Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 101
Written in modern English
Ashurbanipal recalls that from childhood to adulthood he devoted himself to the great gods' shrines, keeping up their priestly rites and offerings, so that the gods now enjoy the food he gives them. In return, Adad sent his rains and Ea opened his springs, and year after year the king shepherded Enlil's people in prosperity and justice. The gods he constantly honored granted him power, virility, and outstanding strength. He then boasts of devastating a stretch of land sixty leagues wide inside Elam and sowing it with salt and cress. The rest of the column is too broken to read, and an entire following column is missing.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5Obverse completely missing (r i' 1') F[rom my childhood until I became an adult], I w[as assiduous towards the sanctuaries of the great gods. They required my priestly services (and)] th[ey (now)] enj[oy my giving (them) food offerings]. (r i' 5') The god Adad [released his] rains (and) the god Ea op[ened up his springs]. Year after year, I shepherded the s[ubjects of the god Enlil in prosperity (and) with justice]. (r i' 9') The great gods, who[se divinity] I [constantly] r[evered], generously gra[nted me] power, [virility, (and) outstanding] strength. (r ii' 1') [I devastat]ed [an are]a [of sixty leagues inside the land Elam (and) scattered salt (and) cress over the]m. (r ii' 5') (No translation possible) One column likely completely missing
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Claims Ashurbanipal salted sixty leagues of Elamite territory — one of the few royal inscriptions quantifying the deliberate ecological devastation used to permanently disable a conquered region.
Transliteration
⸢ul?⸣-[tu ṣe-ḫe-ri-ia a-di ra-bé-ia] / ⸢áš?⸣-[te-ʾa-a áš-rat DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ] / ⸢LÚ?⸣.[šá-an-gu-ti iḫ-šu-ḫu] / ⸢i?-ram?⸣-[mu na-dan zi-bi-ia] / d⸢IŠKUR⸣ ŠÈG.⸢MEŠ⸣-[šú ú-maš-ši-ra] / dé-a ú-⸢paṭ⸣-[ṭi-ra IDIM.MEŠ-šú] / šat-ti-šam-⸢ma⸣ [ina ṭuḫ-di mi-šá-ri] / ar-te-ʾa ⸢ba⸣-[ʾu-lat dEN.LÍL] / DINGIR.MEŠ ⸢GAL⸣.MEŠ ša ⸢ap⸣-[tal-la-ḫu DINGIR-us-su-un] / ⸢dun⸣-nu [zik-ru-u-tu] / e-mu-qí [ṣi-ra-a-ti] /…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003800.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P399348). 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/Q003800/.
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