Position in chronology
SAA 10 044. Timing a Journey of the King (ABL 1141+) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
Medium confidence[To the king, our lord,] / [your servants Balasî] / [and Nabû-aḫḫē-erība:] / [May there be well-being] for the king, [our lord.] / [May Nabû (and)] Marduk bless the king, / our lord. / Concerning the journey to the city [NN] / about which the king, our lord, / wrote to us: / 'If the king (is to depart) from Eanna / in the month of Tišrī — is it auspicious / for the journey / or not?' — so the king spoke — / 'Do not [. . .] / [they] spoke [. . .] / This month: / the road / is clear / — let (the king) set out at ease. / The month of arrival: / let the king go. / Let (him) kiss the ground. / Let (them) perform sacrifices.
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-11/v3-conventions)
Translation · AI engine
read from photo[To the king, our lord,] / [your servants Balasî] / [and Nabû-aḫḫē-erība:] / [May there be well-being] for the king, [our lord.] / [May Nabû (and)] Marduk bless the king, / our lord. / Concerning the journey to the city [NN] / about which the king, our lord, / wrote to us: / 'If the king (is to depart) from Eanna / in the month of Tišrī — is it auspicious / for the journey / or not?' — so the king spoke — / 'Do not [. . .] / [they] spoke [. . .] / This month: / the road / is clear / — let (the king) set out at ease. / The month of arrival: / let the king go. / Let (him) kiss the ground. / Let (them) perform sacrifices.
6 uncertain terms ↓
- É-an-ni — Literally 'House of Heaven,' the name of the great temple of Anu and Ištar at Uruk; in epistolary context could refer to the temple-complex or possibly another building. Some editors read this as a general term for a cultic departure point rather than specifically Uruk's Eanna.
- da-ri-ir — Adjective meaning 'clear, open, unobstructed' applied to the road (urḫu). Rendered 'clear' here; some translators give 'free (of obstacles)' or 'safe.'
- ka-qu-ru liš-šiq — Literally 'let him kiss the ground (kaqqaru),' a ritual prostration gesture associated with entering a sacred precinct or approaching a deity. The damaged <$x$> sign between ka-qu-ru and liš-šiq may indicate a divine name or object has been omitted or is damaged.
- ITI.DU₆ / ITI e-ri-ib-a-ni — ITI.DU₆ = Tašrītu (roughly September–October); 'ITI e-ri-ib-a-ni' = 'the month of our arrival,' a relative temporal expression for the month when the king arrives at the destination.
- lu-u ra-am-mu — From ramû, 'to set out at ease / depart freely'; could also be rendered 'let (the road) be released/clear.' Context supports the sense of an unimpeded journey.
- mba-la-si-i / mdPA—PAB-MEŠ—SU — Balasî and Nabû-aḫḫē-erība, two well-attested Neo-Assyrian court scholars (ṭupšarru ša Enūma Anu Enlil). Both names are restorations in the broken upper lines, supplied from parallel attestations in SAA 10.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photo (British Museum 83-1-18, 513): The tablet is a small, roughly oval clay fragment approximately 4–5 cm tall, photographed from multiple angles (obverse, reverse, top, bottom). The obverse (centre-top image) shows 15–20 lines of Neo-Assyrian cuneiform, densely inscribed. Wedges are visible and fairly well preserved in the upper half; the lower portion shows surface erosion and a diagonal crack bisecting the tablet. The left edge is broken throughout, accounting for the bracket restorations at line beginnings. The right side appears largely intact. I can confirm the presence of multiple horizontal lines of script; the LUGAL (king) and some DI-mu signs are visually consistent with the transliteration in the clearer upper registers. The lower lines are difficult to resolve at this resolution, consistent with the lacunae marked in the transliteration. Layer 2 is based on the SAA 10 044 transliteration (Parpola, SAA 10, 1993, no. 44): the letter is from astrologers Balasî and Nabû-aḫḫē-erība to the Assyrian king, answering a royal query about the auspiciousness of a royal journey in the month of Tišrī (Ulūlu/Tašrītu). Key interpretive choices: 'É-an-ni' rendered as 'Eanna' (the Uruk temple), though contextually a palace or cult-centre departure point is possible; 'da-ri-ir' ('clear/open') rendered as 'clear' (road is clear/safe); 'ka-qu-ru liš-šiq' rendered as 'let him kiss the ground' (a prostration rite). Photo and transliteration broadly agree; detailed sign-by-sign verification is not possible for the damaged lower section.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v3-conventions · May 11, 2026 · 3352 in / 1254 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-na LUGAL EN-ni] / [ARAD-MEŠ-ka mba-la-si-i] / [mdPA—PAB-MEŠ—SU] / [lu DI-mu a]-⸢na LUGAL⸣ [EN-ni] / [dPA d]⸢AMAR⸣.[UTU] a-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ / EN-ni lik-ru-⸢bu⸣ / ina UGU a-la-ki ša URU.[x x] / ša LUGAL be-li-ni / iš-pur-an-na-ši-ni / šum-ma LUGAL ina É-an-ni / ina ITI.DU₆ ṭa-ba / a-na a-la-ki / ú-la-a ⸢LUGAL⸣ i-qab-⸢bi⸣ / ma-a la [x x x]+⸢x⸣ [x x] / [iq]-⸢bu-ú⸣-[ni o] / ⸢ITI⸣ an-ni-⸢ú⸣ / ur-ḫu / da-ri-ir / lu-u ra-am-mu / ITI e-ri-ib-a-⸢ni⸣ / LUGAL lil-lik / ka-qu-ru <$x$> liš-šiq / UDU.SISKUR.SISKUR-MEŠ / ⸢le-pu⸣-šu
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334751.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334751). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-11/v3-conventions).
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