CT 53, 156 (P313571)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | CT 53, 156 |
|---|---|
| ID | P313571 |
| 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/saa01 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:3] o 1'1'–o 3'3' | "We shall go [......]; I have [...] the river [......] heavy logs [......]." |
| Obverse [3:7] o 4'4'–o 7'7' | I asked him: "Where [are they deposited? Those which] we cannot tow [to ......] not to [......] the Inner City [......]"? |
| Obverse [7:12] o 8'8'–o 12'12' | His servants said: "From where the distant logs are being stored the river is navigable as far as the Inner City; from the Inner City to Nineveh it is difficult." |
| Obverse [12:16] o 13'13'–o 16'16' | The Governor of the Land told me: "I'll first (stay) ten days here, [then ......] which during [......] Labdudu [.......]." |
| Obverse [16:27] o 17'17'– | On the 1st of Tishri (VII), [when] the earlier [...] arrived in the Inner City, I asked them: "Where are the distant logs?" They said: "Opposite the city of Ariawate. The logs which we towed last year from the town of Sapirrutu in the district of the Governor opposite Zahê arrived in Nineveh in Adar (XII)." |
| Reverse [6:14] r 77–r 1414 | Since I heard these words from the mouth of the Governor, that the river is navigable from Ariawate as far as the Inner City, the gods of the king willing, we shall tow the logs past the risky places and bring them to Inner City; then we shall see [what] lies ahead and tow them to Nineveh as best as we can. |
| Reverse [14:16] r 1515–r 1616 | As to [what the king, my lord, wr]ote to me: "[...... |
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' | ni-il-⸢lak⸣ [x x x x x x] | |
| 2' | ID₂ ub-ta-⸢x⸣-[x x x x x] | |
| 3' | {giš}UR₃\m-MEŠ KALAG-MEŠ\m [x x x x x] | |
| 4' | a-sa-al\d-šu₂ ⸢nu⸣-[uk] a-a-ka [kar-ru x x] | |
| 5' | ša\yd la mu-⸢qa-a⸣-[ni a-na x x x x x] | |
| 6' | la ni\d-šad-[da-du-ni x] ma [x x]-MEŠ\m-e | |
| 7' | la a-na [x x x x x x x] {⸢uru⸣}[ŠA₃]—URU | |
| 8' | a-⸢na⸣ [x x x x x x x] ⸢di ARAD⸣-MEŠ-⸢šu₂⸣ | |
| 9' | ki-⸢i⸣ [an-ni-e iq]-⸢ṭi₂-bi⸣-u ma-a TA@v\m E₂ | |
| 10' | {giš}⸢UR₃\m-MEŠ pa⸣-ti-u-te kar-ru-ni\d | |
| 11' | a-di\d {uru}[ŠA₃]—⸢URU ID₂ ṭa⸣-a-ba\t | |
| 12' | ma-a TA@v\m {uru}⸢ŠA₃—URU⸣ a-di {uru}ni-nu\d-a | |
| 13' | ID₂ ma-zu-uʾ {lu₂v}GAR.KUR {lu₂v}GAR.KUR iq\d-ṭi₂-bi-a | |
| 14' | ma-a 10 UD-MEŠ an-na-⸢ka la⸣-ah-ru-up | |
| 15' | ⸢ša⸣ ina ŠA₃ UD-⸢me⸣ [x x x]+⸢x⸣-ni {kur}lab-du-du | |
| 16' | [x]-hi-⸢ri x⸣+[x x x x x x] SAG ITI | |
| 17' | [ša] {⸢iti}DU₆ ma-a⸣ [x x x x x x] | |
| b.e. | ||
| 18' | [pa]-ni-u-⸢te⸣ 01.en ⸢E₂⸣ ina {uru}ŠA₃—⸢URU⸣ | |
| 19' | [iq]-ri-bu-ni\d a-sa-al-šu₂-nu | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [nu]-uk pa-ti-u-te ša\m {giš}UR₃\m-MEŠ\m | |
| 2 | a-a-ka ma-a ina pu-ut {uru}ar-ia-u-a-⸢te⸣ | |
| 3 | ma-a {giš}UR₃\m-MEŠ\m ša ina šad-daq-diš | |
| 4 | a-ni\d-nu ni\d-iš-du-du-ni ma-a TA@v\m ŠA₃ | |
| 5 | {uruy}sa-pi-ri-te ša E₂ {lu₂v}GAR.KUR {lu₂v}GAR.KUR | |
| 6 | pu\p-ut {uru}za-he-e a-na\t {itim}⸢ŠE⸣ | |
| 7 | ina {uru}ni\d-nu-a iq\y-ṭar-bu\p-ni\d ⸢ki⸣-[i di]-⸢ib⸣-bi | |
| 8 | an-nu-te ⸢TA@v\m⸣ pi-i ša\y {lu₂v}⸢GAR.KUR⸣ {lu₂v}⸢GAR.KUR⸣ aš₂-mu-ni | |
| 9 | ma-a ID₂ TA@v\m ŠA₃ {uru}ar-ia-u-a-te | |
| 10 | a-di {uru}ŠA₃—URU\y ṭa-a-ba\t DINGIR-MEŠ\m ša\d LUGAL | |
| 11 | ⸢e⸣-tap-šu₂ {giš}UR₃\m-MEŠ\m ni\d-šad-da-da | |
| 12 | [be₂]-et pu-luh-tu₂ nu-še-ta-qa\d | |
| 13 | [a-na] {uruy}ŠA₃—URU\y nu-ub-ba-la i—da\d-te i—da\d-te | |
| 14 | [ša] ina pa-na-tu-ni\d ne₂\d-e-mar ṭu-bi-ni\d | |
| 15 | [a-di] {uru}ni\d-nu-a ni\d-šad-da-da\d ina UGU | |
| 16 | [ša LUGAL be-li₂ iš-pur]-a-⸢ni ma-a x x x na⸣ | |
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.