ABL 0895 (P237880)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0895 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237880 |
| 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-u[šezi]b. May Bel, Nabû and Šamaš bless the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [2:4] o 33–o 44 | (If) an eclipse occurs but is not seen in the capital, that eclipse has passed by. The capital is the city where the king resides. |
| Obverse [4:6] o 55–o 66 | Now there are clouds everywhere; we do not know whether the eclipse took place or not. |
| Obverse [6:13] o 77– | Let the lord of kings write to Assur and all the cities, to Babylon, to Nippur, to Uruk and Borsippa; maybe they observed it in these cities. The king should constantly listen. |
| Reverse [0:5] r 1r 1–r 55 | Many signs of the eclipse came in Adar (XII) and in Nisan (I), and I communicated all of them to the king, my lord; and if they perform the apotropaic ritual of the eclipse [...], will that do any harm? It is advantageous to perform it, the king should not leave it. |
| Reverse [5:9] r 66–r 99 | The great gods who dwell in the city of the king, my lord, covered the sky and did not show the eclipse, so that the king would know that this eclipse does not concern the king, my lord, and his country. The king can be glad. |
| Reverse [9:11] r 1010– | "(If) Adad thunders in Nisan (I), the crop will diminish." |
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-li-ia lik-ru-u₂-bu | |
| 3 | AN.MI iš-ša₂-kin-ma ina URU BALA-e la in-na-mir | |
| 4 | AN.MI BI i-te-ti-iq URU BALA URU ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 5 | ina ŠA₃-bi aš₂-bu en-na IM.DIRI-MEŠ ka-la-a-ma | |
| 6 | ki-i AN.MI iš-ku-nu u₃ la iš-ku-nu | |
| 7 | ul ni-di EN LUGAL-MEŠ a-na BAL.TIL{ki} a-na URU ka-la-ma | |
| 8 | a-na TIN.TIR{ki} a-na EN.LIL₂{ki} a-na UNUG{ki} | |
| 9 | u₃ BAR₂.SIPA{ki} liš-pur min₃-de-e-ma | |
| 10 | ina ŠA₃-bi URU-ME an-nu-ti i-ta-mar-u₂ | |
| b.e. | ||
| 11 | ka-a.a-ma-ni-ti LUGAL liš-me | |
| r | ||
| 1 | GISKIM-ME ma-aʾ-da-tu ša₂ AN.MI | |
| 2 | ina ŠA₃-bi {iti}ŠE u ina {iti}BARAG it-tal-ka-nu | |
| 3 | gab-bi a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ia al-tap-ra u₃ ki-i | |
| 4 | NAM.BUR₂.BI ša₂ AN.MI ⸢x⸣ i-te-ep-šu₂ mi-nu-u₂ | |
| 5 | hi-ṭu a-na e-pe-šu₂ ṭa-a-bi LUGAL la u₂-maš-⸢šar⸣ | |
| 6 | DINGIR-ME GAL-ME ša₂ ina URU ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ aš₂-bu AN-u₂ | |
| 7 | u₂-ṣal-lil-u₂-ma AN.MI la u₂-kal-li-mu | |
| 8 | um-ma LUGAL lu-u₂ i-di ki-i AN.MI a-ga-a | |
| 9 | la ina UGU LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ u₃ KUR-šu₂ šu-u₂ LUGAL lu-u ha-di | |
| 10 | ina {iti}BARAG {d}IM GU₃-šu₂ ŠUB-di [o] | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | {še}GUN₃.NU TUR-ir | |
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.