Esarhaddon 055

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q003284

Translation — scholar edition

RINAP 4

High confidence

(1') [...] his ... [...] to establish my reign, to keep [...] intact, [...] my good [deeds], the god(dess) [...] wide [...], the statue, socle, and ... [... Es]arhaddon, tr[ue] shepherd [...] the akītu-[hou]se, images [...]

Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).

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Why it matters

Attests Esarhaddon's program of cultic restoration — linking his legitimacy as 'true shepherd' to the repair of akītu-house imagery, a propagandistic equation of piety with royal right to rule.

Transliteration

[...] x.⸢MEŠ⸣-šú? [...] / [...] ⸢ku-un⸣-ni BALA-ia šá-lam [...] / [... ep-še]-ti-ia dam-qa-a-ti ⸢d⸣[...] / [...] ⸢DAGAL⸣ NU KI.GUB ù ṣi-x [...] / [... mdaš]-⸢šur-PAP⸣-AŠ SIPA ke-⸢e⸣-[nu ...] / [...] ⸢É? a-ki⸣-ti ⸢ṣal-me⸣ [...]

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003284.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P424487). 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/Q003284/.

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