Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 155
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') [...] ... [... he ga]ve me (and) taught me [...] he entrusted [me] with the making of their exalted emblems; [offspring of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria]; descendant of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I — (5') [...] the god Nabû [...] I captured my enemies [ali]ve (and thus) achieved m[y] heart’s desire. [... (the god Nabu), the sc]ribe of everything, [I ...] the land Elam. I cut off the head of Teumman, their king, in the assembly of his troops. [I placed] Ummanigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš II), a son of Urt[ak]u — a (former) king of the land Elam — who had fled to me (and) had grasped my feet, on his…
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/Q007563/
Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's decapitation of the Elamite king Teumman at the Battle of Til-Tuba (~653 BCE) and the installation of a client ruler — the Assyrian annalistic template for conquest, divine mandate, and vassal governance in one passage.
Transliteration
[...] x x x x x [...] / [... iš]-ru-ka ú-šá-ḫi-za-an-⸢ni⸣ x [...] / [...] ⸢e-peš⸣ si-ma-a-ti-šú-nu MAḪ.MEŠ ú-mal-la-⸢a⸣ [ŠU.II-u-a?] / [ṣi-it lìb-bi mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-AŠ MAN KUR AN.ŠÁR].⸢KI⸣ ŠÀ.BAL.BAL md30-PAP.MEŠ-SU MAN KUR AN.⸢ŠÁR.KI⸣ a-na-ku-ma / [...] ⸢d⸣AG x [... bal]-⸢ṭu⸣-us-su-un LÚ.⸢KÚR.MEŠ⸣-ia ak-šu-ud am-ṣa-a ma-la lìb-bi-⸢ia⸣ / [... (dAG)] ⸢DUB⸣.SAR gim-ri ⸢KUR.ELAM.MA.KI⸣ [x (x)] x KUD-is…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007563.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P393888). 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/Q007563/.
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