ABL 1339 (P238713)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 1339 |
|---|---|
| ID | P238713 |
| 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/saa17 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:2] o 1o 1–o 22 | [Your servant] Marduk-apla-iddina: I would gladly die for [the king], my [lord]! Say to the king, my lord: |
| Obverse [2:5] o 33–o 55 | [As to what the king] wrote: "When you sent your soldiers (and) they penetrated into the inner city, they covered the temple wall with arrows" — |
| Obverse [5:10] o 66–o 1010 | My soldiers gave one another the following orders: "Nobody may wound anybody, and the herald may not call up anybody!" Did they not give (such) orders to one another for fear of the name of God (lit., 'gods')? Why should we [be] against the people, and why should there be an arrow on the temple wall? |
| Obverse [10:13] o 1111–o 1313 | My men, who attacked and stood by the temple wall — I myself stationed them there. How could an(y) bow have hit the [temple] wall? |
| Obverse [13:17] o 1414–o 1717 | With regard to Zakir, of whom the king wro[te: "Who] is he?" — I already wrote to the king: "His father put in a good word for me, saying, 'Verily you did not get in touch with my quarter ... fr[om ...], your men [...] are reliable.'" |
| Obverse [17:19] o 1818–o 1919 | Be it (something) for name or of appearanc[e ......] I did not hear. And someone to [...] |
| Obverse [19:21] o 2020–o 2121 | [...] who [does] not [obey] the king's order |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1'1'–r 1'1' | to [...] |
| Reverse [2:3] r 3'3'–r 3'3' | the king [...] |
| Reverse [3:4] r 4'4'–r 4'4' | whatever he [sends] to Elam [...] |
| Reverse [4:5] r 5'5'–r 5'5' | for [...] ... for the house of gods [...] |
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 | [ARAD-ka {1}{d}AMAR.UTU—DUMU.UŠ—SUM-na a-na di-na-an | |
| 2 | [LUGAL be-li₂]-ia lul-lik um-ma-a a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ia-a-ma | |
| 3 | [ša₂ LUGAL] iš-pu-ra um-ma ERIM-MEŠ-ka ki-i taš-pu-ru | |
| 4 | ni-ka-si a-na ŠA₃-bi URU ki-i u₂-nak-ki-su | |
| 5 | šil-ta-hu E₂.SIG₄ E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ un-del-lu-u₂ | |
| 6 | ERIM-MEŠ-ia ša₂ ṭe₃-e-ma a-ha-meš iš-ku-nu um-ma mam-ma | |
| 7 | mam-ma la i-mah-haṣ u₃ NIGIR₂ mam-ma la i-de-ek-ku | |
| 8 | ul a-na MU-⸢i⸣ ša₂ DINGIR-MEŠ ip-la-hu-ma ṭe₃-e-⸢ma⸣ | |
| 9 | a-ha-meš iš-ku-nu mi-nam-ma a-na UN-MEŠ [x x x] | |
| 10 | u₃ šil-ta-hu a-na E₂.SIG₄ E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ [x x] | |
| 11 | šu₂-u₂ ERIM-MEŠ-ia ša₂ iš-hi-ṭu-ma it-ti E₂.⸢SIG₄⸣ [E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ] [E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ] | |
| 12 | iz-zi-zu i-na ŠA₃-bi u₂-še-zi-⸢zu⸣ | |
| 13 | ak-ka-a.a-i {giš}BAN a-na E₂.SIG₄ E₂—[DINGIR-MEŠ] E₂—[DINGIR-MEŠ] | |
| 14 | li-iṣ-ba-tu ša₂ {1}za-kir ša₂ LUGAL iš-⸢pu⸣-[ra um-ma man-nu] | |
| 15 | šu₂-u₂ a-na LUGAL al-tap-ra um-ma AD-šu₂ [ab-bu-tu₂] | |
| 16 | a-na UGU-hi-ia iṣ-ṣa-bat um-ma ki-i ⸢ul⸣-[tu] | |
| 17 | 04-u₂-a ul ta-aṣ-ba-ta ERIM-MEŠ-⸢ka⸣ [x x] | |
| 18 | [ki]-i-nu lu-u₂ ša₂ a-na MU ša₂ zi-i-[mu x x] | |
| 19 | [x x] ul aš₂-me-e-ma u₃ mam-ma a-⸢na⸣ [x x] | |
| 20 | [x x x x x] ša₂ ṭe₃-em LUGAL la ⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 21 | [x x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣+[x] ⸢x⸣+[x] ⸢x x⸣+[x x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1' | a-na [x x x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 2' | ia-ra-[x x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 3' | LUGAL ⸢x x⸣ [x x x x x x x x x x] | |
| 4' | mal₂ a-na {kur}NIM.MA{ki} i-⸢šap⸣-[par x x x] | |
| 5' | a-⸢na⸣ [x] u₂ a-na E₂ ša₂ DINGIR-MEŠ ⸢x⸣ a [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.