Position in chronology
SAA 19 074. The Major-Domo of Aššur-le’i in Birdunu (CTN 5 p. 115)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [To the ki]ng, my lord: your [ser]vant Aššur-le'i. (3) The major-domo has come and entered Birdunu. (6) All the vast troops who escaped have not yet even minimally come together, so we are not able to se[nd] details of how many were killed or taken prisoners. (13) The messenger of the king, my [lor]d [is in the presence of] Inurta-ila'i [......] (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/P393633/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-na] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN-ia / ⸢ARAD⸣-ka maš-šur—ZU / LÚv.GAL—É i-tal-ka / ina URU.bir-du-nu / e-ta-ra-ba / LÚv.e-mu-qi DAGAL-MEŠ / am—mar i-pa-ar-ši-⸢du⸣-[ni] / ú-di-ni a-na ṣa-ḫa-⸢ár⸣ [x] / la-a i-pa-ḫu-ru / ⸢am⸣—mar GAZ-MEŠ-ni / ⸢am⸣—mar ḫab-tu-ú-ni / ba-tiq-tú la-a ni-⸢ḫa*⸣-[ra-ṣa] / ⸢LÚv⸣.DUMU—šip-ri ša LUGAL / ⸢EN⸣-ia / [ina IGI] mdMAŠ—DINGIR-a.a / [x x]-⸢ta-qí⸣ / [x x x x] ⸢x x⸣ / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x] ⸢x x⸣ [x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x]+⸢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 P393633.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393633). 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/P393633/.
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.