Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 371. Plant of Life and Sorceresses to the King (ABL 0276) [miscellaneous]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237791

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) To the king of the lands, my lord: your servant Kudurru. May Aššur, Šamaš and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (5) After the king, my lord, had gone to Egypt and the eclipse took place in Tammuz (IV), there were no men of mine for the life of Assyria among them, (so) he sent (messengers) to every direction. Now then, let the king ask the messengers of their life. (12) When I acquired the plant of life of the eclipse of Tammuz (IV), it disappeared in the king's presence. [I dispat]ched it [to the king], my lord, in th[e han]ds of Šumaya son of [Kabt]iya, in Nisan (I) last year, (yet) [up…

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P237791/

Why it matters

Transliteration

a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR EN-ia / ARAD-ka mku-dúr-ru / daš-šur dUTU ù dŠÚ / a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia / lik-ru-bu-ub ul-tu LUGAL EN / a-na KUR.mi-ṣir il-lil-lik / ina ITI.ŠU AN.MI iš-kun-nu / ERIM-MEŠ-ía a-na ba-la-ṭu šá KUR—aš-šur / ina ŠÀ-bi-šú-nu ia-a-nu ana 15 u 150 / il-tap-par a-du-ú / LÚ.DUMU—šip-ri-a-ta TI-šú-nu / LUGAL li-iš-al šam-me TI / šá AN.MI šá ITI.ŠU ki-i áš-šá-a / a-na pa-ni LUGAL iḫ-te-liq…

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P237791.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237791). 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/P237791/.

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