VII.—Letters from Dusratta, King of Mitanni, to Amenophis III

Records of the Past, 2nd series, Vol. III, ed. by A. H. Sayce, [1890], at sacred-texts.com

p. 73

VII.—Letters from Dusratta, King of Mitanni, to Amenophis III ¹

No. 1

1. To Nimmuriya the great king,
2. the king of Egypt, my brother,
3. my son-in-law, whom I love
4. and who loves me, speak
5. thus: Dusratta, the great king,
6. the king of the country of Mitanni, thy brother, thy father-in-law,
7. and who loves thee;
8. unto me is peace, unto my brother and unto my son-in-law
9. may there be peace; to thy houses, to thy wives,
10. to thy sons, ² to thy men, to thy chariots,
11. to thy horses, to thy country
12. and to thy property, may there be abundant peace!

_______________

13. Of my brother, whom I love,
14. the wife, my daughter, I deliver to him:
15. may the Sun-god and Istar march before [my] brother:
16. according to the heart of my brother may they [act]:
17. and may my brother on this [same] day
18. rejoice: may the Sun-god and [Istar]
19. [hear] the prayer of my brother:
20. abundant joy [to my brother]
21. may they give, may [they …]:
22. and may my brother [live?]
23. for ever in pea[ce]!

_______________

24. Manê, the messenger of [my brother],
25. and Khanê, the dragoman ³

p. 74

26. of my brother, like a god ¹ thou didst [send],
27. many presents didst thou give [them],
28. thou didst [honour] them greatly
29. on account of their letter, counting on their service (?) ²;
30. the men who really live
31. if at any time I see not, may my gods
32. and the gods of my brother protect them.

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33. Now Nakhramassi,
34. whom thou hast seen, to transact (business) with my brother
35. I send, and also one necklace
36. of crystal and alabaster
37. and some gold for a present
38. to my brother I have despatched,
39. and for 100 thousand years
40. for the service (?) of my brother
41. may it be used. ³

Footnotes

73:1 Winckler and Abel, Mittheilungen, i. p. 17.

73:2 "Sons" may mean "children" here.

73:3 Targuman[nu]. The word occurs for the first time in this letter.

74:1 Or "according to the god."

74:2 I am quite uncertain as to the correct translation of this passage.

74:3 I follow Dr. Zimmern, though with hesitation, in reading nati as nadi.