Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 200
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1) [For the goddess] Ištar, the exalted lady who resides in the city Ar[bela, ...] ..., who subjugates [...] Ashurbanipal, who(m) to/for ... [...], (whom) you gave the just scepter, which expands the land, (whom) you presented ... [...], (5) the one called by the goddess Dilbat (the planet Venus), the daughter of the god Enlil, the lady of [...], whom Ištar, the daughter of the god Sîn, [...] to subjugate [his] enemies [...]. (7) During the month Abu (V) — the month of the heliacal rising of the Bow Star, the festival of [the honored queen, the daughter of the god Enlil (the goddess Ištar)]…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Links Ištar of Arbela's cult calendar to the heliacal rising of the Bow Star (Sirius) in month Abu, anchoring Sargonid royal legitimacy in observed astronomical phenomena.
Transliteration
[a-na d]⸢15⸣ GAŠAN ṣi-ir-ti a-ši-bat ⸢URU?.LÍMMU?⸣-[DINGIR ...] / [...] šá? A TA E? NU mu-šak-niš-at [...] / [x x (x)] maš-šur-DÙ-⸢A⸣ ša a-na ṣi-it LA Aʾ x [...] / ⸢ta⸣-ad-di-na ⸢GIŠ.GIDRU⸣ i-⸢šar-tú⸣ mu-rap-piš-at ⸢KUR? ta?-qí?-šá?⸣ x x (x) [...] / ni-bit ddil-⸢bat DUMU.MUNUS⸣ dEN.LÍL be-let [...] / šá d15 DUMU.MUNUS d30 a-na šuk-nu-še LÚ.KÚR.MEŠ-[šú? ...] / ina ITI.NE ITI na-an-mur-ti MUL.PAN…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007608.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P394579). 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/Q007608/.
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