The letters from the King (nos. 1-6)

Stylistic reasons and the ductus of writing suggest that nos. 1 to 3 and 5 can be assigned to a single scribe in Sargon's service. Prosopographic details and the contents of these letters give good reasons to assume a date of 710/09 (during the conquest of Babylonia) for these letters:

• the reference to a Yakinite, probably Merodach-Baladan, in no. 1;
• the explicit reference to Merodach-Baladan in no. 2;
• the reference to Bel-iqisa, the prelate of Babylon, in no. 3;
• finally, the request addressed to Bullu(u to open the gates of Uruk to the troops of the King.

The fragmentary letter no. 6, which differs considerably in its ductus from other letters, might belong to a letter of Sennacherib from 693 to 689, if one is right to reconstruct the fragmentary name Humban as Humban-nimena and if it thus refers to the Elamite ruler of the same name. The ductus of no. 4 resembles that of no. 6 and mentions the Saba'u in the context of tribute payments to Sennacherib.^[[27]]

27 Cf. E. Frahm, Sanherib (1997), 145-146; H. Gaiter, Fs. Dostal (1993), 29-40; for the Sabaeans in Sargon's inscriptions, cf. A. Fuchs, Sar. (1994), 456.

Manfried Dietrich

Manfried Dietrich, 'The letters from the King (nos. 1-6)', 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/fromthekingnos16/]