ABL 0755 + 1393 (P237270)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0755 + 1393 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237270 |
| Museum no. | BM 099139 + |
| 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/saa10 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:2] o 1o 1–o 22 | [To the king of the lands, my lord]: your [servant] Kudurru. [May Aššur, Šamaš, Bel and Nabû bless] the king of the lands, my lord! |
| Obverse [2:7] o 33–o 77 | [Ever si]nce the day when the king my lord [dep]orted me, I have sat in confinement, praying to the king, my lord, [every day], (until) [Nabû-kill]anni the chief cupbearer sent [a cohort commander] to release me. |
| Obverse [7:10] o 88–o 1010 | As I was walking [with him], he says to me: "You are an expert in [scrib]al lore? [NN] tells me [you] are an expert in scribal lore." |
| Obverse [10:17] o 1111–o 1717 | It was the month of Marchesvan (VIII) when Nabû-killanni fetched me, and I ended up standing in the temple of Bel Harran. The cohort commander re-emerged and took me to an upper room into his presence. There was nobody in his presence except the cohort commander, the major-domo, the chamberlain and the chief cupbearer; in addition, the overseer of the city kept entering and leaving his presence. |
| Obverse [17:22] o 1818–o 2222 | They tossed me a seat and I sat down, drinking wine until the sun set. Moving my seat closer, he started speaking to me with the quota of the temple of Nusku, saying: "You are an expert in divination?" |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1'1'–r 1'1' | he made me love him [......] |
| Reverse [1:3] r 2'2'–r 3'3' | "I'll tell you this: [the king] has provi[ded for m]e, until in anger he placed (me) in your service. |
| Reverse [3:5] r 4'4'–r 5'5' | "Go and perform the (following) divination before Šamaš: 'Will the chief eunuch take over the kingship?'" |
| Reverse [5:11] r 6'6'–r 11'11' | I washed myself with water in another upper room, donned clean garments and, the cohort commander having brought up for me two skins of oil, performed (the divination) and told him: "He will take over the kingship." |
| Reverse [11:18] r 12'12'–r 18'18' | [Next d]ay, they libated a jug of wine before [...] and Banitu, and made [merry] until the sun was low. From that (day) on [he has been telling me]: "He will take you back into your father's [house], [......] and give you the kingship [of] all [Babyl]onia." |
| Reverse [18:21] r 19'19'–r 21'21' | [By the gods of the king], my [lord]: The extispicy [which I performed was] but a colossal fraud! (The only thing) [I was th]inking of (was), "May he not kill me." |
| Reverse [21:23] r 22'22'–r 23'23' | [Now th]en I am writing to the king, lest [the king my lord] hear about it and kill me. |
| Reverse [23:24] r 24'24'–r 24'24' | [......] when he betrayed me |
| Reverse [24:26] r 25'25'– | [......] the king has provided for me |
| Right [0:1] r.e. 26r.e. 26–r.e. 26r.e. 26 | [......] I wrote |
| Right [1:3] r.e. 2727–r.e. 2828 | [......] I saw |
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-ia ARAD]-ka {1}NIG₂.GUB | |
| 2 | [aš-šur {d}UTU {d}EN u {d}AG] a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR be-li₂-ia | |
| 3 | [lik-ru-bu TA] ⸢UGU⸣ UD-mu ša₂ LUGAL be-la-a | |
| 4 | [u₂-še-eg]-la-an-ni ṣab-ta-ak u aš₂-ba-ak | |
| 5 | [UD-mu-us-su a]-⸢na⸣ LUGAL be-li₂-ia u₂-ṣal-la | |
| 6 | {1}{d}AG—kil-la]-an-ni {lu₂}GAL—{lu₂}ŠU.DU₈.A-MEŠ {lu₂}GAL—{lu₂}ŠU.DU₈.A-MEŠ | |
| 7 | {[lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir {[lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir ki]-i iš-pu-raš-šu₂ ip-ta-ṭar-an-ni | |
| 8 | [it-ti-šu ki]-i al-li-ku i-qab-ba-a | |
| 9 | [um-ma {lu₂}DUB].⸢SAR⸣-ru-u₂-ti ta-le-ʾe-e | |
| 10 | [x x x x] ⸢i-qab⸣-ba-a um-ma {lu₂}DUB.SAR-u₂-tu | |
| 11 | [ta]-⸢le⸣-ʾe-e ⸢ina ŠA₃⸣-bi {iti}APIN {1}{d}AG—⸢kil⸣-la-an-ni | |
| 12 | ki i-bu-kan-ni ina E₂—{d}EN—KASKAL ul-te-ez-zi-an-ni | |
| 13 | {lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir {lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir ki-i u₂-ṣa-a a-na pa-ni-šu₂ | |
| 14 | a-na ŠA₃-bi E₂ e-li-ti ul-te-la-an-ni | |
| 15 | mam-ma ia-a-nu ina pa-ni-šu₂ al-la {lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir {lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir | |
| 16 | {lu₂}GAL—E₂ {lu₂}GAL—E₂ {lu₂}ša₂—UGU—E₂-a-nu u {lu₂}GAL—ŠU.DU₈.A-MEŠ {lu₂}GAL—ŠU.DU₈.A-MEŠ | |
| 17 | u₃ {lu₂}ša₂—UGU—URU a-na pa-ni-šu₂ ir-ru-ub u uṣ-ṣi | |
| 18 | {giš}ku-su-u₂ ki-i is-su-ku-nu ki-i u₂-ši-bu | |
| 19 | GEŠTIN a-ša₂-at-ti a-di {d}UTU ir-bu-u₂ | |
| 20 | {giš}GU.ZA-u₂-a ki-i u₂-qar-ri-bu it-ti | |
| 21 | {giš}iš-QAR-šu₂ ša E₂—{[d]}PA.TUG₂ i-qab-ba-a | |
| 22 | um-ma {lu₂}HAL-⸢u₂⸣-[tu] ⸢ta-le-ʾe⸣-e | |
| r | ||
| 1' | u₂-šar-im-man-⸢ni x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2' | ši-i a-qab-bak-⸢ka⸣ [um-ma LUGAL] in-du-[na-an]-⸢ni⸣ | |
| 3' | a-di ina lib-bat a-na ⸢pa⸣-[ni]-ka u₂-še-[zi]-⸢zu⸣ | |
| 4' | um-ma a-lik-ma {lu₂}HAL-u₂-ti a-na tar-ṣi {d}UTU | |
| 5' | bi-ri GAL—{lu₂}SAG GAL—{lu₂}SAG LUGAL-u₂-tu₂ i-na-aš₂-ši-i | |
| 6' | a-na ŠA₃-bi E₂ e-li-ti ša₂-ni-ti | |
| 7' | A-MEŠ ar-ta-mu-uk ⸢eb⸣-bu-ti at-ta-ši | |
| 8' | {lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir {lu₂}GAL—ka-ṣir 02 KUŠ I₃.GIŠ ki-i u₂-še-la-a | |
| 9' | e-te-pu-uš aq-ta-ba-aš₂-šu₂ um-ma LUGAL-u-tu₂ | |
| 10' | i-na-aš₂-ši ul-tu UGU-hi-šu₂ aq-ba-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| 11' | um-ma {lu₂}GAL—SAG {lu₂}GAL—SAG LUGAL-u-tu₂ i-na-aš₂-ši | |
| 12' | [ina 02-i] ⸢UD⸣-mu šap-pa-ti ša₂ GEŠTIN a-na tar-ṣi | |
| 13' | [x x x] {⸢d⸣}ba-ni-ti it-ta-aq-qu | |
| 14' | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ a-na ma-ṭi-i {d}UTU | |
| 15' | [ni-gu-u₂-tu] ⸢e⸣-te-ep-šu₂ ul-tu a-ga-a | |
| 16' | [i-qab-ba-a um-ma ina E₂]—AD-ka E₂]—AD-ka u₂-še-ri-ib-ka | |
| 17' | [x x x x x x]-bi-ma LUGAL-u₂-tu | |
| 18' | [ša₂ KUR—ak-ka-di]-i gab-bu i-nam-dak-ka | |
| 19' | [DINGIR-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂]-ia₂ ki-i {lu₂}HAL-u₂-tu | |
| 20' | [ša₂ i-pu-šu] al-la ša₂-a-ru me-hu-u | |
| 21' | [šu-u₂ TA ŠA₃-bi-ia a]-dab-bu-ub um-ma la <i>-du-kan-ni | |
| 22' | [en-na a-du]-⸢u₂⸣ a-na LUGAL al-tap-ra | |
| 23' | [um-ma LUGAL be-li₂-a] ⸢la⸣ i-šem-me-ma la <i>-du-kan-ni | |
| 24' | [x x x x x x] ⸢pa⸣-ni-im-ma ki-i ip-ru-ṣa-an-ni | |
| 25' | [x x x x x x x x] LUGAL in-du-na-an-ni | |
| r.e. | ||
| 26 | [x x x x x x x x] al-tap-ra | |
| 27 | [x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ a-mu-ru | |
| 28 | [x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-bi | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | u₂-zu-[x x x x x x 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.