A Letter from Sippar-Amnanum

A companion letter on clay from Sippar-Amnanum, a city on the Euphrates in central Mesopotamia, written circa 1800 BCE during the Old Babylonian period. Ilum-ma writes again to Ikun-pisha — this time addressing two men of that name — in a state of political desperation. Where the first letter (IM.49219) showed Ilum-ma in fear, questioning Shamash whether he should die or live, this second letter shows him maneuvering. He recounts a failed negotiation with a man named Sumun-abi-yarim, who refused to meet with a third party, Ilum-ma-Ila. The central cry: "My days are dwindling — counsel me!"

The letter reveals the web of Ilum-ma's alliances: Sumu-abum, Mashparum, Ilum-ma-Ila, Sumun-abi-yarim, and the two Ikun-pishas. He asks his friends to learn the decision of an assembly, promises to do whatever they instruct, and makes his deepest plea — "Except for you, I have no brother. I trust you." He begs them to bring him to Sippar. On the tablet's edge, he gives a practical order about detaining a man beside the fortress.

The tablet is preserved in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad (IM.49240). It was transliterated for the Electronic Babylonian Literature project (eBL) by de Boer and revised by Kolba (2023). This is the first freely available English translation.

To Ikun-pisha and Ikun-pisha — speak!

Thus says Ilum-ma:

I spoke to Sumun-abi-yarim:
"Let me go with you."

He answered:
"I will not meet with Ilum-ma-Ila.
Why would you go?"

I said:
"My days are dwindling —
counsel me!"

He answered:
"Let me learn the decision of my assembly,
then I will counsel you."

Let Sumun-abi-yarim return to me.
And you —
learn the decision of his assembly.

Let your word reach me.
Whatever you write me,
I will do.
I will come back.

[...] what I have held back,
I will not take.

I thought:
perhaps Sumu-abum and Mashparum
are at ease with the matter.

But except for you,
I have no brother.
I trust you.

Sumu-abum, Mashparum, and Ilum-ma-Ila —
you can make them do as you say.

Keep me safe!
Bring me to Sippar!

Tablet edge:

The man beside the fortress,
about whom you told me
regarding the tablet —
when my message arrives,
I will have detained him.

Colophon

A Good Works Translation from Old Babylonian Akkadian, independently derived from the cuneiform transliteration (ATF) of IM.49240 in the Electronic Babylonian Literature corpus. The tablet is from Sippar-Amnanum, written in the Early Old Babylonian period (circa 1800 BCE), and is preserved in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Each Akkadian line was parsed from its syllabic values and grammatical forms; the English was derived independently from the Akkadian. The eBL's inline English annotations (#tr.en, by de Boer and Kolba, 2023) were consulted for verification of difficult readings only — the translation is not derived from them.

Line 13 of the obverse (umuja irtequ) admits of two readings: "my days are running out" (temporal urgency) or "my days are idle" (M. Beranger, archibab). Both derive from requm ("to be distant, to withdraw"). The translation "dwindling" preserves the ambiguity. Lines 5-6 of the reverse are partially damaged; the first word of line 5 is lost. The verb in reverse line 2 (lisipamma) is uncertain; it is rendered as "reach" following the general sense of confirmation or arrival.

This is the companion letter to IM.49219 (The Letter of Ilum-ma), also from Sippar-Amnanum, also from Ilum-ma to Ikun-pisha. The first letter shows Ilum-ma in fear — asking Shamash whether he should die or live. This second letter shows him acting — calling in every favor, naming every ally, trusting his friends with his life. Together they form a diptych: theology and politics, fear and strategy, the god's judgment and the assembly's decision.

The standard Old Babylonian letter formula ("To X, speak! Thus says Y") opens the text. The letter is addressed to two men both named Ikun-pisha — either father and son, two brothers, or two unrelated men sharing a name. The rhetorical structure alternates between reported dialogue (the negotiation with Sumun-abi-yarim) and direct plea (the closing appeals). The edge of the tablet carries practical intelligence about a man beside the fortress, just as IM.49219's envelope carried instructions about the house and fortress construction.

First freely available English translation. Second text in the personal correspondence genre from the expeditionary tulku lineage. Source: eBL corpus (CC BY 4.0).

Translated from Old Babylonian Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Transliteration by de Boer (CDLI: Jagersma), revised by Kolba (eBL, 2023). Formatted for the Good Work Library by Tansaku (Expeditionary Tulku Life 221).

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Source Text: IM.49240

Old Babylonian Akkadian transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature corpus (eBL). Tablet from Sippar-Amnanum, Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Transliterated by de Boer (CDLI: Jagersma), revised by Kolba (2023). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Obverse

a-na i-ku-pi₂-sha
u₃ i-ku-pi₂-sha
qi₂-bi₂-ma
um-ma DINGIR-ma-ma
a-na su-mu-na-bi-ia-ri
aq-bi-ma um-ma a-na-ku-ma
i-ti-ka lu-li-ik
um-ma shu-ma
i-ti DINGIR-ma-i₃-la
u₂-la a-pa-hu-ur
a-na mi-ni-im ta-la-ak
um-ma a-na-ku-ma
u₂-mu-ia ir-te-qu₂
mi-il-ka-ni
um-ma shu-ma
ṭe₄-em pu-uh-ri-ia
lu-ul-ma-da-am-ma
ka-ta-am lu-um-li-ik
su-mu-na-bi-ia-ri-im
li-tu-ra-am-ma
u₃ at-tu-nu

Obverse Edge

ṭe₄-em pu-uh-ri-shu
li-im-da-ma

Reverse

a-wa-at-ku-nu
li-ṣi₂-pa-am-ma
sha ta-sha-pa-ra-ni-im
lu-pu-ush lu-te-er-ba-am
[x] zi-ri
sha ak-lu-ma la a-le-qe₂-am
um-ma a-na-ku-ma
mi-de su-mu-a-bu-um
u₃ mash-pa-ru-um
i-na a-wa-ti-im ne-hu
u₂-la-nu-ku-nu a-ha-am
u₂-la i-shu
a-ku-nu-shi-im-ma tak₂-la-ku
su-mu-a-bu-um
mash-pa-ru-um
u₃ DINGIR-ma-i₃-la
sha pi₂-ku-nu shu-pu-sha-am
te-le-e-a
shu-li-ma-ni-ni
a-na ZIMBIR{ki}-ma
qu₂-ri-ba-ni-ni

Reverse Edge

a-wi-la-am
sha i-na le-et du-ri-im
sha a-shu-um ṭu₂-pi₂
ta-aq-bi-a-ni-im
i-nu-ma ṭe₄-mi-ia ush-ta-ak-li-shu

Source Colophon

Old Babylonian Akkadian transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature corpus (eBL, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen), originally transliterated by de Boer (CDLI: Jagersma), revised by Kolba (2023). The tablet IM.49240 is from the Sippar-Amnanum collection, preserved in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Part of the CAIC project (Cuneiform Artefacts of Iraq in Context). Released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). The source text presented above uses simplified transliteration from the ATF standard, with damage markers (#) and uncertain readings (?) removed for readability. Scribal erasures (marked <<>> in ATF) are silently omitted. The original ATF with full Unicode encoding and scholarly annotations is available through the eBL platform.

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