ABL 0917 (P238053)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0917 |
|---|---|
| ID | P238053 |
| 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 mother of the king, my lord: your servant, Na'id-Marduk. Good health to the mother of the king, my lord! May Aššur, Šamaš, and Marduk keep the king, my lord, alive. May they ordain happiness for the mother of the king, my lord. |
| Obverse [5:15] o 66–o 1515 | After the Elamites had marched against us and taken control of the bridge, when they came, I wrote to the mother of the king, my lord. Now they have dismantled the bridge, but have retained the floats of the bridge in .... They have not released them. We do not know whether or not they will go on. If they do, I shall write to the mother of the king, my lord. The forces must reach us, my lord! |
| Obverse [15:18] o 1616–o 1818 | The son of Nikkal-iddin has writt[en] to the king of El[am] and to Huban-nikaš: "[...] the king of Assyria and [his] camp [...] |
| Reverse [1:4] r 2'2'–r 4'4' | The mother of the king, [my lord, knows] that they are reliable words. Also one of the Chaldeans has written (to me) accordingly. |
| Reverse [4:12] r 5'5'–r 12'12' | By the gods of the king, my lord, (I swear) that the messenger of the king of Elam did bring letters but did not come into my presence; I did not see him and nobody opened his letter before he went back. On the second day of Ab (V), his messenger came to me on the border. I [t]urned him back and sent my messenger to the palace. |
| Reverse [12:14] r 13'13'–r 14'14' | My lord should know that my heart is completely devoted to my lord's house. |
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 AMA—LUGAL AMA—LUGAL be-li₂-ia ARAD-ka | |
| 2 | {1}na-id—{d}AMAR.UTU lu-u₂ šul-mu | |
| 3 | a-na AMA—LUGAL AMA—LUGAL be-li₂-ia AN.ŠAR₂ {d}UTU | |
| 4 | u₃ {d}AMAR.UTU LUGAL be-li₂-a lu-bal-li-ṭu | |
| 5 | ṭu-ub ŠA₃-bi ša₂ AMA—LUGAL AMA—LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ | |
| 6 | liq-bu-u₂ ul-tu {kur}NIM.MA{ki} | |
| 7 | a-na UGU-hi-ni il-li-ku-ni-ma gi-iš-ru | |
| 8 | iṣ-ba-tu ki-i ša₂ il-li-ku-ni | |
| 9 | a-na AMA—LUGAL AMA—LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ al-tap-ra en-na | |
| 10 | gi-iš-ru ip-ta-aṭ-ru u₃ {gi}a-ma-te | |
| 11 | ša₂ gi-iš-ru i-na lu-ka-nu-um-ma | |
| 12 | ik-te-lu-u₂ ul u₂-maš-ši-ru-ši-na-ti | |
| 13 | ul ni-i-di il-la-ku-ni-i ia-nu-u | |
| 14 | ki-i it-tal-ku-ni a-na AMA—LUGAL AMA—LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ | |
| 15 | a-šap-pa-ra be-li₂ e-mu-qu lik-⸢šud₃-da-a-na⸣-ši | |
| 16 | DUMU-šu₂ ša₂ {1}{d}NIN.GAL—SUM-na a-na LUGAL {kur}⸢NIM⸣.[MA{ki]} | |
| 17 | ⸢u₃⸣ a-na {1}hu-ba-ni-ga-aš₂ il-ta-⸢par⸣ [um-ma] | |
| 18 | [x x] ⸢LUGAL KUR—aš-šur⸣ u₃ ma-dak-ti [x x x x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1' | ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2' | šu-u₂ AMA—⸢LUGAL⸣ AMA—⸢LUGAL⸣ [be-li₂-ia i-di] | |
| 3' | ki-i dib-bi ka-a-a-ma-nu-te šu₂-nu u₃ | |
| 4' | mam-ma i-na {lu₂}kal-da-a-nu ap—pit-tim-ma ap—pit-tim-ma | |
| 5' | il-tap-ra DINGIR-MEŠ ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ ki-i | |
| 6' | {lu₂}A—KIN {lu₂}A—KIN ša₂ LUGAL {kur}NIM.MA{ki} ši-pir-e-ti | |
| 7' | la iš-šam-ma a-na pa-ni-ia₂ i-ru-ba u₃ | |
| 8' | a-mu-ru-uš u₃ mam-ma ši-pir-ta-šu₂ | |
| 9' | ip-tu-u₂ a-di ih-hi-su il-li-ku | |
| 10' | UD 02-KAM₂ ša₂ {iti}NE {lu₂}A—KIN-šu₂ {lu₂}A—KIN-šu₂ a-na UGU mi-iṣ-ru | |
| 11' | a-na pa-ni-ia₂ it-tal-ka a-na ku-tal-li | |
| 12' | ⸢ul⸣-tah-hi-is-su u₃ {lu₂}A—KIN-ia₂ {lu₂}A—KIN-ia₂ | |
| 13' | a-na E₂.GAL al-tap-ra be-li₂ lu-u₂ | |
| 14' | i-di ki-i ŠA₃-ba-a it-ti | |
| 15' | E₂—be-li₂-ia E₂—be-li₂-ia gu-um-mu-ru | |
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.