Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 011
Translation · reference
High confidence(i 1) I, Ashurbanipal, the creation of (the god) Aššur and the goddess Mullissu, the senior son of the king of the House of Succession, the one whom (the god) Aššur and the god Sîn — the lord of the (lunar) crown — nominated in distant days to be king (i 5) and created in the womb of his mother for shepherding Assyria, (and the one for whom) the deities Šamaš, Adad, and Ištar declared my exercising the kingship through their firm decision(s) — (i 8) Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, the father who had engendered me, carefully observed the word(s) of (the god) Aššur and the goddess Mullissu, the…
Source: Novotny, J. & Jeffers, J. 2018–. The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (630–627 BC) and Sîn-šarra-iškun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria. RINAP 5. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003710/
Why it matters
Declares Ashurbanipal's kingship divinely foreordained from the womb by Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, and Ištar — anchoring Sargonid legitimacy theology in a chain of gods stretching from conception to coronation.
Transliteration
a-na-ku mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A bi-nu-tu AN.ŠÁR u dNIN.LÍL / DUMU LUGAL GAL-ú ša É ri-du-u-ti / ša AN.ŠÁR u d30 EN AGA ul-tu UD.MEŠ SÙ.MEŠ / ni-bit MU-šú iz-ku-ru a-na LUGAL-u-ti / ù ina ŠÀ AMA-šú ib-nu-šú a-na SIPA-ut KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI / dUTU dIŠKUR u d15 ina EŠ.BAR-šú-nu ke-e-ni / iq-bu-ú e-peš LUGAL-ti-ia / mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-SUM.NA MAN KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI AD ba-nu-u-a / a-mat AN.ŠÁR u dNIN.LÍL DINGIR.MEŠ ti-ik-le-e-šú…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003710.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P384981). source
Translation excerpted from Novotny, J. & Jeffers, J. 2018–. The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (630–627 BC) and Sîn-šarra-iškun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria. RINAP 5. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003710/.
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