Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 007
Written in modern English
Ashurbanipal identifies himself as great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters, son of Esarhaddon, governor of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, and descendant of Sennacherib. The great gods, assembled together, assigned him a favorable destiny. Several lines are too damaged to read, and when the text resumes he is stretching a covering over the god Marduk, securing the roof above him. The inscription then turns to Marduk's exalted chariot — described as pre-eminent among something — but the surface breaks off before the phrase is complete.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i 1) I, Ashurbanipal, great king, [strong] ki[ng], king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the [four] quarters (of the world), offspring of Esarhaddon, kin[g of Assyria], governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sum[er and Akkad], descendant of Sennacherib, ki[ng of the world, king of Assyria] — (i 6) [The gr]e[at gods] in [their assembly determined a favorable destiny as my lot] (i 1') [I stretch]ed out [its covering over the god Marduk, the great lord], and (thus) [secured its roof]. (i 2') [(As for) the] exalted [chariot, the veh]icle of the god [Marduk], the pre-eminent one among the…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's restoration of Marduk's chariot and shrine roof, linking Assyrian royal piety toward Babylon's chief god to the ideological balancing act of ruling both Assyria and Babylonia simultaneously.
Transliteration
a-na-ku mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A LUGAL GAL ⸢LUGAL⸣ [dan-nu]1 / LUGAL ŠÚ LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI LUGAL kib-rat [LÍMMU-tim] / ṣi-it lìb-bi mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-AŠ ⸢LUGAL⸣ [KUR aš-šur.KI] / GÌR.NÍTA ⸢KÁ⸣.DINGIR.RA.KI LUGAL KUR ⸢EME⸣.[GI₇ u URI.KI] / ⸢ŠÀ.BAL.BAL <m>d30-PAP.MEŠ-SU LUGAL⸣ [ŠÚ LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI] / [DINGIR.MEŠ] ⸢GAL?⸣.[MEŠ] ina [UKKIN-šú-nu si-mat SIG₅-tim i-šim-mu šim-ti]2 / [at-ru]-⸢uṣ-ma⸣ [ú-kin…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003706.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P429033). 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/Q003706/.
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