ABL 0793 (P237259)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0793 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237259 |
| 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/saa17 · 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, my lord, your servant Bel-ibni: I would gladly die for the king, my lord! May Nabû and [Marduk] bl[ess] the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [4:15] o 55–o 1515 | Initially, when I did not come to the audience of the kin[g, my lord], there were [men] who came from Elam to [see the king], your father, and who, in order to [obtain] intercession for themselves, [libe]lled [me] in the presence of the king. There [was] also a certain opponent of mine who said and wrote [to the king] bad things about me f[rom] Elam. When I heard of this, I did not come, [because I was afraid]. Now (however), I have become desirous of [serving] the king. |
| Obverse [15:20] o 1616–o 2020 | All those [who] initially committed a crime were forgiven by your royal father. (As to) all [the libels] that [have been uttered against] me in [the king's] presence, [I am not guilty of any of them]. |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | [... until he writ]es [that ....] |
| Reverse [2:13] r 3'3'–r 13'13' | [May it] not [happen that b]y the comma[nd] of the king they [succeed in turning me] out of the grace of the kin[g, my lord]! May this be sta[ted by the mou]th of the king, [my lo]rd, that I [may not be denigrated in the palace of the k]in[g], my [lo]rd! [On the contrary, may the king, my lord, count me as one of his] servants, may the mark of [the kings'] servitude be put on me, and I may not be slighted and humilia[ted in the eyes of my] fellow Babylonians! |
| Reverse [13:19] r 14'14'–r 19'19' | May I see a sign from the king, [my] lord, and may we get confident through it! Then we, myself, my brothers, [my] sons and [my] friends, shall come and kiss the feet of the ki[ng, our lord], and serve the ki[ng], our lord. |
| Reverse [19:21] r 20'20'–r 21'21' | May I hear of the well-being of the king, my lord, and rejoice. |
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-ia | |
| 2 | ARAD-ka {1}{d}EN—ib-ni a-na di-⸢na⸣-[an] | |
| 3 | LUGAL be-li₂-ia lul-lik {d}AG u {d}[AMAR.UTU] | |
| 4 | a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ia lik-[ru-bu] | |
| 5 | re-eš-su ša₂ a-na pa-an ⸢LUGAL⸣ [be-li₂-ia] | |
| 6 | la al-li-ka i-ba-aš₂-⸢ši⸣ [ERIM-MEŠ] | |
| 7 | ša₂ ul-tu {kur}NIM.MA{ki} a-[na pa-an LUGAL] | |
| 8 | AD-ka il-li-ku-ni a-[na ṣa-bat] | |
| 9 | a-bu-ti ša₂ ra-ma-ni-šu₂-⸢nu⸣ [kar-ṣi-ia₂] | |
| 10 | ina pa-an LUGAL i-tak-lu u i-⸢ba⸣-[aš₂-ši] | |
| 11 | mam-ma ze-ʾi-i-ra-na-a ša₂ ⸢ul⸣-[tu] | |
| 12 | {kur}NIM.MA{ki} dib-bi bi-⸢šu⸣-[ti] | |
| 13 | a-na UGU-hi-ia iš-ku-⸢nu⸣-[ma a-na LUGAL] | |
| 14 | iš-pu-ra ki-i aš₂-mu-u₂ [ki-i ap-la-hu] | |
| 15 | ul al-li-ka en-na [ARAD-u₂-ti] | |
| 16 | ša₂ LUGAL EN-ia₂ aṣ-ṣi-bi mam-⸢ma⸣ [ma-la] | |
| 17 | re-eš-su i-ih-ṭu-u₂ hi-ṭu-šu₂-nu | |
| 18 | ⸢LUGAL⸣ AD-ka uz-zak-ki-⸢šu₂-nu⸣-ti | |
| 19 | [kar-ṣi]-⸢ia⸣ ma-la ina pa-an [LUGAL] | |
| 20 | [in-nak-lu x x x x x x x x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1' | [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ [x x x x x] | |
| 2' | [x x x x i-šap-pa]-ra [x x x x] | |
| 3' | [x x x x x x x] a-⸢na⸣ [x x x x] | |
| 4' | i-[na-an-na ki]-i pi-[i x x x] | |
| 5' | LUGAL ⸢la⸣ [il-lak-ma ina] ŠU.2 ⸢LUGAL⸣ [EN-ia] | |
| 6' | la u₂-[šel-lu-in-ni ina pi]-i LUGAL ⸢EN⸣-[ia₂] | |
| 7' | liq-qa-[bi-ma ina E₂.GAL ša₂] ⸢LUGAL EN⸣-ia₂ | |
| 8' | la ⸢ad⸣-[dal-lah₃ u LUGAL EN-a it-ti] | |
| 9' | ARAD-MEŠ-[šu₂ li-im-na-an-ni]-ma | |
| 10' | i-da-ti ša₂ ARAD-⸢u₂-ti⸣ [ša₂ LUGAL] | |
| 11' | ina UGU-hi-ia tab-ba-ši-ma [ina pa-an] | |
| 12' | {lu₂}TIN.TIR{ki}MEŠ ŠEŠ-⸢MEŠ⸣-[e-a] | |
| 13' | la aš₂-ša₂-ṭi-ma re-ši-ia la ⸢i⸣-[šap-pi-la] | |
| 14' | 01-et i-da-ti ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-[ia] | |
| 15' | lu-mur-ma a-na UGU-hi ni-ir-⸢hu⸣-[uṣ-ma] | |
| 16' | a-na-ku ŠEŠ-MEŠ-e-a DUMU-⸢MEŠ⸣-[e-a] | |
| 17' | u EN-MEŠ—ṭa-ab-te-e-[a] EN-MEŠ—ṭa-ab-te-e-[a] | |
| 18' | ni-il-li-kam₂-ma GIR₃.2 ša₂ ⸢LUGAL⸣ [EN-ni] | |
| 19' | niš-ši-iq u ARAD-u₂-ti ša₂ ⸢LUGAL⸣ | |
| 20' | EN-ni ni-pu-uš ⸢šul⸣-[mu] | |
| 21' | ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ lu-uš-⸢me⸣-[e-ma] | |
| 22' | lu-uh-mi | |
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.