Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 029. Absolving the King (CT 53 155) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P313570

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [As to what the king, my lord], wrote to me: "Have I been purified with (the help of) Urad-Ea [and] these [......]?" — [the gods of the king], my lo[rd], know that, verily, [the king, my lord], has been purified 10 times over! May [the god DN, the lord of the] shining [...], give light to the king, my lord, for numerous [years]. (7) [As to what the king, my lord, wrote] to me: "[...] are being bound to [...] speech against me; (9) [the advice ...] that they gave, it (or) anything (10) (Break) (r 2) [The king, my lord], is made [li]ke a sage; he has understood her [c]ounsels, he has spoken…

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P313570/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[ša LUGAL be-li] iš-pur-an-ni ma-a TAv mARAD—⸢d⸣É.A / [x x x x x] an-nu-ti a-na-ku az-zu-ku / [DINGIR-MEŠ šá MAN] ⸢EN⸣-ia lu ud-di-ú šúm-ma a-di 10-šú / [LUGAL be-li] la iz-ku-u-ni / [dx EN x x]+⸢x⸣ nam-ri a-na MAN EN-ia / [MU.AN.NA-MEŠ ma]-aʾ-da-a-ti lu-u-nam-mir / [ša LUGAL be-li iš-pur]-an-ni ma-a a-na di-ib-bi / [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ik-ka-aṣ-ṣu-ru ina UGU-ḫi-ía / [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ šá im-lik-u-ni…

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P313570.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P313570). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P313570/.

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