Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 156
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) For the goddess Dilba[t (the planet Venus) ... the l]ight of [...], who had become angry with Haza[el, the kin]g of the land of the Arabs, [...] ... [...], (who) had placed hi[m] in the hands of Sennacherib, the father of the father who had engendered me, [and had b]rought about [his] def[eat], (and who) had said she did not (want) to reside (any longer) with the people of the land of the Arabs (and) had ta[ken the road] to Assyria — (5) (As for) Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, the father who had engendered me, the favorite of the [great] gods, who had achieved [his] de[sires] through 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/Q007564/
Why it matters
Records Ishtar-as-Venus abandoning the Arab king Hazael to Sennacherib's forces and then migrating to Assyria — direct theological justification for Assyrian military dominance over the Arabs across three royal generations.
Transliteration
a-na ⸢ddil-bat⸣ [...] ⸢na-mir⸣-tu šá x [...] / ⸢ša it⸣-ti mḫa-⸢za⸣-[DINGIR] ⸢LUGAL KUR⸣.a-ri-bi tas-bu-⸢su⸣ [x x] x x Á [x x (x)] / ina ⸢ŠU⸣.II md30-PAP.MEŠ-SU AD AD DÙ-ia tam-nu-⸢šu⸣-[ma] ⸢taš⸣-ku-na BAD₅.[BAD₅-šú] / la a-šá-ab-šá it-ti ⸢UN.MEŠ⸣ KUR.a-ri-bi taq-bu-ú a-na KUR ⸢AN⸣.ŠÁR.KI ta-aṣ-⸢ba⸣-[ta ḫar-ra-nu?] / mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-AŠ MAN KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI AD ba-nu-u-a mi-gir DINGIR.MEŠ [GAL.MEŠ] / ša…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007564.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P394798). 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/Q007564/.
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