Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 117
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) On my first campaign, [(I marched to Makan (Egypt) and Meluḫḫa (Ethiopia))]. Taharqa, the king of Egypt and Kush, who[se defeat] Esarhaddon — the father who engendered [me — had brought about (and) whose land he ruled over], forgot [the m]ight of (the god) Aššur, the goddess Ištar, and the great gods, my lords, an[d trusted in his own counsel]. (5) He mar[ched agai]nst the kings (and) officials, whom [the father who had engendered me had appointed] inside Egypt, to kill (and) rob (them) and to take away Egypt (from them). He entered and resided in the city Memphis, a city that the father…
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/Q003816/
Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's first campaign against the Kushite pharaoh Taharqa, framing the reconquest of Memphis as divine mandate — a rare Assyrian first-person account of the struggle for Egypt that cross-checks both biblical and Egyptian sources.
Transliteration
⸢i-na maḫ⸣-re-e ger-ri-ia (blank) [(a-na KUR.má-kan u KUR.me-luḫ-ḫa lu-u al-lik)] / ⸢m⸣tar-qu-u MAN KUR.mu-ṣur u KUR.ku-u-si ša mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-AŠ AD DÙ-u-[a BAD₅.BAD₅-šú iš-ku-nu i-be-lu KUR-su] / ⸢da⸣-na-an AN.ŠÁR d15 u DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ EN.MEŠ-ia in-ši-⸢ma⸣ [it-ta-kil a-na ṭè-em ra-ma-ni-šú] / ⸢UGU⸣ LUGAL.MEŠ LÚ.qé-e-pa-ni ša qé-reb KUR.mu-ṣur ⸢ú⸣-[pa-qi-du AD DÙ-u-a] / ⸢a⸣-na da-a-ki ḫab-a-te ù…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003816.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P396464). 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/Q003816/.
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