Position in chronology
Aššur-reša-iši I 01
Translation — scholar edition
RIAo(1) Aššur-rēša-iši (I), appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, (the one) whom the gods Anu, Enlil, and Ea, the great gods, faithfully claimed in his mother’s womb, (the one) whose dominion they designated for the proper administration of Assyria, the presentation of whose offerings the gods of heaven and netherworld love and they (therefore) blessed his priesthood, the attentive ruler who provides offerings for the great gods, exalted sage, warrior among overseers, [...] of the goddess Irnina, merciless hero in battle, crusher of the enemies of (the god) Aššur, strong…
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
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Why it matters
Asserts divine election from the womb by Anu, Enlil, and Ea: an early Assyrian articulation of the theological framework that would anchor royal legitimacy for the next six centuries.
Transliteration
maš-šur-SAG-i-ši šá-ak-ni dAB ŠID aš-šur / ša da-nu dBAD u dDIŠ DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ i-na ŠÀ AGARIN₄-šu ke-niš iḫ-šu-ḫu-šu-ma / ⸢a⸣-na šu-te-šur KUR aš-šur EN-su ib-bu-ú ⸢ù⸣ na-dan zi-be-šu DINGIR.MEŠ šá AN-e u KI-⸢ti⸣ / [i]-⸢ra⸣-mu-ma ŠÙD SANGA-su NUN na-aʾ-du za-nin NIDBA ana DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ er-šu ṣi-i-ru qar-rad par-ri-⸢ki⸣ [(...)] / [x x] dir-ni-na ur-šá-an MURUB₄ la pa-du-ú da-iš…
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 Q005899.
Attribution
Image: BM 122671 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P422444). source
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/Q005899/.
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