CT 54, 294 (P237462)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | CT 54, 294 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237462 |
| 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/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 Bel-uš[ezib]. May Bel, Nabû and Šamaš bless the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [2:4] o 33–o 44 | If the sun stands in the halo of the moon: in all lands (people) will speak the truth; the son will speak the truth with his father. |
| Obverse [4:5] o 55–o 55 | — Saturn stands in the halo of the moon. |
| Obverse [5:7] o 66–o 77 | If the moon is surrounded by a halo, and Cancer stands in it: the king of Akkad will extend the life. |
| Obverse [7:8] o 88–o 88 | If the moon is surrounded by a river: there will be great floods and cloudbursts. |
| Obverse [8:9] o 99–o 99 | — Cancer stands in the halo of the moon. |
| Obverse [9:14] o 1010–o 1414 | You are a strong, righteous and able king. [When] in the reign of your royal father somebody [did] an evil thing and sinned against the king, my lord, it was not good to [......], be it a prefect [... or any of]ficial whom [......] |
| Obverse [14:16] o 1515– | [...] not to give [......]. |
| Reverse [0:2] r 1r 1–r 22 | Maybe a pr[efect who ...] has done an evil thing [...] go[od ...]; |
| Reverse [2:3] r 33–r 33 | [an of]ficia[l ......] |
| Reverse [3:4] r 44–r 44 | [...] becomes great [......] |
| Reverse [4:5] r 55–r 55 | Arda-Mullissi [......] |
| Reverse [5:9] r 66–r 99 | "I have heard what it is about." The [...] heard this word of Mardiya, and the sheikh [NN], the sheikh Yadi' and all the sheikhs of Yakimanu testified for him before the chief eunuch in Mannea. |
| Reverse [9:10] r 1010–r 1010 | Now, however, they are saying: "The mortal enemy of our lord must not become greater than we." |
| Reverse [10:11] r 1111–r 1111 | Let the lord of kings ask the chief eunuch, and let the king hear the whole story. |
| Reverse [11:17] r 1212– | In the same way Mardiya, the president of the court of the house of the chief eunuch, has left his lord and entered under Nergal-ašared; he is bringing 'third men' and cohort commanders before Nergal-ašared and they are taking an oath of loyalty. |
| Right [1:4] r.e. 1717– | Moreover, each of them has a talent of silver, (which) they are taking to their houses. |
| Edge [0:1] e. 1e. 1–e. 1e. 1 | [...] ... bread, corn and beer |
| Edge [1:2] e. 22–e. 22 | [...] has seized me. The king should know (this). |
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}{d}EN—u₂-⸢še⸣-[zib] | |
| 2 | {d}EN {d}AG u {d}UTU a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ia lik-ru-u₂-[bu] | |
| 3 | 1 20 ina ŠA₃ TUR₃ GUB ina KUR DU₃.A.BI kit-ti i-ta-mu-u₂ | |
| 4 | DUMU KI AD-šu₂ kit-ti i-ta-mi | |
| 5 | {mul}UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ ina ŠA₃ TUR₃ 30 GUB-ma | |
| 6 | 1 30 TUR₃ NIGIN-ma {mul}AL.LUL ina ŠA₃-šu₂ GUB-iz | |
| 7 | LUGAL URI{ki} DIN ur-rak | |
| 8 | 1 30 ID₂ NIGIN₂-mi ri-ih-ṣu u ra-a-du GAL-MEŠ GAL₂-MEŠ | |
| 9 | {⸢mul⸣}AL.LUL ina TUR₃ 30 GUB-ma | |
| 10 | ⸢LUGAL⸣ dan-nu ki-i-nu le-⸢ʾu-u₂ at-ta⸣ [ki-i] | |
| 11 | [i]-na tar-ṣi LUGAL AD-ka ⸢mam₂⸣-ma bi-[i-šu₂ i-pu-šu₂] | |
| 12 | u₃ a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ia ih-ṭu-u₂ a-[x x x x x x] | |
| 13 | ⸢ul⸣ ṭa-a-bi lu-u₂ {lu₂}šak-nu ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x] | |
| 14 | {[lu₂}EN]—pi-qit-ti {[lu₂}EN]—pi-qit-ti ma-la [x x x x x x] | |
| 15 | [x x] na-da-nu ul ⸢id⸣-[x x x x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [x x x] min₃-de-e-ma {lu₂}⸢šak⸣-[nu x x x x x] | |
| 2 | [x x] ⸢bi⸣-i-šu₂ i-pu-šu₂ bab-[ba-nu-u₂ x x] | |
| 3 | {[lu₂}EN]—⸢pi⸣-qit-⸢ti⸣ {[lu₂}EN]—⸢pi⸣-qit-⸢ti⸣ [x x] ⸢x x⸣+[x x x x x x] | |
| 4 | [x x x]+⸢x⸣ i-rab-⸢bi⸣ [x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 5 | [x]+⸢x⸣ {1}ARAD—{d}NIN.⸢LIL₂ x x⸣+[x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ [x x] | |
| 6 | ⸢um⸣-ma ša₂ ina UGU-hi še-ma-ku {lu₂}[x x] UGU a-mat a-ga-a | |
| 7 | ša₂ {1}mar-di-ia il-te-me {1}x x x] u {lu₂}na-si-ku | |
| 8 | {1}ia-di-iʾ {lu₂}na-si-ku u₃ {lu₂}na-si-ka-tu | |
| 9 | ša₂ {kur}ia-ki-ma-nu gab-bi ina IGI {lu₂}GAL—SAG {lu₂}GAL—SAG ina {kur}man-nu-a.a | |
| 10 | uk-tin-nu-šu₂ u en-na i-qab-bu-u₂ um-ma EN—da-me EN—da-me ša₂ EN-i-nu ina UGU-i-nu | |
| 11 | ul i-rab-bi EN LUGAL-ME {lu₂}GAL—SAG-ME {lu₂}GAL—SAG-ME liš-al ša₂-lam LUGAL liš-me | |
| 12 | a-ki ig-ga-an-nim-ma ig-ga-an-nim-ma {1}mar-di-ia {lu₂}ša₂—IGI—di-na-tu | |
| 13 | ša₂ E₂ {lu₂}GAL—SAG {lu₂}GAL—SAG EN-šu₂ ki-i u₂-maš-ši-ru ina šu-pa-la | |
| 14 | {1}{d}U.GUR—SAG.KAL i-te-ru-ub {lu₂}taš-li-ša₂-nu | |
| 15 | u₃ {lu₂}GAL—ki-ṣir-MEŠ {lu₂}GAL—ki-ṣir-MEŠ a-na pa-an {1}{d}U.GUR—SAG.KAL | |
| r.e. | ||
| 16 | ib-ba-ka a-de-e i-ṣab-ba-tu-u₂ | |
| 17 | u₃ 01 GU₂.UN AM₃ KUG.UD it-ti-šu₂-nu | |
| 18 | a-na E₂-ME-šu₂-nu i-na-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | [x x i]-mu-ru-šu₂ NINDA-HI.A ŠE KAŠ | |
| 2 | [x x x]+⸢x⸣ iṣ-ṣab-tan-ni LUGAL lu-u | |
| 3 | [o] i-di | |
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.