| Line | Text original | Text translated |
|---|---|---|
| o. 1 | a-na den.zu-i-di2-nam | To Sîn-iddinam, |
| o. 2 | qi2-bi2-ma | say: |
| o. 3 | um-ma ḫ[a]-am-mu-ra-pi2-ma | thus (speaks) Ḫammurāpi. |
| o. 4 | a-nu-um-ma Išu-nu-ur-ḫa-li | |
| o. 5 | a-⸢na⸣ zu2.lum u3 še.giš.i3 | |
| o. 6 | šu-ud-du-nim aṭ-ṭar-dam | |
| o. 7 | it-ti-<šu> lu2meš ta-ak-lu-tim | |
| o. 8 | šu-ku-un-ma | |
| o. 9 | zu2.lum u3 še.giš.i3 li-ša-ad-di-nu | |
| o. 10 | ⸢x x x x x x x⸣ | […] |
| 0 | (Rest lost) | |
| r. 1' | ⸢x⸣ [x x x x o] | |
| r. 2' | a-na šu-nu-ur-⸢ḫa-li⸣ | |
| r. 3' | li-id-di-nu-ma | |
| r. 4' | zu2.lum u3 še.giš.i3 | |
| r. 5' | ša šu-ud-du-nu-ma ša-ak-nu | |
| r. 6' | li-ṣe-nu-nim-ma | |
| r. 7' | a-na ka2.dingir.raki[geogr=Bābilim] | |
| r. 8' | li-ib-lu-nim |
AbB 02 022
Commentary
1. Palaeographical and philological commentary
- Line 10: The hand copy from King 1898 shows a minima 6 signs; previous transcriptions had not indicated this. After checking the photography on the British Museum’s website, the line is quite lost, but the two first signs could differ from those drawn on the copy.
- Line 1’: The fact that the sign is shifted on the line could suggest that this passage occupied a space of two lines without separation.
2. Historical commentary
In addition to collecting silver and livestock due to the Palace, Sîn-iddinam also oversaw the collection of foodstuffs such as the dates and sesame mentioned in this letter. The cultivation of date palms was entrusted to the chief arborists-sandanakkum and the chief pheniculturists-nukaribbum. However, there seems to be no evidence of sesame producers being attached to the Palace service. Therefore, sesame was maybe purchased from local and independent cultivators by merchants working for the Palace (Fiette 2018: 26).
Bibliography
- Fiette 2018 = Fiette, Baptiste (2018): Le palais, la terre et les hommes: La gestion du domaine royal de Larsa, d'après les archives de Šamaš-Hazir. Archives babyloniennes 3. Mémoires de NABU 20. Paris: SEPOA.
- Figulla 1961 = Figulla, Hugo H. (1961): Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum 1. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
- Frankena 1966 = Frankena, Rintje (1966): Briefe aus dem British Museum (LIH und CT 2-33). Altbabylonische Briefe in Umschrift und Übersetzung 2. Leiden: Brill.
- Ishikida 1999 = Ishikida, Miki Y. (1999): The Ilkum Institution in the Provincial Administration of Larsa during the Reign of Hammurapi (1792-1750 B.C.), in: Orient 34, 61-88.
- King 1898 = King, Leonard W. (1898): The Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, King of Babylon, about B.C. 2200, to which are added a Series of Letters of Other Kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon. London: Luzac and Co..
- Kouwenberg 2002 = Kouwenberg, Norbertus J. C. (2002): Ventive, Dative and Allative in Old Babylonian, in: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 92, 200-240.
- Pecha 2006 = Pecha, Lukáš (2006): Silver as a Means of Transport in the Old Babylonian Period, in: Charvát, Petr; Lafont, Bertrand; Mynářová, Jana; Pecha, Lukáš (eds.), L'État, le pouvoir, les prestations et leurs formes en Mésopotamie ancienne. Actes du Colloque assyriologique franco-tchèque, Paris, 7-8 novembre 2002. Prague: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, 109-118.
- Pecha 2018 = Pecha, Lukáš (2018): The Material and Ideological Base of the Old Babylonian State. History, Economy, and Politics. Lanham: Lexington Books.