ABL 0223 (P334164)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0223 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334164 |
| 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 [0:5] o 1o 1–o 55 | To the 'farmer,' my lord: your servant Nabû-zeru-lešir. Good health to my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless my lord for many years! |
| Obverse [5:13] o 66–o 1313 | I wrote down whatever signs there were, be they celestial, terrestrial or of malformed births, and had them recited in front of Šamaš, one after the other. They (the substitute king and queen) were treated with wine, washed with water and anointed with oil; I had those birds cooked and made them eat them. The substitute king of the land of Akkad took the signs on himself. |
| Obverse [13:35] o 1414– | He cried out: "Because of what ominous sign have you enthroned a substitute king?" And he claims: "Say [in] the presence of the 'farmer': on the eve[ning of the xth, we were drinking w]ine. Ṣallaya gave b[ribes] to his servant Nabû-[uṣalli] and meanwhile he inquired about Nikkal-iddina, Šamaš-ibni, and Na'id-Marduk, speaking about upheaval of the country: 'Seize the fortified places one after another!' He is to be watched (carefully); he should no (longer) belong to the entourage of the 'farmer.' His servant Nabû-uṣalli should be questioned — he will spill everything." |
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 {lu₂}ENGAR EN-ia | |
| 2 | ARAD-ka {1}{d}PA—NUMUN—SI.SA₂ | |
| 3 | lu DI-mu a-na EN-ia | |
| 4 | {d}AG u {d}AMAR.UTU a-na EN-ia | |
| 5 | MU.AN.NA-MEŠ ma-aʾ-da-te lik-ru-bu | |
| 6 | GISKIM-MEŠ lu-u ša₂ AN-e lu ša₂ KI.TIM | |
| 7 | lu-u ša BE—iz-bi am—mar ši-na-ni | |
| 8 | a-sa-ṭar ina ba-at-ta-ta-a.a | |
| 9 | ma-har {d}UTU u₂-sa-ad-bi-ib-šu₂-nu | |
| 10 | ina GEŠTIN NAG-u₂ ina A-MEŠ TU₅ | |
| 11 | ina I₃-MEŠ ŠEŠ₂-MEŠ-šu₂ MUŠEN-MEŠ am-mu-te | |
| 12 | u₂-sa-ab-ši-il u₂-sa-kil-šu₂-nu | |
| 13 | LUGAL pu-u-hi ša₂ KUR—URI{ki} GISKIM-MEŠ | |
| 14 | it-tah-ra-an-ni i-si-si | |
| 15 | ma-a mi₃-i-nu GISKIM la-ap-tu | |
| 16 | ina ŠA₃-bi-⸢šu⸣ LUGAL pu-u-hi tu-še-ši-ba | |
| 17 | u₃ i-da-bu-ub ma-a | |
| 18 | [ina] IGI {lu₂}ENGAR qi-i-bi | |
| b.e. | ||
| 19 | ma-a ina ba-⸢a⸣-[di ša UD x-KAM₂] | |
| 20 | ma-a ⸢GEŠTIN⸣ [ni-si-ti] | |
| 21 | ṭa-[aʾ-ta-a-ti] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | {1}ṣal-la-a.a a-na {1}{d}PA—[u₂-ṣal-li] | |
| 2 | ARAD-šu₂ it-ti-din ina ŠA₃-⸢bi⸣ | |
| 3 | ina UGU {1}{d}NIN.GAL—SUM-na | |
| 4 | ina UGU {1}{d}UTU—ib-ni | |
| 5 | ina UGU {1}I—{d}mar-duk | |
| 6 | i-sa-al ma-a ina UGU ša₂-bal-ku-te | |
| 7 | ša ma-a-ti i-du-bu-ub | |
| 8 | ma-a E₂—BAD₃-MEŠ E₂—BAD₃-MEŠ ina bat-ta-ta-a.a | |
| 9 | ṣab-bi-ta ma-a na-aṣ-ru šu-u | |
| 10 | ina pa-an {lu₂}ENGAR lu-u la i-za-az | |
| 11 | ma-a a-na {1}{d}PA—u₂-ṣal-li ARAD-šu₂ | |
| 12 | liš-u₂-lu ma-a šu-u gab-bu | |
| 13 | i-da-bu-ub | |
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.