The three letters nos. 7-9 constitute the first subdivision. They have a remarkably large ductus of writing, inclined to the left and with considerable space between the lines. The sender, whose name we might reconstruct as Nabû-ahhe-lumur, is a commander of Sargon's troops stationed in Sippar. He is also a colleague of Ilu-iada', the Governor of Dur-Kurigalzu/Der.[[28]] His dispatches were probably written around 710.[[29]]
The second, more extensive subdivision, consists ofletters no. 10-16. They have a fine writing and come from the commander Nabû-bel-šumati, who controlled the fortress of Birati. They mostly concern the events of 710/09 when Merodach-Baladan retreated to the southeast of Babylonia (no. 10: 10-12).[[30]]
The third subdivision consists of letters nos. 17-19 of Marduk-šuma-iddina, who acted as Sargon's governor for the area northeast of Babylon.
28 Cf. SAA 15, xxxviii, and nos. 155-176.
29 Based on the ductus of writing, fragment no. 200 might also have been written by this author; G. Vera Chamaza, AOAT 295, 177-178, 394-396, dates this letter to the reign of Esarhaddon.
30 This Nabû-bel-šumati (cf. H. D. Baker, PNA 2/2, 810-814, no. 3) is not the grandson of Merodach-Baladan of the same name, cf. M. Dietrich, AOAT 7 (1970), 36 n. 4; G. Frame, JCS 36 (1984), 70 n. 16.
Manfried Dietrich
Manfried Dietrich, 'Letters from the region north of Babylon: Sippar and Birati/Harratu (nos. 7-19)', 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/fromsipparnos719/]