ABL 0471 (P334324)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0471 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334324 |
| 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/saa13 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:7] o 1'1'–o 7'7' | [May ......] Ma[rduk, .......], lord [of ...], [Zarpani]tu, Nabû, and Tašmetu greatly bless [the king, my lord]. May they lengthen [the days of the ki]ng, my lord. May [Nabû in Ezid]a and Bel in Esaggil show [prosperity] to the king, my lord. |
| Obverse [7:11] o 8'8'–o 11'11' | [Concerning the lay]ing of the gate(s) in Babylon, [about which the king, my lo]rd, wrote to me, saying: "Go lay it," [it has been laid]. The gate of the temple of Ea [has been l]aid too, and we will lay those of the perimeter of Esaggil [and of ...]. |
| Obverse [11:16] o 12'12'–o 16'16' | Furthermore, it is [ti]me to (begin) work [on the foundations] of the ziggurat. [We] will issue the ord[er] and they shall begin with it. Shebat (XI) is a favorable month. (Once) the king sends word, they will lay it. |
| Obverse [16:30] o 17'17'– | Didî, the architect who was appointed for the work on Esaggil, is here. I told him: "Come with me to lay the foundations," but he said: "There is no way I can go without the king's order. I delivered a document to the palace concerning the magazine of Esaggil about which I came. But they have not yet issued an order to me." They should issue an order for him so that he can go with me. Without him, we will not be able to lay the foundations. |
| Reverse [6:10] r 77–r 1010 | Concerning the perfumes, sweet-scented oil, red earth paste and precious stones [which] we are to lay [in] the foundations, let [the king,] my [lo]rd, issue an order for them to give (them) to us. |
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' | [x x x x x x] {d}⸢AMAR⸣.[UTU x x] | |
| 2' | [x x x x x] EN ⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 3' | {[d}zar-pa-ni]-tum {d}PA {d}taš-me-tum | |
| 4' | [a-na LUGAL EN]-⸢ia⸣ a—dan-niš lik-ru-bu | |
| 5' | [UD-me ša] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN-ia lu-ur-ri-ku | |
| 6' | {[d}PA ina E₂.ZI].⸢DA⸣ {d}EN ina E₂.SAG.IL₂ | |
| 7' | [ne₂-ma-al-šu₂] a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ lu-kal-li-mu | |
| 8' | [ina UGU ka]-⸢ra⸣-ri ša KA₂ ša ina KA₂.DINGIR.RA{ki} | |
| 9' | [ša LUGAL be]-⸢li₂⸣ iš-pur-an-ni-ni ma a-lik kur-ru | |
| 10' | [ik-ta-ar-ru] KA₂-ma ša E₂—{d}E₂.A | |
| 11' | [ka-ri]-ri u₃ ša si-hi-ir-ti E₂.SAG.IL₂ | |
| 12' | [ša x x x]-ir ni-kar-ra-ar u₃ [UD]-⸢MEŠ⸣ ša dul-li | |
| 13' | [ša URU₄] ša ziq-qur-rat ṭe₃-e-[mu] | |
| 14' | [ni]-šak-kan re-e-šu₂ i-na-aš₂-ši-u₂ | |
| 15' | {⸢iti⸣}ZIZ₂ ITI DUG₃.GA šu-u₂ LUGAL be-li₂ | |
| 16' | [i]-šap-par i-kar-ru-ru | |
| 17' | {1}di-di-i {lu₂}še-lap-pa-a-a | |
| 18' | ša ina UGU dul-li ša E₂.SAG.IL₂ | |
| 19' | pa-qid-du-u-ni an-na-ka šu-u₂ | |
| 20' | aq-ṭi-ba-aš₂-šu mu-uk al-ka is-si-ia | |
| 21' | ina UGU ka-ra-ri ša URU₄ | |
| 22' | ma-a la-aš₂-šu₂ ša la pi-i ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 23' | la al-lak | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ma-a ina UGU ur-su-te ša E₂.SAG.IL₂ | |
| 2 | ša al-lik-an-ni ma-a e-gir₂-tu | |
| 3 | ina ŠA₃-bi E₂.GAL at-ti-din | |
| 4 | ma-a u₂-di-na ṭe₃-e-mu la i-šak-kan-u₂-ni | |
| 5 | ṭe₃-e-mu liš-ku-nu-šu₂ is-si-ia lil-lik | |
| 6 | ša la ša₂-a-šu₂ la mu-qa-an-ni | |
| 7 | URU₄ la ni-kar-ra-ar ina UGU ŠEM-HI.A | |
| 8 | I₃.DUG₃.GA I₃.DUG₃.GA IM.SIG₇.SIG₇ u₃ NA₄-MEŠ | |
| 9 | [ša ina] ⸢ŠA₃⸣ URU₄ ni-kar-ra-ru-u-ni | |
| 10 | [LUGAL be]-⸢li₂⸣ ṭe₃-e-mu liš-kun | |
| 11 | [lid]-di-nu-na-a-ši | |
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.