Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 085
Written in modern English
The opening lines are too damaged to read. What survives next describes Ummanigaš — also called Ḫumban-nikaš II — who had fled to the city of Susa; he was brought back inside and installed on the throne of Teumman, with chariots and wagons among the spoils or escort. One or two full columns are then lost entirely. On the reverse, the text picks up with a mention of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, called a hostile brother, and someone taking the direct road, but the surrounding lines — including whatever an Elamite did or was commanded to do — are too broken to reconstruct.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i 1') (No translation possible) (i 5') Um[manigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš II) ...] who had fl[ed ...] inside the city S[usa ...] I made h[im] enter [... I placed him] on the throne of Teu[mman ...] (With) the chariots, wagon[s, ...] One or two columns completely missing One or two columns completely missing (r i' 1) [... of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, (my)] hostile brother, [...] took [the] direc[t road ...] until they ... [...] his command [...] (that) Elamite [...] ... [...]
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's installation of Ummanigaš II on the Elamite throne after Teumman's defeat — a rare royal account of Assyrian-engineered regime change in Elam, corroborating the annals' narrative of the 653 BCE Ulai campaign.
Transliteration
x [...] / x [...] / ⸢it⸣-[...] / a-⸢na⸣ [...] / mum-[man-i-gaš ...] / ša ⸢in-nab⸣-[tu ...] / qé-reb URU.⸢šu⸣-[šá-an ...] / ú-še-rib-⸢šú?⸣ [...] / ina GIŠ.GU.ZA mte-⸢um⸣-[man ú-še-šib ...] / GIŠ.GIGIR.MEŠ GIŠ.ṣu-um-⸢bi⸣ [...] / ŠEŠ nak-⸢ri⸣ [...] / uš-te-eš-še-⸢ru⸣-[ni ḫar-ra-nu ...] / a-di šú-nu it-ti-[...] / e-peš pi-i-šú x [...] / LÚ.e-la-mu-⸢ú⸣ x [...] / ⸢ú⸣-x [...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003784.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P394588). 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/Q003784/.
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
An early witness to systematic administrative notation at Kish. Its signs and numerals can be catalogued, but that does not establish a full translation or prove that it is the world's first writing.
An early surviving historical monument that joins named rulers, a territorial dispute and religious oaths. It shows how a city-state turned victory into a lasting public claim, without establishing that this was the first recorded conflict.