CT 53, 047 (P313462)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | CT 53, 047 |
|---|---|
| ID | P313462 |
| 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 [0:3] o 1o 1–o 33 | To the k[ing, my lord]: your servant [NN]. Good heal[th to the king, m]y [lord]! |
| Obverse [3:10] o 44–o 1010 | [We ar]rived in [Kar-Aššur] on the 2nd day. The commander-in-chief, [the ..., the chie]f cupbearer, Taklak-ana-Be[l, Išmann]i-Aššur, and the governor[s of Si'imm]ê, Tillê, Guzan[a and Isa]na: these are the magnates w[ho] arrived [with u]s in Kar-Aššur. |
| Obverse [10:16] o 1111–o 1616 | As for the whole royal entourage and the ... of the magnates, none have arrived. We are readying the first contingent of Ne[rgal-e]ṭir which is arriving, just in case the king, my lord, should say: "Draw up the battle array and proceed against the army!" |
| Obverse [16:22] o 1717–o 2222 | Right now the cohort commander of mine whom I sent to the king, [m]y [lord, ...] horses [...] in front of him [......] |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | We are d[oing the k]ing['s work]. |
| Reverse [2:8] r 3'3'–r 8'8' | And as to the sto[red grain concerning which the ki]ng, my lord, wrote me: ["Send me (data on) the sto]red grain (consumed) by your [ci]ty in a calendar month!" — we have now itemized the daily (consumption) of pack-animal fodder and stored grain, and are herewith sending (this information) to the king, my lord: |
| Reverse [8:10] r 9'9'–r 10'10' | 470 homers of fodder, 549 homers 4 seahs of [sto]red grain for soldiers, in all 1,019 homers 4 seahs daily, [......]. |
| Reverse [10:14] r 11'11'–r 14'14' | 108 homers of fodder, 155 ho[mers 6 seahs of sto]red grain for soldiers, in all 263 homers 6 seahs daily, which [...] and their cities [...] in the province of Lah[iru]. |
| Reverse [14:20] r 15'15'–r 20'20' | [In all, 57]8 homers of [fodder daily], making [17,3]40 homers of grain rations per month; [in all 705 homers] of stored grain for soldiers daily, (making) [21,150 ho]mers of grain rations per month; [all told, 38,4]90 homers of fodder and stored grain [per month for the k]ing's [men], plus what the magnates [...]. |
| Reverse [20:24] r 21'21'– | And as regards the battle array [of which] I wrote [to] the king, my lord, [if the king], my lord, so or[der]s, [we shall draw it up]. |
| Right [0:3] r.e. 24r.e. 24–r.e. 2626 | A scribe se[lected] by us wro[te th]is [letter]. |
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⸣ [be-li₂-ia] | |
| 2 | ARAD-ka {1}x x x x x] | |
| 3 | lu-u šul-⸢mu⸣ [a-na LUGAL be-li₂]-⸢ia⸣ | |
| 4 | UD 02-KAM ina {⸢uru⸣}[kar—{d}aš-šur ni]-⸢iq⸣-ṭi\d-rib | |
| 5 | {lu₂}tur-ta-nu [x x x {lu₂]}⸢GAL⸣—KAŠ.LUL {lu₂]}⸢GAL⸣—KAŠ.LUL | |
| 6 | {1}tak-lak—a-na—⸢EN⸣ {1}HAL]-⸢ni⸣—aš-šur | |
| 7 | u₃ {lu₂}EN.NAM-[MEŠ ša {uru}si-ʾi-me]-e | |
| 8 | {uru}til-e {uru}gu-za-⸢na⸣ {[uru}i-sa]-na | |
| 9 | an-nu-ti\t šu₂-nu {lu₂}GAL-MEŠ\m ⸢ša⸣ [i]-⸢si⸣-ni | |
| 10 | ina {uru}kar—{d}aš-šur iq-ri-bu-u-ni | |
| 11 | u₃ li\m-bit—LUGAL li\m-bit—LUGAL gab-bu | |
| 12 | [x]+⸢x⸣-li\m-ih-ti\t {lu₂}GAL-MEŠ me-me-ni | |
| 13 | [la iq]-⸢ri-ba ki-ṣir {1}U⸣.[GUR]—⸢KAR-ir⸣ | |
| 14 | pa-⸢ni-u⸣ ša\d i-qar-rib-an-ni re-šu | |
| 15 | ni-na\td-aš₂-ši šum₂-mu LUGAL be-li₂ i-qab-bi | |
| 16 | ma-a sa-⸢dir⸣-tu₂ si-id-ra ⸢ma-a⸣ ina UGU | |
| 17 | ⸢e⸣-mu-qi e-ti-iq an-nu-rig | |
| 18 | {[lu₂v]}GAL—ki-ṣir-ia {[lu₂v]}GAL—ki-ṣir-ia ša\dm ina pa-an LUGAL | |
| 19 | [be-li₂]-⸢ia₂⸣ aš₂-pu-ra-an-ni | |
| 20 | [x x x x] ⸢x {anše⸣}KUR.RA-MEŠ | |
| 21 | [x x x x x ina] pa-na-tu-uš-šu₂ | |
| 22 | [x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
| r | ||
| 1' | [x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 2' | [x x x]+⸢x⸣+[x x x x] ⸢LUGAL⸣ ne₂-⸢pa⸣-[aš₂] | |
| 3' | ⸢u₃⸣ ina UGU {⸢še⸣}[tab-ki ša] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂ | |
| 4' | iš-pu-ra-an-ni [ma-a {še]}tab-ku | |
| 5' | ša\d ITI\m UD-MEŠ-te [ša] ⸢URU⸣-ka še-bi-la-a-ni | |
| 6' | an-nu-rig {še}ki-su-tu₂ ša\dm a-ṣap-pi | |
| 7' | u₃ {še}tab-ku ša\dm UD-MEŠ ina bat-ta-ta-a.a | |
| 8' | ni-sa-ṭar ina UGU LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ nu-se-bi-la | |
| 9' | 04 me 70 ANŠE {še}ki-su-tu₂ 05 me 49 ANŠE 4(ban₂) | |
| 10' | {[še]}⸢tab⸣-ku ša\d ERIM-MEŠ PAB 01 lim 19 ANŠE 4(ban₂) ša\dm 01 UD-me | |
| 11' | [x x x x]+⸢x LU₂⸣ 01 ⸢me⸣ 08 ANŠE\d {še}ki-su-tu₂ | |
| 12' | 01 me 55 ANŠE⸣ {[še}tab]-ku ša\d ERIM-MEŠ PAB 02 me 63 ANŠE\d 6(ban₂) | |
| 13' | ša 01 UD-me ša [x x x] ša\d URU-MEŠ-šu₂-nu | |
| 14' | ina ⸢NAM⸣ {uru}la-⸢hi⸣-[ri x x x x] | |
| 15' | [PAB 05 me] 78 ANŠE {še}[ki-su-tu₂ ša 01 UD-me] | |
| 16' | 17 lim 03 me] 40 ANŠE {še}PAD-MEŠ ⸢ša ITI⸣ | |
| 17' | [PAB 07 me 05 ANŠE] {še}tab-ku ša ERIM-MEŠ ša\dm 01 UD-me | |
| 18' | 21 lim 01 me 50 ⸢ANŠE⸣ {še}PAD-MEŠ ša\dm ITI\m | |
| 19' | [PAB 38 lim 04 ⸢me⸣ 90 ANŠE {še}ki-su-tu₂ {še}tab-⸢ku⸣ | |
| 20' | [ša ITI ERIM-MEŠ]—⸢LUGAL⸣ ERIM-MEŠ]—⸢LUGAL⸣ a-du ša {lu₂}GAL-MEŠ | |
| 21' | [x x x x]-⸢su\t⸣ u₃ ina UGU sa-dir-te | |
| 22' | [ša a-na] LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ aš₂-pu-ra-an-ni | |
| 23' | [šum₂-mu LUGAL] be-li₂ i-[qab]-⸢bi⸣ | |
| r.e. | ||
| 24 | [ni-is-dir] {⸢lu₂⸣}A.BA ša ne₂-⸢mur⸣-[u-ni] | |
| 25 | [x x an]-⸢ni⸣-tu₂ ⸢i-sa-ṭar⸣ [x x x] | |
| 26 | [x x x]+⸢x⸣ me [x 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.