Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 144
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1') [... e]vil (ways) [... (The god) Aššur and the goddess Ištar, who mar]ched [at my side (and) allowed me to stand ...], saw [the dangerous (and) rebellio]us [thought(s) ... and ...] they made [him] return [... (5´) ... in]side the land Elam [...] cress [... people — ma]le and female — oxe[n ...]. (8') [... against h]im. [He (then) fled] alone [... where he had always fle]d, [I caught him] like a f[alcon and ...]
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
Attests Aššurbanipal's theology of divine warrant for war — Aššur and Ištar personally guaranteeing victory — in the context of his Elamite campaigns, where a fleeing enemy is seized 'like a falcon.'
Transliteration
[...] ⸢ḪUL-tu⸣ [...] / [... il]-⸢li⸣-ku ⸢ú⸣-[šá-zi-zu-in-ni ...] / [... ba-ra-nu]-ú ib-ru-[ú-ma ...] / [...] ú-ter-ru-⸢niš⸣-[šú ...] / [... qé]-reb KUR.ELAM.MA.[KI ...] / [...] ⸢Ú⸣.ZAG.ḪI.LI.[SAR ...] / [...] ⸢NITA⸣ u MUNUS GU₄.[MEŠ ...] / [... UGU]-⸢šú⸣ e-diš-ši-šú [...] / [... it-ta-nap-raš-ši]-⸢du ki-ma SÚR⸣.[DÙ.MUŠEN ...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007552.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P400451). 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/Q007552/.
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.