Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 019
Written in modern English
The first few lines are too damaged to translate. After that, the tablet records that Ashurbanipal's troops, stationed at Mangisi inside the territory of the city Sumandir, moved against an enemy force and defeated them. They cut off the heads of Undasu — a son of Teumman, a former king of Elam — along with Zazazz, Parrû, and Atta-metu, and brought the heads before the king. Ashurbanipal then sent a messenger to Ummanigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš II) about these events, but Ummanigaš detained the royal eunuch Marduk-šarru-uṣur, whom Ashurbanipal had dispatched to inquire after his health, and sent no reply. The text breaks off there.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i' 1') (No translation possible) (i' 4') [My battle troops (who are stationed) in the city Mang]isi — which is inside (the territory of) the city [Sumandir — came up against them] and brought about [their] de[feat]. They cut [off] the heads [of Un]dasu — a son of Teumm[an, a (former) king of the land Elam — Za]za[z], Parrû, (and) [Atta-metu, and] they brought (them) before [me]. (i' 10') I dispatched my messenger to Ummanigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš II) regarding these matters. He detained the eunuch of mine whom I had sent (Marduk-šarru-uṣur) to inquire about his well-being and did not give a r[e]ply…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Documents Assyrian military operations against Elamite royal survivors after the fall of Teumman, then records a diplomatic rupture: Ummanigaš detained Ashurbanipal's envoy and broke off communication — a prelude to renewed Assyrian-Elamite war.
Transliteration
[...] x [...] / [...] x x x (x) x [...] / [...] x x x Ú x [...] / [ERIM.MEŠ MÈ-ia ina URU.man]-⸢gi⸣-si šá qé-reb URU?.[su-man-dir] / [EDIN-uš-šú-un e-lu-nim]-ma? iš?-ku?-nu? ⸢taḫ?⸣-[ta-šú-un] / [ša mun]-da?-si? DUMU mte-⸢um-man⸣ [LUGAL KUR.ELAM.MA.KI] / [ša mza]-⸢za-az⸣ mpar-ru-ú m[at-ta-me-tu] / ⸢SAG⸣.DU.MEŠ-⸢šu?⸣-nu? KUD?-su?-[nim-ma] / ú-bil-u-ni a-di maḫ-ri-[ia] / šu-ut a-ma-a-ti an-na-a-ti…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003718.
Attribution
Image: BM 128244 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P422992). 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/Q003718/.
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