JCS 54, 079-086 (P423161)
Administrative Letter, Neo-Assyrian, Kuyunjik (Nineveh) · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | JCS 54, 079-086 |
|---|---|
| ID | P423161 |
| Museum no. | BM 132980 |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Akkadian |
| Period | Neo-Assyrian · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE |
| Genre | Administrative Letter |
| Find spot | Kuyunjik (Nineveh) |
| Coordinates | 36.3587, 43.1519 |
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 | The king's word to the elders of Elam: I and the whole of Assyria are well. |
| Obverse [2:7] o 33–o 77 | As to your clandestine consultation, "Why does Assyria treat us like this?" — you know perfectly well why you have been treated in this way, and you have the affront of asking such a question now! |
| Obverse [7:9] o 88–o 99 | It is because of Nabû-bel-šumati, Nabû-qati-ṣabat and Kiribtu that you have been treated in this way. |
| Obverse [9:17] o 1010–o 1717 | When Ummanigaš came to grasp my feet and I sent my army with him, and (when) they went and defeated Teumman, did we lay our hands on the temples, cities or anything? Did we take spoils of war? Did we not pour oil on blood and become friends? |
| Obverse [17:20] o 1818–o 2020 | When I sent my army last year, we plundered your [temp]les, [...ed you]r cities [......] |
| Reverse [0:4] r 1'1'–r 4'4' | "[Why] have we been treated [like] this?" [I swe]ar b[y Aššur and my gods]: it is because of N[abû-bel-šumati] and his criminal accomplices that you have been treated in this way. |
| Reverse [4:9] r 5'5'–r 9'9' | To begin with, why would I persecute your country? If it were a trading post of beautiful stones or anything, I could think, "Let me seize it and add it to my country," or, "Let me take horses and mules from it and add them to my troops." |
| Reverse [9:13] r 10'10'–r 13'13' | I could think, "It is a source of silver and gold; let me impose tribute upon them," or, "There are things worthy of kingship there." (However,) there is nothing of this or that there. Why, then, would I persecute your country? |
| Reverse [13:16] r 14'14'–r 16'16' | Now then I am writing to you: Send me Nabû-bel-šumati and his accomplices, and I will promptly send you your gods and make peace. |
| Reverse [16:20] r 17'17'–r 20'20' | However, if you persist in not complying, I swear by Aššur and my gods that under the aegis of gods I will make the future even more horrible than the past to you. |
| Top [0:1] t.e. 21t.e. 21–t.e. 21t.e. 21 | Month of Shebat (XI), eponym year of Nabû-nadin-ahi (647*). |
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 {lu₂⸣}AB.BA-MEŠ ša₂ {kur}NIM.MA{ki} | |
| 2 | DI-mu ia-a-ši u₃ a-na KUR—AN.ŠAR₂{ki} gab-bu | |
| 3 | ina UGU ša ⸢a⸣-na la a-ma-ri tu-šam-hir-a-ni | |
| 4 | ma-a ina UGU mi₃-i-ni ki-i an-ni-i KUR—AN.ŠAR₂{ki} | |
| 5 | te-ep-pa-aš₂-an-na-ši la tu-da-ma-a | |
| 6 | ina UGU mi₃-i-ni ša₂ ki-i ha-an-ni-i ep-ša₂-a-ka-nu-ni | |
| 7 | u u₂-ma-a ta-as-sa-na-ʾa-la | |
| 8 | ina UGU {1}{d}PA—EN—MU-MEŠ {1}{d}PA—ŠU.2—ṣa-bat {1}ki-rib-tu₂ | |
| 9 | ki-i ha-an-ni-i ep-ša₂-ku-nu | |
| 10 | ki-i {1}um-man-i-gaš il-lik-an-ni | |
| 11 | GIR₃.2-MEŠ-ia iṣ-bat-u-ni u₃ e-mu-qi₂-ia | |
| 12 | is-si-šu₂ aš₂-pur-u-ni il-li-ku-u-ni | |
| 13 | ina ŠA₃ {1}te-um-man im-mah-ṣu-u₂-ni | |
| 14 | A₂.2-in-ni-i ina ŠA₃ E₂.KUR-MEŠ ina ŠA₃ URU-MEŠ | |
| 15 | lu-u ina ŠA₃ me-me-ni ni-it-tu-bil | |
| 16 | hu-ub-tu-u₂ ni-ih-tab-ta I₃-ME ina UGU MUD₂-ME | |
| 17 | la ni-id-di-bu-u₂-ku a-na EN—MUN EN—MUN | |
| 18 | la ni-tu-u₂-ru-u ina šad-daq-diš ki-i | |
| 19 | e-mu-qi₂-ia aš₂-pur-u-ni [E₂].⸢KUR⸣-ri-ku-nu | |
| 20 | ⸢ni⸣-ih-tab-ta URU-MEŠ-⸢ku⸣-[nu] | |
| r | ||
| 1' | ma-⸢a⸣ [ina UGU mi₃-i-ni ki-i] ⸢an-ni-i⸣ ep-ša₂-⸢a⸣-[ni] | |
| 2' | ina ⸢ŠA₃⸣ [aš-šur DINGIR-MEŠ-ia₂ at]-⸢ta⸣-ma šum-ma la ina ⸢UGU⸣ | |
| 3' | {1}{d}[PA—EN—MU-MEŠ] {⸢lu₂}EN⸣—hi-⸢iṭ⸣-ṭi {⸢lu₂}EN⸣—hi-⸢iṭ⸣-ṭi ša₂ is-si-šu₂ | |
| 4' | ki-i ha-[an]-⸢ni⸣-e ep-ša₂-ka-nu-ni | |
| 5' | TA@v\dm SAG ana-ku a-na ⸢mi₃⸣-i-ni KUR-ku-nu | |
| 6' | lu-ba-ʾi E₂—KAR E₂—KAR ⸢NA₄⸣ SIG₅ šu-u me-me-ni | |
| 7' | mu-uk la-aṣ-ba-ta ina UGU KUR-ia lu-rad-di | |
| 8' | mu-uk {anše}KUR.RA-MEŠ {anše}GIR₃.NUN.NA-MEŠ | |
| 9' | TA@v\dm ŠA₃-bi la-aš₂-ši-a ina UGU ki-ṣir-ia₂ lu-rad-di | |
| 10' | mu-uk E₂ KUG.UD E₂ KUG.GI šu-u mu-uk ma-ad-da-tu₂ | |
| 11' | ina UGU-hi-šu₂-nu la-aš₂-kun u₂-la-⸢a mu⸣-uk | |
| 12' | si-ma-a-te ša LUGAL-u-te ina ŠA₃-bi i-ba-aš₂-ši | |
| 13' | šu-u me-me-ni ina ŠA₃-bi la-aš₂-šu₂ ana-ku KUR-⸢ku⸣-nu a-na mi₃-ni | |
| 14' | lu-ba-ʾi u₂-ma-a an-nu-ri | |
| 15' | as-sap-rak-ku-nu {1}{d}PA—EN—MU-MEŠ ša₂ is-si-šu₂ | |
| 16' | še-bil-a-ni bi-is ana-ku DINGIR-MEŠ-ku-nu lu-še-bil-ak-ku-nu | |
| 17' | u su-lum-mu-u la-aš₂-kun u₂-la-a tu-rak | |
| 18' | la ta-aš₂-me-a ina ŠA₃ aš-šur DINGIR-MEŠ-ia₂ at-ta-ma | |
| 19' | šum-ma ina GIŠ.MI ša₂ DINGIR-MEŠ ur-ki-u a-na pa-ni-i | |
| 20' | ⸢la⸣ u₂-sam-ma-ak-ak-ku-nu-ni | |
| t.e. | ||
| 21 | {iti}ZIZ₂ lim-me {1}{d}PA—AŠ—PAB | |
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.