ABL 0543 (P393780)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0543 |
|---|---|
| ID | P393780 |
| 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/saa21 · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [0:1] o 1o 1–o 1o 1 | [The king's] wor[d to Nabû-ušabši]: |
| Obverse [1:2] o 22–o 22 | Conc[erning ......] |
| Obverse [3:15] o 44–o 1515 | I w[ro]te to you [...] from [the beginning]: "You and the g[overnors], stay and work (together), and produce food for me." I sa[id] (this), and you certainly heard it. Now w[hy] did you say, "What is my fault?" It is not your fault! It is the fault of your colleagues, the governors whom I keep sending but who do not come, stay and work with you! |
| Obverse [15:26] o 1616– | [As to what you s]aid, "[May the king not ab]andon [Ur, and may the Gur]asimmu [not get lost to the king]! What else can be done? Let me do it!" — [did I not send the governor] of Mazamua and the prefects, did they not keep watch with you, did they [not] get weak and [die] for your defence? |
| Reverse [4:9] r 55–r 99 | When I saw that they were weakening and dying, I sent orders to release them, (but) did I not appoint with you the governors of Lahiru and Arrapha? |
| Reverse [9:15] r 1010–r 1515 | And now, even before you wrote me, I have sent the treasurer Aššur-gimilli-terra with the army. Do whatever is opportune to do, be it to block the canal or to [subjug]ate those people. |
| Reverse [15:20] r 1616–r 2020 | After the letter which you sent I am sending to you Bel-eṭir and Arbayu, the cohort commander, with the horses, to stay and work with you. |
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-⸢bat⸣ [LUGAL a-na {1}{d}PA—GAL₂-ši] | |
| 2 | ina [UGU x x x x ša taš-pur-an-ni] | |
| 3 | ⸢ma⸣-[a x x x x x x x LUGAL] | |
| 4 | ul-[li ki-i] ša₂ ⸢TA@v\dm⸣ [re-e-še] | |
| 5 | as-⸢sa⸣-[par]-ak-⸢ka⸣ | |
| 6 | mu-uk at-tu₂-nu u {lu₂}[NAM-MEŠ] | |
| 7 | i-ti-is-sa dul-lu ep-[ša₂] | |
| 8 | NINDA-MEŠ iṣ-ṣa-a-ni ak—⸢an⸣-[ni-i] ak—⸢an⸣-[ni-i] | |
| 9 | la taš-me-a u₂-ma-a a-na [mi₃-i-ni] | |
| 10 | taq-bi ma-a mi₃-i-nu hi-ṭa-a.a | |
| 11 | la-a hi-ṭa-a-ka šu₂-u hi-iṭ-ṭu | |
| 12 | ša₂ ki-na-ta-te-ka {lu₂}NAM-MEŠ | |
| 13 | ša₂ a-šap-par-aš₂-ša₂-nu-u-ni | |
| 14 | la il-lak-u-nin-ni is-si-ku-nu | |
| 15 | la ⸢iz-za-zu⸣-u-ni dul-lu la e-pa-šu₂-ni | |
| 16 | [u ina UGU ša₂] ⸢taq⸣-bu-u-ni | |
| 17 | [ma-a LUGAL la u₂]-⸢ram⸣-ma | |
| 18 | [ŠEŠ.UNUG{ki} u {lu₂}gur₂]-⸢a-sim⸣ | |
| 19 | [TA@v\dm ŠU.2 LUGAL la el-li-u₂] | |
| 20 | [a-ke-e ah—hur ep-pu-šu₂] | |
| 21 | [ana-ku le-pu-uš] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | [la aš₂-pu-ra {lu₂}EN.NAM] | |
| 2 | {[kur}za-mu-a {lu₂}GAR-ME] | |
| 3 | [KI-ku-nu la iṣ-ṣu-ru] | |
| 4 | [la] e-ni-[šu₂-u la me-e-tu₂] | |
| 5 | ina UGU EN.NUN-⸢ku⸣-nu ki-i | |
| 6 | e-mur-u-ni e-ni-šu-u-ni | |
| 7 | me-tu₂-u-ni as-sa-par ap-ta-ṭar-šu₂-nu | |
| 8 | {lu₂}EN.NAM {uru}la-hi-ri u₃ | |
| 9 | {lu₂}EN.NAM {uru}arrap-ha | |
| 10 | is-si-ku-nu la ap-qid u u₂-ma-a | |
| 11 | ki-i ud-din-na la ta-šap-par-an-ni | |
| 12 | {1}aš-šur—ŠU—GUR-ra {lu₂}IGI.DUB u e-muq-qi | |
| 13 | is-si-šu₂ as-sa-par mi₃-i-nu ša₂ a-na e-pa-še | |
| 14 | DUG₃.GA-u-ni ep-ša₂ BE-ma {id₂}har-ru sik-ra | |
| 15 | šum₂-ma UN-MEŠ am-mu-te kub-sa | |
| 16 | u id—da-at id—da-at e-gir₂-te ša₂ taš-pur-an-[ni] | |
| 17 | {1}{d}EN—KAR-ir {1}ar-ba-a.a | |
| 18 | {lu₂}GAL—ki-ṣir {lu₂}GAL—ki-ṣir {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ | |
| 19 | ina ŠU.2-šu₂-nu na-aṣ-ṣu-u-ni | |
| 20 | li-iz-zi-zu is-[si-ku-nu] | |
| 21 | dul-lu le-[pu-šu] | |
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.