ABL 0403 (P334274)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Sippar-Yahrurum · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0403 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334274 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Akkadian |
| Period | Neo-Assyrian · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE |
| Genre | Letter |
| Find spot | Sippar-Yahrurum (mod. Tell Abu Habbah) |
| Coordinates | 33.0605, 44.2552 |
English translation
By ORACC project saao/saa18 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:3] o 1o 1–o 33 | [The wo]rd of the king to the non-Babylonians. I am [w]ell. |
| Obverse [3:7] o 44–o 77 | It is said in a popular proverb: "The potter's dog, having entered the kiln, will bark at the potter." |
| Obverse [7:12] o 88–o 1212 | Now you have godlessly made yourselves into citizens of Babylon, and have raised against my servants all kinds of claims that you and your lord have been making up. |
| Obverse [12:15] o 1313–o 1515 | In yet another popular proverb it is said: "The words of a sinful woman have more weight at the door of the judge's house than her husband's." |
| Obverse [15:20] o 1616–o 2020 | I am herewith sending back to you, with its seals intact, your completely pointless letter that you sent to me. Perhaps you will say: "Why did he return it to us?" |
| Obverse [20:26] o 2121– | When the citizens of Babylon, who are my servants and love me, wrote to me, I opened (their letter) and read it. Now, would it be good (that) I should [accept and] read (a letter) from the hand of criminals who [...] the god? |
| Reverse [4:5] r 55–r 55 | [......] there |
| Reverse [5:6] r 66–r 66 | [...... ab]out your lord |
| Reverse [6:7] r 77–r 77 | [......] are cold and |
| Reverse [11:12] r 1212–r 1212 | [......] have [pl]aced |
| Reverse [12:18] r 1313–r 1818 | [...... I will] read |
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]-mat LUGAL | |
| 2 | a-na la {lu₂}TIN.TIR{ki}MEŠ | |
| 3 | ⸢DI⸣-mu a-a-ši | |
| 4 | ina tel-te ša₂ KA UN-MEŠ ša₂-ki-in | |
| 5 | um-ma UR.KU ša₂ {lu₂}DUG.QA.BUR | |
| 6 | ina ŠA₃ UDUN ki-i i-ru-bu | |
| 7 | a-na ŠA₃ {lu₂}DUG.QA.BUR u₂-nam-bah₃ | |
| 8 | en-na at-tu-nu ki-i la KA DINGIR-ma | |
| 9 | ra-man-ku-nu a-na {lu₂}TIN.TIR{ki}MEŠ | |
| 10 | tu-ut-te-ra u₃ dib-bi la dib-bi | |
| 11 | ša₂ at-tu-nu u EN-ku-nu te-tep-pu-ša₂ | |
| 12 | a-na UGU ARAD-MEŠ-ia₂ šak-na-tu-nu | |
| 13 | i-na tel-tim-ma ša₂ KA ša₂-ki-in | |
| 14 | um-ma MI₂ ha-ṭi-tu₂ ina KA₂ E₂—{lu₂}DI.KUD E₂—{lu₂}DI.KUD | |
| 15 | KA-ša₂ al-la ša₂ DAM-ša₂ da-an | |
| 16 | ṭup-pu TU₁₅-MEŠ u₃ me-ha-na-ti-ku-nu | |
| 17 | ša₂ taš-pu-ra-a-ni ina {na₄}KIŠIB-MEŠ-ša₂ | |
| 18 | ki-i u₂-te-ru ul-te-bil-ak-ku-nu-ši | |
| 19 | min₃-de-e-ma ta-qab-ba-a | |
| 20 | um-ma mi₃-na-a u₂-tir-ra-an-na-ši | |
| 21 | ul-tu {lu₂}TIN.TIR{ki}MEŠ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ARAD-MEŠ-ia₂ u₃ ra-im-a-ni-ia | |
| 2 | iš-pa-ru-u-ni ki-i ap-tu-u al-ta-ši | |
| 3 | en-na DUG₃.GA-at ina re-e-⸢te EN⸣-MEŠ—hi-iṭ-ṭi EN⸣-MEŠ—hi-iṭ-ṭi | |
| 4 | ša₂ DINGIR [x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ lul-si-i | |
| 5 | [x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ina ŠA₃-bi | |
| 6 | [x x x x x x x x ina] UGU EN-ku-nu | |
| 7 | [x x x x x x x x x x]-⸢ka⸣ ka-ṣa-a-ma | |
| 8 | [x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
| 9 | [x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
| 10 | [x x x x x x x x x x]-te | |
| 11 | [x x x x x x x x x x]-tu₂ | |
| 12 | [x x x x x x x x x x il]-tak-nu | |
| 13 | [x x x x x x x x x x lul]-si-i-ma | |
| 14 | [x x x x x x x x x x x]-⸢ku⸣-nu-ši | |
| 15 | [x x x x x x x x x x x x]-na-a | |
| 16 | [x x x x x x x x x x x x]-ru | |
| 17 | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
| 18 | [x x x x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
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.