / dzar-pa-ni-tum dAG / dtaš-me-tum d15 ša URU.NINA / d15 ša URU.arba-ìl / DINGIR-MEŠ an-nu-u-te GAL-MEŠ / ra-i-mu-te šar-ru-ti-ka / 01 me MU.AN.NA-MEŠ a-na LUGAL EN-ía / lu-bal-li-ṭu ši-bu-tú lit-tu-tu / a-na LUGAL be-li-[ia] / lu-šab-bi-ʾu-[ú] / up-pu ša si-[ku-ri] / ša É—d[x x] / ⸢ša⸣ É—d[x x] /…
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 P334063.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334063). 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/P334063/.
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