ABL 0566 (P334388)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0566 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334388 |
| 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/saa05 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:5] o 1'1'–o 5'5' | "Cons[ult] the tablet!" The br[ick masons who] star[ted] to work were gossiping the following day, saying: "This work is most acceptable to Bel! The king is going to live long!" |
| Obverse [5:8] o 6'6'–o 8'8' | They were merry indeed, so I asked: "What is it? Tell me!" but they wouldn't tell me. |
| Obverse [8:9] o 9'9'–o 9'9' | (I need) six musukkannu trees, each six cubits (3 m) long and one cubit (50 cm) in circumference; |
| Obverse [9:11] o 10'10'–o 11'11' | one haluppu fir tree, five cubits long, one cubit in circumference; |
| Obverse [11:13] o 12'12'–o 13'13' | ten musukkannu trees, each of which are two qû measures thick; they may be either five or six cubits long; |
| Obverse [13:15] o 14'14'–o 15'15' | one good box tree; it should be two qû measures thick and six cubits long; |
| Obverse [15:17] o 16'16'–o 17'17' | 20 šaššūgu trees for the shafts; they should each be ten cubits (5 m) long. |
| Obverse [17:20] o 18'18'– | The goldsmiths say they need more gold. |
| Reverse [0:3] r 1r 1–r 33 | The king, my lord, should quickly send the three talents of steel about which I wrote to the king, my lord. |
| Reverse [3:7] r 44–r 77 | The king should send grain rations to the artist and have them delivered; the contract that the king, my lord, made with the temple is too small for them. |
| Reverse [7:13] r 88–r 1313 | The king should send [x] men, be it be[ard]ed courtiers [or] palace employees, to stand guard [with] me [...], so I can come and see the face of the king, [my lord], and [fea]r [the king] with those who are alive! |
| Reverse [13:14] r 1414–r 1414 | Now [...] I am [......] |
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' | ⸢ṭup⸣-pu pi-[qid] {lu₂v}⸢u₂⸣-[ra-si] | |
| 2' | [ša] ⸢A₂⸣-šu₂-nu ina UGU dul-li iš-⸢kun⸣-[u-ni] | |
| 3' | [a]-⸢na⸣ 02-i UD-me i-da-ab-bu-bu | |
| 4' | [ma]-a dul-lu an-ni-u ina IGI d.EN | |
| 5' | ⸢ma⸣-hi-ir a—dan-niš ma-a UD-MEŠ\m ša LUGAL | |
| 6' | ⸢i⸣-ri-ku ha-di-u a—dan-niš | |
| 7' | nu-uk qi₂-ba\t-a-ni mi-nu šu-u | |
| 8' | la im-ma-gu-ru la i-qab-bu-u-ni | |
| 9' | 06 {giš}MES.MA₂.GAN.NA 06-a.a 01 KUŠ₃ | |
| 10' | GID₂.DA 01 KUŠ₃ na-ku-pu 01 {giš}HA.LU.UB₂ | |
| 11' | 05 ina 01 KUŠ₃ GID₂.DA 01 KUŠ₃ na-ku-pu | |
| 12' | 10 {giš}MES.MA₂.GAN.NA ša 02 qa-a.a | |
| 13' | kab-ba-ru-u-ni lu 05 lu-u 06 ina 01 KUŠ₃ | |
| 14' | li-ri-ku 01 {giš}KU SIG₅ 02 qa | |
| 15' | lu kab-ra 06 ina 01 KUŠ₃ li-ri-ik | |
| 16' | 20 {giš}ša₂-aš₂-šu-gi a-na tal-li | |
| 17' | 10-a.a ina 01 KUŠ₃ lu ar₂-ru-ku | |
| 18' | {lu₂v}SIMUG.KUG.GI ma-a KUG.GI | |
| 19' | lu-rad-du-un-na-ši | |
| r | ||
| 1 | 03 GU₂.UN AN.BAR zag-ru ša a—dan-niš | |
| 2 | am—mar a-na LUGAL EN-ia₂ aš₂-pu-ra-an-ni | |
| 3 | ar₂-hiš LUGAL be-li₂ lu-še-bi-la | |
| 4 | {še}PAD-MEŠ a-na {lu₂v}UM.ME.A LUGAL | |
| 5 | liš-pu-ra lid-di-nu ri-ik-su\t | |
| 6 | ša LUGAL be-li₂ TA@v\m E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ\m E₂—DINGIR-MEŠ\m | |
| 7 | ir-ku-su\t-u-ni e-ṣa-šu₂-nu | |
| 8 | [x] {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ\m lu-u {lu₂v}ša—[ziq]-ni | |
| 9 | [lu] {lu₂v}ARAD—E₂.GAL {lu₂v}ARAD—E₂.GAL LUGAL lu-še-bi-la | |
| 10 | [i-si]-ia a-na EN.NUN\m li-zi-zu\t | |
| 11 | [x x] ⸢x⸣ lal-li-ka pa-ni ša LUGAL | |
| 12 | [EN-ia] ⸢la⸣-mur TA@v\m bal-ṭu-ti | |
| 13 | [LUGAL la-ap-la]-ah u₂-ma-a | |
| 14 | [x x x x x x x x]-ša₂-ku | |
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.