SAA 01 096. Putting Carpenters to Work (ABL 0087)

~715 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P334036

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 1

High confidence

(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Ṭab-ṣill-Ešarra. Good health to the king, my lord! May Aššur and Mullissu bless the king, my lord! (6) I [asked] the carpenters: "Why [...]? Do the rest of [the work] in Sa[pirrutu]!" They said: "The days [...] here [...]; we are making br[oa]d planks ......" (Break) (r 2) "...... that] I have cut stal[ks] in Ekallate." I am bringing and settling them (= the carpenters) there right now, and they are going to do it. (r 7) One carpenter from their ranks (who was) in the presence of the king, my lord, came (to me) saying: "I am going by the order of the king himself; the king told [us] to go to Sapirrutu, so we shall go."

State Archives of Assyria, volume 1 — scholar edition (ORACC).

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Transliteration

a-na LUGAL EN-ia / ARAD-ka mDÙG.GA—ṣil—É.ŠÁR o* / lu DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ía / aš-šur dNIN.LÍL a-[na LUGAL] / EN-ia lik-[ru-bu] / a-na LÚv.NAGAR-MEŠ [a-sa-al] / mu-ku at-a ba*-[x x x] / re-eḫ-ti [dul-li] / ina URU.sa-[pir-ri-te] ⸢ep⸣-šá / ma-a UD*-MEŠ [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / ma-a an-na-⸢ka*⸣ [x x x] / GIŠ-MEŠ ra-ap-[šu-u]-⸢te⸣ / né-pa-áš ma-a [x x x]+⸢x⸣ / bu-[x x x x x x x x] / ⸢ma*⸣-[a x x x x x x] /…

Scholarly note

Royal correspondence under Sargon II, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 1, 1987). Letter from a governor or high official to the king of Assyria. ORACC text P334036.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P334036). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334036/.

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