A Neo-Babylonian copy of a literary text which takes the form of a letter,Tablet VAT 17020, “the Berlin Letter”, CDLI now located in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin, is addressed to the Kassite court by an Elamite King and details the genealogy of the Elamite royalty of this period. Apparently, he married his sister to the Elamite king Paḫir-iššan, the son of Ige-Halki, and a daughter to his successor, Ḫumban-numena. This may have been Mishim-ruh, who is cited in royal inscriptions. The princess went on to bear Untash-Napirisha, the next king who subsequently married Burna-Buriaš’ daughter. The author of the letter is thought to be Shutruk-Nahhunte, ca. 1190-1155 BC, who claims descent from Kurigalzu’s eldest daughter and also wed the eldest daughter of Meli-Šipak, the 33rd Kassite king. Unfortunately the letter inserts Nabu-apla-iddina (888 – 855 BC) “an abomination, son of a Hittite”, into the narrative in the place one might have supposed that Marduk-apla-iddina I was to appear, the substitution of dAMAR.UTU by dAG being an unlikely slip of the stylus, making a chronological conundrum and this may be the purpose of the “letter”, to denigrate the later king through the tongue of the earlier one.
