The number of letters from the middle Babylonian towns of Dilbat, Larak and Nippur is surprisingly small. The group contains as far as we know today only six letters, which are in parts badly preserved.
The blessing in the introduction of the letter (addressing the divine couple Uraš and Ninegal) indicates that Šullumu, the sender of letters nos. 86 and 87, resided in Dilbat. He was active at the the town's main temple. He praises his services by saying that the temple was functioning and the priesthood loyal to the king. There are good reasons to assume that the addressed ruler is Sargon and that the letters were written after the transition of power in 710/709.
Da'ini and Nabû-le'i, the later governor of Bit Dakuri,[[47]] addressed letter no. 88 to Sargon. As Bel-iqiša's letter from Babylon (no. 22) indicates, Da'ini, as a loyal follower, was responsible for Larak during Sargon's takeover-bid.[[48]]
The three letters of the šandabakku of Nippur, nos. 89-91, offer hardly any clues for a date.[[49]]That they indicate a good relationship between the king and Nippur might hint that they date to the time immediately after the takeover of Babylonia by the Assyrians in 710-700. In that case they address Sargon. That letter no. 89 speaks of Bariki-il from Larak, might support this assumption, because Šarru-emuranni of Babylon reports in SAA 15 236 that a certain Nabû-šallim, one of his men, was alloted to Umadi, the qurrubūtu, the "bodyguard" of the Crown Prince in 710.[[50]]
47 Cf. no. 82.
48 Cf. M. Dietrich. WO 4/1 (1967), 83-84.
49 Previously these letters were either dated to the reign of Esarhaddon (G. Vera Chamaza, AOAT 295, 198, 421-422) or of Assurhanipal (S. W: Cole, SAAS 4, 77-78; G. Frame, Babylorna, 217).
50 Whether there was a connection between him and Nabû-ušallim of Uruk durrng the reign of Sennacherib (cf. nos. 140-144) is to be left open.
Manfried Dietrich
Manfried Dietrich, 'Letters from Dilbat, Larak and Nippur (nos. 86-91)', The Neo-Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib, SAA 17. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 2003; online contents: SAAo/SAA17 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa17/presentationoftheletters/fromdilbatlarakandnippurnos8691/]