BMS 18 (P397435)
Prayer, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | BMS 18 |
|---|---|
| ID | P397435 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Akkadian |
| Period | Neo-Assyrian · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE |
| Genre | Prayer |
| Find spot | Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) |
| Coordinates | 36.3582, 43.1621 |
English translation
By King, Leonard W. · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [1:2] o 2'2'–o 2'2' | They look upon [your] countenance [. . .] |
| Obverse [2:3] o 3'3'–o 3'3' | Your countenance is greater than the swelling of the sea. |
| Obverse [3:4] o 4'4'–o 4'4' | You are exalted in the heavens. |
| Obverse [4:5] o 5'5'–o 5'5' | You see all of the people. |
| Obverse [5:6] o 6'6'–o 6'6' | You are the greatest on the earth. |
| Obverse [6:7] o 7'7'–o 7'7' | You see their oracular signs. |
| Obverse [7:8] o 8'8'–o 8'8' | The one who has sinned you indeed spare. |
| Obverse [8:9] o 9'9'–o 9'9' | I grasp like a courtier |
| Obverse [9:10] o 10'10'–o 10'10' | your (garment's) hem. |
| Obverse [10:11] o 11'11'–o 11'11' | Like Marduk's puppy, |
| Obverse [11:12] o 12'12'–o 12'12' | I run behind [you]. |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1r 1–r 1r 1 | I lift up a food offering, I scatter [a strewn offering (of flour)] |
| Reverse [1:2] r 22–r 22 | Release the misfortune, accept [my] pray[er]. |
| Reverse [2:3] r 33–r 33 | May your pleasant breeze blow over me [that] |
| Reverse [3:4] r 44–r 44 | (My) life may be long! |
| Reverse [4:5] r 55–r 55 | Let me tell of your greatness to the far-flung people. |
| Reverse [5:6] r 66–r 66 | The wording of a lifted-hand prayer to Marduk. |
| Reverse [6:7] r 77–r 77 | Its ritual: You do (it) with either a ritual assemblage or with a censer. |
| Reverse [7:8] r 88–r 88 | Incantation: Resplendent strong one, pre-eminent one of the Igigi. |
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' | [...] ⸢x⸣ [...] ⸢x⸣ [...] | |
| 2' | i-na-ṭa-lu ⸢pa⸣-nu-⸢uk⸣-[ka] | |
| 3' | a-na gi-piš ta-ma-a-ti pa-nu-ka ma-a-⸢du⸣ | |
| 4' | ša₂-qa₂-ta ina ša₂-ma-⸢mi⸣ | |
| 5' | kul-lat UN-MEŠ ta-bar-ri | |
| 6' | šur-ba-ta-ma ina KI{tim} | |
| 7' | UZU.UR₅-MEŠ-šu₂-nu [ta]-bar-ri | |
| 8' | ša₂ hi-ṭu ih-ṭu-u₂ ta-⸢ga-mil⸣-šu₂ at-ta | |
| 9' | ⸢ṣab⸣-ta-ku-ma ki-i ti-i-⸢ri⸣ | |
| 10' | ina qa-an-⸢ni-ka⸣ | |
| 11' | ⸢ki⸣-i mu-ra-ni {d}TU.⸢TU⸣ | |
| 12' | a-la-su-um ur-⸢ki⸣-[ka] | |
| r | ||
| 1 | na-ša₂-ku NIDBA a-sa-raq [ser-qu] | |
| 2 | pu-ṭur NIG₂.GIG li-qi₂ un-⸢ni⸣-[ni-ia] | |
| 3 | IM-ka DU₈.GA li-zi-qa-⸢am⸣-[ma] | |
| 4 | ZI{tim} li-ri-⸢ik⸣ | |
| 5 | la-ta-am nar-bi-ka ana UN-MEŠ DAGAL-MEŠ | |
| 6 | KA-INIM-MA ŠU-IL₂-LA₂ {d}TU.TU-KE₄ | |
| 7 | DU₃.DU₃.BI lu ina KEŠDA lu ina NIG₂.NA DU₃{uš} | |
| 8 | ⸢EN₂⸣ ga-aš₂-ru šu-pu-u e-ṭil {d}i₂-gi₃-gi₃ | |
| 9 | [...] ⸢x x x x⸣ KAM-MEŠ ⸢x⸣ [...] | |
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)
- electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), LMU Munich · MIT (eBL Zenodo dataset); platform terms unverified · electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), LMU Munich, https://www.ebl.lmu.de/ ; Zenodo dataset (MIT)
Cite the original edition and translator. Page generated by Unread Atlas from the public corpus export of 2026-10-11.