Letter of Ummanaldash, King of Elam, to Ashurbânipal, King of Assyria, peace be to my brother. From the beginning, the Martenai [_Elamite name for the Sealanders, from Marratu, __“__the Salt Marshes__”_] have been sinners against thee. Nabû-bêl-shumâte came from there. The crossing of the land ... over against Elam I broke down, [to keep him out]. Thou hast sent letters [_or forces?_] saying, “Send Nabû-bêl-shumâte.” I will seize Nabû-bêl-shumâte and will send him to thee. The Martenai whom from the beginning Nabû-bêl-shumâte brought us ... they are people who came by water from ... it entered into their minds and they came, they broke into Laḫiru and there they are. I will send to their border my servants against them and by their hands I will send those who have sinned against us. If they are in my land, I will send them by their hands; and, if they have crossed the river, do thou [take them]. The rest of the letter is hard to make out. It was dated on the twenty-sixth of Tammuz, in the Eponymy of Nabû-shar-aḫêshu, probably B.C. 645. (M805) Bêl-ibnî had a great hatred for Nabû-bêl-shumâte. For the latter had years before laid hands upon Bêl-ibnî’s eldest brother, Bêlshunu, and put him in prison. This we learn from a letter to the king,(890) which, although the name of the writer is lost, is clearly from Bêl-ibnî. The first few lines yield no connected sense, but name Umman-shimash and the nobles with him: When they assembled they spoke evil words against their king. From those days they kept on plundering his land. Before the forces of the lord of kings, my lord, want, like a pestilence, entered the land. When the forces of the lord of kings, my lord, have arrived at Dûr-ili, they shall not take a holiday; that smitten of Bêl, accursed of the gods, Nabû-bêl-shumâte, and the sinners with him, they shall capture and give them to the lord of kings, my lord. And the Assyrians, as many as are with them, they shall release and send to the lord of kings, my lord. Bêlshunu, my eldest brother, a servant of the lord of kings, my lord, now four years ago, did that smitten of Bêl, that accursed of the gods, Nabû-bêl-shumâte, when he revolted, bind hand and foot with bronze and imprison him. The rest is obscure, but names Ṣalmu-shar-iḳbi as sending news to the palace. (M806) The Bêlshunu here named is probably the Eponym of B.C. 648, who was then governor of Ḫindana, who also dates a letter from the king to Umman-shimash, which names Bêl-ibnî. There are over fifty references in the letters to Bêl-ibnî, most of which directly connect him with these events. His duties in command of the Sealand brought him into relations with the many Elamites, who in the frequent revolutions in that land, fled for refuge to the Assyrians. Here is one of the best of his letters to the king:(891) (M807)