Position in chronology
SAA 19 002. “You Are my Deputy” (CTN 5 p. 240)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [The king's word to the] commander-in-[chief]: (2) My forts, my [...] (and) my horses [are well]. (4) [Day and] night during my reign, you shall be my magnate (and) my deputy. You shall stand in my place; guarding you is for guarding me. (7) [Don't be neg]ligent but keep watch for me. (8) [...] ... The day [you se]e [this letter ......] (Rest destroyed or too broken for translation)
Source: Luukko, M. 2012. The Correspondence of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II from Calah/Nimrud. SAA 19. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa19/P393605/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-bat LUGAL a-na LÚv].⸢tur-ta-ni⸣ / [DI-mu a-na URU].⸢bi-rat⸣-ia / [x] ⸢x x x-ia⸣ ANŠE.KUR-MEŠ-ia / [UD-mu] mu-šú* a-na UD-MEŠ-ia LÚv.GAL-ia / [u] LÚv.02-ia at-ta ku-mu-u-a / [EN].⸢NUN⸣-ka a-na EN.NUN-ia / [la ta]-⸢ši⸣-aṭ* EN.NUN ú-ṣur / [x x]+⸢x⸣ ib UD-⸢mu ša⸣ [e-gír-tú] / [an-ni-tú ta]-⸢mar*-ú⸣-[ni x x x x]
Scholarly note
Royal correspondence from Kalḫu (Nimrud) under Tiglath-pileser III or Sargon II, edited by Mikko Luukko (SAA 19, 2012). ORACC text P393605.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393605). source
Translation excerpted from Luukko, M. 2012. The Correspondence of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II from Calah/Nimrud. SAA 19. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa19/P393605/.
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.