ABL 0242 (P334178)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0242 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334178 |
| 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 [0:3] o 1o 1–o 33 | To the ki[ng], my lord: your [ser]vant Aššur-belu-uṣur. Good health to the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [3:11] o 44–o 1111 | Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "Set out with your troops and tribute, and come" — I shall do my best to set out with the troops and tribute, but because of the snow I had to leave one chariot that came with me in Bit-Hamban. The king knows that there is very much snow. |
| Obverse [11:15] o 1212–o 1515 | Moreover, the recruits, chariot fighters, and all their king's men who were dragging the tribute, [are ...]. Thirty tribute horses |
| Obverse [15:16] o 1616–o 1616 | [......] his cavalry |
| Obverse [16:17] o 1717–o 1717 | [......] which the king [imposed] upon me |
| Obverse [17:18] o 1818–o 1818 | [......] are also king's [m]en |
| Obverse [18:19] o 1919–o 1919 | [...... not] yet |
| Obverse [19:22] o 2020–o 2222 | [......] they are [in] Babylon |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1'1'–r 1'1' | [......] the tribute |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | [......] the 20 horses |
| Reverse [2:4] r 3'3'–r 4'4' | [... wro]te: "Shall I really bring [...] down in[to] a cohort?" |
| Reverse [4:6] r 5'5'–r 6'6' | They will buy (them) here, (and) he will return and supply his deficit. |
| Reverse [6:9] r 7'7'–r 9'9' | (As to) these mules which the king imposed upon me, I keep sending to Bit-Kari and they are looking for them, but there are none. |
| Reverse [9:15] r 10'10'–r 15'15' | Concerning the troops about which the king wrote me: "Let them go with you" — I am myself setting out right now, and have issued orders to the major-domo to set out with the camp after my departure. |
| Reverse [15:24] r 16'16'– | There was nothing in the letter concerning the Itu'aeans; will they stand [guard] in th[is] district, o[r] should they rather come with me [to Babylon]? Let the king send (word). |
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-ia₂ | |
| 2 | ⸢ARAD⸣-ka {1}aš-šur—EN—PAB | |
| 3 | ⸢lu⸣ šul-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia | |
| 4 | ša\dm LUGAL EN-li iš\t-pur-an-ni | |
| 5 | ma-a {lu₂v}e-mu-qi\td-ka TA\m ma-da-ti\t-ka | |
| 6 | nam-mi-iš\t al-ka mi-nu | |
| 7 | mu-qa-a.a {lu₂v}e-mu-qi\td TA\m ma-da-te | |
| 8 | u₂-nam-ma-ša\m ana-ku 01-et {giš}GIGIR | |
| 9 | ša\m is-si-ia ta-li-ku-u-ni | |
| 10 | TA\m pa-an ku-up-pi ina {kur}E₂—ha-ban | |
| 11 | ur-ta-mi LUGAL u₂-da ku-pu-u | |
| 12 | da-a-na a—dan-⸢niš⸣ is-se-niš {lu₂v}rak-su-MEŠ\m | |
| 13 | {lu₂v}A—SIG₅-MEŠ\m {lu₂v}A—SIG₅-MEŠ\m {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ\m—LUGAL-šu₂-nu {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ\m—LUGAL-šu₂-nu gab-bu | |
| 14 | ⸢ša⸣ ma-da-tu iš\t-da-du-ni-ni | |
| 15 | [x] 30 {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ\m ša\m ma-da-te | |
| 16 | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ [x]+⸢x⸣-nu {anše}BAD-HAL-šu₂ | |
| 17 | [x x x x x] ša\dm LUGAL ina UGU-hi-ia₂ | |
| 18 | [x x x x {lu₂v]}⸢ERIM⸣—LUGAL-ma {lu₂v]}⸢ERIM⸣—LUGAL-ma šu₂-nu | |
| 19 | [x x x x x] u₂-din-ni | |
| 20 | [x x x x x x] {uru}KA₂.DINGIR šu₂-nu | |
| 21 | [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-an-ni | |
| 22 | [x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
| r | ||
| 1' | [x x x x x x] ma-da-⸢tu⸣ | |
| 2' | [x x x x x x] 20 {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ\m | |
| 3' | [x x x is-sap]-ra ma-a | |
| 4' | [x x] ⸢ŠA₃⸣-bi ki-⸢ṣir⸣-e i-ba-aš₂-ši | |
| 5' | ⸢u₂⸣-še-ra-da a-na an-na-ka | |
| 6' | i-la-qi\td-u-ni i-sa-hur-ra bat-qu-šu₂ | |
| 7' | i-ka-ṣa-ra {anše}ku-din-MEŠ\m an-nu-te | |
| 8' | ša\dm LUGAL ina UGU-hi-ia iš\t-ku-nu-u-ni | |
| 9' | ina E₂—ka-ri a-šap-pa-ra | |
| 10' | u₂-ba\t-u₂ la-šu₂ ina UGU {lu₂v}e-mu-qi\td | |
| 11' | ša\dm LUGAL iš\t-pur-an-ni ma-a is-si-ka | |
| 12' | li-li-ku ana-ku an-nu-rig\t | |
| 13' | u₂-nam-ma-ša\m a-na {lu₂v}GAL—E₂ {lu₂v}GAL—E₂ | |
| 14' | ṭe₃-e-mu a-sa-kan-na i—da-tu-u-a i—da-tu-u-a | |
| 15' | ma-a-dak-tu u₂-nam-ma-aš₂ | |
| 16' | ina UGU {lu₂v}i-tu-ʾa-a.a | |
| 17' | ina ŠA₃ e-gir₂-ti\t la-šu | |
| 18' | a-na [EN.NUN]-⸢e⸣ ša\m {kur}na-gi-e | |
| 19' | an-[ni-e i]-za-zu | |
| r.e. | ||
| 20 | ⸢u₂⸣-[la-a] ⸢i⸣-ba-aš₂-ši | |
| 21 | ⸢x⸣+[x x x x]+⸢x⸣ li-li-ku-ne₂-e | |
| 22 | is-si-ia | |
| e. | ||
| 1' | LUGAL liš-pur-ra | |
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.