Position in chronology
Esarhaddon 036
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 4(1') (No translation possible) (4') [...] ... I did not take [...] my [...] I set out and [... in the neighborhood] of the city of the Brook of Egypt, a [place that has no river(s) ...] water drawn by bucket [... where] thirst (and) hunger [...]. (9') [In accordance with the god Aššur, m]y [lord] (and) by my own intelligence, [it occurred] to me [...] in water skins (and) bags [...] wh[ere] snakes (and) scorpions [...] in (its) midst, he heard my prayer [... The god Adad] produced heat lightning high [over the] entire [sky]. In the city [... inter]twined [trees] that I saw, the l[ight ...] ... [...]
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Preserves Esarhaddon's account of a desert march near the Brook of Egypt — waterless terrain, vipers, and divine storm-signs — documenting how Assyrian kings framed military logistics as proof of divine favor.
Transliteration
[...] (x) [...] / [...] x-ti-šú x [...] / [...] ⸢LUL⸣ KU BA ⸢ŠÁ⸣ x [...] / [...] ⸢GAL⸣ ul al-⸢qa-a⸣ [...] / [...] x-ia aṣ-bat-⸢ma⸣ [...] / [... a-na i-te]-⸢e⸣ URU na-ḫal mu-ṣur ⸢a⸣-[šar ÍD la i-šu-u ...]1 / [...] ⸢A⸣.MEŠ di-lu-⸢ti⸣ [...] / [... a-šar?] ⸢ṣu⸣-um-me lap-lap-tu x [...]2 / [(...) ki-i? qí-bit? AN.ŠÁR? EN]-⸢ia?⸣ ina ṭè-me ra-ma-ni-ia ina GEŠTU.⸢II⸣-[ia ib-ši-ma ...]3 / [...] ina…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003265.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P450431). 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/Q003265/.
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