SAA 10 002. The Substitute King Reveals a Conspiracy (ABL 0223) [from astrologers]


Obverse
o 1o 1	a-na LÚ.ENGAR EN-ia	(1) To the 'farmer,' my lord: your servant Nabû-zeru-lešir. Good health to my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless my lord for many years!
o 22	ARAD-ka ^m^dPA—NUMUN—SI.SÁ
o 33	lu DI-mu a-na EN-ia
o 44	^dAG u ^dAMAR.UTU a-na EN-ia
o 55	MU.AN.NA-MEŠ ma-aʾ-da-te lik-ru-bu
o 66	GISKIM-MEŠ lu-u šá AN-e lu šá KI.TIM	(6) I wrote down whatever signs there were, be they celestial, terrestrial or of malformed births, and had them recited in front of Šamaš, one after the other. They (the substitute king and queen) were treated with wine, washed with water and anointed with oil; I had those birds cooked and made them eat them. The substitute king of the land of Akkad took the signs on himself.
o 77	lu-u ša BE—iz-bi am—mar ši-na-ni
o 88	a-sa-ṭar ina ba-at-ta-ta-a.a
o 99	ma-ḫar ^dUTU ú-sa-ad-bi-ib-šú-nu
o 1010	ina GEŠTIN NAG-ú ina A-MEŠ TU₅
o 1111	ina Ì-MEŠ ŠÉŠ-MEŠ-šú MUŠEN-MEŠ am-mu-te
o 1212	ú-sa-ab-ši-il ú-sa-kil-šú-nu
o 1313	LUGAL pu-u-ḫi šá KUR—URI.KI GISKIM-MEŠ
o 1414	it^*-taḫ-ra-an-ni i-si-si	(14) He cried out: "Because of what ominous sign have you enthroned a substitute king?" And he claims: "Say [in] the presence of the 'farmer': on the eve[ning of the xth, we were drinking w]ine. Ṣallaya gave b[ribes] to his servant Nabû-[uṣalli] and meanwhile he inquired about Nikkal-iddina, Šamaš-ibni, and Na'id-Marduk, speaking about upheaval of the country: 'Seize the fortified places one after another!' He is to be watched (carefully); he should no (longer) belong to the entourage of the 'farmer.' His servant Nabû-uṣalli should be questioned — he will spill everything."
o 1515	ma-a mì-i-nu GISKIM la-ap-tu
o 1616	ina ŠÀ-bi-⸢šu^*⸣ LUGAL pu-u-ḫi tu-še-ši-ba
o 1717	ù i-da-bu-ub ma-a
o 1818	[ina] IGI LÚ.ENGAR qi-i-bi
Bottom
b.e. 19b.e. 19	ma-a ina ba-⸢a⸣-[di ša UD x-KÁM]
b.e. 2020	ma-a ⸢GEŠTIN⸣ [ni-si-ti]
b.e. 2121	ṭa-[aʾ-ta-a-ti]
Reverse
r 1r 1	^mṣal-la-a.a a-na ^m^dPA—[ú-ṣal-li]
r 22	ARAD-šú it-ti-din ina ŠÀ-⸢bi⸣
r 33	ina UGU ^m^dNIN.GAL—SUM-na
r 44	ina UGU ^m^dUTU—ib-ni
r 55	ina UGU ^mI—^dmar-duk
r 66	i-sa-al ma-a ina UGU šá-bal-ku-te
r 77	ša ma-a-ti i-du-bu-ub
r 88	ma-a É—BÀD-MEŠ ina bat-ta-ta-a.a
r 99	ṣab-bi-ta ma-a na-aṣ-ru šu-u
r 1010	ina pa-an LÚ.ENGAR lu-u la i-za-az
r 1111	ma-a a-na ^m^dPA—ú-ṣal-li ARAD-šú
r 1212	liš-ú-lu ma-a šu-u gab-bu
r 1313	i-da-bu-ub

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/P334164/.