Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 166
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1') [... the land E]lam [...] his [...] the bow, the b[asis of his strength ...]. (3') [I blocked up the Ulāya River with the corpses of the wa]rriors (and) young men o[f the land Elam. For three days], I [made] that [ri]ver, [at its crest, flow with their blood instead of water]. (5') [...] who inside the land Elam [...] the might[y] deeds [... the land Ela]m [...]
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Attests Ashurbanipal's claim to have choked the Ulāya River with Elamite dead — a vivid rhetorical formula for total victory that shaped how Assyrian kings narrated the destruction of their eastern rival.
Transliteration
[... KUR].⸢ELAM⸣.MA.⸢KI⸣ [...]1 / [...]-šú GIŠ.PAN ⸢tuk?⸣-[lat Á-šú? ...] / [ADDA.MEŠ qu]-ra-di GURUŠ.MEŠ ⸢ša⸣ [KUR.ELAM.MA.KI ÍD.ú-la-a-a as-ki-ir ÚŠ.MEŠ-šú-nu ku-um A.MEŠ]2 / [3 u₄-me] ⸢ÍD⸣ šu-a-tu ⸢ú⸣-[šar-di a-na kiš-šá-ti-šá] / [...] ša ⸢qé⸣-reb KUR.e-lam-⸢ti⸣ [...] / [...] x ep-šet da-na-⸢an⸣ [...]3 / [... KUR.e]-⸢lam⸣-ti [...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007574.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P400442). 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/Q007574/.
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