BMS 39 (P397810)
Prayer, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
Open in the reader & map →See it among all tablets
| Designation | BMS 39 |
|---|---|
| ID | P397810 |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| a [1:2] a 2'2'–a 2'2' | [. . .] to you [. . .] |
| a [2:3] a 3'3'–a 3'3' | [. . .] . . . O Ishtar of the star[s(?) . . .] |
| a [3:4] a 4'4'–a 4'4' | [It is the wording] of a lifted-hand prayer [to Ishtar]. |
| a [4:5] a 5'5'–a 5'5' | [Its ritual: You do] (the ritual) with either a ritual assemblage or a censer. |
| a [5:6] a 6'6'–a 6'6' | [Incantation: O Ish]tar of the stars, goddess of the morn[ing], |
| a [6:7] a 7'7'–a 7'7' | [. . . of la]dies, goddess of go[ddesses], |
| a [7:8] a 8'8'–a 8'8' | [Valia]nt one among the gods, torch of the heavens [and earth], |
| a [8:9] a 9'9'–a 9'9' | [(. . .)?], brilliance of the Igigi, light of the lands. |
| a [9:10] a 10'10'–a 10'10' | [. . .] and illuminator of [. . .] |
| a [10:11] a 11'11'–a 11'11' | Shining [. . .] torch [. . .] |
| a [11:12] a 12'12'–a 12'12' | [. . . dist]ant [. . . (they)] keep shining brightly, you illu[minate . . .] |
| a [12:13] a 13'13'–a 13'13' | [I call out] to you, my lady, in the mid[st of . . .] |
| a [13:14] a 14'14'–a 14'14' | Pay attention [to my utter]ance, he[ar . . .] |
| a [14:15] a 15'15'–a 15'15' | [. . . look at] me, and [. . .] (my) distr[ess]. |
| a [15:16] a 16'16'–a 16'16' | [. . .] son of so-and-so, who is extremely distre[ssed, . . .] |
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) |
|---|---|---|
| a | ||
| 1' | [...] HU [...] | |
| 2' | [...] ⸢a⸣-na ⸢ka⸣-[a]-⸢ši⸣ [...] | |
| 3' | [...] ⸢x⸣ {d}iš₈-tar₂ ⸢MUL⸣-[MEŠ ...] | |
| 4' | [KA.INIM].⸢MA⸣ ŠU.IL₂.LA₂ {[d}INANA.KAM] | |
| 5' | [DU₃.DU₃.BI] lu ina KEŠDA lu ina NIG₂.NA [DU₃{uš]} | |
| 6' | [EN₂ {d}1(u) 5(diš) MUL-MEŠ i-lat šer-[ti] | |
| 7' | [... be]-⸢le⸣-e-ti i-lat i-[la-a-ti] | |
| 8' | [qa-rit]-⸢ti⸣ DINGIR-MEŠ di-par₂ AN{e} [u KI{ti₃]} | |
| 9' | [(x x x)] ZALAG₂{tu} {d}i₂-gi₃-gi₃ nu-ur₂ ma-[ta-ti] | |
| 10' | [...]-⸢x⸣ u muš-na-me-rat [...] | |
| 11' | [...] ⸢ne⸣-bu-u di-pa-⸢ru⸣ [...] | |
| 12' | [... ru]-⸢qi it⸣-ta-na-an-bi-ṭu ⸢tuš⸣-[nam-ma-ru ...] | |
| 13' | [al-si]-⸢ki⸣ be-el-ti ina ⸢qe₂⸣-[reb ...] | |
| 14' | [a-na qi₂-bi]-⸢ti⸣-ia qu-lim-ma ⸢ši⸣-[me-e ...] | |
| 15' | [... nap-li-is]-⸢in⸣-ni-ma ma-⸢ru⸣-[uš-tu ...] | |
| 16' | [...] ⸢A⸣ NENNI ša₂ šum-ru-[ṣu ...] | |
| 17' | [...] ⸢x⸣ mah-ra ⸢KAL⸣ [...] | |
| 18' | [...] ⸢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.