Position in chronology
Esarhaddon 1019
Translation · reference
High confidence(1–6) (Not preserved) (7) (No translation possible) (10) [...] ... and the[re was] no one who could find him [...] his [troops], who march at [his] side, [...] ... [they] star[ted out] towa[rd Me]mphis, their city; [... in the] city gates, its streets and [its] squares [... I] captured them and killed them with the sword [...]. (15) Jostled, I ... [...] thoroughbred(s) and the ... of chariots. [I heaped] their corpses upon each other in the city square [...]; I made piles with their heads [...]. (18) After I had prayed to the gods Aššur, Marduk, Šamaš, [...] and the great gods of heaven and…
Source: Leichty, E. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). RINAP 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003391/
Why it matters
Chronicles Esarhaddon's capture of Memphis (~671 BCE) — the only Assyrian royal inscription to record a reigning king's conquest of the Egyptian capital, marking the empire's greatest territorial reach.
Transliteration
(Not preserved) / [...] x x [...] / [...] x DU MI ⸢LI⸣ [...] / [...] x x x RU is-su-x [...] / [...] x-ma a-mir-šú la ⸢ib⸣-[ši ...] / [... ERIM].⸢MEŠ⸣-šú a-li-ku i-di-[šú ...] / [...] x a-⸢na⸣ [URU.mi]-⸢in⸣-pi URU-šú-nu pa-ni-šú-nu iš-⸢tak⸣-[nu ...]1 / [ina] ⸢KÁ⸣.GAL.MEŠ URU su-qa-ti-šú ù re-ba-ti-[šú ...] / ⸢ak⸣-mi-šú-nu-ti-ma i-na GIŠ.TUKUL.MEŠ a-nar-šú-nu-⸢ti⸣ [...] / i-tam-kip-ma mur-ni-is-qu…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003391.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238763). source
Translation excerpted from Leichty, E. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). RINAP 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003391/.
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