ABL 0238 (P237980)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0238 |
|---|---|
| ID | P237980 |
| 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 of the lands, my lord: your serv[a]nt, Illil-bani. May Enlil, Ninurta, and Nusku bless the king of the lands, my lord. |
| Obverse [4:8] o 55–o 88 | Concerning the news of Belšunu of Bit-Dakkuri about which the k[i]ng, my lord, wrote to me, he has not treated correctly the messenger whom I sent to him and has not spoken to him. I have heard that he has arrested him. |
| Obverse [8:10] o 99–o 1010 | Šuma-iddin, whom the king, my lord, sent as commandant to Marad, is now before me in Nippur. |
| Obverse [10:12] o 1111–o 1212 | Since last year many letters |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1'1'–r 1'1' | and ... [......] |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | instead of the[m ......] |
| Reverse [2:4] r 3'3'–r 4'4' | They do their work (and) [will deliver it to the king]. The king, my lord, should [kno]w (this). |
| Reverse [4:7] r 5'5'–r 7'7' | I am the king my lord's servant and watchman here. There are many foreign language speakers in Nippur under the aegis of the king, my lord. I implement the king's orders and speak to them. |
| Reverse [7:13] r 8'8'– | When I spoke to Aššur-belu-taqqin, the prefect appointed in Nippur to pass on sealed documents and royal messengers, about the sealed documents and the royal servants who come and stay for three or four days in Nippur and whom he refuses to pass on — |
| Right [0:6] r.e. 13r.e. 13– | when I spoke to him about them, [sayin]g: "The people of Nippur and the whole country have [d]is[c]redited me," he [raised] his hand against me [... and sa]id: "I will cut off your head and [hang it] by the neck [of ...]." |
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 | |
| 2 | ⸢ARAD⸣-ka {1}{d}EN.LIL₂—ba-ni | |
| 3 | {d}EN.LIL₂ {d}NIN.URTA u {d}PA.TUG₂ | |
| 4 | a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR EN-ia lik-ru-bu | |
| 5 | a-na UGU ṭe₃-e-mu ša₂ {1}EN-šu₂-nu E₂—{lu₂}da-ku-ra-a.a | |
| 6 | ša₂ ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN-a iš-pu-ra {lu₂}A—KIN {lu₂}A—KIN ša₂ a-na pa-ni-šu₂ | |
| 7 | aš₂-pu-ru ul u₂-tar-ri-iṣ-ma it-ti-šu₂ ul id-bu-ub | |
| 8 | ki-i aš₂-mu-u₂ iṣ-ṣa-bat-su | |
| 9 | {1}MU—SUM-na ša₂ LUGAL EN-a a-⸢na {lu₂⸣}GAR—UMUŠ-u₂-ti {lu₂⸣}GAR—UMUŠ-u₂-ti ša₂ MAR₂.DA{ki} | |
| 10 | iš-pu-ra-šu₂ a-du-u₂ ina EN.LIL₂{ki} ina pa-ni-ia₂ šu-u₂ | |
| 11 | ul-tu šad-da-qad₃ ši-pir-e-ti ma-aʾ-de-e-ti | |
| 12 | ⸢x x x x x x x x x x x x x⸣ | |
| r | ||
| 1' | u ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2' | a-na ku-mi-⸢šu₂-nu⸣ [x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 3' | dul-la-šu₂-nu ip-pu-šu ⸢a⸣-[na LUGAL i-nam-di-nu] | |
| 4' | LUGAL EN-a lu-⸢u₂⸣ [i]-⸢di⸣ | |
| 5' | ARAD u EN EN.NUN ša₂ LUGAL EN-ia₂ a-kan-na a-na-ku | |
| 6' | u EME-MEŠ ma-aʾ-da-a-ti ina EN.LIL₂{ki} ina GIŠ.MI LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 7' | <$ši$>-pir-ti LUGAL u₂-šal-lam u it-ti-šu₂-nu | |
| 8' | a-dab-bu-ub {1}AN.ŠAR₂—EN—taq-qin {lu₂}šak-nu ša₂ a-na | |
| 9' | šu-tu-qu-ti ša₂ un-qa-a-ti u {lu₂}A—KIN {lu₂}A—KIN ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 10' | ina EN.LIL₂{ki} paq-du ana UGU un-qa-a-ti u ARAD-MEŠ | |
| 11' | ša₂ LUGAL ša₂ il-la-ku-nim-ma 03 UD-⸢mu⸣ 04 UD-mu ina EN.LIL₂{ki} | |
| 12' | aš₂-bu-ma la i-man-gu-ru-ma la u₂-šet-ti-iq-šu₂-nu-tu₂ | |
| r.e. | ||
| 13 | [ana] UGU-hi it-ti-šu₂ ki-i ad-bu-bu | |
| 14 | [um-ma]-a {lu₂}EN.LIL₂{ki}MEŠ u KUR gab-bi | |
| 15 | ⸢qu-la⸣-li-ia il-tak-nu | |
| 16 | [o] ŠU.2-su₂ a-na UGU-hi-ia₂ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x um]-ma SAG.DU-ka a-bat-taq-ma ina ti-ik-ki | |
| 2 | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
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.