Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 165
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1) Battle line of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, the one who established the defeat of the land Elam. (2) Battle line of Teumman, the king of the land Elam. (3) The (decapitated) head of Teumman, the king of the land Elam. (4) I, Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria, the one who conquers his enemies: My battle troops quickly brought to me the head of Teumman, the king of the land Elam, that they had cut off through the might of the deities Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bēl (Marduk), Nabû, Ištar of Nineveh, Ištar of Arbela, Ninurta, (and) Nergal, and they threw (it) down before my (chariot)…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's account of the Battle of the Ulaya (c. 653 BCE) and the decapitation of the Elamite king Teumman — a scene also carved on the Nineveh palace reliefs, letting scholars align royal inscription and sculptural propaganda.
Transliteration
⸢si⸣-id-⸢ru⸣ šá mAŠ-⸢DÙ⸣-A MAN KUR AŠ šá-kin BAD₅.BAD₅ ⸢KUR.ELAM.KI⸣ / si-id-⸢ru⸣ šá mte-um-man MAN KUR.ELAM.MA.KI / ⸢SAG⸣.DU mte-um-man MAN KUR.ELAM.MA / ana-ku mAŠ-DÙ-A MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR ⸢AŠ⸣ / ⸢ka⸣-šid LÚ.KÚR.MEŠ-šú SAG.DU mte-um-man MAN KUR.ELAM.MA šá ina ⸢da-na-ni⸣ / šá AN.ŠÁR d30 dUTU dEN dAG d15 šá NINA.KI / d15 šá LÍMMU-DINGIR dMAŠ ⸢d⸣U.GUR KUD-sú ERIM.MEŠ MÈ-ía ḫa-an-ṭiš / iš-šú-nim-ma ina…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007573.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P425877). 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/Q007573/.
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