ABL 0455 (P334316)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0455 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334316 |
| 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 [Nabû-belu-ka''in]. Good health t[o the king, my lord]! |
| Obverse [3:14] o 44–o 1414 | Concerning what the king, my lord, w[rote to me]: "I [gave] you [explicit orde]rs regarding the work on [...], but you do not obey [me]" — if I did not obey the king, my lord, whom else would I obey? Now, the king, my lord, has (already) three or four times written to me in this manner; how can I live? My heart does not beat, blood has dried up in my veins. |
| Obverse [14:25] o 1515– | I do my work like my equals. I am not the first among them, nor am I the worst; I do as they do. Why does the king, my lord, single me out as if I did [not] obey the king, my lord? |
| Reverse [3:11] r 44–r 1111 | [Concerning what] the king, my lord, w[rote to me]: "Be in Meturna and keep watch!" — right now I am in Dur-Anuniti, between Meturna and Dur-Bel-ila'i, in the piedmont. My troops are with me, but the son of Yakin is in Babylon. |
| Reverse [11:17] r 1212–r 1717 | It is an impasse: I cannot go and start my journey, nor can I release my king's men to collect their provisions. Let the king, my lord, write me what (his) orders are. |
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\t [LUGAL be-li₂-ia] | |
| 2 | ARAD-ka {1}{[d}AG—EN—GIN-in] | |
| 3 | lu-u DI-mu ⸢a⸣-[na LUGAL be-li-ia₂] | |
| 4 | ša\dm LUGAL be-li₂ ⸢iš⸣-[pur-an-ni] | |
| 5 | ma-a ina UGU dul₆-li ⸢ša⸣ [x x x] | |
| 6 | bir-ti\t IGI.2-MEŠ-ka ⸢un⸣-[ta-di]-⸢id⸣ | |
| 7 | ma-a la ta-šam-⸢man⸣-[ni] | |
| 8 | ša\dm a-na\t LUGAL EN-ia la a-šam-⸢mu⸣-ni | |
| 9 | a-na\t man-ni-ma ah—hur la-aš₂-me | |
| 10 | an-nu-rig\p 03-šu₂ 04-šu₂ | |
| 11 | LUGAL be-li₂ a-ki an-ni-⸢ie⸣-e | |
| 12 | i-ša₂-pa-ra a-ke-e la-ab-laṭ | |
| 13 | a-li\tp ni-kit-ti\t da-me-e\d-a | |
| 14 | ina ŠA₃-bi-ia e\d-tab-lu | |
| 15 | ina qa-ni mi-ih-re-e\d-a | |
| 16 | dul₆-lu ep-pa-aš₂ | |
| 17 | la a-ša₂-ri-du-um-ma | |
| 18 | ša\dm ŠA₃-bi-šu₂-nu a-na\t-ku | |
| 19 | ⸢la⸣ ma-ki-iu-u₂ a-na\t-ku | |
| 20 | [a]-ki ša\dm šu-nu ep-pa-šu₂-u-ni | |
| 21 | [a]-⸢na⸣-ku ep-pa-aš₂ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [ki] ma-ṣi a-na\t LUGAL EN-ia | |
| 2 | [la] ⸢a⸣-šam-mu-u-ni | |
| 3 | [am]—mi₃-ni [am]—mi₃-ni LUGAL be-li₂ u₂\d-ba-ʾa-an-ni | |
| 4 | [ša] LUGAL be-li₂ iš\t-pur-an-ni | |
| 5 | ⸢ma⸣-a ina {uru}A-MEŠ—tur-na\t lu ⸢at⸣-ta | |
| 6 | EN.NUN\m u₂-ṣur an-nu-⸢rig⸣ | |
| 7 | ina {uru}BAD₃\m—{d}a-nu-ni-ti\t bir-ti\t | |
| 8 | {uru}A-MEŠ—tur-na\t u₃ {uru}BAD₃\m—EN—DINGIR-a.a | |
| 9 | ina še-ep KUR-i a-na\t-ku {lu₂v}e-muq-e-a | |
| 10 | ina pa-ne₂-e-a DUMU—{1}ia-GIN | |
| 11 | ina KA₂.DINGIR{ki}ma šu₂-u₂ | |
| 12 | KASKAL ka-ri-im a-na\t-ku la al-la-ka | |
| 13 | re-eš KASKAL-ia la a-na\t-aš₂-ši | |
| 14 | u₃ {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ—MAN-e-a {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ—MAN-e-a la u₂-ra-am-ma | |
| 15 | re-eš ZID₂.DA.KASKAL-MEŠ-šu₂-nu | |
| 16 | la i-na\t-aš₂-ši-iu-u₂ | |
| 17 | mi-nu ša\dm ṭe₃-mu-un-ni | |
| 18 | LUGAL be-li₂ liš-pu-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.