Ashurbanipal 133

~655 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q007541

Translation · reference

High confidence

Obverse completely missing (r 1) Inside the land Elam, they (the Elamites) heard about [the progress of the messenger of mine whom I had sent to (the city) Dēr. With the support of the deities Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bēl (Marduk), Nabû], Ištar of Nineveh, Ištar of Arbela, [Ninurta, Nusku, (and) Nergal (...), fear of] my [royal majes]ty overwhelmed the land Elam and (then) [the people of the land Elam] rebelled [against Indab]ibi (and) killed him with the sword. They placed [Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), son of Atta-metu], on the throne of the land Elam. (r 6) By the command of (the god) Aššur,…

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/Q007541/

Why it matters

Records Elamite court factions killing Indabibi and enthroning Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III — framed as Assyrian divine terror, this is a key source for the political collapse of Elam in the 650s BCE.

Transliteration

[a-lak? LÚ.A KIN-ia ša a-na BÀD.AN].⸢KI⸣ áš-pu-ru iš-mu-u qé-reb KUR.ELAM.MA.⸢KI⸣ / [ina? tukul-ti? AN.ŠÁR d30 dUTU dEN dAG] ⸢d⸣15 šá NINA.KI d15 šá LÍMMU-DINGIR.KI / [dMAŠ dnusku dU.GUR (...) pu-luḫ-ti] ⸢LUGAL⸣-ti-ia KUR.ELAM.MA.KI is-ḫu-up-ma / [UN.MEŠ KUR.ELAM.MA.KI ṣe-er min-da]-⸢bi⸣-bi ib-bal-ki-tú i-na-ru-uš ina GIŠ.TUKUL.MEŠ / [mum-man-al-da-si DUMU mat-ta-me-tu] ú-še-ši-bu ina GIŠ.GU.ZA…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007541.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P451872). 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/Q007541/.

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