Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 055
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) I, Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria — while (carrying out) [my princely] spor[t], they had [a fi]erce [lion] that was born in the steppe (lit. “of its plain”) brought out of a cage and, while on foot, I pierced (it) three times with arrow(s) [(but)] its life did not come to an end. Through the command of the god Palil, the king of the steppe who had generously gr<anted> me power (and) vir[ilit]y, I subsequently stabbed it with my iron belt-dagger [(and)] it laid down (its) life.
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/Q003754/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na-ku mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI ina me-lul-⸢ti⸣ [NUN-ti-ia UR.MAḪ] ⸢ez⸣-zu šá EDIN-šú TA ŠÀ GIŠ.na-bar-ti / ú-še-ṣu-nim-ma ina GÌR.II-ia ina GIŠ.KAK.⸢TI 3-šú as-ḫul?⸣-[(ma?)] ⸢na-piš⸣-ta-šú ul iq-ti / ina qí-bit dIGI.DU LUGAL EDIN ša dun-nu zik-[ru]-⸢tu⸣ ú-šat-<li-ma>-⸢an-ni⸣1 / EGIR ina GÍR AN.BAR šib-bi-ia as-ḫul-šu-[(ma)] na-piš-tú iš-kun
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003754.
Attribution
Image: Created by Jamie Novotny and Joshua Jeffers, 2015-18. Lemmatized by Jamie Novotny, 2015–16, for the Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), a corpus-building initiative funded by LMU Munich and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (through the establishment of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East) and based 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/rinap/Q003754/..
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/Q003754/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.