ABL 0556 (P334381)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0556 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334381 |
| 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 [1:2] o 2'2'–o 2'2' | [...... sto]od |
| Obverse [2:4] o 3'3'–o 4'4' | [...] some 50 men came [to me] to Nikkur. |
| Obverse [4:6] o 5'5'–o 6'6' | From [the men] at my disposal, [1]35 had died. |
| Obverse [6:17] o 7'7'–o 17'17' | [When] the caravan of Kar-Šarrukin arrived, I sent (word), had them (= the Tabaleans) brought to me, had them occupy the houses of the deceased, and gave them oxen, sheep and women. The king's bodyguard took advantage of their oxen, sheep and wo[men], (but) did they [run a]way for lack of things? If they really had run away for [lac]k of things, they should have come to [me]. Why did they g[o] to [Mann]ea? |
| Obverse [17:28] o 18'18'– | By the gods of the king, my lord: I did not know that [the Ta]baleans had run away. I heard about it (only) when I came out of Media. I sent (word) to Mannea, Mazamua and (Bit-)Hamban, and they did bring some men from among them from Mannea. |
| Reverse [4:6] r 55–r 66 | Now the king wrote to me, and I have provisioned the captives. |
| Reverse [6:15] r 77–r 1515 | The king, my lord, knows if I am negligent or a do-nothing. Let the [kin]g, my lord, have a look at the ... of Nikkur, Tizu, Kiguhtu and Kizahasi, (all) [fort]resses [situ]ated on the enemy border and abandoned: [If I] have revived one of them, is it a crime? The king will [pun]ish me accordingly. |
| Reverse [15:18] r 1616–r 1818 | The king did [giv]e (me) 2,000 [men]. Either a royal eunuch [or a bod]yguard should come |
| Reverse [18:19] r 1919–r 1919 | [......] provisions |
| Reverse [19:20] r 2020–r 2020 | [...... i]n the district |
| Reverse [20:22] r 2121–r 2222 | [......] they [should have a l]ook |
| Edge [0:1] e. 1e. 1–e. 1e. 1 | [Of the ...... who] ran away, 20 men [......] |
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⸣+[x x x x] ši | |
| 2' | [x x x]+⸢x x x⸣-zu-u-ni | |
| 3' | [x x x] {lu₂v}⸢ERIM⸣-MEŠ 50 ina {uru}ni-kur | |
| 4' | [ina pa-ni]-ia i-ta-al-ku-u-ni | |
| 5' | {[lu₂v}ERIM]-MEŠ ⸢ša⸣ ina pa-⸢ni⸣-ia ša\ydm-nu-u-ni | |
| 6' | 01 ⸢me⸣ 30 ⸢u 05 ina ŠA₃-bi-šu₂-nu mi-tu | |
| 7' | [E₂] KASKAL ša\ydm {uru}kar—LUGAL—GI.NA | |
| 8' | ⸢ik-šu⸣-da-an-ni a-sa-pa-ra | |
| 9' | na-ṣu-ni-šu₂-nu ina UGU E₂-MEŠ\m ša\ydm {lu₂vy}UŠ₂-MEŠ\t | |
| 10' | ⸢u₂⸣-[se]-⸢ri⸣-bu-šu₂-⸢nu⸣ GUD-MEŠ\m UDU-MEŠ\m | |
| 11' | MI₂-⸢MEŠ⸣ at-ta-na-šu₂-nu {lu₂vy}qur-bu-ti\t | |
| 12' | ša\ydm LUGAL ⸢GUD-MEŠ-šu₂-nu UDU-MEŠ⸣-šu-nu | |
| 13' | ⸢MI₂⸣-[MEŠ-šu-nu] e-⸢ta-kal⸣ TA@v\m pa-an la-šu-ti\t-e | |
| 14' | ⸢ih⸣-[ta]-⸢al⸣-qu TA@v\m ma-ṣi | |
| 15' | ⸢TA@v\m⸣ [IGI la]-⸢šu⸣-ti\t ih-liq-qu-u-ni | |
| 16' | ina ⸢pa⸣-[ni-ia] lu i-lik-ku-u-ni | |
| 17' | a-na {[kur}ma]-⸢na⸣-a.a a-na mi-ni | |
| 18' | il-[li-ku] DINGIR-MEŠ\m ša\ydm LUGAL EN-ia₂ | |
| 19' | šum₂\p-⸢mu u₂⸣-du-u-ni | |
| 20' | a-⸢ki⸣ {[kur}ta]-bal-a.a ih-li-qu-u-ni | |
| b.e. | ||
| 21' | a-ki TA\m mad-a.a u₂-ṣa-ni | |
| 22' | a-se-me a-sap-ra | |
| r | ||
| 1 | a-na {kur}ma-na-a.a | |
| 2 | a-na {kur}ma-za-mu-a ina {kur}ha-ban | |
| 3 | {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ\m i-ba-aš₂-ši TA@v\m ŠA₃-šu₂-nu | |
| 4 | TA\m {kur}ma-na-a.a na-ṣu-u-ni | |
| 5 | um-ma-a LUGAL i-sa-pa-ra-an-<ni> | |
| 6 | {lu₂vy}hu-ub-tu₂ u₂-sa-aṣ\d-bi-it | |
| 7 | LUGAL EN-li₂ u₂-da\d šum₂\p-mu ši-ṭu ana-ku | |
| 8 | šum₂\p-mu la e-pi-šu a-na-ku | |
| 9 | u₂-ma ša\ydm {uru}ni-kur {uru}ti-zu | |
| 10 | {uru}ki-gu-uh-tu₂ {uru}ki-za-ha-si | |
| 11 | {uru}[HAL].ṢU-<$MEŠ$> ša\ydm qa-an-ni na-ka-ri | |
| 12 | [ka]-⸢ar⸣-ru-u-ni u₂-šu-ru-u-ni | |
| 13 | ⸢LUGAL⸣ EN le-e-mur 01-en ina ŠA₃-šu₂-nu | |
| 14 | [šum₂-mu] ⸢ub⸣-ta-⸢liṭ hi⸣-ṭu-u₂ | |
| 15 | [šip]-⸢ṭu⸣ pit-ti\t ⸢LUGAL⸣ a.a-ši e-mi-da\d-ni | |
| 16 | [ERIM]-⸢MEŠ\t⸣ 02 lim i-ba-aš₂-ši LUGAL | |
| 17 | [it-ti]-⸢din⸣-ni šum₂\p-mu {lu₂vy}SAG—MAN | |
| 18 | [šum₂-mu {lu₂v]}⸢qur-bu⸣-ti\t li-li-ka | |
| 19 | [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ša\ydm-aṣ\d-bu-tu₂ | |
| 20 | [x x x x x x] ⸢ina⸣ na-ge-e | |
| 21 | [x x x x x x x]-⸢mu⸣-ru | |
| 22 | [x x x x x x x x x]-tu₂ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ih-liq-qu-u-ni 20 {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ\m | |
| 2 | [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ | |
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.