Position in chronology
SAA 13 064. It is Not Our Work (ABL 0495)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant, Urdu-Nabû. Good health [to the king], my lord. May Aššur, Sin, Ša[maš, Bel], Zarp[anitu, Nabû], Ta[šmetu, Ištar of] Ni[neveh, 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]. (Break) (r 2) t[o .....] (r 3) not [......] (r 4) The 1st day we dr[opped it]. (r 5) It is not our work — (r 6) (it is) nothing. (r 7) The king, my lord, can be glad.
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/P334342/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ía / ARAD-ka mARAD—dPA / lu-u šul-mu [a-na LUGAL] EN-ía / aš-šur d30 dUTU [dEN] / dzar-pa-[ni-tum dAG] / dtaš-[me-tum d15 ša] / URU.[NINA d15 ša URU.arba-ìl] / [DINGIR-MEŠ an-nu-te GAL-MEŠ] / [ra-i-mu-te ša LUGAL-ti-ka] / [01 me MU.AN.NA-MEŠ a-na LUGAL EN-ia] / [lu-bal-li-ṭu] / [ši-bu-tu lit-tu-tu] / [a-na LUGAL EN-ia] / [lu-šab-bi-ú] / ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x] / a-⸢na⸣ [x x x x x] / la [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 P334342.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334342). 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/P334342/.
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