ABL 0327 (P237821)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0327 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237821 |
| 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 [0:4] o 1o 1–o 44 | To the king, [m]y lord: your servant, the šandabakku. May Enlil, Ninurta, and Nusku bless the [k]ing, my lord. |
| Obverse [4:10] o 55–o 1010 | The king knows that I am ve[r]y ill indeed. If I were not ill, I would have come the king's audience. Now I have sent my brother Bel-usati and ten noblemen of Nippur to greet the king, my lord. |
| Obverse [10:22] o 1111– | The king knows that all the lands hate us because of Assyria. We do not have safe passage in any of the lands. Wherever we go, we get killed with the words: "Why did you grasp the feet of Assyria?" Now we have blocked off my city gates; we do not go out to the open country. |
| Reverse [0:4] r 1r 1–r 44 | (Yet) we are keeping the king's watch! The vizier and the magnates whom the king sent here, have seen everything. Let them speak to the king! The king must not leave us in anybody's hands. |
| Reverse [4:9] r 55–r 99 | We have no water. May we not die of thirst! The king, your father, granted us water from the Banitu Canal, saying: "Dig an offshoot of the Banitu Canal to Nippur!" (But) Ṣillaya has shut us off. |
| Reverse [9:22] r 1010– | Now, may the king send (word) to Ubaru, the commandant of Babylon, that he grant us an offshoot of the Banitu Canal, so we can use the water together with them and not slip from the king's hands because of thirst, and all the lands cannot [s]ay: "The people of Nippur who [gr]asped the feet of Assyria had their fill of thirst." |
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 {lu₂}GU₂.EN.NA | |
| 3 | {d}EN.LIL₂ {d}NIN.URTA u {d}PA.TUG₂ | |
| 4 | a-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂-ia lik-ru-bu | |
| 5 | LUGAL i-di ša₂ lu ma-⸢aʾ⸣-da | |
| 6 | mar-ṣa-ak la mar-ṣa-ak | |
| 7 | a-na šul-mi LUGAL at-tal-kam₂-⸢ma⸣ | |
| 8 | a-du-u₂ {1}{d}EN—u₂-sa-tu ŠEŠ-u₂-a | |
| 9 | u₃ 10 {lu₂}DUMU-MEŠ—DU₃-MEŠ {lu₂}DUMU-MEŠ—DU₃-MEŠ ša₂ EN.LIL₂{ki} | |
| 10 | a-na šul-mi LUGAL be-li₂-ia | |
| 11 | al-tap-ra LUGAL i-di KUR.KUR | |
| 12 | gab-bi a-na UGU KUR—aš-šur{ki} | |
| 13 | i-zi-ir-u₂-na-ši GIR₃.2-a-ni | |
| 14 | ina KUR.KUR gab-bi ul eṭ-re-et | |
| 15 | a-šar ni-il-lak ni-id-da-ka | |
| 16 | um-ma mi-nam-ma GIR₃.2 | |
| 17 | KUR—aš-šur{ki} ta-aṣ-bat-aʾ | |
| b.e. | ||
| 18 | a-du-u₂ KA₂.GAL-MEŠ-ia | |
| 19 | nu-up-tah-hi a-na pit₂-hi | |
| 20 | ul nu-uṣ-ṣu | |
| r | ||
| 1 | EN.NUN ša₂ LUGAL ni-nam-ṣar | |
| 2 | {lu₂}SUKKAL u₃ {lu₂}GAL-MEŠ ša₂ a-na | |
| 3 | a-kan-na LUGAL iš-pur gab-bi i-tam-ru-u₂ | |
| 4 | a-na LUGAL liq-bu-u₂ LUGAL a-na ŠU.2 mam-ma | |
| 5 | la u₂-maš-šar-an-na-a-ši A-MEŠ-e-ni | |
| 6 | ia-a-nu ina ṣu-um-me-e la ni-ma-ta | |
| 7 | LUGAL AD-ka A-MEŠ ša₂ {id₂}ba-ni-ti | |
| 8 | it-tan-na-na-a-ši um-ma ši-li-ih-ti | |
| 9 | ⸢ša₂⸣ {id₂}DU₃-ti a-na EN.LIL₂{ki} hi-ra-aʾ | |
| 10 | {1}ṣil-la-a ik-te-la-⸢na-a⸣-ši en-na | |
| 11 | LUGAL a-na {1}u₂-bar {lu₂}GAR—UMUŠ {lu₂}GAR—UMUŠ ša₂ TIN.TIR{ki} | |
| 12 | liš-pu-ram-ma ši-li-ih-ti | |
| 13 | ša₂ {id₂}DU₃-ti lid-din-an-na-ši-ma | |
| 14 | A-MEŠ it-ti-šu₂-nu ni-il-ti | |
| 15 | ina ṣu-um-me-e la—ŠU.2 LUGAL | |
| 16 | la ni-il-li u₃ KUR.KUR | |
| 17 | gab-bi la [i]-qab-bu-u₂ | |
| 18 | um-ma {lu₂}EN.LIL₂{ki}MEŠ | |
| 19 | ⸢ša₂⸣ GIR₃.2 ša₂ KUR—aš-šur{ki} | |
| r.e. | ||
| 20 | ⸢iṣ⸣-bat-u₂ ina ṣu-um-me-e | |
| 21 | a-na ṣi-re-e | |
| 22 | in-da-lu-u₂ | |
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.