Position in chronology
SAA 20 006. Rituals on [Shebat 23?] (RIAA 315)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [On the 23rd day the king performs] the ‘washing of the mouth’ [in the main room]. (2) [... they] p[ut a portable censer] of juniper in the king’s hand. (3) [The king] enters the house of Dagan [with a rikshaw]. He brings f[orth a portable censer and a torch], lights the censer, [illuminates the face]. (5) [... in] the courtyard an eating-bowl (6) [......] he offers [...] and returns the eating-bowl (7) [......] he puts [...] on the censer (8) [......] pours wine [...] (9) [......] He ‘arouses’ the house, (10) [......] performs sheep offerings. (11) He seats [the chanters]. (12) He…
Source: Parpola, S. 2017. Assyrian Royal Rituals and Cultic Texts. SAA 20. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa20/P282529/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[UD 23-KÁM LUGAL ina É—dan-ni] ⸢KA!⸣.LUḪ!.⸢Ù!.DA! DÙ!⸣-[áš] / [x x x x x x NÍG.NA] ⸢ŠEM⸣.LI a-⸢na!⸣ ŠU! LUGAL! ⸢id!⸣-[du-nu] / [LUGAL TA* GIŠ.šá—šá-da-di ina] É—d⸢da!⸣-gan! er!-rab / [x x x NÍG.NA GI.IZI.LÁ] ú-⸢qar!⸣-[rab] še-eḫ-tú ú-šar-ra / [zi-mu ú-šá-an-mar x x] ta!-⸢ár⸣-[ba?]-ṣi ma-ka!-su / [x x x x x x x x] ⸢ú!⸣-qar!-rab! ma!-ka!-su ú-GUR? / [x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣ qur ⸢x⸣ ina še!-eḫ!-ti…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian royal ritual or cultic text, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 20, 2017). ORACC text P282529.
Attribution
Image: MRAH O.0230 (Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Belgium) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P282529). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 2017. Assyrian Royal Rituals and Cultic Texts. SAA 20. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa20/P282529/.
Related tablets
Related sources
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.