ABL 1389 (P334880)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 1389 |
|---|---|
| ID | P334880 |
| Museum no. | BM 099023 |
| 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/saa13 · 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, Aššur-hamatu'a. Good health to the king, my lord. May Aššur, Ištar, Bel, and Nabû bless the king, my lord. |
| Obverse [5:13] o 66–o 1313 | Nabû-epuš, the priest of Ea, has stolen property from the temple. He peeled off and removed the golden ... from the massive (offering) table which is in front of Ištar. Nabû-nadin-apli, the temple guard, caught him red-handed. |
| Obverse [13:21] o 1414– | Even before my time, the [pries]t of Ea committed a [thef]t, but they (the temple authorities) retrieved it and covered it up. |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1r 1–r 1r 1 | The king should question him about both (cases). |
| Reverse [1:7] r 22–r 77 | When the king, my lord, had not yet stationed me in my post, they used to commit thefts and cover them up. (Left) on their own, they (can) cover (everything) up without any effort, (thus) causing great whispering in the temple. |
| Reverse [7:14] r 88–r 1414 | Now they are all of one accord, saying: "Let's do it this way." I speak to them, but they don't listen. (What) I have heard I have written to the king, my lord. The king, my lord, should do as he deems best. |
| Reverse [14:18] r 1515– | (One other note): Nabû-epuš, who committed the robberies, is a lamentation priest. He is not to ascend the dais. |
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}aš-šur—ha-mat-ia | |
| 3 | lu-u DI-mu a-na MAN EN-ia | |
| 4 | {d}aš-šur {d}15 {d}EN {d}AG | |
| 5 | a-na MAN EN-ia lik-ru-bu | |
| 6 | {1}{d}PA—DU₃-uš {lu₂}SANGA ša₂ {d}E₂.A | |
| 7 | tab-lu TA@v E₂.KUR it-ta-bal | |
| 8 | qa-a-ru ša KUG.GI | |
| 9 | TA@v UGU {giš}BANŠUR ut-ta-ri | |
| 10 | ša ina IGI {d}15 | |
| 11 | iq-ṭa-la-pa it-te-ši | |
| 12 | {1}{d}PA—SUM—A {lu₂}EN.NUN E₂—DINGIR E₂—DINGIR | |
| 13 | ina ŠU.2-šu₂ iṣ-ṣa-bat | |
| 14 | ⸢u₃⸣ [ina] pa-na-tu-u-a | |
| 15 | {[lu₂]}⸢SANGA⸣ ša₂ {d}E₂.A | |
| 16 | [tab-lu]-⸢um⸣-ma | |
| b.e. | ||
| 17 | it-ta-bal | |
| 18 | u₂-sa-hi-ru | |
| 19 | šu-nu-ma uk-ta-te-⸢mu⸣ | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ina UGU ki-lal-le-ma | |
| 2 | MAN liš-al-šu₂ ki-i u₂-di-na | |
| 3 | MAN be-li₂ la u₂-ša₂-za-za-ni-ni | |
| 4 | tab-lu u₂-tab-bu-lu u₂-sa-hu-ru | |
| 5 | šu-nu-ma ša₂ la dul-li | |
| 6 | ša₂ la me-me-ni u₂-ka-tu₂-mu | |
| 7 | li-iʾ-šu₂ dan-nu ina ŠA₃ E₂.KUR | |
| 8 | e-pu-šu₂ u₂-ma-a gab-bi-šu₂-nu | |
| 9 | is-sa-he-iš šak-nu | |
| 10 | ma-a ki-i ha-ni-ma ne₂-pu-uš | |
| 11 | a-qab-ba-aš₂-šu₂-nu la i-ša₂-me-u | |
| 12 | as-se-me a-na MAN EN-ia₂ | |
| 13 | as-sap-ra MAN be-li₂ | |
| 14 | ki-i ša₂ i-la-u-ni | |
| 15 | le-pu-uš {1}{d}PA—DU₃-uš | |
| 16 | ša tab-lu it-ba-lu-ni | |
| r.e. | ||
| 17 | {lu₂}UŠ.KU šu-u | |
| 18 | la e-la-šu₂ ina pa-rak-ki | |
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.