Position in chronology
SAA 05 268. Refusal to Transport Saplings (CT 53 836)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [To the king, my] lord: your servant [NN]. (4) As to [the saplings] about which they wr[ote to me] from [the Palace ..., ...] sapl[ings of ...] are [now] avail[able ...]. (9) The towns [......] (10) all [......] (11) ...[......] (12) [They] absolutely [...] refu[se to obey me]; they do not [...] the [... and do not transport] the sapl[ings], saying: "[......] (Break) (r 4) "We shall not [......, w]e are exempt [......]." (r 6) The prefect [......] (r 7) her[e ......] (r 8) an order [......]. (r 9) Instead of exe[mpted men ...], the prefect should send [......].
Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P314245/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-na LUGAL?] / be-⸢lí⸣-[ía] / ARAD-ka [mx x x x] / ina UGU ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x] / ša TAv [É.GAL? x x x] / iš-pur-[u-ni-ni x x] / GIŠ.⸢ziq⸣-[pi x x x] / qur-[bu x x x x] / URU-⸢MEŠ⸣ [x x x x x] / gab-bu [x x x x x] / ú-dan-[x x x x x] / la-áš-[šú x x x x] / la i-ma-[gur? x x x] / LÚv.[x x x x x x] / la i-[x x x x x] / GIŠ.ziq-[pi x x x x] / ma-a e-[x x x x x] / ina pa-[x x x x x] / ma-a ⸢ka⸣-[x x x x…
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence from Assyria's northern frontier under Sargon II, edited by Giovanni B. Lanfranchi & Simo Parpola (SAA 5, 1990). ORACC text P314245.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P314245). source
Translation excerpted from Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P314245/.
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.