ABL 0493 (P334340)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
Open in the reader & map →See it among all tablets
| Designation | ABL 0493 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334340 |
| 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 [0:10] o 1o 1–o 1010 | To the king, my lord: your servant, Aššur-reṣuwa, priest of Ninurta. Good health to the king, my lord. May Bel, Aššur, and Ninurta bless the king, my lord. May they give to the king, my lord, long days, everlasting years, long life, and the attainment of all he strives for. |
| Obverse [10:20] o 1111– | In the time of the father of the king, my lord, the clergy of the temple of Ninurta cut off 3 fingers (worth) of golden appendages from the beams of gold at the head of Ninurta. I turned in a report to the father of the king, my lord. All the men [went] to meet [...]. |
| Bottom [0:5] b.e. 20b.e. 20– | (b.e. 20) (Break) |
| Reverse [1:2] r 22–r 22 | [...] inside [......] |
| Reverse [2:3] r 33–r 33 | their [...] ... [...] |
| Reverse [3:14] r 44–r 1414 | They cut off a [... x] spans wide and 11 cubits (= 5.5 m) long, and they removed 8 silver bands from the walls. The eunuch of the king, my lord, should come and investigate. Nabû-eriba, the lamentation priest, and Galul, the temple guard, were in charge of the cutting. They should be interrogated, and their accomplices should be brought out. |
| Reverse [14:19] r 1515–r 1919 | Now then I and the mayor of Calah had the overseer of the city-gates go down to Urdu-Marduk and Sangu-Issar, and he had a look. The king, my lord, should ask him how much was cut off. |
| Reverse [19:24] r 2020– | How many have they become now? They have been taught (a lesson), but (still) they don't keep their hands off the temple. |
| Right [3:7] r.e. 2424– | (When in the time of) your father they didn't keep their hands off the temple, some of the men were killed. The king, my lord, should do as he d[eems best]. |
| Edge [1:2] e. 22–e. 22 | I am alone; there is no one to take care of the case. They are one [...]. The king, my lord, should know (this). |
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}aš-šur—re-ṣu-u-a | |
| 3 | {lu₂}SANGA ša {d}MAŠ | |
| 4 | lu šul-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 5 | {d}BE aš-šur {d}MAŠ a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 6 | lik-ru-bu | |
| 7 | UD-MEŠ GID₂.DA-<MEŠ> MU.AN.NA-MEŠ | |
| 8 | da-ra-a-te la-bur TI.LA | |
| 9 | ṣa-mur ka-ša₂-du | |
| 10 | a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ li-di-nu | |
| 11 | ina ŠA₃ AD-šu₂ ša LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 12 | {lu₂}TU—E₂ {lu₂}TU—E₂ ša E₂—{d}MAŠ | |
| 13 | TA@v ŠA₃ {giš}UR₃-MEŠ ša KUG.GI | |
| 14 | ša SAG {d}MAŠ 03 ŠU.SI | |
| 15 | mu-še-ṣi-iʾ KUG.GI ib-ta-at-qu | |
| 16 | ṭe₃-e-mu ina IGI AD-šu₂ | |
| 17 | ša LUGAL EN-ia | |
| 18 | u₂-tir {lu₂}ERIM-MEŠ | |
| 19 | [gab-bi]-šu₂-nu ina GABA ⸢x⸣+[x] | |
| b.e. | ||
| 20 | [x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x x] | |
| 21 | [x x x]+⸢x ti⸣ [x x] | |
| 22 | [x x x] ⸢u₂⸣ [x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [x x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x] ⸢EN⸣ [x x] | |
| 2 | [x x x]+⸢x⸣ ina ŠA₃ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] | |
| 3 | a [x x x]+⸢x⸣-šu-nu ur-⸢x⸣+[x x x] | |
| 4 | ⸢x⸣+[x x] ⸢ru⸣-ṭu DAGAL [o] | |
| 5 | 11 ina 01 KUŠ₃ GID₂.⸢DA⸣ | |
| 6 | ib-ta-at-qu 08 sa-kan-ni | |
| 7 | ša KUG.UD TA@v ŠA₃ E₂.SIG₄-MEŠ | |
| 8 | u₂-ta-si-hu {lu₂}SAG ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 9 | EN-ia li-lil-ka le-mur | |
| 10 | {1}{d}PA—SU {lu₂}UŠ.KU | |
| 11 | {1}ga-lul {lu₂}EN.NUN E₂—DINGIR E₂—DINGIR | |
| 12 | šu-nu EN ba-ta-qi | |
| 13 | ⸢liš-al⸣-lu-šu₂-nu ERIM-MEŠ | |
| 14 | ša is-si-šu₂-nu lu-še-ṣu-u-ni | |
| 15 | an-nu-rig a-na-ku u₃ {lu₂}ha-za-nu | |
| 16 | ša {uru}kal-ha a-na {1}⸢ARAD⸣—{d}KU a-na {1}SANGA—{d}15 | |
| 17 | {lu₂}GAL—KA₂.GAL-MEŠ {lu₂}GAL—KA₂.GAL-MEŠ nu-se-ri-di | |
| 18 | e-ta-mar LUGAL be-li₂ | |
| 19 | liš-ša₂-al-šu₂ ki ma-ṣi-ni | |
| 20 | ba-ti-qu-u-ni u₂-ma-a | |
| r.e. | ||
| 21 | a-na ki ma-ṣi i-tur-ru | |
| 22 | la-mu-du a-ha-šu₂-nu | |
| 23 | ina E₂.KUR ta-la-ka | |
| 24 | AD-ka a-ha-šu₂-nu ina E₂.KUR | |
| 25 | ta-ta-lak | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | ERIM-MEŠ TA@v ŠA₃-šu₂-nu de-e-ku LUGAL be-li₂ ki-i ša ⸢i⸣-[la-u-ni] | |
| 2 | le-pu-šu₂ u₂-di-ia a-na-ku a-haz de-ni la-aš₂-šu₂ ⸢DUMU⸣ 01-en [x x] | |
| 3 | šu-nu LUGAL be-li₂ lu u₂-di | |
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.