SAA 21 124. Let Your Army Come and Take the Lapis Lazuli (ABL 1240)


Obverse
o 1o 1	[ana^?] ⸢šar^?⸣-ri [x x x x x x]	(1) [To] the king [...... whose] sceptre [is just and who pours sw]eet oil [......]: Thus (says) Sar[dur]i, [your servant], king of Urarṭu:
o 22	⸢šá⸣ GIŠ.PA-šú [i-šá-rat x x]
o 33	0 Ì.GIŠ ṭa-[bu x x x x x]
o 44	um-ma ^m^d⸢IŠ⸣.[TAR—du]-⸢ri⸣ [ARAD-ka]
o 55	LUGAL KUR.ú-ra-ar-ṭi-im-[ma]
o 66	am—mì-ni LUGAL be-lí UD-mi-[šam]	(6) Why does the king, my lord, always write to me in such irritated and angry terms? (When) at the time of your father Munuhi was calumniated in this very manner, did I not rule to the effect that the king of the gods, the exalted one, the ruler of the entire universe delivered in the hands of his worshipper those who had sinned (against him), before and behind, right and left (and)above and below?
o 77	ik-ki te-ku-ti u ma-le-e lib-ba^-a^-[ti]
o 88	il-ta-nap-pa-ra AD-ka ki-i pi-i
o 99	an-nim-ma kar-ṣi šá ^mmu-nu-ḫi
o 1010	ki-i i-tak-kal-lu-šú ul un-da-ʾi-ir
o 1111	u šá pa-ni ar-ki im-na šu-me-lu
o 1212	e-la-nu u šap-la-nu i-ḫa-ṭu
o 1313	LUGAL DINGIR-MEŠ šá-qu-ú mut-tal-lu
o 1414	⸢gim⸣-ri kiš-šat da-ád-me
o 1515	[a]-na ŠU.2 pa-li-ḫi-šú uš-tam-ni
o 1616	áš-šú NA₄.ZA.GÌN šá LUGAL be-lí iš-pu-ra	(16) Concerning the lapis lazuli about which the king, my lord, wrote to me: "Let lapis lazuli be brought to me" — does the king, my lord, not know that lapis lazuli is our god? If I took the lapis lazuli, the country would rebel against me.
o 1717	um-ma NA₄.ZA.GÌN liš-šu-ni
o 1818	LUGAL be-lí ul i-de-e
o 1919	ki-i NA₄.ZA.GÌN i-lu-ni
o 2020	u ki-i NA₄.ZA.GÌN at-ta-šá-a
o 2121	KUR i-si-iḫ-ḫa-an-ni
Reverse
r 1r 1	ki-i pa-an LUGAL be-lí-ia maḫ-ru	(r 1) If it is agreeable to the king, let a huge army come and take the lapis lazuli. If, when they come, I shall not dine with them, nor march at their side, nor rise before your messenger, nor ask about the well-being of the king, my lord, my the king not hold it for a sin.
r 22	e-mu-qu ma-aʾ-da-a-ti
r 33	lil-li-ku-nim-ma NA₄.ZA.GÌN liš-šu-ú
r 44	ki-i šá it-tal-ku-ni NINDA-ḪI.A
r 55	it-ti-šú-nu ul ak-kal
r 66	A-MEŠ it-ti-šú-nu ul a-šat-ti
r 77	i-tu-uš-šú-nu ul et-ti-iq
r 88	ma-ḫar LÚ.DUMU—šip-ri-ka ul a-te-eb-bi
r 99	ù šul-mu LUGAL be-lí-ía
r 1010	ul a-šá-aʾ-al LUGAL a-na ḫi-ṭu
r 1111	la un-da-na-ʾa-ar

r 1212	a-na pi-i šá [x] ⸢x x x⸣	(r 12) According to [...].
	rest uninscribed	(rest uninscribed)

Adapted from Simo Parpola, The Correspondence of Assurbanipal, Part I: Letters from Assyria, Babylonia, and Vassal States (State Archives of Assyria, 21), 2018. Adapted by Jamie Novotny and lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2018, 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/P237246/.