SAA 10 196. A King may not Stay in the Dark! (ABL 0005) [from exorcists]


Obverse
o 1o 1	a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia	(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Adad-šumu-uṣur. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk, and the great gods of heaven and earth bless the king, my lord, and give happiness and physical well-being to the king, my lord!
o 22	ARAD-ka ^m^dIM—MU—PAB
o 33	lu DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ía
o 44	^dAG ^dAMAR.UTU DINGIR-MEŠ
o 55	GAL-MEŠ šá AN-e u KI.TIM
o 66	a-na LUGAL EN-ía lik-ru-bu
o 77	ṭu-ub ŠÀ-bi DÙG.GA UZU
o 88	a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia
o 99	li-di-nu
o 1010	a-na pi-qit-ti ša ^dGAŠAN—GARZA	(10) The charge of the 'Lady of Cults' is doing very well; the king, my lord, can be happy.
o 1111	šul-mu a—dan-niš
o 1212	lib-bu šá LUGAL be-lí-ia
o 1313	a—dan-niš lu-u DÙG.GA
o 1414	a-ta-a šá-ni-ú ina UD-mi	(14) Why, today already for the second day, is the table not brought to the king, my lord? Who (now) stays in the dark much longer than Šamaš, the king of the gods; stays in the dark a whole day and night, and again two days? The king, the lord of the world, is the very image of Šamaš. He (should) keep in the dark for half a day only!
o 1515	an-ni-e GIŠ.BANŠUR ina pa-an
o 1616	LUGAL be-lí-ia la e-rab
Bottom
b.e. 17b.e. 17	a-na ^dUTU
b.e. 1818	LUGAL DINGIR-MEŠ
b.e. 1919	man-nu ⸢id-du-ru⸣
Reverse
r 1r 1	UD-mu ⸢kal mu-šú⸣
r 22	e-da-ar tu-ú-ra
r 33	ši-it-ta ú-ma-ti
r 44	LUGAL EN KUR.KUR ṣa-al-mu
r 55	šá ^dUTU šu-u mi-ši-il
r 66	UD-me ú-ta-da-ar
r 77	[o^? še-tu]-⸢ru^*⸣ la DÙG.GA	(r 7) [Exaggerat]ion is not good;
r 88	[x x x DI]-mu šá ma-a-te	(r 8) [... the wel]fare of the country [...]...
r 99	[x x x x ik]-ki LAL-e	(r 8) [... the wel]fare of the country [...]...
r 1010	[a-ka-lu šá ku]-sa-pi	(r 10) [Eating of b]read and [drinking of w]ine [will soon re]move [the illness of the king].
r 1111	[šá-tu-u šá] ⸢ka⸣-ra-ni
r 1212	[ba-si mur]-ṣu
r 1313	[TA^v IGI LUGAL i]-na-šar
r 1414	⸢mil^*⸣-[ku dam]-⸢qu⸣ iḫ-ḫa-sa-sa	(r 14) G[ood ad]vice is to be heeded: restlessness, not eating and not drinking disturbs the mind and adds to illness. In this matter the king should listen to [his se]rvant.
r 1515	ka-[ru-u] ⸢ik⸣-ki
r 1616	la a-[ka]-lu la šá-tu-u
r 1717	ṭè-e-mu ú-šá-šá
Right
r.e. 18r.e. 18	mur-ṣu ú-rad
r.e. 1919	an-ni-tu
Edge
e. 1e. 1	LUGAL a-na ⸢ARAD^⸣-[šu] ⸢liš-mi^⸣

Adapted from Simo Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (State Archives of Assyria, 10), 1993. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2016, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P333957/.