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Records of the Past, 2nd Series, Vol. III

By A. H. Sayce

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Letter of Assur-yuballidh, King of Assyria, to Amenophis IV, King of Egypt

I.—Letter of Assur-yuballidh, King of Assyria, to Amenophis IV, King Of Egypt 1
1. To Napkhurîya (Neferu-kheper-Ra) [the great king]
2. the king of Egypt, 2 my brother, [I write]
3. thus, (even I) Assur-yuballidh king of the country of Assyria,
4. the great king, thy brother.

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5. To thyself, to thy house and thy country may there be peace!

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6. That I have seen thy ambassadors
7. has pleased (me) greatly; thy ambassadors
8. I have sent for to appear in my presence.

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9. A chariot [the choicest?] in the kingdom with (its) harness
10. and two white horses, [together with]
11. one chariot without harness and a seal of white alabaster
12. I have despatched as a present for thee.

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13. For the great king is produced perpetually
14. the gold (which) in thy country (is like) the dust

15. (that) they collect: why in thy presence
16. is it brought and kept back, is it withheld and not sent?
17. All the gold that is my property,
18. as well as what is lacking to it, send.

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19. When Asur-nadin-akhi my father
20. sent (an embassy) to the country of Egypt (Mitsri),
21. 20 talents of gold did they despatch to him.

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22. When the king of the country of Khani-rabbatû 1
23. to thy father and the land of Egypt
24. sent (an embassy), 20 talents of gold
25. did they despatch to him.

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26. [As] to the king of Khani-[rab]bati
27. [so] also to myself
28. despatch the gold.
29. [The road both in] going and returning
30. for the hands of my ambassadors
31. I have made secure. 2

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32. If thou inclinest thy face 3 favourably
33. despatch much gold, and thy letter in return
34. write (to me) and what thou desirest let them take.

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35. Behold, distant 4 lands
36. have the ambassadors visited 5 and they have journeyed to (many) cities.

37. As for thy ambassadors
38. they have delayed on the way because the ’Suti 1
39. threatened 2 them with death, until I sent and
40. the ’Suti took fright (?) 3.
41. My ambassadors … them
42. [and] they did not delay.

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43. When the ambassadors (reached) the frontier (of Assyria)
44. why do they not wait? 4 and
45. at the frontier they are in a hurry (?) 5
46. It is fitting (?) at the frontier they should wait
47. for the king; everything is there
48. and he has established (it) and at the frontier
49 he has arranged (it). Against the king who fulfils everything
50. there is no charge (?): why
51. at the frontier are they in a hurry (?),
52. even the ambassadors who …

The last three lines are too obliterated for translation.

Footnotes
61:1 Winckler and Abel: Mittheilungen, i. p. 8.

61:2 Written Mitstsari as in the letters of the king of Mitanni. The Babylonian form of the name is Mitsri, corresponding to the Hebrew Matsor and Mitsraim. In the later Assyrian inscriptions the name appears as Mutsur or Mutsri, probably through confusion with the name of Mutsri, a district to the north of Assyria.

62:1 "Khani the great," or Eastern Kappadokia, the capital of which was Malatiyeh.

62:2 Ultammatstsi.

62:3 Literally, "If thou art good as to thy face."

62:4 Ruqatum.

62:5 Ilika.

63:1 Nomads, who ranged through the desert on either side of the Tigris, in Mesopotamia and the south-east of Assyria.

63:2 Ura‘u, the Heb. yârê.

63:3 Probably to be read khardê, "fear."

63:4 Ultannazazu.

63:5 Imattu; the verb imati occurs in K 1282, Rev. 18.