ABL 0687 (P334485)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0687 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334485 |
| 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 king, my lord: your servant Balasî. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! |
| Obverse [5:13] o 66–o 1313 | Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "You must certainly have observed something in the sky" — I keep a close eye on it (but) I must say, I have seen nobody and nothing, (therefore) I have not written to the king. |
| Obverse [13:16] o 1414– | Not(hing) has risen; I have seen not(hing). |
| Reverse [0:10] r 1r 1–r 1010 | Concerning the watch of the sun about which the king, my lord, wrote to me, it is (indeed) the month for a watch of the sun. We will keep the watch twice, on the 28th of Marchesvan (VIII) and the 28th of Kislev (IX). Thus we will keep the watch of the sun for 2 months. |
| Reverse [10:18] r 1111– | Concerning the solar eclipse about which the king spoke, the eclipse did not occur. I shall look again on the 29th and write (to the king). |
| Edge [0:2] e. 1e. 1–e. 22 | The king, my lord, must have given up on me! With deep anxiety, I have nothing to report. |
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-u DI-mu a-na LUGAL | |
| 4 | EN-ia {d}PA {d}AMAR.UTU | |
| 5 | a-na LUGAL EN-ia | |
| 6 | lik-ru-bu ina UGU ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 7 | iš-pur-an-ni ma-a | |
| 8 | me-me-ni i-ba-aš₂-ši | |
| 9 | ina AN-e ta-ta-ma-ra | |
| 10 | a-na-ku IGI.2-ia | |
| 11 | ša₂-ak-na mu-uk | |
| 12 | man-nu me-me-ni la a-mur | |
| 13 | a-na LUGAL la aš₂-pur | |
| 14 | la iš-qu-⸢ma⸣ | |
| 15 | la a-mur | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ina UGU ma-ṣar-ti | |
| 2 | ša₂ {d}UTU ša₂ LUGAL be-li₂ | |
| 3 | iš-pur-an-ni | |
| 4 | ITI EN.NUN ša {d}UTU | |
| 5 | šu-u 02-šu₂ EN.NUN-šu₂ | |
| 6 | UD 28-KAM₂\t ša {iti}APIN | |
| 7 | UD 28-KAM₂\t ša {iti}KAN | |
| 8 | ni-na-aṣ-ṣar | |
| 9 | ki-i ha-an-ni-i-e | |
| 10 | EN.NUN ša₂ {d}UTU 02 ITI-MEŠ | |
| 11 | ni-na-aṣ-ṣar ina UGU | |
| 12 | AN.MI {d}UTU ša₂ LUGAL | |
| 13 | iq-bu-u-ni AN.MI | |
| 14 | NU GAR UD 29-KAM₂\t | |
| 15 | tu-u-ra am-mar | |
| r.e. | ||
| 16 | a-šap-pa-ra | |
| e. | ||
| 1 | LUGAL be-li₂ it-ti-ši ur-tam-man-ni | |
| 2 | ina hi-ip—ŠA₃-bi ṭe-e-me ina UGU-hi-ia | |
| 3 | la-aš₂-šu₂ | |
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.