A Letter Apparently From Prince Belshazzar (see pp. 446-451).
Reading edition
A Letter Apparently From Prince Belshazzar (see pp. 446-451).
This is evidently one of the documents obtained by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam at Sippar (Abu-habbah), as the reference to Bunene, one of the deities of the city, shows. Unfortunately, it is very defective, there being only eight lines (five of them incomplete) on the obverse, and the remains of the last three lines of the communication on the reverse. What makes it probable that the Belshazzar who sent the letter is the son of Nabonidus, and the hero of the fall of Babylon, is, that no honorific expressions are used with reference to the person to whom it is addressed—he does not call Mušêzib-Marduk his lord, or father, or brother, as was the custom in private correspondence. As far as it is preserved, the following is a rendering of this document, which is of interest mainly on account of the personality of its assumed writer—
“Letter of Bêl-šarra-uṣur to Mušêzib-Marduk. May the gods grant thee prosperity. Behold, I have sent Bêl-šunu and ... the (two) mašmašē, to.... Send the requirements for the robes (?) of the deity Bunene....
(Several lines are wanting here.)
[pg 539]
... I have caused ... to be ... the threshold ... may all....”
The documents referring to Belshazzar's residence at Sippar, are mentioned on pp. 414, 449, 450.