Source: Harrak, Assyria and Hanigalbat; Lackenbacher, RA 1976. The letter is restored from 3 fragments - lines 1-11 from 2 heavily-damaged fragments and the balance from a fragment in excellent condition. Alternative possible restorations of the sender and addressee are shown. Proponents of Shalmaneser as sender point out that identification with full patronymics are used in royal inscriptions, but would not be characteristic of correspondence. This seems pretty convincing to me. The addressee is inferred only from [....]-na šar mat u-[... . Alternative addressees are Ibaranu or Ammistaru, the father of Ibaranu. Lackenbacher indicated that the most common case for Ibaranu in an salutation would be I-ba-ra-ni (RS 17.289; RS 17.423, RS 17.385), but the form I-ba-ra-na definitely occurs see RS 17.292; RS 17.247. The name of an addressee king is sometimes used and sometimes not: Lackenbacher RA 1976. See for example RS 17.286 and others.
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Obv. |
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1 |
...[.SILIM-ma-nu] –SAG LUGAL KUR [Aš-šur]... OR ...[TUKUL-ti-dNIN.URTA LUGAL KUR Aš-šur DUMU SILIM-ma-nu] –SAG LUGAL KUR [Aš-šur].
OR ....[Tukulti-Ninurta king of the land Assur son of Šulmanu]-asared king of the land [Assur....]. |
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2 |
...[a]-na LUGAL KUR u[?-ga-ri-it?...] OR ....[a-na Ii-ba-ra]-na LUGAL KUR u[?-ga-ri-it] ..
...[to Ibara]-nu the king of U[garit] |
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2-11 |
(damaged passages containing greetings.) |
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12-30a |
Now T[udhaliya king of] Ha[tti] wrote the following to m[e
saying]: “Why did you conquer and capture [the merchants ? of my all[y]?
Come, let us fight! Is it not so? I have set out against you for batt[le]”.
But I sent him the following message: “Why have you set out against me? Have
I set out against you?” At that time, I mustered my soldiers and my chariots.
(But) before I reached the city Taidu., Tudhaliya, the Hittite king, sent
another messenger of his to me holding two hostile tablets and one friendly
tablet. He showed me the two hostile tablets. When my army heard the hostile
words, they were eager and would have set out; the messenger of the king of
Hatti observed that. When three days had elapsed, the messenger of the king
of Hatti presented to me the friendly tablet, and on the tablet, it was
recorded: |
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30b-37 |
“May the Storm-deity and the Sun-deity take note! I swear
that I am not hostile to the king of Ashur my brother [but] I am friendly. I
swear that I will send back to him the fugitives[..] and I will[…] the
soldiers of [,…] who fled from the king of Ashur and entered the land of
Hatti […]. And I will bring […] to the king of Ashur […] Why should we
brothers be at war with each other? |
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[too fragmentary] |
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Rev 1-7a |
When the king of Hat[ti] had sent me this message, the
city of Nihri[ia…]. I brought my army near […] and he besieged [?-difficult
translation] Nihriia. [The…] of the king of Hatti was stationed with his
soldiers in the city Nihriia. I sent this message to the king of Hatti,
saying: |
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7b-15a |
“The city Nihriia is hostile to me. Why are your soldiers occupying the city
Nihriia? Are you truly friendly toward [me] and not hostile? Why have your
soldiers fortified the city Nihriia? I am going to besiege the city
Nihriia. Send a message and have your
army leave the city Nihriia.” (But) he
was not agreeable (and) did not send a message. In front of my messenger, he raised his hand in the presence of
the Sun-deity, saying: |
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15b-20a |
“May you take ntoe, O Sun-deity! I swear that I won’t, now
that the king of Ashur has taken up battle order!” When I heard these words
of his, I wrote out a treaty and sent it to him, saying: ‘Touch this tablet
on your honour in front of the Sun-deity.” (But) he did not agree to touch
the tablet in the presence of the Sun-deity”. |
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20b-26a |
At that time, I removed my army from the city
Nihriia. I stationed my […] troops in
the city Shura; they marched a distance of 120 double-hours against the […]
troops of the king of Hatti. A
fugitive fled from the army of Hatti and reached me; in my presence, he said
the following: |
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26b-39 |
“The king of Hatti is in battle order and on the march,
but he keeps on writing evasively to you.
You should know this! Be cautious!” When I heard the message of the
fugitive, I called the herald of my camp saying: “Put on your armour and
mount your chariots, the king of Hatti is on the march […].[…] I harnessed my
chariot and set off, saying “The king of Hatti is in battle order and on the
march”. But my [troops and] my [chariots] did not [leave] the camp before me,
so I entered […]. I won a great victory.
[…] were led off […] with his troops before me and went away[…] |