SAA 18 197. The Territory is too Big for us to Guard (ABL 0617+)[via saao/saa18]


Obverse
o 1o 1	a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR be-lí-⸢i⸣-[ni]	(1) To the king of the lands, o[ur] lord: your servants, Illil-b[ani], Aššur-belu-taqqin, and the people of N[ippur]. May [Enli]l and Mulliltu, Ninurta and [Nusku] bl[ess the king] of the lands, our lord.
o 22	ARAD-MEŠ-ka ^m^dEN.LÍL—⸢ba⸣-[ni]
o 33	⸢^m⸣AN.ŠÁR—EN—LAL^-in ù LÚ.⸢EN^⸣.[LÍL.KI-MEŠ]
o 44	[^dEN].⸢LÍL u ^d⸣NIN.LÍL ^dMAŠ u [^dPA.TÚG]
o 55	[a-na LUGAL] ⸢KUR⸣.KUR EN-i-ni ⸢lik⸣-[ru-bu]
o 66	[šá LUGAL EN-a]-ni ⸢iš^*⸣-[pur-an-na-ši]	(6) [As to what the king, o]ur [lord], w[rote to us]: "[...] to [...]!" — The king, ou[r] lord, [knows] whether we have ever left our watch or been negligent in our watch since the king, our lord, appointed u[s] to [our] watc[h]. The territory before us is extensive. Five stages of territory square, forty length units, is the stretch of a watch for cavalry with archers. We have several times written to the house of our lords about the horses. Now we are keeping watch with archers (only) and praying to the gods of the king, our lord.
o 77	[um-ma x x]+⸢x-tu^? a^?-na^?⸣ [x x x x]
o 88	[x x x] ⸢šu⸣-nu LUGAL EN-a-⸢ni⸣ [i-di]
o 99	⸢ki^-i^ ul^*⸣-tu UGU ina EN.⸢NUN⸣-[i-ni]
o 1010	LUGAL EN-⸢a⸣-ni ip-qí-da-⸢an-na^*⸣-[ši]
o 1111	EN.NUN-a-ni nu-maš-ši-ru u ina EN.NUN-⸢i-ni⸣
o 1212	niš-lu-ú qaq-qa-ri ina pa-ni-i-⸢ni⸣
o 1313	ra-pa-áš 05 mar-di-ti qaq-qa-ru
Bottom
b.e. 14b.e. 14	40 ⸢UŠ^⸣.BI^ re-bit EN.⸢NUN⸣
b.e. 1515	šá ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ
b.e. 1616	it-ti ERIM-MEŠ <GIŠ>.BAN šu-ú
Reverse
r 1r 1	u a-di 02-šú 03-šú a-na UGU
r 22	ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ a-na É—EN-MEŠ-e-ni
r 33	ni-il-ta-par a-du-⸢ú⸣ ina ERIM-MEŠ GIŠ.BAN
r 44	ni-nam-ṣar u DINGIR-MEŠ šá LUGAL EN-i-ni nu-ṣal-⸢la⸣ [o]
r 55	⸢a-na⸣ UGU ^m^dAG—ŠU.2—ṣa-bat u ^m^dUTU—[x x šá]	(r 5) Concerning Nabû-qati-ṣabat and Šamaš-[... about whom the king], our [lo]rd, wrote to u[s]:
r 66	[LUGAL] ⸢EN⸣-a-ni iš-pur-an-na-[ši um-ma]
r 77	[x x] URU.šá-ra-gi-ti ina^* ⸢x⸣+[x x x]	(r 7) "[...] Šarragitu in ... [...]
r 88	[x x] ⸢a⸣-ta-a ⸢i⸣-te-⸢bi⸣-[ru-ni^? o]	(r 8) "[...]why have th[ey] cros[sed ...]?"
r 99	[x x] ⸢EN⸣.NUN-⸢i⸣-[ni x x x x x]	(r 9) [...] o[ur w]atch [...]
r 1010	[x x x x x x x x x x šá^?]	(r 10) [...... about whom the king], our [lord], sa[id]: "Has he [no]t co[me] to Nippur?" The gods of the king (are) on our faces:1 up to now h[e] has not been se[en] in o[ur] territory (or) in our watch, and we have not he[ard] anything of him.
r 1111	[LUGAL EN]-⸢a-ni iq^*-bu⸣-[ú um-ma]
r 1212	⸢ul⸣ a-na EN.LÍL.KI il-⸢li⸣-[ka-a]
r 1313	DINGIR-MEŠ šá LUGAL ina UGU pa-ni-in-⸢ni⸣ [o]
r 1414	a-di UGU šá en-na ina qaq-qar-⸢i⸣-[ni]
Right
r.e. 15r.e. 15	ina EN.NUN-i-ni ul in-na-[mir]
r.e. 1616	u ši-mu-ut^?-su ul niš-⸢mu⸣
r.e. 1717	a-du-ú EN.NUN šá LUGAL EN-⸢a^*⸣-[ni]	(r 17) Now then we are keeping the watch which the king, o[ur] lord, assigned to u[s], and [we are praying to] the gods [of the king, our lord].
r.e. 1818	ip-qí-da-an-na-⸢ši^*⸣
Edge
e. 1e. 1	ni-nam-ṣar u DINGIR-⸢MEŠ⸣ [šá LUGAL EN-i-ni nu-ṣal-la]

1 The gods of the king may be being adjured.

Adapted from Frances Reynolds, The Babylonian Correspondence of Esarhaddon and Letters to Assurbanipal and Sin-šarru-iškun from Northern and Central Babylonia (State Archives of Assyria, 18), 2003. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2015-16, 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/P237046/.