ABL 1277 (P334827)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 1277 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334827 |
| 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 [0:2] o 1o 1–o 22 | Should I praise this word by which the king, my lord, has remembered me? |
| Obverse [2:7] o 33–o 77 | A cross is the emblem of the god Nabû. The king, my lord, knows (that) because of this (association) the cross is the badge of the crown prince. The king, my lord, has now acted as befits his dignity: the emblem has been set up [in] the 'house of Išnunak.' About it they say: "It is the god Nabû (himself)." |
| Obverse [7:15] o 88– | [Concerning the] new tablets that are being written, [the king] has spoken [as] follows about us: "[...] the talk that is better than this [...]; there is much space, there is much [...]. [As]sign some ten [...] sentences and send them to me, I shall have a look." — [...] I continually listen to what the king, my lord, has written to me. |
| Bottom [1:13] b.e. 1515– | [As to what the king], my lord, wrote to me: "Perhaps, now th[at] they have set up the cross in my house, my word will be wiser" — on account of that you will speak [a w]ord [that] is as perfect as that of a sage; a word that has been spoken just as it is meant by its nature, by its ..., by its dignity, (that) suits the context, is (such a word) open to dispute? Does it not inspire awe? Is this not the very acme of the scribal craft of which I am arguing in this way? Should the talk be praised? |
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-bu-tu-u an-ni-tu₂ ša LUGAL be-li ih-su-<sa>-an-ni | |
| 2 | lu-u-na-ʾi-id | |
| 3 | is-pil₂-ur-tu₂ ki-zi-ir-tu₂ ša {d}PA ši-i | |
| 4 | LUGAL be-li u₂-da ina UGU-hi is-pil₂-ur-tu₂ si-im-tu₂ ša DUMU—LUGAL DUMU—LUGAL | |
| 5 | an-nu-rig ina pi-i si-ma-ti-šu₂ LUGAL be-li e-ta-pa-aš₂ | |
| 6 | [ina] E₂ ša {uru}iš-nu-na-ak ki-zir-tu₂ ša₂-kin | |
| 7 | [ina] UGU-hi i-qab-bi-u ma-a {d}PA šu-u | |
| 8 | [ina UGU {giš]}ZU-MEŠ eš-šu-ti ša i-ša₂-ṭar-u-ni | |
| 9 | [LUGAL ki-i] an-ni-i ina UGU-hi-ni id-⸢du⸣-[bu-ub] | |
| 10 | [ma-a x x] da-ba-bu ša a-na an-ni-i SIG₅-u-⸢ni⸣ | |
| 11 | [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ da an kaq-qu-ru ma-ʾa-⸢ad⸣ | |
| 12 | [x x x x x] ma-ʾa-ad a-ki eš-rat MU-MEŠ | |
| 13 | [x x x] ⸢us⸣-si-ik še-bi-la la-mur | |
| b.e. | ||
| 14 | [x x x] as-sa-nam-me ša MAN be-li KIN-an-ni | |
| 15 | [ša MAN] be-li iš-pur-an-ni ma-a is—su-ri TA@v ⸢be₂⸣-[et] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [ina] E₂-a is-pil₂-ur-tu₂ iš-kun-[u-ni] | |
| 2 | [ma-a] a-bi-ti-e le-ʾi-i-ti | |
| 3 | [ša] ki-i ša NUN.ME gam-rat-u-ni | |
| 4 | [a]-bu-tu ina UGU-hi ta-qa-tab-bi | |
| 5 | a-bu-tu-u ša ki-i pi-i ši-ik-ni-ša₂ | |
| 6 | a-na ne₂-ra-ki-ša₂ ina si-ma-ti-ša₂ qa-bi-at-u-ni | |
| 7 | a-he-iš ta-pal-u-ni tap-qi₂-ir-ta-ša₂ i-ba-aš₂-ši | |
| 8 | a-na pu-luh-ti la šak-na-ta | |
| 9 | la an-nu-u šu-u le-ʾu-u-tu₂ ša ṭup-šar-ru-ti | |
| 10 | ša ki-i an-ni-i uš-ta-bal-u-ni | |
| 11 | da-ba-bu-u lu-u na-ʾi-id | |
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.