Position in chronology
SAA 17 135. Appeal to the King (CT 54 065)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 17(Beginning destroyed) (2) [May ...] and Uruk [bl]ess [the king, my lord]! Say [to the king, my lord]: (4) (I swear) by the god himself (5) [......] that (6) [......] to you (7) [......] seizes you (8) [......] that before (taking) oath (9) [......] my crime is sl[ight]. (10) [.....] why (11) [.....] in the presence of the king (12) [.....] the šandabakku (13) [.....] Bel-usati (Break) (r 2) [......] Uruk being exiled (r 3) [.....] if heaven has decided [...] all ... (r 5) [.....] I do not say: "[...] I am an Akkadian" — [...] would lead me away [on accou]nt of it. [May] the king [rescue] me!…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 17 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x] / [x x x x x x x x]+⸢x u?⸣ UNUG.KI / [a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia lik]-ru-bu um-ma-a / [a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia-a]-ma DINGIR-um-ma / [x x x x lu-ú i]-du-ú ki-i / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-dan-ak-ka / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ i-ṣa-bat-tak-ka / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ki-i lam-⸢ma a-de⸣-e / [x x x x x x] ⸢ḫi⸣-ṭu-ú-a ⸢mi⸣-[ṣi] / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ am—mì-ni / [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ina pa-an LUGAL /…
Scholarly note
Babylonian-language letter to Sargon II or Sennacherib, edited by Manfried Dietrich (SAA 17, 2003). ORACC text P238334.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238334). 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/P238334/.
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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.