ABL 0771 (P237248)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0771 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237248 |
| 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/saa21 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:4] o 1o 1–o 44 | To the king, our lord: your servants, Bel-iqbi and the Gambulians. May Ninurta and Gula forever ordain good health, happiness and physical well-being to the king, our lord! |
| Obverse [4:7] o 55–o 77 | We were dead dogs, but the king, our lord, revived us and placed the herb of life in our nostrils. |
| Obverse [7:17] o 88–o 1717 | When the king removed the town Adarihiti in the land of Zamê, they elevated us from among the inhabitants and spoke to us [like thi]s: “You are the king’s ser[vants; build] a fort [and] get your fill from its ground.” But [nobody] gave us [...], and they [ut]tered [...]. As we [......] |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | [“...] We shall perish there.” |
| Reverse [2:9] r 3'3'–r 9'9' | [...], saying: “Come, bring [... t]o the mountain of Banniši!” When we went up [to the moun]tain of Banniši, our brothers were killed there. We seized the men who had killed our brothers, and took them into the presence of the governor. Having undergone the river ordeal with them, we came out clean, under the aegis of the king. |
| Reverse [9:11] r 10'10'–r 11'11' | We have been bruised on the head but have become men. |
| Reverse [11:13] r 12'12'–r 13'13' | May the king, our lord, not say: “Why did you come while the governor was not present?” |
| Reverse [13:14] r 14'14'–r 14'14' | After he was seated (in his office), we twice come but were turned back from the journey, and our houses were taken over. |
| Reverse [14:18] r 15'15'– | Now we are under the king, our lord’s protection; may we not perish! |
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.LUM-ni ARAD-MEŠ-⸢ka⸣ | |
| 2 | {1}{d}EN—iq-bi u₃ {lu₂}{kur}gam-bu-la-a.[a] | |
| 3 | {d}MAŠ u {d}gu-la šu-lum ṭu-ub ŠA₃-bi | |
| 4 | ṭu-ub UZU ša₂ LUGAL EN-ni a-na da-ri-iš | |
| 5 | liq-bu-u₂ UR.KU-MEŠ mi-tu-tu a-ni-ni | |
| 6 | LUGAL EN ub-tal-liṭ-an-na-ši šam-mu ba-la-ṭu | |
| 7 | a-na na-hi-ri-ni il-ta-kan | |
| 8 | {uru}a-da-ri-hi-ti ina {kur}za-⸢a⸣-me | |
| 9 | LUGAL ki-i i-bu-ku ina ŠA₃-bi a-[ši-bu]-tu | |
| 10 | ul-te-li-an-na-ši u₃ [ki-i an-ni]-⸢i⸣ | |
| 11 | iq-ta-bu-na-ši um-ma ⸢ARAD⸣-[MEŠ] | |
| 12 | ša₂ LUGAL at-tu-nu {uru}bir-⸢ti⸣ [x x x] | |
| 13 | ma-la-ni qaq-qar-šu₂ u₃ [x x x x] | |
| 14 | ⸢x⸣ ul id-din-an-na-ši [x x x x] | |
| 15 | [iq]-⸢ta⸣-bu-u₂ ki-i ni-⸢x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| 16 | [x x x x x]-ir-ri-[x x x x] | |
| 17 | [x x x x x x] {d}⸢x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1' | [x x x x x x x] ⸢ni⸣ [x x x] | |
| 2' | [x x x]-ti ina ŠA₃-bi ni-hal-[liq] | |
| 3' | [x x x]-ku um-ma al-ka-ma | |
| 4' | [x a]-⸢na⸣ KUR-i ša₂ {kur}ban-ni-ši i-ša₂-⸢ni⸣ 0 | |
| 5' | [a-na] ⸢KUR⸣-i ša₂ {kur}ban-ni-ši ki-i ni-lu-u₂ | |
| 6' | ⸢ŠEŠ⸣-MEŠ-ni ina ŠA₃-bi di-i-ku ERIM-MEŠ ša₂ ŠEŠ-MEŠ-⸢ni⸣ | |
| 7' | i-du-ku nu-ṣab-bi-ta a-na pa-ni {lu₂}EN.NAM | |
| 8' | ni-tab-ka hur-ša₂-an it-ti-šu₂-nu | |
| 9' | ki-i ni-il-li-ku ina GIŠ.MI ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 10' | ni-iz-za-ka-aʾ ina UGU-hi SAG.DU | |
| 11' | ha-aš₂-la-ni u₃ ERIM-MEŠ GAL₂-ME-ni | |
| 12' | LUGAL EN la i-qab-bi um-ma mi-nam-ma | |
| 13' | ina la a-ša₂-ba ša₂ {lu₂}EN.NAM tal-li-ka-ni | |
| 14' | ul-tu šu-u₂ aš₂-bu 02-šu₂ ki-i ni-il-⸢li-ka⸣ | |
| 15' | ul-tu KASKAL.2 tur-ra-ni u E₂-[MEŠ-ni] | |
| 16' | ṣu-ub-bu-ta-ni en-na ina ⸢GIŠ⸣.[MI] | |
| t.e. | ||
| 17 | ša₂ LUGAL EN-ni ni-iz-⸢za⸣-[za] | |
| 18 | la ni-hal-liq | |
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.