Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 020
Translation · reference
High confidence(i' 1') (No translation possible) (ii' 1') [...] ... [... the statue of] Ḫallušu (Ḫallušu-Inšušinak I), who had dist[urbed ...], together with statues of [...] kings who had exercised dominion over the land Elam, with their substant[ial] booty, [I erected] in Nineveh, in a gate of my palace, for the admiration of futur[e] people. I destroyed (and) [demolished] tombs of the kings, their ancestors, (and) I took their bones to [Assyria]. (ii' 10') (As for) the goddess Nanāya, who 1,635 year[s] (ago) became angry and (went to) live in a place not befit[ting her], as soon as the time had come (and) the fix[ed time] had arrived, they (the gods) commanded her journey (back) to Uruk (and) her (re)entry into [Eḫiliana]. The king [...] by the command of (the god) Aš[šur ...]
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/Q003719/
Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's desecration of Elamite royal tombs and the repatriation of Nanāya's cult statue to Uruk after 1,635 years — anchoring a precise, self-serving Assyrian chronology of divine abandonment and imperial restoration.
Transliteration
[... e-pu]-⸢šu⸣-uš / [... MUNUS].⸢ḪUL⸣ / [...]-mu / [...] x ŠÁ? / [...]-⸢ú⸣-ti / [...] x-ti / [...]-⸢ti⸣-ia / [...]-⸢pal⸣-su-ma / [...] x-ZA / [...] x-šu / [... a]-⸢ra⸣-mu / [...] x / [...] x / [...] (traces) [...] / [ALAM] ⸢m⸣ḫa-lu-si mu-nar-[riṭ ...] / a-di ALAM.MEŠ LUGAL.MEŠ [...] / šá e-pu-šú be-lut KUR.⸢ELAM⸣.[MA.KI] / it-ti šal-la-ti-šú-nu ka-⸢bit⸣-[ti] / a-na ta-mar-ti UN.MEŠ EGIR.[MEŠ] /…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003719.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P424510). 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/Q003719/.
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