ABL 1238 (P334813)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 1238 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334813 |
| 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/saa16 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:8] o 1o 1–o 88 | [To the king], our lord: your [ser]vants, the mayors, the city scribe, the principals of the Inner City and the citizens of the Inner City, young and old. Good health to the king, our lord! May the gods of Ešarra bless the king, our lord. |
| Obverse [8:10] o 99–o 1010 | Issar-na'di, the mayor, has destroyed the [Inner Ci]ty. |
| Obverse [10:11] o 1111–o 1111 | [...] has become empty |
| Obverse [11:12] o 1212–o 1212 | [...] around us |
| Obverse [12:15] o 1313–o 1515 | [...] Because we opened our mouths [against hi]m, [he ...s] our [... and ...] |
| Obverse [15:24] o 1616– | [...] Now he has picked up [x] talent(s) of silver, [...] gold, [x] mina(s) of silver, [x] coloured leather, (and) is making [...]. |
| Reverse [3:6] r 44–r 66 | [Why should] he be appointed to the mayorship? He is a [crimi]nal. |
| Reverse [6:7] r 77–r 77 | The scout [...] |
| Reverse [9:13] r 1010–r 1313 | We have told the king, our lord. If he is appointed to the mayorship, your servants will die. |
| Reverse [13:18] r 1414–r 1818 | We have sent two letters to the king, our lord, but we have not seen a reply. We have (already) surrendered to death. May the king not forsake his servants! |
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-ni | |
| 2 | ⸢ARAD⸣-MEŠ-ka {lu₂}ha-za-na-ti | |
| 3 | {lu₂}A.BA—URU {lu₂}A.BA—URU {lu₂}SAG.DU-MEŠ | |
| 4 | ša {uru}ŠA₃—URU {uru}ŠA₃—URU-a.a | |
| 5 | TUR GAL lu šul-mu | |
| 6 | a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ni | |
| 7 | DINGIR-MEŠ ša E₂.ŠAR₂.RA | |
| 8 | a-na LUGAL be-li₂-ni lik-ru-bu | |
| 9 | {1}{d}15—I {lu₂}ha-za-nu | |
| 10 | {uru}[ŠA₃—URU] ih-ti-pi | |
| 11 | [x x x] ⸢ir⸣-ti-aq | |
| 12 | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ba-tu-ba-ti-ni | |
| 13 | [x x x] ina UGU ša pi-ni | |
| 14 | [ina UGU]-⸢šu₂⸣ ni-ip-tu-ni | |
| 15 | [x x]-⸢pa⸣-ar si mat ti ni | |
| 16 | [x x x]+⸢x⸣ u₂-ma-a | |
| 17 | [x x] GU₂.UN KUG.UD | |
| 18 | [x x] KUG.GI | |
| 19 | [x x] MA.NA KUG.UD | |
| 20 | [x x] duh-ši-e | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [in-ta]-at-ha | |
| 2 | [x x]+⸢x x⸣-na-ni | |
| 3 | [x x] ⸢e⸣-pa-⸢as⸣ | |
| 4 | [a-ta-a] a-na {lu₂}ha-za-nu-⸢ti⸣ | |
| 5 | [li]-ip-qi-du-ni-šu₂ | |
| 6 | [par]-⸢ri⸣-ṣu šu-u₂ | |
| 7 | {[lu₂]}⸢da⸣-a.a-⸢lu⸣ | |
| 8 | la ⸢x i ni ru⸣ | |
| 9 | en [x x] na ra am ti | |
| 10 | a-na LUGAL EN-ni ni-iq-te-bi | |
| 11 | šum-mu a-na {lu₂}ha-za-na-ti | |
| 12 | i-pa-qi-du-ni-ši | |
| 13 | {lu₂}ARAD-MEŠ-ka UŠ₂ | |
| 14 | 02 e-gir₂-a-ti | |
| 15 | a-na LUGAL EN-ni ni-sap-ra | |
| 16 | gab-ru-u₂ la ne₂-mur | |
| 17 | A₂.2-ni a-na mi-tu-ti | |
| 18 | ni-ti-din LUGAL {lu₂}ARAD-MEŠ-šu₂ | |
| 19 | lu la u₂-ra-ma | |
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.