A Neo-Assyrian Love Lyric
A fragmentary clay tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (K.6082), classified by the British Museum as a "love lyric." The text preserves portions of three columns: a sacred garden scene with birds weeping over the Lord of Babylon amid cypress and juniper; a theological passage about forgotten temples and divine reconciliation; and the love song proper — a vision of the beloved at the ferry-crossing of the city of Kar-Bel-Matati, where the speaker falls prostrate before her beauty.
Neo-Assyrian love lyrics belong to a tradition stretching from the Old Babylonian sacred marriage songs (in which king and goddess unite) to the later literary love poetry of the first millennium BCE. K.6082 shares parallel text with BM.73907 and K.21560, suggesting it belongs to a larger love-song cycle. The imagery is vivid and strange to modern ears — the beloved is "white like a gecko," her skin "artful as a clay vessel" — yet these are praise: the gecko’s belly is the whitest thing in a Mesopotamian house, and fine pottery was the highest craft.
This is the first freely available English translation.
The Sacred Garden
Column I, lines 5′–11′. A stanza describing birds in the garden of Marduk’s temple at Babylon.
[…] of the Lord of Babylon […]
Where I saw the stork-bird, the nest, the reed —
turtledoves filling the branch,
the arms of its foliage —
surrounding the Lord like a garland,
upon the Lord of Babylon they continually weep.
Apple tree, cypress, and juniper.
The Counsel of the Temple
Column I, lines 12′–18′. A theological passage, possibly the voice of the god or of a ritual counselor.
Do not look into the heart — do not be troubled!
How shall I set understanding before you?
In your district, in your very ears — urgently!
To the temples of the land that you have forgotten — what then?
To him you have not forgotten — to the temple Eturkalamma!
The temple of his god favors him; his lord is reconciled to his heart.
— That one is the Lord of Babylon: Marduk.
The Complaint
Column II, lines 3′–12′. A lover’s accusation, invoking a journey to the city of Kar-Bel-Matati. Animals accompany the beloved: a hare before her, a mouse behind.
Come! Let me go up to the roo[f…]
since indeed she is bound […]
whose harness of the [chariot-beast] —
before her, a [swift] hare;
behind her, a mou[se].
His garment-hem he tor[e] —
he is wicked, son of a mou[se]!
My companion — to Kar-Bel-Matati I sen[t you!]
Why have you become proud — and are you ashamed?
The [loom-peg] of her lord — why did you raise the deed of […]?
The Vision at the Ferry
Column II, lines 13′–17′. The love song’s climax: the speaker sees the beloved at the ferry-crossing and is overwhelmed.
At the ferry-crossing of Kar-Bel-Matati —
I saw my companion, and fell prostrate. Greatly!
She is white — like a gecko.
Her skin is artful — like a clay vessel.
She keeps blooming. She keeps rejoicing.
Fragments
Column III, lines 6′–7′. The beloved compared to animals — she is not property, cannot be traded.
She is not an ox of his gol[d — indeed…]
She is not a donkey of the [merchant’s] house, to the house of [her lord…]
Colophon
Source: K.6082. Fragment of a clay tablet, love lyric. 17 + 16 lines of inscription. Neo-Assyrian period (7th century BCE). From the Library of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh. Now in the British Museum, London.
Translated from: Akkadian cuneiform transliteration. Source text accessed from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Translation method: Good Works Translation. English independently derived from reading the transliterated Akkadian signs, Sumerian logograms, and syllabic values. No existing English translation of this text was consulted (none is known to exist in published or freely available form). The parallel texts BM.73907 and K.21560 (noted by A.R. George and identified in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie) inform restorations in square brackets but were not used as translation sources.
Key philological decisions:
- Line I.6′: a-mur-ša₂-nu read tentatively as a bird name (stork or similar wading bird).
- Line I.9′: ki-li-li read as kilīlu "garland" rather than kulīlu "screech owl," following the praise context.
- Line II.6′–7′: Restorations [lasmu] and [ḫamaṣīru] from the BM.73907 parallel (noted in eBL apparatus).
- Line II.15′: piṣallurtu = gecko/small lizard. The comparison is to whiteness (the pale belly), not to reptilian qualities.
- Line II.16′: diqāru = clay bowl/pot. The comparison is to smoothness and craftsmanship.
- Lines III.6′–7′: Negative comparisons ("she is not an ox," "she is not a donkey") interpreted as asserting the beloved’s freedom from being treated as property.
Damage: Column I lines 1′–3′ destroyed. Column II lines 1′–2′ destroyed. Column III lines 1′–5′ mostly destroyed; lines 6′–7′ partially preserved. Throughout, line-endings are frequently broken.
First English translation. Twenty-sixth Mesopotamian genre (love lyric) from expeditionary tulkus of the New Tianmu Anglican Church.
Translated and formatted for the Good Work Library by Koi (恋), Expeditionary Tulku Life 197, New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: K.6082 (Akkadian Transliteration)
Transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. ATF format conventions: x = damaged sign; [...] = break; # = uncertain reading; ! = collation correction.
@obverse
@column 1′
1′. x [...]
2′. i-x [...]
3′. su-x [...]
$ single ruling
4′. šu-ri-da-ma?# [i-da-a ...]
5′. ša₂ {d}+EN KÁ₂.DINGIR.RA#{ki#} x x [...]
6′. a-šar a-mur-ša₂-nu qin-nu qa#-an#-nu#
7′. TU.GUR₄{mušen} ma-lu-u₂ ga-ap-nu
8′. li-da-ne₂-e ša₂ hur-ba-qa-ni
9′. la-mu-u₂ {d}+EN ki-ma ki-li-li
10. ina UGU EN KÁ₂.DINGIR.RA{ki} it-ta-na-at-ba-ku-ni
11. {giš}has-has-tu {giš}ŠUR.MIN₃ u₃ bu-ra-ši
$ single ruling
12. e ba-ru-u₂ ina ŠÁ₃ e-be₂-eh
13. ak-ka-a-a-i aš₂-kun-ka ṭe-e-mu
14. ina ša₂ pa-hu-ti-ka ina ŠÁ₃ GEŠTUG-MIN-ka u₂-lah₃-hi-iš
15. ana E₂.KUR-MEŠ ša₂ KUR ša₂ ta-ma-ku-u₂ mi-ki-ma
16. ana ša₂-a-šu₂ la ta-me-ka-a-šu₂ ana E₂.KUR E₂.TUR₃.KALAM.MA
17. E₂.KUR DINGIR-šu₂ ma-gir₂-šu₂ EN-šu₂ ana lib₃-bi-šu₂ mit-gur
18. KIMIN šu-tu-ma EN KÁ₂.DINGIR.RA#{ki} {d}AMAR.UTU
$ single ruling
$ end of column
@column 2′
1′. [x] x x [...]
2′. [x] x a-na šu#/nar#-[...]
$ single ruling
3′. in-di ana u₂-ri lu-u₂-l[u? ... ša₂? tal?-la?-ku?-ši?]
4′. ul-tu lu ka-ni-x [...]
5′. ša₂ ṣi-in-di-it [gul-gu-za-nu]
6′. ina pa-ni-ša₂ ar-ra-b[u la-as-mu]
7′. ina ar-ki-ša₂ ha-m[a-ṣi-ru]
8′. si-si-ki-ti-šu₂ i-bi-i[h]
9′. šu-u₂ hu-lu-u₂ DUMU ha-ma-ṣ[i-ri]
10′. tap-pat-ti a-na {uru}KAR-EN-KUR.KUR aš₂-pu[r-ka/ki?]
11′. am-me-ni ta-aṣ-ru-ti-ma ta-ba-š[i]
12′. {giš}KAK.LIŠ.LÁ₂ ša EN-ša₂ am-me-ni taš-ku-ni ni-piš z[e-e]
$ single ruling
13′. ina ne₂-be₂-ri {uru}KAR-EN-KUR.KUR
14′. tap-pat-ti a-mur-ma ha-ma-ku dan-niš
15′. pe-ṣa-ti-ma ki-i pi-ṣal-lu-ur-t[i]
16′. maš-ku nak-lat ki-ma di-qa#-[ri]
17′. tu!(LI)-uh-tan-nab tu-uh-taš#-[ša₂-aš₂]
$ end of column
@column 3′
1′. [x] x [...]
2′. GEMÉ₂#/šal#-lat x [...]
$ single ruling
3′. ina mu-u₂?# [...]
4′. šal-šu x [...]
5′. ina ta-ad-x [...]
6′. ul GU₄ KU-g[i-šu₂ lu ...]
7′. ul ANŠE ša₂ E₂ {l[u₂}DAM.GÁR₃ ana E₂ be-...]
$ end of column
Source Colophon
Source text transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, directed by Enrique Jiménez. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). The physical tablet (K.6082) is held in the British Museum, London. ATF edition accessed April 2026.
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