ABL 0685 (P334483)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0685 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334483 |
| 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 [0:5] o 1o 1–o 55 | [To the ki]ng, my lord: [your servant] Nabû-šumu-iddina. [Good hea]lth to the king, my lord! The fort, the exempts, and the servants of the king my lord are well. |
| Obverse [5:11] o 66–o 1111 | [They have hon]oured the palace [super]intendent whom the king, my lord, placed [in charge of M]ahumaya. Lahiru, the towns [bey]ond and those around them are [extr]emely glad, saying: "Now we know [th]at [w]e are servants of the king, our lord." |
| Obverse [11:15] o 1212–o 1515 | Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "[Inspe]ct in detail (the area) around the fort (suitable) for cultivating the st[eppe]" — I have inspected it, there is very much of it. |
| Obverse [15:23] o 1616–o 2323 | [As t]o the son of Halama, I wrote to him as the king, my lord, had written to me. Already before my messenger had co[me back], a messenger of the Marpadaeans came into my presence. There are two families in Ma[rpada], one of them inclined towards the king, my lord, the other one not. They sent me (this message): |
| Obverse [23:32] o 2424– | "We shall k[ill] this family who is not willing to go with us, and thereafter we shall g[o] and have an audience with the king, our lord." I sent them a messenger, saying: "If you come quickly, [...]." |
| Reverse [0:10] r 1r 1–r 1010 | Concerning the city-wall of Mušezib [about which the k]ing, my lord, wrote to me, [I] and the bodyguard Bel-šarru-uṣur went there [togeth]er. I detained [...] opposite the city, (while) Bel-šarru-uṣur approached [the foun]dations. He spoke [to them] thus: "We wish to bring out Mušezib, [take him to the k]ing, [our] lord, and bring in [troops]." |
| Reverse [10:11] r 1111–r 1111 | When [...] on the towers |
| Reverse [11:12] r 1212–r 1212 | [...] thus he is confident |
| Reverse [12:14] r 1313–r 1414 | [... s]o there is no fear [...]. |
| Reverse [14:18] r 1515–r 1818 | [Now then] I have drawn a sketch of the fort [on] leather and am herewith sending it [to] the king, my lord. |
| Reverse [18:22] r 1919–r 2222 | Perhaps the king, my lord, will say: "How many men did you bring in there?" There are 50 Itu'eans and 30 Gurreans, a total of 80 soldiers in there. |
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-ia | |
| 2 | [ARAD-ka] {1}{d}PA—MU—SUM-na | |
| 3 | [lu-u DI]-mu a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ia | |
| 4 | [DI-mu a-na] {uru}HAL.ṢU a-na {lu₂v}za-ku-u | |
| 5 | [a-na {lu₂v]}ARAD-MEŠ ša LUGAL be-li₂-ia | |
| 6 | {[lu₂v}ša]—pa-an—E₂.GAL ša LUGAL be-li₂ | |
| 7 | [ina IGI {1}ma-hu-ma-a.a iš-ku-nu-u-ni | |
| 8 | [uk-ta]-bi-du {uru}la-hi-ri URU-MEŠ | |
| 9 | [ša a]-⸢hu⸣-la ša bat-bat-te-šu₂-nu ha-di-u₂ | |
| 10 | [a]—⸢dan⸣-niš ma-a u₂-ma-a nu-u₂-da | |
| 11 | [a-ki]-i {lu₂v}ARAD-MEŠ ša LUGAL be-li₂-i-ni | |
| 12 | [a]-⸢ni⸣-ni-i-ni ša LUGAL be-li₂ iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 13 | [ma]-a TA šid-di ar-ki ina bat-bat-ti\t | |
| 14 | [ša] {uru}HAL.ṢU a-na a-ra-si ša {kur}mu-[da-bir] | |
| 15 | [a]-⸢mur⸣ a-ta-mar ma-aʾ-da a—dan-niš | |
| 16 | [ina] ⸢UGU⸣ DUMU {1}ha-la-me a-ki-i ša LUGAL | |
| 17 | [be]-li₂ iš-pur-an-ni a-sap-raš\t-⸢šu⸣ | |
| 18 | {[lu₂v]}A—KIN-e-a {[lu₂v]}A—KIN-e-a u₂-di-ni la-a il-[la-ka] | |
| 19 | {[lu₂v]}A—KIN {[lu₂v]}A—KIN ša {uru}mar-pa-da-a.a | |
| 20 | [a]-na pa-ne₂-e-a it-tal-ka | |
| 21 | 02-ta ši-na {lu₂v}qin-na-a-te ša {uru}⸢mar⸣-[pa-da] | |
| 22 | 01.et {lu₂v}qin-nu pa-ne₂-e-ša a-na pa-an | |
| 23 | LUGAL EN-ia₂ 01.et-ma {lu₂v}qin-nu la pa-ne₂-ša | |
| 24 | i-sa-par-u-ni ma-a {lu₂v}qin-nu an-ni-tu₂ | |
| 25 | ša la ta-ma-gur-u-ni i-se-e-ni | |
| 26 | la-a tal-la-kan-ni ma-a ni-⸢du⸣-[ka] | |
| b.e. | ||
| 27 | ha-ra-ma-ma a-ni-ni a-na ⸢pa⸣-[an] | |
| 28 | LUGAL be-li₂-i-ni ni-il-⸢lak⸣ | |
| 29 | {lu₂v}A—KIN {lu₂v}A—KIN a-sa-par-šu₂-nu mu-uk [o] | |
| 30 | šum₂-ma ar₂-hiš ta-tal-ka-ni [x x] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ina UGU BAD₃ ša {1}mu-še-zib\m | |
| 2 | [ša] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂ iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 3 | [a-na-ku] {1}EN—MAN—PAB {lu₂v}qur-bu-tu₂ | |
| 4 | [is-sa-he]-iš ina ŠA₃-bi ni-ta-lak | |
| 5 | [x x x] pu-ut URU ak-ta-la | |
| 6 | [ina UGU uš]-še {1}EN—MAN—PAB iq-ṭi-ri-ib | |
| 7 | [is-si-šu₂-nu] i-du-bu-ub | |
| 8 | [ma-a {1}mu-še-zib\m nu-še-ṣi-a | |
| 9 | [a-na UGU] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-li₂-i-[ni] | |
| 10 | [nu-še-bil ERIM-MEŠ nu]-še-⸢ri⸣-ib a-ki-i | |
| 11 | [x x x x] ina UGU i-si-ta-ti\t | |
| 12 | [x x x x] a-ki-i ha-mi-iʾ | |
| 13 | [x x x ba]-si ni-kit-ta-⸢ša⸣ | |
| 14 | [x x x] la-aš₂-šu₂ | |
| 15 | [an-nu-rig] li-ṭi ša {uru}bir-ti\t | |
| 16 | [ina UGU] maš-ki e-te-ṣi-ir | |
| 17 | [a-na] LUGAL be-li₂-ia | |
| 18 | [u₂]-še-bi-la | |
| 19 | ⸢is⸣—su\t-ri LUGAL be-li₂ i-qa-bi | |
| 20 | ma-a ki ma-ṣi {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ | |
| 21 | ina ŠA₃-bi tu-še-ri-ba-aʾ | |
| 22 | 50 {lu₂v}i-tu₂-ʾu 30 {lu₂v}qa-mur-ra | |
| 23 | PAB 80 {lu₂v}ERIM-MEŠ ina ŠA₃-bi | |
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.