Position in chronology
SAA 10 166. Merciful King (ABL 0499) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king of the lands, my lord: your servant Rašil. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (6) The king, my lord, has reared me from my childhood until the present day, and ten times has the king, my lord, taken my hand and saved my life from my enemies. (13) You are a merciful king. You have done good to all the four quarters of the earth and [placed] the plant of life in their nostrils. (r 4) Now, [...... are pl]otting (r 5) [......] (r 6) I am [......]. (r 8) May the king, [my lord, n]ot abandon me! May I not drift apart from the king, my lord! [I am] a servant of the king. [Let the ......] and [...] me.
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P237964/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ía / ARAD-ka mTUK-ši—DINGIR / lu-ú šu-lum a-na LUGAL EN-a / dAG u dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL / EN-ía lik-ru-bu / ul-tu ṣe-eḫ-re-ku* / a-di UGU UD-mu a-ga-a / LUGAL EN-a ur-tab-ba-an-ni / ù 10-šú la ŠÀ-bi LÚ*.KÚR*-MEŠ / LUGAL EN-a ŠU.2-a / ki-i iṣ-ba-tu / ub-tal-liṭ-an-ni / LUGAL re-ma-nu at-ta / a-na kip-pat er-bet-ti / ṭa-ab-ti te-te-pu-⸢uš⸣ / ù ⸢Ú⸣ NAM.TI.LA / a-⸢na⸣ [na-ḫi]-ri-šú-nu /…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P237964.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237964). 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/P237964/.
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