ABL 0259 (P237820)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0259 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237820 |
| 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, my lord: your servant, Nabû-šumu-lišir. May Nabû and Marduk give the king of the lands, my lord, long days and everlasting years. |
| Obverse [5:17] o 66– | When I sent men of Birati, servants of the king, my lord, for guard duty to the marshy plain of Babylon and the king of Babylon's men attacked them, by the destiny of the king, my lord, the Biratians, the king's servants, killed four of the king of Babylon's men; and I sent to the king, my lord, the nine (men) whom they brought in. |
| Reverse [0:10] r 1r 1–r 1010 | After Birati was destroyed and its gods were carried off, I was a dead man, but when I saw the gold signet ring of the king, my lord, I came to life. But now, when I sent my [m]essenger to greet the king, my lord, I did not see the signet ring of the king, my lord, and I stopped living. I am a dead man. The king, my lord, must not abandon me! |
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-ia₂ | |
| 2 | ARAD-ka {1}{d}AG—MU—SI.SA₂ | |
| 3 | {d}AG u {d}AMAR.UTU UD-MEŠ GID₂.DA-MEŠ | |
| 4 | MU.AN.NA-MEŠ da-ra-a-ti | |
| 5 | a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR be-li₂-ia₂ lid-⸢di-nu⸣ | |
| 6 | ERIM-MEŠ {uru}bir-ta-a.a ARAD-⸢MEŠ⸣ | |
| 7 | ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ a-na ma-⸢aṣ-ṣar-tu⸣ | |
| 8 | a-na sa-pan-ni ap-pa-ru | |
| 9 | ša₂ TIN.TIR{ki} ki-i aš₂-pu-ru | |
| 10 | ERIM-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL TIN.TIR{ki} a-na UGU-hi-šu₂-nu | |
| 11 | ki-i it-bu-u₂ ina šim-ti ša₂ LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 12 | {uru}bir-ta-a.a ARAD-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 13 | 04 ERIM-MEŠ ina ŠA₃-bi ERIM-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL TIN.TIR{ki} | |
| 14 | id-du-ku u₃ 09 ki-i i-bu-ku-ni | |
| 15 | a-na pa-an LUGAL be-li₂-ia | |
| 16 | al-tap-raš-šu₂-nu-⸢ti⸣ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ul-tu UGU ša₂ {uru}bi-rat | |
| 2 | he-pu-u₂ u DINGIR-MEŠ-e-šu₂ ab-ku | |
| 3 | mi-i-tu a-na-ku u un-qu KUG.GI | |
| 4 | ša₂ LUGAL EN-ia₂ ki-i a-mu-ru | |
| 5 | ab-ta-luṭ u₃ en-na | |
| 6 | {lu₂}A—⸢KIN⸣-ia₂ {lu₂}A—⸢KIN⸣-ia₂ a-na šu-lum LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 7 | ki-i aš₂-pu-ra un-qu ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 8 | be-li₂-ia₂ ul a-mu-ur-ma ul ab-luṭ | |
| 9 | mi-i-tu a-na-ku LUGAL be-li₂-a | |
| 10 | la u₂-maš-šar-an-ni | |
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.