Ashurbanipal 103

~655 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q003802

Translation · reference

High confidence

One column possibly completely missing (o? i' 1') [...] ... [...] his battle array [...] with him [... I brought abo]ut his defeat [...] in the thick of battle. (o? ii' 1') [... I sma]shed [their] gods (and thus) [placated the m]ood of the lord of lord[s]. I carried off to Assyria [its gods], its goddesses, its possessions, (and) its property, (as well as) [people, yo]ung [and ol]d. (obv.? ii´ 5´) By the command of (the god) Aššur and the goddess Ištar, I devasta[ted] an area of [sixty leag]ues insi[d]e the land Elam (and) scattered [sal]t (and) cress over them. (o? ii' 7') (As for) 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/Q003802/

Why it matters

Records Ashurbanipal's systematic devastation of Elam — gods deported, sixty leagues salted — documenting the Assyrian theology of conquest in which plundering enemy cult statues physically broke divine protection.

Transliteration

[...] x [...] / [...] x x [...] / [...] x qa-bal-⸢šú⸣ / [...] x it-ti-šú / [... áš-ku]-⸢nu⸣ BAD₅.BAD₅-šú / [...] ina MURUB₄ tam-ḫa-ri / [... ú]-⸢šab-bir DINGIR.MEŠ⸣-[šú-un] / [ú-šap-ši-iḫ] ⸢ka⸣-bat-ti EN ⸢EN.EN⸣ / [DINGIR.MEŠ-šú] ⸢d⸣15.MEŠ-šú NÍG.ŠU-šú NÍG.GA-⸢šú⸣ / [UN.MEŠ] ⸢TUR⸣ [u] ⸢GAL⸣ áš-lu-la a-na KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI / [60 KASKAL].⸢GÍD qaq⸣-qa-ru ⸢qé-reb KUR⸣.ELAM.MA.KI ina a-mat AN.ŠÁR u d15…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003802.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P395561). 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/Q003802/.

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