Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 2002
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1) [For the goddess ..., (...) the grea]t [lady], her lady: (2) [..., the queen of Ashurba]nipal, king of the world, king of Assyria, [had a ... made of] reddish gold. (4) She set up and presented (this object) [for the life of] Ashurbanipal — her beloved — [to prolong his days (and) to length]en (his time on) his throne, and, for her very own life, to lengthen her days, (and) to firmly establish her reign, (so that) you (the goddess to whom this object is dedicated) make her (the queen’s) speech pleasing to the king, her husband, and allow (them both) grow old with each other. Blank
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
A Sargonid queen dedicates a gold votive object to an unnamed goddess, petitioning for Ashurbanipal's long reign and mutual marital longevity — rare epigraphic evidence of a Neo-Assyrian queen acting as an independent religious patron.
Transliteration
[a-na d... (...) GAŠAN] ⸢GAL⸣-tum GAŠAN-šá1 / [f... MUNUS.É.GAL šá maš-šur]-⸢DÙ⸣-A MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR AŠ2 / [tu-še-piš-ma x x] x KÙ.GI ruš-ši-i3 / [a-na TI.LA šá] maš-šur-DÙ-A na-⸢ram⸣-i-šá / [GÍD.DA UD.MEŠ-šú la]-bar GIŠ.GU.ZA-šú u šá-a-⸢šá⸣ / a-na TI.⸢LA⸣-šá GÍD.DA UD.⸢MEŠ⸣-šá kun-nu BALA-e-šá / UGU LUGAL ḫa-ʾe-e-ri-šá at-mu-šá ⸢šu⸣-ṭu-bi-ma / ⸢it⸣-ti a-ḫa-meš lu-ub-bu-⸢ri GÁ⸣-ma BA-ìš
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003841.
Attribution
Image: BM 116987 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Ur (mod. Tell Muqayyar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P468652). 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/Q003841/.
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