Position in chronology
SAA 01 133. Blessings and Flatteries (ABL 0216)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The very best of health to the king, my lord! May Aššur, Šamaš, Bel, Nabû, Sin and Nergal bless the king, my lord! (5) (This is from) your servant Hunnî, an adorer of the king his lord. (7) All the temples and palaces of Assyria are well; the crown prince Sennacherib is well; all the princes [who are in] Assyria are well; [the king], my lo[rd, can be very gl]ad [indeed]. (Break) (r 1) May he see the workmanship of the temples of his gods and kiss their beautiful feet; may those (gods) whose temples you have made shine like sunrise, bless the king my lord, and may we, the royal servants, kiss the feet of the king, our lord. (r 10) (This is from) your servant Hunnî, an adorer of the king his lord, who every morning and evening continually blesses the king, his lord.
Source: 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/P334158/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL be-lí-ía a—dan-niš / a—dan-niš lu-u šul-mu / aš-šur dUTU d.EN dPA d30 dU.GUR / a-na LUGAL be-lí-ía lik-ru-bu / ARAD-ka mḫu-un-ni-i / ka-ri-ib LUGAL be-lí-šú / šul-mu a-na É.KUR-ra-a-te / a-na É.GAL-MEŠ ša KUR—aš-šur gab-bu / šul-mu a-na md30—PAB-MEŠ—SU / DUMU—LUGAL GAL-e ⸢šul⸣-mu a-na DUMU-MEŠ MAN / ⸢gab⸣-[bu am—mar ina] KUR—aš-šur šu-nu-ni / [ŠÀ-bu ša LUGAL be]-⸢lí⸣-ía / [a—dan-niš…
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 P334158.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334158). 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/P334158/.
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.