ABL 0617 + 0669 (P237046)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0617 + 0669 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237046 |
| 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 [0:5] o 1o 1–o 55 | To the king of the lands, o[ur] lord: your servants, Illil-b[ani], Aššur-belu-taqqin, and the people of N[ippur]. May [Enli]l and Mulliltu, Ninurta and [Nusku] bl[ess the king] of the lands, our lord. |
| Obverse [5:22] o 66– | [As to what the king, o]ur [lord], w[rote to us]: "[...] to [...]!" — The king, ou[r] lord, [knows] whether we have ever left our watch or been negligent in our watch since the king, our lord, appointed u[s] to [our] watc[h]. The territory before us is extensive. Five stages of territory square, forty length units, is the stretch of a watch for cavalry with archers. We have several times written to the house of our lords about the horses. Now we are keeping watch with archers (only) and praying to the gods of the king, our lord. |
| Reverse [4:6] r 55–r 66 | Concerning Nabû-qati-ṣabat and Šamaš-[... about whom the king], our [lo]rd, wrote to u[s]: |
| Reverse [6:7] r 77–r 77 | "[...] Šarragitu in ... [...] |
| Reverse [7:8] r 88–r 88 | "[...]why have th[ey] cros[sed ...]?" |
| Reverse [8:9] r 99–r 99 | [...] o[ur w]atch [...] |
| Reverse [9:17] r 1010– | [...... about whom the king], our [lord], sa[id]: "Has he [no]t co[me] to Nippur?" The gods of the king (are) on our faces:1 up to now h[e] has not been se[en] in o[ur] territory (or) in our watch, and we have not he[ard] anything of him. |
| Right [2:5] r.e. 1717– | Now then we are keeping the watch which the king, o[ur] lord, assigned to u[s], and [we are praying to] the gods [of the king, our lord]. |
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 KUR.KUR be-li₂-⸢i⸣-[ni] | |
| 2 | ARAD-MEŠ-ka {1}{d}EN.LIL₂—⸢ba⸣-[ni] | |
| 3 | {1}AN.ŠAR₂—EN—LAL-in u₃ {lu₂}⸢EN⸣.[LIL₂{ki}MEŠ] | |
| 4 | {[d}EN].⸢LIL₂ u {d⸣}NIN.LIL₂ {d}MAŠ u {[d}PA.TUG₂] | |
| 5 | [a-na LUGAL] ⸢KUR⸣.KUR EN-i-ni ⸢lik⸣-[ru-bu] | |
| 6 | [ša₂ LUGAL EN-a]-ni ⸢iš⸣-[pur-an-na-ši] | |
| 7 | [um-ma x x]+⸢x-tu a-na⸣ [x x x x] | |
| 8 | [x x x] ⸢šu⸣-nu LUGAL EN-a-⸢ni⸣ [i-di] | |
| 9 | ⸢ki-i ul⸣-tu UGU ina EN.⸢NUN⸣-[i-ni] | |
| 10 | LUGAL EN-⸢a⸣-ni ip-qi₂-da-⸢an-na⸣-[ši] | |
| 11 | EN.NUN-a-ni nu-maš-ši-ru u ina EN.NUN-⸢i-ni⸣ | |
| 12 | niš-lu-u₂ qaq-qa-ri ina pa-ni-i-⸢ni⸣ | |
| 13 | ra-pa-aš₂ 05 mar-di-ti qaq-qa-ru | |
| b.e. | ||
| 14 | 40 ⸢UŠ⸣.BI re-bit EN.⸢NUN⸣ | |
| 15 | ša₂ {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ | |
| 16 | it-ti ERIM-MEŠ {<giš>}BAN šu-u₂ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | u a-di 02-šu₂ 03-šu₂ a-na UGU | |
| 2 | {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ a-na E₂—EN-MEŠ-e-ni E₂—EN-MEŠ-e-ni | |
| 3 | ni-il-ta-par a-du-⸢u₂⸣ ina ERIM-MEŠ {giš}BAN | |
| 4 | ni-nam-ṣar u DINGIR-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL EN-i-ni nu-ṣal-⸢la⸣ [o] | |
| 5 | ⸢a-na⸣ UGU {1}{d}AG—ŠU.2—ṣa-bat u {1}{d}UTU—[x x ša₂] | |
| 6 | [LUGAL] ⸢EN⸣-a-ni iš-pur-an-na-[ši um-ma] | |
| 7 | [x x] {uru}ša₂-ra-gi-ti ina ⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 8 | [x x] ⸢a⸣-ta-a ⸢i⸣-te-⸢bi⸣-[ru-ni o] | |
| 9 | [x x] ⸢EN⸣.NUN-⸢i⸣-[ni x x x x x] | |
| 10 | [x x x x x x x x x x ša₂] | |
| 11 | [LUGAL EN]-⸢a-ni iq-bu⸣-[u₂ um-ma] | |
| 12 | ⸢ul⸣ a-na EN.LIL₂{ki} il-⸢li⸣-[ka-a] | |
| 13 | DINGIR-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL ina UGU pa-ni-in-⸢ni⸣ [o] | |
| 14 | a-di UGU ša₂ en-na ina qaq-qar-⸢i⸣-[ni] | |
| r.e. | ||
| 15 | ina EN.NUN-i-ni ul in-na-[mir] | |
| 16 | u ši-mu-ut-su ul niš-⸢mu⸣ | |
| 17 | a-du-u₂ EN.NUN ša₂ LUGAL EN-⸢a⸣-[ni] | |
| 18 | ip-qi₂-da-an-na-⸢ši⸣ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | ni-nam-ṣar u DINGIR-⸢MEŠ⸣ [ša₂ LUGAL EN-i-ni nu-ṣal-la] | |
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.