Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 13 207. Priests’ Helpers (CT 53 899)

~665 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P314308

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning destroyed) (1) May [DNN] bless [the king, my lord]. May Bel [and Nabû] give to [the king, my lord], a [life] of [lon]g days. [May the king, my lord, by] the command of [...] and [..., whose] shepherd[ship] is as eternal as [heaven and earth], exercise kingship [...] years of reign. (7) [As to what the king], my lord, wrote to me: "Make known to me the names of the priests [... and] the [...] of their gods [...]" — (11) [......] temple [...] (Break) (r 3) These are the ones who are stand[ing] in for their fathers: Ahu-riba, son of the boatman, Ahušina, chariot-[knight], and…

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/P314308/

Why it matters

Transliteration

lik-⸢ru⸣-bu ⸢dEN d⸣[PA x x x] / ša UD-MEŠ? [ár-ku]-ú-[ti] a-⸢na⸣ [LUGAL EN-ia] / lid-di-nu [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ a-⸢mat⸣ [(x)] / ù [dx x šá] ⸢re⸣-ʾu-[us?-su] / a-ki [AN-e u KI.TIM] ⸢da⸣-ru-u-⸢ni⸣ / BALA-MEŠ [x x x x x] LUGAL-ú-⸢tu⸣ / le-pu-[šu ša LUGAL] be-lí iš-pur-an-⸢ni⸣ / ma-a LÚ.SANGA-MEŠ-ni MU-MEŠ-šú-nu / [x x] na-ṣa-ni ša DINGIR-MEŠ-⸢šú⸣-nu / [x x]-ú šá-áš-man-[ni] / [x x x x x] ⸢É—DINGIR⸣ [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 P314308.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P314308). 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/P314308/.

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