Position in chronology
SAA 20 050. Duties of Priests of the Aššur Temple (PKT 36-38)
Translation · reference
High confidence(i 1) [To ... ... the House of A]ššur [and to ... the ... for s]etting [the table and per]forming [the sheep offerings] is the responsibility of [the hig]h [priest and the assistant priest]. (i 8) [To illuminat]e the face, [to ...] ..., [to ...] the golden purification device, to wipe [the kettle], to bind [... and the na]pkin [on the k]ing’s [shoulders] is [the responsib]ility of the [...]. (i 15) To lo[ok after ...], to [he]at [...], and to [bu]rn [...] [is the responsibility] of the [...]. (i 19) To [lo]ok after [the table, the c]ouch, [the bed and the throne is the responsibility of the…
Source: Parpola, S. 2017. Assyrian Royal Rituals and Cultic Texts. SAA 20. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa20/P336320/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x É]—⸢AN⸣.ŠÁR / [x x x x x x x] x-u / [x x x GIŠ.BANŠUR ra]-⸢ka⸣-si / [UDU.SISKUR-MEŠ na]-sa-ḫi / [x x x x] x-šú / [LÚ.SANGA GAL]-ú / [LÚ.SANGA 02-ú] pu?-tu?-ḫu? na-ṣu / [šá-an-mu]-⸢ru?⸣ šá zi-i-me / [x x x] x ÚR-ú / [x x x x x] šá—te-li-si KUG.GI / [x x x di-qa-ru] šak-ku-lu / [x x x TÚG.sa]-⸢su⸣-pu / [ina UGU MAŠ.QA] ⸢LUGAL⸣ ra-⸢ka⸣-su / [LÚ.x x pu-tu]-ḫu na-ši / [x x x x…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian royal ritual or cultic text, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 20, 2017). ORACC text P336320.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Simo Parpola, Assyrian Royal Rituals and Cultic Texts (State Archives of Assyria, 20), 2017. Adapted by Jamie Novotny and lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2017, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P336320/..
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/P336320/.
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.