ABL 0412 (P236868)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0412 |
|---|---|
| ID | P236868 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Akkadian |
| Period | Neo-Assyrian · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE |
| Genre | Letter |
| Find spot | Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) |
| Coordinates | 36.3582, 43.1621 |
English translation
By ORACC project saao/saa18 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:8] o 1o 1–o 88 | [To the king, my] lo[rd]: your servant, [Nab]û-zera-ukin. May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! I pray every [day] to Marduk and Zarpanitu [for] the long life, [hap]piness, good health, [and] overthrow of the enemy [of the ki]ng, my lord. |
| Obverse [8:17] o 99–o 1717 | (Concerning) the [mes]sage which the king, the lord, [s]ent to me (and) the [gol]den seals which they gave to me, saying: "Send (them) [t]o Babylon!" — I have given one seal to Mušezib-Marduk. The seal of Šuma-iddin, the prelate of Der, is in my custody; I shall not give it to him. Šuma-iddin is ... The king should know (this). |
| Obverse [17:34] o 1818– | We did not dispatch a large force until we heard the good news. When we heard the news, the force was dispersed in the street of Marduk, your god. Many men in Babylon keep the watch of the king, my lord. Marduk and Zarpanitu, your gods, whose feet you have grasped, will make the king, my lord, successful in whatever the king, my lord, does. Thanks to your gods, we received the messenger who was coming. The [ki]ng, my lord, can rely on the delivery of the sealed messages to Babylon. |
| Reverse [12:16] r 1313–r 1616 | Marduk and Zarpanitu, your gods, have seen to it that [al]l the people of Babylon [are ke]eping the watch of the king, my lord. They have turned their faces towards the king, [m]y [lord]. |
| Reverse [16:18] r 1717–r 1818 | Ever since wine [... to Ba]bylon for Bel, your god, |
| Reverse [18:19] r 1919–r 1919 | [...] their faces very much [....] |
| Reverse [19:22] r 2020–r 2222 | they are [......] |
| Right [1:2] r.e. 2424–r.e. 2424 | [N]N and Bel-ibn[i] |
| Right [2:4] r.e. 2525– | [...] have been brought in. |
| Edge [0:1] e. 1e. 1–e. 1e. 1 | Up to now nobody [...] has p[ut] their property either at the disposal of Bel or at the disposal of the king [...]. |
Transliteration (ATF)
From Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618)
| Line | ATF | Machine English (draft) |
|---|---|---|
| o | ||
| 1 | [a-na LUGAL] ⸢be⸣-[li₂-ia₂] ARAD-ka | |
| 2 | {1}{d]}⸢AG⸣—NUMUN—GI.NA {d}AG u {d}AMAR.UTU | |
| 3 | [a-na] LUGAL be-li₂-ia lik-ru-bu | |
| 4 | [UD-mu]-us-su {d}AMAR.UTU u {d}zar-pa-ni-tum | |
| 5 | [a-na] TIN ZI-MEŠ GID₂.DA UD-mu | |
| 6 | [ṭu]-⸢ub⸣ ŠA₃-bi ṭu-ub UZU | |
| 7 | [u₃] sa-ka-pu {lu₂}KUR₂ | |
| 8 | [ša₂] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂-ia u₂-ṣal-la | |
| 9 | [na]-⸢aš₂⸣-par-ti ša₂ LUGAL be-lum | |
| 10 | ⸢iš⸣-pur-ra-an-ni un-qa-a-ta | |
| 11 | [KUG].⸢GI⸣ ša₂ id-di-nu-nu um-ma | |
| 12 | [a]-⸢na⸣ KA₂.DINGIR.RA{ki} šu-bi-il | |
| 13 | ⸢un⸣-qu a-na {1}mu-še-zib—{d}AMAR.UTU | |
| 14 | at-ta-din un-qu ša₂ {1}MU—MU | |
| 15 | {lu₂}ŠA₃.TAM ša₂ BAD₃.DINGIR{ki} ina pa-ni-ia | |
| 16 | ši-i ul ad-da-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| 17 | {1}MU—MU za-nit LUGAL lu-⸢u₂ i-di⸣ | |
| 18 | hi-ʾa-a-lu ma-a-da a-di ṭe₃-em | |
| 19 | bab-ba-nu-u₂ ni-iš-mu-u₂ | |
| 20 | ul nu-še-bi-il ṭe₃-em | |
| 21 | ki-i ni-iš-mu-u₂ hi-ʾa-a-lu | |
| r | ||
| 1 | it-ta-par-ras ina su₂-le-e | |
| 2 | ša₂ {d}AMAR.UTU DINGIR-ka ERIM-MEŠ ma-aʾ-du-tu | |
| 3 | ina TIN.TIR{ki} ma-aṣ-ṣar-ti | |
| 4 | ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-ia i-na-aṣ-ṣa-ru | |
| 5 | {d}AMAR.UTU u {d}⸢zar⸣-pa-ni-tum DINGIR-ME-ka | |
| 6 | ša₂ še-pit₂-su-nu ta-aṣ-ba-ta | |
| 7 | mim-ma ma-la LUGAL be-li₂-a ip-pu-šu₂ | |
| 8 | šu-nu-ma ina ŠU.2 LUGAL be-li₂-ia u₂-šal-la-am | |
| 9 | ina ŠA₃-bi DINGIR-MEŠ-ka {lu₂}A—KIN {lu₂}A—KIN ša₂ il-la-ku | |
| 10 | ni-ta-mar a-na UGU šu-ru-bu | |
| 11 | ša₂ un-qa-a-ta a-na TIN.TIR{ki} | |
| 12 | ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂-a lu-u₂ ra-hu-uṣ | |
| 13 | {[d]}AMAR.UTU u {d}zar-pa-ni-⸢tum⸣ DINGIR-MEŠ-ka | |
| 14 | [ki]-i u₂-šal-li-mu {lu₂}TIN.TIR{ki}MEŠ | |
| 15 | [gab]-⸢bi⸣ ma-aṣ-ṣar-ti ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ | |
| 16 | [i-na]-⸢aṣ⸣-ṣa-ru pa-ni-šu₂-nu a-na UGU LUGAL | |
| 17 | [be-li₂]-⸢ia⸣ il-ta-kan ul-tu UGU ša₂ {giš}GEŠTIN | |
| 18 | [a-na KA₂].DINGIR.RA{ki} a-na {d}EN DINGIR-ka | |
| 19 | [x x x a]-⸢ki—ma⸣-de-e a]-⸢ki—ma⸣-de-e pa-ni-šu₂-nu | |
| 20 | [x x x x x x x x]+⸢x-MEŠ⸣ šu-nu | |
| 21 | [x x x x x x x x x x]-⸢x⸣ | |
| 22 | [x x x x x x x x x x x]-⸢MEŠ⸣ | |
| r.e. | ||
| 23 | [x x x x x x x]+⸢x NUN x⸣+[x] | |
| 24 | [x x x x x]-⸢u₂⸣-a u {1}{d}EN—⸢DU₃⸣ | |
| 25 | [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-nu ab-ku-uʾ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | a-di UGU ša₂ en-na NIG₂.ŠID-šu₂-nu mam-ma [x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2 | ul ina pa-an {d}EN ul ina pa-an LUGAL ⸢il⸣-[ta-kan x x x x x x] | |
Sources & licences
- Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched) · Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), https://cdli.earth/ ; cite CDLI and the P-number
- Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618) · ORACC project editions, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ ; cite the individual project (see texts.extra_json.project)
Cite the original edition and translator. Page generated by Unread Atlas from the public corpus export of 2026-10-11.