CT 53, 038 (P313453)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | CT 53, 038 |
|---|---|
| ID | P313453 |
| 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/saa05 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [1:2] o 2'2'–o 2'2' | [...] 56 courses of bricks [...] |
| Obverse [2:3] o 3'3'–o 3'3' | [...] he extracted [...]. |
| Obverse [3:5] o 4'4'–o 5'5' | [He wrote t]o him: "Why did you extract [...]?" |
| Obverse [5:9] o 6'6'–o 9'9' | [He said: "The re]st of the work that I am doing [is ...; I have receiv]ed from him [x] bricks, but he is still glazing [the kiln-fired bricks]." |
| Obverse [9:11] o 10'10'–o 11'11' | I am [herewith] sending [the ...]s of the br[ickwork o]f his wall (assignment) [to the king], my lord. |
| Obverse [11:15] o 12'12'– | [Perhaps the ki]ng, my lord, will say: "[To who]m have [you] given bricks [...]?" |
| Bottom [1:5] b.e. 15'15'– | [40,000] to (the governor of) Arpad, [40,000 t]o (the governor of) Sama[ria, 40,000 to] (the governor of) Megid[do], in all [1]20,000 (bricks taken) from the king's entourage. |
| Reverse [1:3] r 22–r 33 | [In all 30,000 f]rom Na'di-ilu. |
| Reverse [3:6] r 44–r 66 | [All told], I have given out [1]50,000 bricks; [but] I have omitted the bricks of the royal village managers [about which the ki]ng, my lord, wrote me. |
| Reverse [6:13] r 77–r 1313 | [The ki]ng, my lord, knows that the eunuchs and the royal entourage from [whom] I have been taking the bricks which I have given [to] the magnates are going to petition the king. The king, my [lo]rd, may do as he deems best; [the ki]ng, my [lo]rd, knows that [I have] in the past [days given brick]s to the ki[ng's] entourage. |
| Reverse [13:14] r 1414–r 1414 | [...] the ki[ng's wo]rk [......] |
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] | |
| 2' | [x x x] 56 tik-pi SIG₄ ⸢KIN\m-MEŠ\m⸣ | |
| 3' | [x x x x]-tu₂ i-ta-sa-ha | |
| 4' | [i-sa-par ina] UGU-hi-šu₂ ma-⸢a⸣ [a]-⸢ta-a⸣ | |
| 5' | [x x x x]-tu₂ ta-⸢su\t⸣-uh | |
| 6' | [ma-a re-eh]-ti\t dul₆-li\d-ia ⸢ša\y⸣ e-pa-šu₂-ni | |
| 7' | [x x x] ⸢SIG₄⸣-MEŠ\m i-⸢ba-aš₂⸣-ši | |
| 8' | [x x x]-⸢di⸣-šu₂\d ah—hu-⸢ur⸣ | |
| 9' | [e-bir-tu₂] ⸢i⸣-ša₂-ha-aṭ | |
| 10' | [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-ni ša\y ⸢SIG₄-ME ša\y⸣ BAD₃-šu₂ | |
| 11' | [ina UGU LUGAL] EN-ia u₂\m-se-bi-la | |
| 12' | [i—su-ri] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN i-qa-bi | |
| 13' | [ma-a a-na man]-ni SIG₄-ME ⸢x x⸣ | |
| b.e. | ||
| 14' | [ta]-a-din | |
| 15' | 40 lim] a-na {uru}ar-pad-⸢da⸣ | |
| 16' | 40 lim a]-⸢na⸣ {uru}sa-⸢mir⸣-[na] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | 40 lim a-na] {uru}ma-gi-⸢du⸣-[u] | |
| 2 | [PAB 01 me] 20 lim TA@v\m IGI li\m-bit—MAN li\m-bit—MAN | |
| 3 | [PAB 30 lim] ⸢TA@v\m⸣ IGI {1}na-aʾ-di—DINGIR | |
| 4 | [PAB-ma 01 me] 50 lim SIG₄-MEŠ\mm a-ti\t-din | |
| 5 | [u₃] SIG₄-MEŠ\m ša\ydm {lu₂v}GAL—URU-⸢MEŠ {lu₂v}GAL—URU-⸢MEŠ MAN⸣ | |
| 6 | [ša] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN iš-pur-an-ni\d ur-ta-me | |
| 7 | [LUGAL] ⸢EN⸣ u₂\m-da\d {lu₂v}SAG-MEŠ\m NUMUN\d—LUGAL NUMUN\d—LUGAL | |
| 8 | [ša] SIG₄-ME TA@v\m pa-ni-šu₂-nu IL₂-u-ni | |
| 9 | [a-na] {lu₂v}GAL-MEŠ\m a-di-nu-ni\d | |
| 10 | [a-na LUGAL EN-ia i-ma-hu\d-ru] | |
| 11 | [LUGAL] ⸢EN⸣ ki-i ša\y ZU-u-ni\d le\d-pu-šu₂ | |
| 12 | [LUGAL] ⸢EN⸣ u₂\m-da\dm i—ti-ma-⸢li⸣ i—ti-ma-⸢li⸣ [i—ša₂-šu]-⸢me⸣ [i—ša₂-šu]-⸢me⸣ | |
| 13 | [SIG₄]-ME a-na li\m-bit\m—⸢MAN⸣ li\m-bit\m—⸢MAN⸣ [a-ti-din] | |
| 14 | [x x] ⸢dul⸣-lu ša\yd ⸢LUGAL⸣ [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.