
Obverse
o 1o 1	a-na LUGAL EN-ia	(1) To the king, my lord: your servant, Aššur-reṣuwa, priest of Ninurta. Good health to the king, my lord. May Bel, Aššur, and Ninurta bless the king, my lord. May they give to the king, my lord, long days, everlasting years, long life, and the attainment of all he strives for.
o 22	ARAD-ka ^maš-šur—re-ṣu-u-a
o 33	LÚ.SANGA ša ^dMAŠ
o 44	lu šul-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ía
o 55	^dBE aš-šur ^dMAŠ a-na LUGAL EN-ía
o 66	lik-ru-bu
o 77	UD-MEŠ GÍD.DA-<MEŠ> MU.AN.NA-MEŠ
o 88	da-ra-a-te la-bur TI.LA
o 99	ṣa-mur ka-šá-du
o 1010	a-na LUGAL EN-ía li-di-nu
o 1111	ina ŠÀ AD-šú ša LUGAL EN-ía	(11) In the time of the father of the king, my lord, the clergy of the temple of Ninurta cut off 3 fingers (worth) of golden appendages from the beams of gold at the head of Ninurta. I turned in a report to the father of the king, my lord. All the men [went] to meet [...].
o 1212	LÚ.TU—É ša É—^dMAŠ
o 1313	TA^v ŠÀ GIŠ.ÙR-MEŠ ša KUG.GI
o 1414	ša SAG ^dMAŠ 03 ŠU.SI
o 1515	mu-še-ṣi-iʾ KUG.GI ib-ta-at-qu
o 1616	ṭè-e-mu ina IGI AD-šú
o 1717	ša LUGAL EN-ia
o 1818	ú-tir LÚ.ERIM-MEŠ
o 1919	[gab-bi]-šú-nu ina GABA ⸢x⸣+[x]
Bottom
b.e. 20b.e. 20	[x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x x]	(b.e. 20) (Break)
b.e. 2121	[x x x]+⸢x ti^?⸣ [x x]
b.e. 2222	[x x x] ⸢ú^?⸣ [x x]
Reverse
r 1r 1	[x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x] ⸢EN^?⸣ [x x]
r 22	[x x x]+⸢x⸣ ina ŠÀ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x]	(r 2) [...] inside [......]
r 33	a [x x x]+⸢x⸣-šu-nu ur-⸢x⸣+[x x x]	(r 3) their [...] ... [...]
r 44	⸢x⸣+[x x] ⸢ru⸣-ṭu DAGAL [o]	(r 4) They cut off a [... x] spans wide and 11 cubits (= 5.5 m) long, and they removed 8 silver bands from the walls. The eunuch of the king, my lord, should come and investigate. Nabû-eriba, the lamentation priest, and Galul, the temple guard, were in charge of the cutting. They should be interrogated, and their accomplices should be brought out.
r 55	11 ina 01 KÙŠ GÍD.⸢DA⸣
r 66	ib-ta-at-qu 08 sa-kan-ni
r 77	ša KUG.UD TA^v ŠÀ É.SIG₄-MEŠ
r 88	ú-ta-si-ḫu LÚ.SAG šá LUGAL
r 99	EN-ia li-lil-ka le-mur
r 1010	^m^dPA—SU LÚ.UŠ.KU
r 1111	^mga-lul LÚ.EN.NUN É—DINGIR
r 1212	šu-nu EN ba-ta-qi
r 1313	⸢liš-al⸣-lu-šú-nu ERIM-MEŠ
r 1414	ša is-si-šú-nu lu-še-ṣu-u-ni
r 1515	an-nu-rig a-na-ku ù LÚ.ḫa-za-nu	(r 15) Now then I and the mayor of Calah had the overseer of the city-gates go down to Urdu-Marduk and Sangu-Issar, and he had a look. The king, my lord, should ask him how much was cut off.
r 1616	ša URU.kal-ḫa a-na ^m⸢ARAD^⸣—^{d^}KU^* a-na ^mSANGA—^d15
r 1717	LÚ.GAL—KÁ.GAL-MEŠ nu-se-ri-di
r 1818	e-ta-mar LUGAL be-lí
r 1919	liš-šá-al-šú ki ma-ṣi-ni
r 2020	ba-ti-qu-u-ni ú-ma-a	(r 20) How many have they become now? They have been taught (a lesson), but (still) they don't keep their hands off the temple.
Right
r.e. 21r.e. 21	a-na ki ma-ṣi i-tur-ru
r.e. 2222	la-mu-du a-ḫa-šú-nu
r.e. 2323	ina É.KUR ta-la-ka
r.e. 2424	AD-ka a-ḫa-šú-nu ina É.KUR	(r 24) (When in the time of) your father they didn't keep their hands off the temple, some of the men were killed. The king, my lord, should do as he d[eems best].
r.e. 2525	ta-ta-lak
Edge
e. 1e. 1	ERIM-MEŠ TA^v ŠÀ-šú-nu de-e-ku LUGAL be-lí ki-i ša ⸢i⸣-[la-u-ni]
e. 22	le-pu-šú ú-di-ia a-na-ku a-ḫaz de-ni la-áš-šú ⸢DUMU^*⸣ 01-en [x x]	(e. 2) I am alone; there is no one to take care of the case. They are one [...]. The king, my lord, should know (this).
e. 33	šu-nu LUGAL be-lí lu ú-di

Adapted from Steven W Cole, Peter Machinist, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Priests to Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (State Archives of Assyria, 13), 1998. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko and Silvie Zamazalová, 2011-13, as part of the AHRC-funded research project “Mechanisms of Communication in an Ancient Empire: The Correspondence between the King of Assyria and his Magnates in the 8th Century BC” (AH/F016581/1; University College London) directed by Karen Radner. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P334340/.