Ashurbanipal 198

~655 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q007606

Translation · reference

High confidence

Obverse completely missing (r 1') [...] ... [...]s, donkeys, o[xen, ... I t]ook to Ass[yria ...]. (r 4') [On a march of one month (and) twenty-five days, I devastat]ed [the districts of the land Elam (and) scattered] salt (and) cres[s over them (lit. “it”)]. (r 5') I cut [off the clamor of humans, (the sound of) the treading of oxen, sheep and goats, (and) the cr(ies) of] pleasant work song(s) [(and so) ruined his harvest]. (r 6') [(As for) the goddess Nanāya, who 1,530 years (ago) became an]gry and went to li[ve in the land Elam, a place not befitting her, then, at that time (when) she…

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/Q007606/

Why it matters

Records Aššurbanipal's claim that the goddess Nanāya had dwelt in Elam for 1,530 years before he restored her — anchoring his sack of Susa in a theology of divine homecoming while also attesting his systematic salting of Elamite farmland.

Transliteration

[...] x x [...] / [...].⸢MEŠ⸣ ANŠE.MEŠ ⸢GU₄⸣.[MEŠ ...] / [... al]-⸢qa⸣-a a-na KUR aš-⸢šur⸣.[KI ...] / [ma-lak ITI 25 UD.MEŠ na-ge-e KUR.ELAM.MA.KI ú-šaḫ]-⸢rib⸣ MUN saḫ-⸢le-e⸣ [ú-sap-pi-ḫa EDIN-uš-šú] / [ri-gim a-me-lu-ti ki-bi-is GU₄.MEŠ u ṣe-e-ni ši-si-it] ⸢a-la⸣-la DÙG.GA ⸢ap-ru⸣-[us ú-ḫal-li-qa e-bur-šú]1 / [dna-na-a ša 1 LIM 5 ME 30.ÀM MU.AN.NA.MEŠ ta-as]-⸢bu⸣-su-ma tal-li-ku ⸢tu⸣-[ši-bu…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007606.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P452016). 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/Q007606/.

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