CT 53, 016 (P313431)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | CT 53, 016 |
|---|---|
| ID | P313431 |
| 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/saa16 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:8] o 1o 1–o 88 | To the king of the lands, my lord: your servant Itti-Šamaš-balaṭu. Good health to the king, my lord! May Aššur, Šamaš, Bel, Nabû, Nergal, Ištar of Nineveh (and) Ištar of Arbela give lo[n]g days, everlasting years, happiness, physical well-being (and) joy to the king, my lord. |
| Obverse [8:12] o 99–o 1212 | From where the sun rises [to whe]re it sets, [he (= Šamaš) has brought] (all lands) [to submission be]fore [the feet] of the king, my lord. |
| Obverse [12:14] o 1313–o 1414 | [...] this land |
| Reverse [0:6] r 1'1'–r 6'6' | [t]a[b]let [... There are many] in the entourage of the king, my lord, who have invested silver together with the merchants in this house and [there is] a strong alliance over the distance [...]. |
| Reverse [6:12] r 7'7'–r 12'12' | They are systematically scaring me. There is no fr[ien]d of mine here. I put my trust in the king, my lord. I do not give one shekel (or even) half a shekel to anybody but the king, my lord. |
| Reverse [12:21] r 13'13'– | May the king, my lord, not leave me in their hands. I am (but) a dead dog. May I wield the brooms in the palace of the king, my lord! [May I decorate the inte]rior of the palace of the king, my lord! May the gods of heaven and earth bless the king, my lord! |
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 EN-ia | |
| 2 | ⸢ARAD⸣-ka {1}KI—{d}UTU—ba-la-ṭu | |
| 3 | lu-u₂ DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 4 | {d}aš-šur {d}UTU {d}EN {d}PA {d}U.GUR | |
| 5 | {d}15 ša ⸢NINA⸣{ki} {d}15 ša {uru}arba-⸢il₃⸣ | |
| 6 | UD-mu ⸢GID₂.DA⸣-MEŠ MU.AN.NA-MEŠ | |
| 7 | da-⸢ra⸣-a-ta ṭu-ub ŠA₃-bi | |
| 8 | ṭu-ub ⸢UZU⸣ hu-du-u₂ ŠA₃-bi | |
| 9 | a-na ⸢LUGAL EN-ia lid⸣-di-⸢nu⸣ | |
| 10 | ⸢TA@v be₂-et {d}UTU i-nap-pa-ha-an-nu⸣ | |
| 11 | [a-du]-⸢u₂⸣ i-rab-bu-un-nu | |
| 12 | [ina sa]-pal [GIR₃.2 ša LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 13 | [u₂-sak-ni]-iš | |
| 14 | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ KUR an-ni-ti | |
| r | ||
| 1' | ⸢ṭup⸣-pu ⸢x⸣+[x x ma-du-ti] | |
| 2' | ina ŠA₃-bi {lu₂}man-za-za—pa-ni {lu₂}man-za-za—pa-ni ša MAN EN-ia₂ | |
| 3' | ša KUG.UD TA@v {lu₂}DAM.QAR-MEŠ | |
| 4' | a-na E₂ an-ni-e i-di-nu-u-nu | |
| 5' | u₃ sa-la-mu dan-nu a-na ⸢UGU⸣ | |
| 6' | ru-⸢qi qa⸣-ru-⸢x x x x⸣-bu | |
| 7' | ina ⸢bat-ta⸣-ta-⸢a.a u₂-pa-la-hu⸣-nu | |
| 8' | ⸢ṭa⸣-[ab]-⸢ta⸣-ni-ma an-na-ka | |
| 9' | ⸢la⸣-aš₂-šu₂ a-na-ku a-na UGU-hi | |
| 10' | LUGAL EN-ia ta-ku-la-ak | |
| 11' | 01 GIN₂ 1/2 GIN₂ a-na mi₃-mi₃-i-ni | |
| 12' | la a-dan-nu a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 13' | ad-dan-nu LUGAL EN ina ŠU.2-šu₂-nu | |
| r.e. | ||
| 14 | la-a u₂-ra-ma-an-ni | |
| 15 | kal-bi me-e-ti a-na-ku | |
| 16 | sa-a-ri ina ŠA₃-bi E₂.GAL | |
| 17 | ⸢ša LUGAL⸣ EN-ia₂ lu-ka-⸢i⸣ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | [x] ⸢ŠA₃ E₂.GAL⸣ ša LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 2 | [lu-za]-⸢in⸣ DINGIR-⸢MEŠ⸣ AN-e u KI.TIM | |
| 3 | [o] a-na MAN ⸢EN-ia₂⸣ lik-ru-bu | |
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.