ABL 0438 (P334302)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0438 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334302 |
| 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 king, [my] lord: your servant Marduk-šarru-[uṣur]. Good health to the king, [my lor]d! |
| Obverse [3:16] o 44–o 1616 | Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "Where are these kakkussu-ornaments placed?" — they are placed upon the mole of the god Šidada, outwards. There are seven of them, and their weight is 5 minas and fifty shekels of gold. One mina and 10 shekels of the gold is for the breast of the god Humhum. A total of 7 minas of gold has been used in the time of the king, my lord, but there is no written record on it. |
| Obverse [16:29] o 1717– | Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "What objects has Aššur-belu-taqqin made and placed there? Write it down and send it to me" — a breast part for Šidada, its weight being half a mina of gold, and one cup of 'hand water,' its weight being one mina of gold. These are the objects that he has made, and there is a written document by Aššur-[belu-ta]qqin on them. |
| Reverse [9:16] r 1010–r 1616 | A cavalry commander — one of the šandabakku — with a horse has deserted to my presence. I asked him about the news, and he told me: "Ṣala[...] has been brought into the house of [NN] |
| Reverse [16:17] r 1717–r 1717 | "[......] |
| Reverse [17:18] r 1818–r 1818 | "[......] |
| Reverse [18:19] r 1919–r 1919 | ["......] |
| Reverse [19:20] r 2020–r 2020 | ["......] |
| Reverse [20:22] r 2121– | "[......]" |
| Right [0:2] r.e. 22r.e. 22–r.e. 2323 | caval[rymen ...... of] the son of Zerî [......]. |
| Right [2:5] r.e. 2424–r.e. 2626 | They have se[nt me this word]: "We shall desert for the [king], our lord." |
| Edge [0:3] e. 1e. 1–e. 33 | I (told him): "Let us send them tokens through a Babylonian." Perhaps the gods of the king my lord will make it (happen) and they will desert. I shall then send him to the king, my lord. |
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\t be-li₂-[ia₂] | |
| 2 | ARAD\p-ka {1}{d}AMAR.UTU—⸢MAN⸣—[PAB] | |
| 3 | lu-u DI-mu a-na LUGAL\t ⸢be⸣-[li₂-ia₂] | |
| 4 | ša LUGAL\t be-li₂ iš\d-pur-an-[ni] | |
| 5 | ma-a ka-ku-sa-ni an-nu-ti\t | |
| 6 | a-a-ka ša\ym-ka-nu ina UGU | |
| 7 | ki-pi-li\t ša\ym {d}ši-da\d-da\d | |
| 8 | ša\ym-ka-nu pa-ni-šu₂-nu | |
| 9 | a-na qa-an-ni 07 šu-nu | |
| 10 | 05 MA.NA 50 GIN₂ KUG.GI KI.LAL-šu₂-nu | |
| 11 | 01 MA.NA 10 GIN₂ KUG.GI | |
| 12 | a-na {uzu}GABA ša\ym {d}HUM.HUM | |
| 13 | PAB 07 MA.NA KUG.GI ina ŠA₃-bi | |
| 14 | UD-mu-MEŠ\m ša\ym LUGAL\t be-li₂-ia₂ | |
| 15 | ep-šu₂ šaṭ-ṭa\d-ru ina UGU-hi-šu₂-nu | |
| 16 | la-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| 17 | ša\ym LUGAL\t be-li₂ iš\d-pur-an-ni | |
| 18 | ma-a mi-nu i-ba\t-aš₂-ši | |
| 19 | u₂-de-e {1}aš-šur—U—LAL | |
| r | ||
| 1 | e-pu\p-uš\d ina ŠA₃-bi | |
| 2 | iš\d-kun ma-a šu-ṭu-ru | |
| 3 | še-bi-la {uzu}GABA a-na | |
| 4 | {d}ši-da\d-da\d 1/2 MA.NA KUG.GI | |
| 5 | KI.LAL-ša\ym 01.et qa-bu-tu | |
| 6 | ša\ym A-MEŠ\m ŠU.2 01 MA.NA KUG.GI KI.LAL-ša | |
| 7 | an-nu-ti\t šu-nu u₂\d-de-e | |
| 8 | ša\ym e\d-pu\p-šu-u-ni | |
| 9 | šaṭ-ṭa\d-ru ša\ym {1}aš-šur—[U]—⸢LAL⸣ | |
| 10 | ina UGU-hi-šu₂-nu {lu₂v}⸢GAL—BAD-HAL⸣ {lu₂v}⸢GAL—BAD-HAL⸣ šu₂-u | |
| 11 | ša\ym {lu₂v}GU₂.EN.NA šu-u₂\m | |
| 12 | u₃ 01-en {anše}KUR.RA ina pa-ne₂-e\d-a | |
| 13 | it-tu-uq\tdp-ta a-sa-al-šu₂ | |
| 14 | ma-a mi-nu ⸢ṭe₃⸣-e\d-mu | |
| 15 | ma-a {1}ṣa-la⸣-[x]+⸢x⸣-tu₂ ina E₂ | |
| 16 | {1}⸢ba⸣-[x x x] ⸢šu-ru⸣-bu | |
| 17 | ma-[a x x x x]+⸢x⸣+[x] | |
| 18 | ma-[a x x x x x x] | |
| 19 | ⸢si⸣ [x x x x x x x] | |
| 20 | ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x] | |
| 21 | ma-a ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x] | |
| r.e. | ||
| 22 | {lu₂v}ša\ym—BAD-[HAL x x x x x x] | |
| 23 | DUMU—{1}NUMUN\d-⸢i⸣ [x x x] | |
| 24 | i-sa-[ap-ru-u-ni ma-a] | |
| 25 | ina pa-an [LUGAL] EN-⸢ni⸣ | |
| 26 | ni-ma-⸢qu⸣-tu\t ⸢x⸣+[x x] | |
| 27 | ⸢x⸣+[x x]-ta-la [x x] | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | nu-uk\tdp it-hu-ra-a-te ina ŠU.2 {lu₂v}DUMU—KA₂.⸢DINGIR⸣.RA {lu₂v}DUMU—KA₂.⸢DINGIR⸣.RA | |
| 2 | ni\d-iš\d-pu\p-ra-šu₂-nu is—su\t-ri DINGIR-MEŠ\m LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ | |
| 3 | e\d-pu\p-šu i-ma-qa-tu-u-ni ha-ra-ma-ma | |
| 4 | ina pa-an LUGAL be-li₂-ia₂ a-šap-pa-ra-šu₂ | |
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.