ABL 0074 (P334024)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0074 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334024 |
| 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/saa10 · 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: [your servant] Balasî. Good health to the king, my lord! [May Nabû and Marduk bless] the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [4:15] o 55–o 1515 | As to what the king, m[y lord, wr]ote [to me]: "[In] the city of H[ar]ihumba lightning struck and ravaged the fields of the Assyrians" — why does the king look for (trouble), and why does he look (for it) [in the ho]me of a tiller? There is no evil inside the palace, and when has the king ever visited Harihumba? |
| Obverse [15:33] o 1616– | Now, provided that there is (evil) inside the palace, they should go and perform the (ritual) "Evil of Lightning" there. In case the king, my lord, says: "How is it said (in the tablets)?" — (here is the relevant interpretation): "If the storm god devastates a field inside or outside a city, or if he puts down a ... of (his) chariot, or if fire burns anything, the said man will live in utter misery for 3 years." This applies (only) to the one who was cultivating the field. |
| Reverse [9:19] r 1010–r 1919 | Concerning the adding of the intercalary month about which the king wrote to me, this is (indeed) a leap year. After Jupiter has become visible, I shall write (again) to the king, my lord. I am waiting for it; it will take this whole month. Then we shall see how it is and when we have to add the intercalary month. |
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 [ARAD-ka] | |
| 2 | {1}ba-la-si-i lu DI-[mu] | |
| 3 | a-na LUGAL EN-⸢ia⸣ {[d}PA {d}AMAR.UTU] | |
| 4 | a-na LUGAL EN-ia [lik-ru-bu] | |
| 5 | ša LUGAL ⸢be⸣-[li₂ iš]-pur-[an-ni] | |
| 6 | ma-⸢a⸣ [ina] {⸢uru}ha-ri⸣-hum-⸢ba⸣ | |
| 7 | ma-a [i]-⸢ša₂-tu₂ TA@v⸣ AN-e | |
| 8 | ⸢ta-at⸣-tu-uq-ta A.ŠA₃-MEŠ | |
| 9 | ⸢ša⸣ {kur}aš₂-šu-ra-a.a ta-ta-kal | |
| 10 | ⸢LUGAL⸣ a-ta-a u₂-ba-ʾa-a | |
| 11 | [ina] ⸢E₂⸣ {lu₂}qa-tin-ni LUGAL | |
| 12 | [a]-ta-a u₂-ba-ʾa-a-ma | |
| 13 | ⸢HUL⸣ ina ŠA₃ E₂.GAL la me-me-ni | |
| 14 | ⸢LUGAL⸣ ina {uru}ha-ri-hum-ba | |
| 15 | im—ma-te im—ma-te il-lik-ma | |
| 16 | u₂-ma-a šum-ma ina ŠA₃ E₂.GAL | |
| 17 | i-ba-aš₂-ši HUL mi₃-qit-ti | |
| 18 | i-ša₂-ti lil-li-ku | |
| 19 | ina ŠA₃-bi le-pu-šu | |
| b.e. | ||
| 20 | šum-ma LUGAL be-li₂ | |
| 21 | i-qab-bi ma-a | |
| 22 | a-ke-e qa-bi | |
| r | ||
| 1 | A.ŠA₃ lib-bi URU lu-u | |
| 2 | qa-an-ni URU {d}IM ir-hi-iṣ | |
| 3 | lu ṭi-bi-ih ma-ga-ar-ri | |
| 4 | iš-kun lu-u i-ša₂-ti | |
| 5 | mi₃-im-ma u₂-qa-al-li | |
| 6 | a-me-lu šu-u 03 MU.AN.NA-MEŠ | |
| 7 | ina ku-u₂-ri u ni-is-sa-te | |
| 8 | it-ta-na-al-la-ak | |
| 9 | a-na ša A.ŠA₃ i-ru-šu-u-ni | |
| 10 | qa-bi ina UGU da-ra-ri | |
| 11 | ša ITI ša LUGAL iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 12 | MU.AN.NA di-ri ši-i | |
| 13 | ki-ma {mul}SAG.ME.GAR | |
| 14 | it-ta-mar a-na LUGAL EN-ia | |
| 15 | a-šap-pa-ra ina pa-ni | |
| 16 | a-da-gal ITI an-ni-i-u₂ | |
| 17 | u₂-gam-ma-ra a-ke-e | |
| 18 | ši-ti-i-ni | |
| 19 | ina ŠA₃-bi ne₂-em-mar | |
| 20 | im—ma-te im—ma-te ni-da-ra-ru-ni | |
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.