Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 1015
Written in modern English
The surviving lines are badly broken. Someone was regularly receiving something, and Ashurbanipal (or whichever king speaks here) says his furious temper had not been calmed. He sent a message concerning the Chaldeans, but the rest of the text is too fragmentary to follow.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1') (No translation possible) (4') [...] he [...] my [lord]ly/[roy]al [...] ...s without [... he] was regularly receivin[g ... my] furious m[ood was not paci]fied [...]. I sent him a messag[e of ...] Chaldeans [...] ... [...]
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
[...] x x [...] / [...] ⸢in⸣-da-BI-[...]1 / [...] x KI KA LU [...] / [...] x-ti-ia ú-še-[...] / [...] x ŠE?.MEŠ ina la x [...] / [...] ⸢im⸣-da-na-ḫa-⸢ra⸣ [...] / [... ul? ip]-⸢šaḫ⸣ ez-ze-tú ⸢ka⸣-[bat-ti ...] / [...] x áš-pur-šú ši-pir-⸢ti⸣ [...] / [...] ⸢LÚ?.kal?⸣-da-a-a x [...]2 / [...] x (x) [...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q009283.
Attribution
Image: Created by Jamie Novotny and Joshua Jeffers, 2015-22. Lemmatized by Joshua Jeffers, 2018-19, for the NEH-funded RINAP Project at the University of Pennsylvania. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0.. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/rinap/Q009283/..
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/Q009283/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.