CT 53, 041 (P313456)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
Open in the reader & map →See it among all tablets
| Designation | CT 53, 041 |
|---|---|
| ID | P313456 |
| 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/saa13 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:4] o 1o 1–o 44 | [To] the king, my lord: y[our servant], Nabû-ašared. May [Ašš]ur and Ešarra bless [the k]ing. |
| Obverse [4:6] o 55–o 66 | [Concerning] what the king [as]ked me: |
| Obverse [6:7] o 77–o 77 | "[...] Bel-ibni |
| Obverse [7:8] o 88–o 88 | [...] death |
| Obverse [8:9] o 99–o 99 | [...] front/opposite |
| Obverse [10:26] o 1111– | We have now sent two ro[yal im]ages to the king. I myself sketched the royal image which is an outline. They fashioned the royal image which is in the round. The king should examine them, and whichever the king finds acceptable we will execute accordingly. Let the king pay attention to the hands, the chin, and the hair. |
| Reverse [1:13] r 22–r 1313 | As for the royal image which they are making, the scepter is lying across his arm and his arm is resting on his thighs. I myself do not agree with this and I will not fashion (it so). I could speak with them about features —about anything whatever — but they wouldn't listen to me. On their own volition [they ......]. |
| Reverse [13:14] r 1414–r 1414 | [...] The king [...] |
| Reverse [14:16] r 1515–r 1616 | [...]. I myself should fashion the [bod]y, [but] they [don't a]gree. |
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 EN-ia | |
| 2 | [ARAD]-⸢ka⸣ {1}{d}AG—SAG.KAL | |
| 3 | {[d}aš]-⸢šur⸣ E₂.ŠAR₂.RA | |
| 4 | [a-na] ⸢LUGAL⸣ lik-ru-bu | |
| 5 | [ina UGU] ša LUGAL | |
| 6 | [iš-ʾa]-⸢la⸣-an-ni | |
| 7 | [x x x x] {1}EN—ib-ni | |
| 8 | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ma-a mu-tu₂ | |
| 9 | [x x x ma]-a pu-u-⸢tu₂⸣ | |
| 10 | [x x x x x]-bu-ni | |
| 11 | [x x x x] ⸢an⸣-nu-⸢rig⸣ | |
| 12 | 02 ṣal-[mu]—⸢LUGAL⸣-MEŠ-ni ṣal-[mu]—⸢LUGAL⸣-MEŠ-ni | |
| 13 | ina UGU ⸢LUGAL⸣ nu-se-bi-la | |
| 14 | ṣal-mu—LUGAL ṣal-mu—LUGAL ša mi-ṣi-ri | |
| 15 | a-na-ku e-te-ṣi-ri | |
| 16 | ṣal-mu—LUGAL ṣal-mu—LUGAL ša kab-bu-si-te | |
| 17 | šu-nu e-ta-ap-šu | |
| 18 | LUGAL le-mur ša pa-an | |
| 19 | LUGAL ma-hi-ru-u-ni | |
| 20 | ina pu-te ne₂-pu-uš | |
| b.e. | ||
| 21 | LUGAL a-na ŠU.2 | |
| 22 | a-na zu-qe-te | |
| 23 | a-na SIG₂.KAS | |
| r | ||
| 1 | u₂-zu-un liš-ku-nu | |
| 2 | ša ṣal-mu—LUGAL ṣal-mu—LUGAL ša e-pa-šu-ni | |
| 3 | {giš}haṭ-ṭu ina pa-an a-hi-šu₂ | |
| 4 | pa-ra-ak-at | |
| 5 | A₂-šu₂ ina si-qi-a-ni-šu | |
| 6 | ša₂-ak-na-at | |
| 7 | a-na-ku TA@v pa-ni | |
| 8 | la-ma-gu-ru la-ma-gu-ru la e-pa-aš₂ | |
| 9 | ina UGU bu-un-ni ina UGU me-me-ni | |
| 10 | a-qa-ba-aš₂-šu-⸢nu⸣ | |
| 11 | ⸢la⸣ i-šam-mu-ni | |
| 12 | ⸢a⸣-ki ⸢ra⸣-ma-ni-šu₂-nu | |
| 13 | [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-ni | |
| 14 | [x x x x] LUGAL ⸢x⸣+[x x] | |
| 15 | [x x x]-ši a-na-ku | |
| 16 | [la-a]-⸢nu⸣ le-pu-uš | |
| 17 | [la i]-⸢ma⸣-gur₂-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.