Position in chronology
SAA 17 033. Kissing the King’s Feet in Babylon (ABL 1047)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 17(1) Your servant Ina-tešî-eṭir [...: I would gladly die] for the king of the lands, [my lord]! May Nabû and [Mar]duk bless the king of the lands, my lord! Esaggil and Babylon, the temples of the king of the lands, my lord, are well. (4) The news of Babylon is excellent. [I pray] daily for the health, joy, and life of the king, my lord, and for the attainme[nt of his] trium[ph]. (Break) (r 1) The 1st day [... is the ... of] Nergal, the mighty lord [...], the able, perfect one, who [...]. I [utter] prayers of benediction [to him] daily, bless the king of the lands, my lord, and shall kiss [the feet] of the king of the lands in Babylon. (r 7) I stay in the service of the governor and the master of the palace, guarding the night('s rest) of the ki[ng of the lands, my lord].
State Archives of Assyria, volume 17 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
ARAD-ka mina—SÙḪ—KAR [x x x x x x x x] / a-na di-⸢na-an⸣ LUGAL KUR.KUR [be-lí-ia lul-lik] / d.AG u d[AMAR].UTU a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR be-lí-ía lik-ru-bu / šu-lum a-na É.SAG.ÍL ù TIN.TIR.KI / É—DINGIR-MEŠ šá LUGAL KUR.KUR be-lí-ía ṭè-e-mu / šá TIN.TIR.KI ma-aʾ-diš ba-ni UD-mu-us-su / a-na ṭu-ub UZU ḫu-ud ŠÀ-bi ba-⸢laṭ ZI-MEŠ⸣ / ù ka-šad ìr-ni-it-[ti-šú ú-ṣal-li] / UD 01-⸢KÁM⸣ [x x x x x x x x x x x x…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P240261.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240261). source
Translation excerpted from Dietrich, M. 2003. The Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib. SAA 17. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa17/P240261/.
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.
Part of the earliest known body of international diplomatic correspondence. Akkadian, written in cuneiform on clay, was the lingua franca of Late Bronze Age statecraft — used between Egypt, the Hittites, Mitanni, Babylon, Assyria, and the Levantine vassals.