ABL 0879 (P393823)
Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | ABL 0879 |
|---|---|
| ID | P393823 |
| 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 [0:2] o 1o 1–o 22 | A tablet of Ummanaldasi, king of Elam, to Assurbanipal, king of Assyria: good health to my brother. |
| Obverse [2:8] o 33–o 88 | From the beginning the Marteneans have sinned against you. They brought Nabû-bel-šumati across the river, initiating the fights between [Assyria] and Elam. Then you wrote: "Send Nabû-bel-šumati here," and I seized Nabû-bel-šumati and sent him to you. |
| Obverse [8:12] o 99–o 1212 | The Marteaneans, who had brought Nabû-bel-šumati to Elam in the first place, [return]ed. Certain people of mine li[ving] on the waterline got wind of it, and they went and slew them in Lahiru. |
| Obverse [12:18] o 1313–o 1818 | I shall now send people who live in the same region to them to call the servants of mine who sinned to account. If they are in my country, I shall hold them accountable, and if they have crossed the river, you [...], and seek compensation among them. |
| Obverse [18:19] o 1919–o 1919 | And as soon as they are brought, |
| Obverse [19:20] o 2020–o 2020 | the deeds of the servants on the border |
| Obverse [20:21] o 2121–o 2121 | [......] cause fighting |
| Obverse [21:22] o 2222–o 2222 | [......] our messengers |
| Obverse [22:23] o 2323–o 2323 | [...... keep s]ending |
| Obverse [23:24] o 2424–o 2424 | [......] they desire horrible things |
| Obverse [24:25] o 2525–o 2525 | [......] is not [in] my heart |
| Reverse [1:2] r 2'2'–r 2'2' | [......]s before you |
| Reverse [2:3] r 3'3'–r 3'3' | [......] let me see |
| Reverse [3:4] r 4'4'–r 4'4' | [......] you ... |
| Reverse [4:5] r 5'5'–r 5'5' | [......] know |
| Reverse [5:6] r 6'6'–r 6'6' | [......] they did, and I did not know |
| Reverse [6:7] r 7'7'–r 7'7' | [......] they did |
| Reverse [7:8] r 8'8'–r 8'8' | [......] their [...] |
| Reverse [8:9] r 9'9'–r 9'9' | Month of Tammuz (IV), 26th day, |
| Reverse [9:10] r 10'10'–r 10'10' | eponym year of Nabû-šar-ahhešu (646). |
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 | IM {1}um-man-al-da-si LUGAL {kur}NIM.MA{ki} | |
| 2 | a-na {1}AN.ŠAR₂—DU₃—A LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠAR₂{ki} lu-u DI-mu | |
| 3 | a-na ŠEŠ-ia TA@v\dm SAG {lu₂}mar-te-na-a.a | |
| 4 | ih-ti-iṭ-ṭu-u₂-nik-ka {1}{d}PA—EN—MU-MEŠ | |
| 5 | a-na a-hu-la na-aṣ-ṣu-u-ni bir-ti [KUR—AN.ŠAR₂]{⸢ki⸣} | |
| 6 | bir-ti {kur}NIM.MA{ki} us-sa-an-hi-iṣ-[ṣu 0 | |
| 7 | id—da-a-te id—da-a-te at-ta tas-sap-ra ma-a {1}{d}PA—EN—MU-MEŠ | |
| 8 | še-bi-la aṣ-ṣa-bat {1}{d}PA—EN—MU-MEŠ us-se-bil-ka | |
| 9 | {lu₂}mar-te-na-a.a ša TA@v\dm SAG {1}{d}PA—EN—MU-MEŠ | |
| 10 | a-na {kur}NIM.MA{ki} na-aṣ-ṣu-u₂-nin-ni ⸢is⸣-[sah-ru]-ni | |
| 11 | UN-MEŠ-ia i-ba-aš₂-ši ša₂ ina UGU A-MEŠ ⸢kam⸣-[mu-su]-ni | |
| 12 | ina ŠA₃ PI.2-MEŠ-šu₂-nu e-tar-bu [x] it-tal-[ku] | |
| 13 | ina {uru}la-hi-ri it-tah-ṣu u₂-ma-a | |
| 14 | UN-MEŠ i-ba-aš₂-ši EN—ta-hu-me-šu₂-nu EN—ta-hu-me-šu₂-nu | |
| 15 | a-šap-par ina UGU-hi-šu₂-nu ARAD-MEŠ-ia | |
| 16 | ša₂ ih-ṭu-u₂-nin-ni ina ŠU.2-šu₂-nu u₂-ba-ʾu-[u] | |
| 17 | šum-ma ina KUR-ia šu-nu ana-ku ina ŠU.2-šu₂-nu u₂-[ba-ʾa] | |
| 18 | u₃ šum-ma ID₂ e-tab-ru at-ta ri-⸢i⸣-[bu] | |
| 19 | ina ŠA₃-bi-šu₂-nu ri-i-ba u₃ ki-ma na-aṣ-⸢ṣu⸣-[ni] | |
| 20 | ep-šat ARAD-MEŠ ša ina UGU ta-hu-me | |
| 21 | ⸢x x-du-mu⸣ u₂-ša₂-an-hu-ṣu | |
| 22 | [x x x x] ⸢x⸣ {lu₂}DUMU—KIN-MEŠ-a-ni-ni {lu₂}DUMU—KIN-MEŠ-a-ni-ni | |
| 23 | [x x x x x x is]-⸢sa⸣-nap-par-u-ni | |
| 24 | [x x x x x] sa-me-ek-tu₂ ṣa-ah-tu₂ | |
| 25 | [x x x x x ina] ŠA₃-bi-ia la-aš₂-⸢šu₂⸣ | |
| r | ||
| 1' | [x x x x x x x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] ⸢x⸣ | |
| 2' | [x x x x x x x]-a-ti ina IGI-⸢ka⸣ | |
| 3' | [x x x x x at]-⸢ta⸣ qa-la-a-ka | |
| 4' | [x x x x x] ⸢x⸣ at-ta tu-u-⸢da⸣ | |
| 5' | [a-na-ku-ma] ⸢la⸣ u₂-da | |
| 6' | [x x x x x]-⸢ka⸣ e-tap-šu la ⸢u₂-da-ma⸣ | |
| 7' | [x x x x x x] hu ⸢x e⸣-tap-šu | |
| 8' | [x x x x ŠA₃]-⸢bi⸣-šu₂-nu [x x] ⸢x⸣ | |
| 9' | {iti}ŠU UD 26-KAM₂ lim-mu | |
| 10' | {1}{d}PA—MAN—PAB-MEŠ-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.