ABL 0241 (P334177)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0241 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334177 |
| 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/saa15 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:2] o 1o 1–o 22 | To the king, my lord: your [servant] Aššur-belu-uṣur. Good health to the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [2:11] o 33–o 1111 | Concerning the audience gift of the month Kanun (X) about which the king, my lord, wrote: "You are to bring me two horses, two bulls, 20 sheep, and 20 jugs (of wine)" — the letter arrived only on the 3rd of Shebat (XI); when can they possibly (deliver it)? Moreover, the king knows that the bulls of this country are very small. Would I not know (the size of) the bulls (given as) audience gift to the house [of my lords]? |
| Obverse [11:12] o 1212–o 1212 | Ever since [the king, my lord], |
| Obverse [12:13] o 1313–o 1313 | commanded, [...] to |
| Obverse [13:14] o 1414–o 1414 | two horses of [...] |
| Obverse [14:15] o 1515–o 1515 | which the king, my lord, wr[ote me about] |
| Obverse [15:16] o 1616–o 1616 | [......] upon the fort |
| Obverse [16:17] o 1717–o 1717 | [...] there is [...] |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1'1'–r 1'1' | [...] feeble [......] |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | The[y w]ere silent, I sent [......] |
| Reverse [2:3] r 3'3'–r 3'3' | They kept silent, I ...[...] |
| Reverse [3:8] r 4'4'–r 8'8' | The royal [offerings], 40 bulls and sheep [for the rites] in Babylon, which [the king] had imposed upon us — last year we gave them in Nisan (I), but the king, my lord, said: "Give them in Tishri (VII)." |
| Reverse [8:15] r 9'9'–r 15'15' | Now then the bulls and the sheep are available, but they have not been brought because of the cold and the (swollen) rivers. As the king himself said, let us deliver them in Tishri (VII). But, should we bring them down now, they will (have to) slaughter the sheep. What is it that the king, my lord, commands? |
| Reverse [15:19] r 16'16'– | As soon as the king comes to Babylon, I shall come with one chariot to pay my respects to the king. |
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}aš-šur—EN—PAB lu šul-mu | |
| 3 | [a]-na LUGAL EN-ia ina UGU na-mur-te | |
| 4 | ša\m {itim}AB ša\m LUGAL EN-li iš\t-pur-an-ni | |
| 5 | ma-a 02 {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ\m 02 GUD-MEŠ\m 20 UDU-MEŠ\m | |
| 6 | 20 {dug}ŠAB-MEŠ\m tu-ba-la-an-ni | |
| 7 | UD 03-KAM₂ ša\m {itim}ZIZ₂ e-gir₂-tu | |
| 8 | ta-ta-al-ka i—ma-ti\t i—ma-ti\t u₂-ša₂-ṣu-u | |
| 9 | is-se-niš LUGAL u₂-da GUD-MEŠ\m ša\dm ma-a-te | |
| 10 | an-ni-ti\t QAL₃-MEŠ\m a—dan-niš a-⸢na-ku⸣ | |
| 11 | GUD-MEŠ\m-e na-mur-tu ša\m E₂—[EN-MEŠ]-a E₂—[EN-MEŠ]-a | |
| 12 | la u₂-da TA\m ma-ṣi [LUGAL EN-li] | |
| 13 | iq-bu-u-ni a-na ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| 14 | 02 {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ\m ša\m mu-[x x x x x] | |
| 15 | ša\m LUGAL EN-li iš-[pur-an-ni] | |
| 16 | ina UGU bir-ti\t [x x x x x] | |
| 17 | [x] i-ba-⸢aš₂-ši⸣ [x x x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1' | [x x] ma-ki-⸢e qi-x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| 2' | [iq]-ṭu-lu u₂-se-bi-la [x x x x] | |
| 3' | šu₂-nu ⸢iq⸣-ṭu-lu u₂-bar-⸢ra⸣ [x x x] | |
| 4' | LUGAL-ti\t 40 GUD-MEŠ\m UDU-MEŠ\m [x x x] | |
| 5' | ša\m a-na {uru}KA₂.DINGIR{ki} ⸢ša⸣ [LUGAL] | |
| 6' | ina UGU-hi-ni iš\t-kun-nu-u₂-⸢ni⸣ [o] | |
| 7' | MU.IM.MA ina ŠA₃-bi {itim}BARAG ni-ti\t-din-⸢ni⸣ | |
| 8' | LUGAL EN-li iq-ṭi₂-bi ma-a ina {itim}DUL | |
| 9' | di-na u₂-ma-a an-nu-rig GUD-MEŠ\m UDU-MEŠ\m | |
| 10' | qur-ru-bu TA\m pa-an ku-u₂-ṣi | |
| 11' | TA\m pa-an ID₂-MEŠ\m la u₂-bi-lu | |
| 12' | a-ki-i ša\m LUGAL-ma iq-bu-u-ni | |
| 13' | ina ŠA₃ {itim}DUL ni-din-ni u₂-ma-a | |
| 14' | nu-še-ra-da UDU-MEŠ\m i-mah-hu-ṣu | |
| 15' | mi-nu ša\dm LUGAL EN-li i-qa-bu-u-ni | |
| 16' | ⸢a⸣—ki-ma ⸢a⸣—ki-ma LUGAL a-na {uru}KA₂.DINGIR{ki} | |
| 17' | il-la-ka ana-ku TA\m 01-et {giš}GIGIR | |
| r.e. | ||
| 18 | a-na DI-me ša\dm LUGAL | |
| 19 | al-la-ka | |
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.