ABL 0405 (P334276)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0405 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334276 |
| 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 king], my [lord]: [your servant Nabû-ahhe]-eriba. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [5:8] o 66–o 88 | Concerning the sunrise about which the king, my lord, wrote to me, it is said (in the tablets) as follows: |
| Obverse [8:13] o 99–o 1111 | If the glow of the day is like smoke, Adad will cause destruction in the springtime. |
| Obverse [13:16] o 1212–o 1414 | If the day is gloomy and rides the north wind: devouring by Nergal, the cattle will diminish. |
| Obverse [16:17] o 1515–o 1515 | The day (means) the sun. |
| Obverse [17:25] o 1616– | Tomorrow we shall not see the sun when it sets: it will set amidst a reddish glow. |
| Reverse [1:3] r 22–r 33 | Dust storms whirled. |
| Reverse [3:4] r 44–r 44 | (That is why) it is clothed with redness. |
| Reverse [4:7] r 55–r 77 | I shall see what else there is and write to the king, my lord. |
| Reverse [7:10] r 88–r 1010 | The radiance of the sun diminished in the path of the Anu stars. (This means) evil for Elam. |
| Reverse [10:17] r 1111–r 1717 | It is said as follows: (If) the sun rises in the path of the Anu stars and there is a reduction of its radiance, the appointed time has arrived; misfortune befell Elam in the morning. |
| Reverse [17:22] r 1818– | "In the path of the Anu stars" (means) it is evil for Elam. |
| Edge [0:1] e. 1e. 1–e. 1e. 1 | In the morning, during the [sun]rise, the south wind blew. Now the north wind is blow[ing]. |
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 | |
| 2 | [ARAD-ka {1}{d}PA—PAB]-MEŠ—SU | |
| 3 | lu šul-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia | |
| 4 | {d}PA {d}AMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL | |
| 5 | EN-ia lik-ru-bu | |
| 6 | ina UGU ni-ip-hi ša {d}ša₂-maš | |
| 7 | ša LUGAL be-li₂ iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 8 | a-ki an-ni-e qa-bi | |
| 9 | 1 UD-mu MUŠ₂-MEŠ-šu₂ | |
| 9a | zi-mu-šu₂ | |
| 10 | ki-ma qut-ri ina IGI MU | |
| 10a | qu-ut-ri ša₂-at-ti | |
| 11 | {d}IM RA-iṣ | |
| 12 | 1 UD-mu a-dir-ma {im}SI.SA₂ | |
| 13 | ra-kib u₂-kul-ti {d}U.GUR | |
| 14 | bu-ul TUR-ir | |
| 15 | UD-mu {d}ša₂-maš | |
| 16 | {d}ša₂-maš ina ⸢ra-be₂-šu₂⸣ | |
| 17 | ina ši-a-ri [o] | |
| b.e. | ||
| 18 | ina ra-be₂-[e] | |
| 19 | la ne₂-em-ma-ra | |
| 20 | ina ŠA₃ an-qu-ul-le-e | |
| r | ||
| 1 | i-rab-bi | |
| 2 | a-ša₂-an-ša₂-te-e | |
| 3 | iṣ-ṣu-da | |
| 4 | su-uʾ-mu-u la-biš | |
| 5 | re-eh-ti di-ib-bi | |
| 6 | am-MUR a-na LUGAL | |
| 7 | EN-ia a-šap-pa-ra | |
| 8 | {d}ša₂-maš ina KASKAL šu-ut {d}a-nim | |
| 9 | ša₂-ru-ri-šu₂ ma-aq-tu₂ | |
| 10 | [lum]-nu ša {kur}NIM.MA{ki} | |
| 11 | [a-ki] an-ni-e qa-bi | |
| 12 | {d}ša₂-maš ina KASKAL šu-ut {d}a-nim | |
| 13 | ip-pu-ha-am-ma | |
| 14 | šum-qut ša₂-ru-ru-šu₂ | |
| 15 | u₂-ki-im-ma a-dan-nu | |
| 16 | {kur}NIM.MA{ki} ka-ṣa-ti-iš | |
| 17 | il-mu-un | |
| 18 | ina KASKAL šu-ut {d}a-nim | |
| r.e. | ||
| 19 | ⸢lum⸣-nu ša {kur}NIM.MA{ki} | |
| 20 | [šu]-u | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | ina ša₂—ši-ra-ti ina ni-ip-hi-[šu] {im}U₁₈.LU | |
| 2 | it-ta-la-ak u₂-ma-a {im}SI.SA₂ ⸢il⸣-[lak] | |
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.