CT 54, 139 (P238493)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | CT 54, 139 |
|---|---|
| ID | P238493 |
| 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/saa21 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [1:2] o 2'2'–o 2'2' | [May ...... the gods of] Assyria and the land of [Akk]ad grea[tly delight] your heart! |
| Obverse [2:5] o 3'3'–o 5'5' | I swear by [DNN (and) the gods of t]he king that no human beings have been sold [to ......]! Why does the legate [... say ...], “He is not reporting his work”? [I have writ]ten to him [... x] times. |
| Obverse [5:7] o 6'6'–o 7'7' | The messenger of the lady Yati-abu, who [... (and) from] whom I learned [..., ......]. Right now, she has said [...]: |
| Obverse [7:8] o 8'8'–o 8'8' | [“...... shall c]ome, and I will [...] my enemy [......!]” |
| Obverse [8:9] o 9'9'–o 9'9' | Now for wh[at reason would] I [......]? |
| Obverse [9:10] o 10'10'–o 10'10' | [......] I gave [the following order to NN] (and) to all the lands [that ......]: |
| Obverse [10:13] o 11'11'–o 13'13' | “[Don’t sell merchandise t]o the Ishmaeli[tes ...]! In the cities of Ša-amele (and) Ša-I$$[ur-Adad, o]r the cities of [...] direction, there is somebody who is selling merchandise to the Ishmaelites. |
| Obverse [13:16] o 14'14'–o 16'16' | “We’ve defined you as a [...] (and) reasonable man, you are not twinned with vengeful men. [Who are] you, or the cities in your House who have sold merchandise to them, al[though] we wrote you, “Don’t sell”? On that day, say: ‘Why [...?]” |
| Obverse [16:20] o 17'17'–o 20'20' | “In my orders it was written like this: “Now then I’m writi[ng to you]: ‘Do not go back and sell merchandise to the Ishmaelites! And send into my presence the messenger of the l[ady Yati-abu], even if he has come as immune. [I’ll wait] until she has do[ne] what I have told him; later I will write you, and you can sell merchandise to them.’” |
| Obverse [20:21] o 21'21'–o 21'21' | [...... they sa]y, “Verily, as long as I have lived, I have not violated the king’s treaty!” |
| Obverse [21:22] o 22'22'–o 22'22' | [...... if] you have violated it, to you [......] |
| Obverse [22:23] o 23'23'–o 23'23' | [......] will call to account [......] |
| Right [1:2] r.e. 22–r.e. 22 | ......] I’m sayi[ng ...] |
| Right [2:3] r.e. 33–r.e. 33 | ......] and if [......] |
| Right [3:4] r.e. 44–r.e. 44 | ......] upon them [...] |
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' | [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢x x x⸣ [x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2' | [x x x x x x x DINGIR-MEŠ ša₂] KUR—{d}aš-šur{ki} ⸢u₃ KUR—URI{ki⸣} ŠA₃-ka ma-⸢aʾ⸣-[diš x x x x] | |
| 3' | [x x DINGIR-MEŠ ša₂] ⸢LUGAL⸣ lu-u₂ i-du-u₂ ki-i a-me-lu-tu ⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 4' | [x x x x x x a-na ši-i]-me na-ad-nu-ma mi-nam-ma {lu₂}qi₂-i-pi ⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 5' | [x x x x x x x x um-ma] dul-la-šu₂ ul i-šap-pa-ra a-⸢di⸣ [x x] | |
| 6' | [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢x x-ra⸣-aš₂-šu₂ {lu₂}A—KIN {lu₂}A—KIN ša₂ {mi₂}ia-a-ti—AD ša₂ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| 7' | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢ŠU⸣.2-šu₂ a-mu-ru a-du-u₂ taq-ta-bi ⸢mu⸣-[x x] | |
| 8' | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢il⸣-lak-ma {lu₂}EN—KUR₂-ia {lu₂}EN—KUR₂-ia lu-[x x x x x x] | |
| 9' | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x]-ga en-na a-na-ku a-na ⸢mi⸣-[x x x x x x] | |
| 10' | [x x x x x] ⸢x x ti x⸣ [x x x x]-⸢bu⸣ a-na KUR.KUR gab-bu [x x x x x] | |
| 11' | [ṭe₃-mu] ⸢al⸣-ta-kan um-ma [x x x x a]-na {lu₂}iš-me—DINGIR-[a.a x x x x] | |
| 12' | [x x x] i-na {uru}ša₂—LU₂-MEŠ {uru}ša₂—iṣ-⸢ṣur⸣—{[d}IM] ⸢lu⸣ URU-MEŠ ša₂-a-ri a-[x x x x x x] | |
| 13' | i-ba-aš₂-ši mam-ma mi-i-ru a-na {lu₂}iš-me—DINGIR-a.a i-nam-di-ni a-na ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| 14' | a-na ṭe₃-man-ni-i ni-ip-ta-ra-as-ka ul it-ti {lu₂}tuk-te-MEŠ ma-a-ša₂-⸢ta⸣ [man-nu] | |
| 15' | at-ta lu-u₂ URU-MEŠ ša₂ i-na E₂-ka mi-i-ru id-di-nu-niš-šu₂-nu-ti u₃ ⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 16' | ni-iš-pu-rak-ka um-ma la ta-nam-din i-na UD-mi-šu₂ qi₂-bi um-ma mi-nam-ma [x x x] | |
| 17' | i-na ṭe₃-me-ia ki-i pi-i an-ni-i iš-pu-ru-ni en-na a-du-u₂ al-tap-[rak-ka] | |
| 18' | la ta-ni-ih-is-ma mi-i-ru a-na {lu₂}iš-me—DINGIR-a.a la ta-nam-din u₃ {lu₂}A—KIN {lu₂}A—KIN ša₂ {⸢mi₂⸣}[ia-ti—AD] | |
| 19' | u₃ ki-i ša₂ it-tal-ka za-ka a-na pa-ni-i šu-bi-la-šu₂ a-di E₂ ša₂ aq-ba-aš₂-šu₂ te-⸢pu⸣-[šu₂ x x] | |
| 20' | ⸢ar⸣-ka-niš a-šap-pa-rak-ku-nu-šim-ma mi-i-ru ta-nam-di-nu-niš-šu₂-nu-[ti x x] | |
| 21' | [x x x x x]-u₂ um-ma ki-i a-di E₂ bal-ṭa-ku a-na a-de-e ša₂ LUGAL ah-ta-⸢ṭu⸣-[u₂] | |
| 22' | [x x x x x] ⸢x x⸣ [x x x x x] ⸢ma⸣ tah-ṭu-u₂ a-na ka-a-ša₂ [x x x x x x x x] | |
| 23' | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x] u₂-ba-⸢ʾu⸣-[u₂ x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| r.e. | ||
| 1 | [x x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2 | [x x x x x x x x x]-zi a-⸢qab-bu⸣-[u₂ x x x x] | |
| 3 | [x x x x x x x x] u₃ ki-i ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 4 | [x x x x x x x] a-na UGU-hi-šu₂-nu ⸢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.