(M838) Zakûtu must often have been a prey to great anxiety, left in command as she was in Assyria, with her warrior son nearly always away and such awkward neighbors as the Elamites. But she was on the whole faithfully served. It seems that the proud nobles of Assyria became restless during Esarhaddon’s long absences, for we learn from the Babylonian Chronicle that, in B.C. 670, Esarhaddon put a number of them to death. Here is a letter, however, from an attached subject:(927) To the mother of the king, my lady, thy servant Aplîa. May Bêl and Nabû be gracious to the mother of the king, my lady. Every day I pray Nabû and Nanâ for life and health and length of days, for the king of lands, my lord, and for the mother of the king, my lady. May the mother of the king, my lady, be bright. A messenger of good news from Bêl and Nabû has come from the king of lands, my lord. There is a suggestion in the mention of Nanâ that Aplîa wrote from Erech. He may be the Aplîa afterwards associated with Bêl-ibnî and Kudur in the south. If so, we may suppose that the messenger came from Esarhaddon, from Egypt, by way of Southern Babylonia. One would suppose that a messenger from Canaan, or the west, would reach Nineveh, before Chaldea. But, of course, the queen-mother may have been at Laḫiru. Only it is doubtful whether she lived there, while Esarhaddon was away. It is more likely still that the Aplîa is the same as the _râb ali_ of Laḫiru, who in B.C. 678 was over the house of the queen-mother there.(928) (M839) Another letter(929) conveys assurance of fidelity: To the mother of the king, my lord, thy servant Asharîdu. May Nabû and Marduk be gracious to the mother of the king, my lord. Daily I pray to Nêrgal and Lâz for the life and health of the king, and the king’s mother, my lords. There is peace in the city and temples of the king and now I keep the watch for the king, my lord.