ABL 0519 (P334356)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0519 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334356 |
| 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 [0:4] o 1o 1–o 44 | To the king, my lord: your servant Issar-šumu-ereš. Good health to [the ki]ng, my lord! May Nabû [and Marduk] bless [the king], my lord! |
| Obverse [4:13] o 55–o 1313 | Con[cerning what the king, my lo]rd, wrote to me: "[Why] have you never told me [the truth]? [When] will you (actually) tell me [all] that there is to it?" — [Aššur, Sin, Šamaš, B]el, Nabû, [Jupiter, Venus, Sat]urn, [Mercury, Mars], Sirius and [...] be my witnesses [that] I [have never] untruly |
| Obverse [13:14] o 1414–o 1414 | [......] the word |
| Obverse [14:15] o 1515–o 1515 | [... to] the king, my lord |
| Obverse [15:16] o 1616–o 1616 | [...... signs which] have occurred in the sky |
| Obverse [16:17] o 1717–o 1717 | [......] Jupiter |
| Obverse [17:18] o 1818–o 1818 | [......] backwards |
| Obverse [18:19] o 1919–o 1919 | [......] years before us |
| Obverse [19:20] o 2020–o 2020 | [......] has ente[red...] a thousand times. |
| Obverse [20:23] o 2121–o 2323 | When the planet Mars comes out from the constellation Scorpius, turns and re-enters Scorpius, its interpretation is this: |
| Obverse [23:27] o 2424–o 2727 | If Mars, retrograding, enters Scorpius, do not neglect your guard; the king should not go outdoors on an evil day. |
| Reverse [0:2] r 1r 1–r 22 | This omen is not from the Series; it is from the oral tradition of the masters. |
| Reverse [2:6] r 33–r 66 | When Mars, furthermore, retrogrades from the Head of Leo and touches Cancer and Gemini, its interpretation is this: |
| Reverse [6:7] r 77–r 77 | End of the reign of the king of the Westland. |
| Reverse [7:11] r 88–r 1111 | This is not from the Series; it is non-canonical. This aforesaid is the only area which is taken as bad if Mars retrogrades there. Wherever else it might retrograde, it may freely do so, there is not a word about it. |
| Reverse [11:15] r 1212–r 1515 | And the matter of the planet Jupiter is as follows: If it turns back out of the Breast of Leo, this is ominous. It is written in the Series as follows: |
| Reverse [15:18] r 1616–r 1818 | If Jupiter passes Regulus and gets ahead of it, and afterwards Regulus, which it passed and got ahead of, stays with it in its setting, someone will rise, kill the king, and seize the throne. |
| Reverse [18:27] r 1919–r 2727 | This aforesaid is the only area which is taken as bad if Jupiter retrogrades there. Wherever else it might turn, it may freely do so, there is not a word about it. Perhaps it was about this that the servant of the king, when (still) alive, and I spoke in the presence of the king, my lord. Saturn will 'push itself' this very month. (But) there is definitely not a word about it anywhere. |
| Reverse [27:30] r 2828–r 3030 | And as to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "Watch whither ..." — I shall watch and write to the king, my lord, whatever it may be. |
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 be-li₂\d-ia | |
| 2 | ARAD-ka {1}15—MU—KAM-eš | |
| 3 | lu šul-mu [a-na] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂-ia | |
| 4 | {d}AG [u {d}AMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL] EN-ia lik-ru-bu | |
| 5 | ina ⸢UGU⸣ [ša LUGAL be]-li₂ iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 6 | ma-[a am—me-ni am—me-ni ina] ma-te-me-e-ni | |
| 7 | [ke-e-tu is-si]-⸢ia⸣ la ta-ad-bu-ub | |
| 8 | [a-na ma-a-ti mi-i-nu] ša₂ ši-ti-ni ta-qab-bi-a | |
| 9 | [aš-šur {d}30 {d}UTU {d]}⸢EN⸣ {d}AG | |
| 10 | {[d}SAG.ME.GAR {d}dil-bat {d}UDU].⸢IDIM⸣.SAG.UŠ | |
| 11 | {[d}UDU.IDIM.GUD.UD {d}ṣal-bat-a-nu] {⸢mul⸣}GAG.SI.SA₂ | |
| 12 | [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢lu⸣ u₂-di-u | |
| 13 | [šum-ma ina ma-te-me-ni] ⸢la⸣ ina ket-ti-ia | |
| 14 | [x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢a⸣-bu-tu₂ | |
| 15 | [x x x x x x x x x] ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN-ia | |
| 16 | [x x x x x x x x x] ⸢ina⸣ AN-e ib-šu-ni | |
| 17 | [x x x x x x x x] {⸢d⸣}SAG.ME.GAR | |
| 18 | [x x x x x x x x] a-na ku-tal-li | |
| 19 | [x x x x x x x MU].AN.NA-MEŠ ina pa-na-tu-ni | |
| 20 | ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x]-u-ni a-di 01-lim-šu | |
| 21 | e-⸢tar⸣-[ba {d]}⸢ṣal⸣-bat-a-nu ki-ma TA@v\m ŠA₃-bi | |
| 22 | {mul}GIR₂.TAB it-tu-ṣi-a is-suh-ra | |
| 23 | ina ŠA₃ {mul}GIR₂.TAB e-ta-rab an-ni-u pi-šir₃-šu₂ | |
| 24 | 1 {d}ṣal-bat-a-nu ki-i i-tu-ra a-na ŠA₃-bi | |
| 25 | {mul}GIR₂.TAB e-te-ru-ub a-na EN.NUN\dm-ka | |
| 26 | la te-eg-gi LUGAL UD HUL.GAL₂ | |
| 27 | KA₂ NU E₃ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | šu-mu an-ni-u la-a ša EŠ₂.QAR-ma šu-u | |
| 2 | ša pi-i um-ma-ni\d šu-u₂ | |
| 3 | ki-ma {d}ṣal\d-bat-a-nu tu-u-ra TA@v ŠA₃-bi | |
| 4 | SAG.DU {mul}UR.GU.LA is-su-hur | |
| 5 | {mul}AL.LUL {d}ma-a-ši ul-tap-pit | |
| 6 | an-ni-u₂ pi-šir₃-šu₂ | |
| 7 | TIL BALA-e LUGAL\d MAR.TU{ki} | |
| 8 | an-ni-u₂ la-a ša EŠ₂.QAR-ma šu-u a-hi-u šu-u | |
| 9 | an-ni-u₂ šu-u₂ u₂-de-šu₂ kaq-qu-ru | |
| 10 | E₂ {d}ṣal-bat-a-nu i-sa-hur-u-ni\d a-na HUL u₂-kal-lu-ni | |
| 11 | ša re-eh-ti gab-bu E₂ i-sa-hur-u-ni | |
| 12 | li-is-hur a-bat-su la-aš₂-šu₂ u₃ ša₂ {d}SAG.ME.GAR | |
| 13 | ki-i an-nim-ma šum-ma TA@v ŠA₃ GABA ša₂ {mul}UR.GU.LA | |
| 14 | a-na qi₂-in\d-niš is-su-hur ha-an-ni\d-u i-la-pat | |
| 15 | ina ŠA₃-bi EŠ₂.QAR ša₃-ṭir | |
| 16 | 1 {d}SAG.ME.GAR {mul}LUGAL\d DIB-iq\y-ma ip-ni\d-šu₂ ar-ka-nu | |
| 17 | ša {mul}LUGAL\d DIB-šu-ma ip-nu-šu₂ ina ra-bi-šu₂ | |
| 18 | it-ti-šu₂ GUB-iz a.a-um-ma ZI-ma LUGAL\d GAZ AŠ.TE DIB-bat | |
| 19 | [an]-ni-u šu-u u₂-de-šu₂ kaq\d-qu-ru E₂ {d}SAG.ME.GAR | |
| 20 | [i]-sa-hur-u-ni a-na HUL u₂-kal-lu\d-u-ni | |
| 21 | ša re-eh-ti gab-bu E₂ i-sa-hur-u-ni\d | |
| 22 | li-is-hu-ur a-bat-su la-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| 23 | is—su-ri ina UGU an-ni-i šu-u {lu₂}ARAD ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 24 | ki-i ba-la-aṭ-u-ni\d u₃ a-na-ku ina IGI LUGAL | |
| 25 | be-li₂-ia ni-iq\d-ṭi-bi {d}UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ | |
| 26 | ITI-ma an-ni-u₂ ra-man-šu₂ i-da-ʾi-ip | |
| 27 | a-bat-su-ma a-na ga-mur-ti la-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| 28 | u₃ ša\d LUGAL\d be-li₂ iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 29 | ma-a u₂-ṣur a-na a.a-e-ša₂ is lip a-na-ṣar | |
| 30 | [mi₃]-i-nu ša₂ ši-ti-ni a-na LUGAL\d EN-ia | |
| 31 | a-šap-pa-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.