Position in chronology
SAA 17 071. Fragment Referring to ‘the Son of Yakin’ (CT 54 091)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 17(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...] of [...] (2) [...] ... [...] (3) [... S]ince the da[y when ...] (4) [...] ... [...] what the king, my lord, [...] (5) [...] reached, saying: "[...] (6) [...] is coming ... [...] (7) [...] is going to be appointed [to a pos]ition of trust (8) [...] the son of Yakin had strengthened (9) [... Bor]sippa with the casua[lty]. (10) [(As to) what the king] wrote: "Did he not [...] (11) [the ]...s of N[N ......] (12) [...] ... [...] (13) [... fo]r the second time [...] (14) [... Bit]-Dakur[u ...] (15) [...] the star [...] (16) [...] saw [...] (17) [...] face [...] (18) [...] all [...] (Rest destroyed)
State Archives of Assyria, volume 17 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x] šá [x x x] / [x x x x] te man [x x x] / [x x x x] ⸢ul⸣-tu UD-⸢mu⸣ [šá x x] / [x x] [x x] šá LUGAL be-lí-a [x x x] / [x x] ik-šu-du um-ma [x x x] / [x x]+⸢x⸣-nim-ma il-la-kám-⸢ma⸣ [x x x] / [x x] ⸢ki⸣-nu-ú-tú ip-pi-⸢qí⸣-[id x x] / [x x] DUMU—mia-ki-nu ú-dan-⸢nin⸣ [x x x] / [x BÁR].SIPA.KI ⸢it⸣-ti mi-⸢qí⸣-[ti x x] / [x x] ⸢iš⸣-pu-ra um-⸢ma ul ik⸣-[x x x] / [x x]-MEŠ m⸢im⸣-[x…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P238427.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238427). 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/P238427/.
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.