At first sight nos. 130-136 are similar to the previous group, but they are almost exclusively concerned with food and drink. That these payments also have some formal significance is suggested in particular by the numbers of animals listed: "1 ox and 10 sheep" found in nos. 133, 134, and a recurrent listing of 1 sisalhu and 2 or 3 sheep in the 'Sammeltext' no. 136. That most of these contributions are made by, rather than to, the persons named is explicitly suggested by nos. 130 (with no. 131 which closely resembles it) and 132, with their concluding remarks "to the Lady of the House" and "to the Queen." No. 131 is important since it mentions an official of Šamaš-metu-uballiṭ, one of Esarhaddon's sons (for whom see LAS II, p. 118). By comparison with these, it is reasonable to guess that no. 136 also lists receipts, from a variety of provincial officials. As for the reason for these contributions, the obvious category would be "audience gifts" (nāmurtu), since these are known to have been made to highly placed persons in addition to the king himself, and we can only regret that the broken state of the texts has probably deprived us of certainty on this point.
F.M. Fales & J.N. Postgate
F.M. Fales & J.N. Postgate, 'Accounts of Food and Drink', Imperial Administrative Records, Part I: Palace and Temple Administration, SAA 7. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1992; online contents: SAAo/SAA07 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa07/accountsoffoodanddrink/]