ABL 1278 (P237937)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 1278 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237937 |
| 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 | Concerning the hoopoe about which you said: "It has been sent as a message" — and concerning the temple of Marduk, we shall see a good month, and it (the ritual) should be performed; he does not know. |
| Obverse [2:3] o 33–o 33 | Elul (VI) is a good month. |
| Obverse [3:5] o 44–o 55 | Also, concerning the ritual of the haruspex, he does not know about the 2nd day; again, it is good. Let it be performed and let us be confident. |
| Obverse [5:10] o 66– | Also, if it is feasible, why don't the guards and Perhu keep watch there, on account of a matter like this? |
| Reverse [0:4] r 1r 1–r 44 | Alternatively, if it is not good to let the men go to the roof of the temple at dawn, some expedient must be formed on account of the bird (and) anything beyond it. |
| Reverse [4:7] r 55–r 77 | [Co]ncerning the roof of the temple of Marduk about which the king, my lord, spoke, it is good to perform (the ritual) there. Elul (VI) is a good month; and the 2nd day is suitable for extispicy. Let it be performed accordingly. |
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 | ina UGU eš-še-bu-u{mušen} ša₂ taq-bu-u-ni | |
| 2 | ma-a šip-ru šu₂-u šap-ir ina UGU E₂—{d}AMAR.UTU | |
| 3 | ITI DUG₃.GA ne₂-mur u₃ li-in-ne₂-piš šu-u₂ | |
| 4 | la u-da {iti}KIN DUG₃.GA u₃ ina UGU dul-li | |
| 5 | ša₂ {lu₂}HAL a-na UD 02-KAM la u-da tu-ra DUG₃.GA-ma | |
| 6 | li-in-ne₂-piš-ma nir-hu-uṣ u₃ šum-ma | |
| 7 | ta-ri-iṣ a-ta-a EN EN.NUN-MEŠ {1}pi-ir-hu | |
| 8 | ina ŠA₃-bi la i-na-aṣ-ṣu-ru TA pa-an | |
| 9 | a-bi-te ša₂ ki-i an-ni-i | |
| r | ||
| 1 | u₂-la-a {lu₂}ERIM-MEŠ la DUG₃.GA ana E₁₁ | |
| 2 | ina ŠA₃-bi UR₃ ša₂ E₂—DINGIR E₂—DINGIR ina kal-la-ma-ri | |
| 3 | ni-ik-lu me-em-me-e-ni lu nak-la | |
| 4 | TA pa-an MUŠEN TA pa-an me-me-ni a-hu-la | |
| 5 | [ina] UGU UR₃ ša₂ E₂—{d}AMAR.UTU ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂ iq-bu-u-ni | |
| 6 | [ina] ŠA₃-bi DUG₃.GA a-na e-pa-še {iti}KIN DUG₃.GA | |
| 7 | u₃ UD 02-KAM a-na HAL-u₂-ti DUG₃.GA-ma | |
| 8 | ina pi-it-ti li-in-ne₂-piš | |
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.