ABL 0618 (P334428)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0618 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334428 |
| 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 [0:5] o 1o 1–o 55 | To the ki[ng, my lord]: your servant [Balasî]. Good health [to the king, my lord]! May Nabû and Marduk bl[ess the king], my lord! |
| Obverse [5:9] o 66–o 99 | Concerning the planet [Venus] about which the king, my lord, [wrote to me: "I am] told that it has [become visible]" — |
| Obverse [9:16] o 1010–o 1616 | the man who wrote (thus) to the king, [my lord], is in (complete) ignorance. He does not k[now] the [...], the cycle [...], (or) the (synodic) revoluti[ons of Venus]. |
| Obverse [16:18] o 1717–o 1818 | (17) (Break) |
| Obverse [18:35] o 1919– | Venus is not y[et] vis[ible]. Tonight, as I am sending [this] message to the king, [my] lord, we [see] only Merc[ury]; we do not [see] Venus. Presently it should be situated under [Aries], in opposition to [Saturn]. [Saturn] (means) the star of the ki[ng]. |
| Reverse [10:15] r 1010–r 1414 | The ig[noramus] — who is he? Perhaps this [...] who wrote [to the king], my lord, is in [earnest]. |
| Reverse [15:16] r 1515–r 1515 | We [......] |
| Reverse [16:17] r 1616–r 1616 | until the first month [......] |
| Reverse [17:19] r 1717–r 17a17a | within one [......] |
| Reverse [19:20] r 1818–r 1818 | the observation [......] |
| Reverse [20:21] r 1919–r 1919 | of one [......] |
| Reverse [21:22] r 2020–r 2020 | of another [......]. |
| Reverse [22:28] r 2121– | Who [is the man that write]s so [to the king, my lord]? I repeat: he does not understand (the difference) between Mercury and Venus. |
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}ba-la-si-i] | |
| 3 | lu DI-mu [a-na LUGAL EN-ia] | |
| 4 | {d}PA {d}AMAR.UTU [a-na LUGAL] | |
| 5 | EN-ia lik-[ru-bu] | |
| 6 | ina UGU {mul}[dil-bat] | |
| 7 | ša LUGAL be-⸢li₂⸣ [iš-pur-an-ni] | |
| 8 | ma-a iq-ṭi-[bu-u-ni] | |
| 9 | ma-a it-[ta-mar] | |
| 10 | ša a-na LUGAL [EN-ia] | |
| 11 | iš-pu-ra-[an-ni] | |
| 12 | ina la mu-da-[nu-te] | |
| 13 | šu-u₂ ri-[x x x] | |
| 14 | a-da-an-nu [x x x x] | |
| 15 | da-a.a-la-[te ša {mul}dil-bat] | |
| 16 | la u₂-[da] | |
| 17 | i-ga-ra-⸢at⸣ [x x x] | |
| 18 | iq-ṭi-[x x x] | |
| 19 | {mul}dil-bat u₂-[di-na] | |
| 20 | la in-na-[mar-ma] | |
| 21 | ki-ma da-ba-[bu an-ni-u] | |
| 22 | a-na LUGAL EN-[ia] | |
| b.e. | ||
| 23 | a-šap-pa-ra | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ina mu-ši an-⸢ni⸣-[e] | |
| 2 | {mul}UDU.IDIM.⸢GUD⸣.[UD] | |
| 3 | u₂-de-šu₂ ne₂-[em-mar] | |
| 4 | {mul}dil-bat la ⸢ne₂⸣-[em-mar] | |
| 5 | TA@v ŠA₃ UD-me an-[ni-e] | |
| 6 | ina šap-la {[mul}{lu₂}HUN.GA₂] | |
| 7 | ina pu-ut {mul}[UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ] | |
| 8 | li-is-hur {[mul}UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ] | |
| 9 | MUL ša ⸢LUGAL⸣ | |
| 9a | ka-ku-bu | |
| 10 | šu-u₂ {lu₂v}⸢sa⸣-[ku-ku] | |
| 11 | man-nu šu-tu₂ ni-[x x x] | |
| 12 | an-ni-u₂ ša [a-na LUGAL] | |
| 13 | EN-ia iš-pu-[ra-an-ni] | |
| 14 | is—su-ri ina [ket-ti-šu₂] | |
| 15 | a-ni-nu 02 [x x x x] | |
| 16 | a-du ITI 01 [x x x x] | |
| 17 | ina ŠA₃ 01-en [x x x] | |
| 17a | is-si-⸢in⸣ | |
| 18 | ta-mar-⸢tu⸣ [x x x x] | |
| 19 | ša 01-en [x x x x] | |
| 20 | ša 01-[en x x x x x] | |
| 21 | man-nu [šu-tu ša] | |
| r.e. | ||
| 22 | a-ke-[e a-na LUGAL EN-ia] | |
| 23 | i-[šap-par-u-ni] | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | tu-ra u₂-ma-a bir-ti {mul}GUD.UD | |
| 2 | bir-ti {mul}dil-bat la i-ha-kim | |
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.