Position in chronology
Aššur-bel-kala 06
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') [...] ... [...] (2') [He dispatched merchants (and) they acquired burḫiš, dromedaries, (and)] tešēnus. [He formed (herds) of dromedaries, bred (them), (and) displayed] herds of them [to the people of his land]. (4') [The king] of Egypt sent a large [female monkey], a crocodile, [(and) a “river-man,” beasts of the Great Sea. He displayed (them) to the people of his land]. (6') [By the] command of the gods Aššur, Anu, and A[dad, the great gods, my lords, ...] in pursuit of the Arameans, which twice in one year [I crossed the Euphrates River]. I brought about their [defeat from the city…
Source: Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo), Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; in association with the RINAP Project, University of Pennsylvania. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005987/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] x [...] / [... tama-ra-a-te].MEŠ ⸢te-še⸣-[ni.MEŠ ...] / [... su-gul]-⸢la⸣-te-šu-nu [...] / [... pa-gu-ta] GAL-ta ⸢nam-su⸣-[ḫa ...] / [...] ⸢KUR⸣.mu-uṣ-re-e ⸢ú⸣-[še-bi-la ...] / [i-na si]-⸢qir⸣ da-šur da-nim ù d⸢IŠKUR?⸣ [...] / [...] ⸢EGIR⸣ KUR.a-ra-me ša MU 1.KÁM ⸢2?⸣-[šu ÍD.pu-rat-ta lu-ú e-te-bir iš-tu?] / [URU.a]-⸢na⸣-at ša KUR.su-ḫi ù ⸢URU⸣.[tad-mar ù a-di URU.ra-pí-qi ša…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of an Assyrian king, published in the Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online project (RIAo). Translation reproduced from the ORACC edition. ORACC text Q005987.
Attribution
Image: Based on A. Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC I (1114-859 BC) (RIMA 2), Toronto, 1991. Adapted by Jamie Novotny (2015-16) and lemmatized and updated by Nathan Morello (2016-17) for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation-funded OIMEA Project at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/riao/Q005987/..
Translation excerpted from Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo), Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; in association with the RINAP Project, University of Pennsylvania. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005987/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.