Position in chronology
SAA 13 087. Report of Arrival of Horses: Sivan 4 (ABL 0376)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Nabû-šumu-iddina. The very best of health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (7) [x] Kushite horses, (8) [x] ...-horses of Kushite stock: (9) 2[4] Kushite horses total; (10) 10 cavalry mounts, 13 mules: (11) 50 in all from Damascus; (12) 10 Kushite horses [from the] recruits: (r 1) a total of 34 Kushite horses and 10 cavalry mounts — (r 3) 44 horses and 16 mules all together — (r 4) a grand total of 60 have come in today. (r 6) Month of Sivan (III), 4th day.
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/P334252/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia / ARAD-ka mdPA—MU—AŠ / lu DI-mu a-na LUGAL / be-lí-ia a—dan-niš a—dan-niš / dAG dAMAR.UTU / [a]-⸢na⸣ LUGAL EN-ía lik-ru-bu / [x] KUR-MEŠ ku-sa-a-a / [x KUR-MEŠ ṣi]-ib-te ku-sa-a-a / PAB ⸢24⸣ KUR-MEŠ ku-sa-a-a / 10 KUR BAD-ḪAL 13 ANŠE.ku-din / PAB 50 URU.dim-maš?-qa? / 10 KUR ku-sa-a-a / [ša LÚv].rak-su-MEŠ / PAB 34 KUR ku-sa-a-a / 10 KUR-MEŠ BAD-ḪAL-li / PAB 44 KUR-MEŠ 16 ANŠE.ku-din / PAB 60 UD-mu an-ni-u / e-tar-bu-ú-ni / ITI.SIG₄ UD 04-KÁM
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 P334252.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334252). 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/P334252/.
Related tablets
Related sources
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.