Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 197
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') [...] i[n ...] in ... [...]. As a result of the supplications (and) entreaties that [...] (5´) Taharqa, the king of Egy[pt and Kush ...] in order to wage war (and) fig[ht ...]. The awe-inspiring radiance of the god Erra, the warri[or ...], he [a]bandone[d] the city Memphis [and, in order to save his (own) life, he fled inside the city Thebes]. I s[eized] that [cit]y (Memphis) (and then) [made my troops enter (and) reside there ...] (10´) ... [...] ... [...] (1'') [...] ... [... the kings, gov]ernors, (and) official[s whom the father who had engendered me had appointed in Egypt, who had…
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/Q007605/
Why it matters
Chronicles Ashurbanipal's 667 BCE campaign against Taharqa — the Kushite pharaoh's flight from Memphis to Thebes — supplying Assyrian royal testimony for the conquest that briefly made Nineveh master of Egypt.
Transliteration
x [...] / i-⸢na?⸣ [...] / ⸢i?-na?⸣ x x [...] / ⸢i-na⸣ su-up-pe-⸢e te⸣-me-qí šá ⸢AN⸣ [...] / mtar-qu-u MAN KUR.mu-⸢ṣur⸣ [u KUR.ku-ú-si ...] / a-na e-peš MURUB₄ mit-⸢ḫu⸣-[ṣi ...] / ⸢nam⸣-ri-ir-ri ⸢dèr⸣-ra qar-[di ...] / ⸢URU.me⸣-em-pi ⸢ú-maš-šir⸣-[ma a-na šu-zu-ub ZI-tì-šú in-na-bit a-na qé-reb URU.ni-iʾ] / ⸢URU⸣ šú-a-tú ⸢aṣ⸣-[bat ERIM.ḪI.A-ia ú-še-rib ú-še-šib ina lìb-bi ...] / x x (x) [...] / x x…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007605.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P394806). 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/Q007605/.
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