ABL 0639 (P334442)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0639 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334442 |
| 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/saa01 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [1:8] o 2'2'–o 8'8' | ......] I appointed him to the service of Nagâ, another cohort commander. He did not agree to this but said: "I shall serve in my own community." I am now sending his prefect (and) Nagâ with my 'third man' to the king my lord; let the king, my lord, settle (the matter). |
| Obverse [8:15] o 9'9'– | As to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "Ilu-pija-uṣur the shepherd says: 'Last year I exacted 3 talents of silver and paid it in full; now, Taklak-Bel has told me to bring yet another two talents'" — |
| Bottom [1:12] b.e. 15'15'– | Why would I tell him (to do a thing like that)? He is the cohort commander of the shepherds; I imposed on him (a levy of) 300 bales of straw and reeds for the bricks, but he did not give any of it; (instead) he stole the sheep in his charge and went away, seeking refuge in a temple. I sent (men) to bring him to me and told him: "I will excuse your sheep, (just) do (your work)!" |
| Reverse [9:13] r 1010–r 1313 | (So) he has gone and petitioned the king! The king's magnates are assembled; let us settle (the case) in the presence of the Treasurer. The yield of wool [... the k]ing [...... |
| Edge [0:1] e. 1e. 1–e. 1e. 1 | [The king my lord should not lay it] to my fault. |
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-u-ni⸣ | |
| 2' | [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ a-na-ku | |
| 3' | [ina] ⸢IGI {1}na⸣-ga-a {lu₂v}GAL—ki-⸢ṣir⸣ {lu₂v}GAL—ki-⸢ṣir⸣ | |
| 4' | ša₂-ni-e ap-ti\t-qi-su la im-ma-⸢gur₂⸣ | |
| 5' | ma-a ina kal-zi-a-ma a-la-su-⸢um⸣ | |
| 6' | an-nu-rig {lu₂v}GAR-nu-šu₂ {1}na-ga-[a] | |
| 7' | TA@v\dm {lu₂v}03.U₅-ia ina UGU LUGAL ⸢EN⸣-[ia₂] | |
| 8' | u₂-se-bi-la LUGAL be-li₂ lu-ka-a.a-⸢en⸣ | |
| 9' | ša\dm LUGAL be-li₂ iš\d-pur-an-ni | |
| 10' | ma-a {1}DINGIR—KA-a—PAB {lu₂v}SIPA | |
| 11' | i-da-bu-ub ma-a ina MU.IM.MA | |
| 12' | 03 GU₂.UN KUG.UD at-ta-as\d-ha u₂-sa-lim | |
| 13' | ma-a u₂-ma-a {1}tak-lak—EN iq-ṭi₂-bi-a | |
| b.e. | ||
| 14' | ma-a 02 GU₂.UN ah—hur i-ṣa | |
| 15' | a-ta-a ana-ku a-qa-ba-šu₂ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | {lu₂}GAL—ki-ṣir\t {lu₂}GAL—ki-ṣir\t ša\dm {lu₂v}SIPA-MEŠ | |
| 2 | šu-u-tu₂ 03 me {še}ma-qa-ru-tu₂ | |
| 3 | ša {še}IN.NU {gi}ap-pa-ru SIG₄-MEŠ | |
| 4 | ina UGU-hi-šu u₂\m-ta-si-ik ⸢me-me-ni⸣ | |
| 5 | TA@v\dm ŠA₃-bi la id-din UDU-MEŠ | |
| 6 | ša\d ina pa-ni-šu₂ up-ta-a.a-ṣi | |
| 7 | it-ta-lak ina ŠA₃ E₂\d.KUR-ri kam-mu-su | |
| 8 | a-sa-par na-ṣu-ni-šu₂ nu-uk\d UDU-⸢MEŠ-ka⸣ | |
| 9 | lu-u-ri-ma-ka nu-uk\d e-pu-uš | |
| 10 | it-tal-ka LUGAL be-li₂ it-ta-⸢har⸣ | |
| 11 | {lu₂v}GAL-MEŠ-te ša\dm LUGAL pu-uh-⸢ru⸣ | |
| 12 | ina IGI {lu₂v}IGI.DUB\dm nu-uk\d-ti\t-ni | |
| 13 | ⸢gi-zu-tu₂⸣ [x x] ⸢LUGAL⸣ | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | a.a-ši ⸢a-na⸣ hi\p-ṭi-[ia lu la i-šak-kan] | |
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.