Esarhaddon 1013

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q003385

Translation — scholar edition

RINAP 4

High confidence

(1') [...] ... [...] before me the lordship of Assyria ... [...] his/its [...] was [...] ... did not exist and he was not mindful [...] king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babyl[on, ... (5′) ... th]at he established in all of the cult centers [...] my [...], the one who (re)built the akītu-house [...] (erasure) [...]. (8') [... it] was [on my mind] and [I] thought [about it ... lik]e a mountain, I built (and) completed [... (10′) ...] ... one [...] I built (its) brickwork and [...] of/which a king [...] made (them) work hard and in addition to ... [...] my [...] and as many of the gods (and) goddesses as ... [...] I carved ... [...] and strength[ened ...] magnificent cedar [beams], grown on Mount [Amanus ...] ... [...]

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

Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.

Why it matters

Attests Esarhaddon's rebuilding of an akītu-house and assertion of dual kingship over Assyria and Babylon, linking cultic restoration to royal legitimacy in a period of deliberate reconciliation after his father Sennacherib's sack of Babylon.

Transliteration

[...] ú-x [...] / [...] ⸢el⸣-la-mu-u-a be-lut KUR aš-⸢šur.KI⸣ x [...] / [...]-šú ul ib-ši-ma ul iḫ-su-sa [...] / [...] x MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-⸢šur⸣.KI GÌR.NÍTA KÁ.DINGIR.[RA.KI ...] / [...] ⸢ša⸣ ina kul-lat ma-ḫa-zi iš-tak-⸢ka⸣-[nu ...] / [...] x-ia e-piš É á-ki-ti [...] / [...] (erasure) [...] / [... ina uz-ni-ia ib]-ši-ma uš-ta-bi-⸢la⸣ [ka-bat-ti ...] / [... ki]-⸢ma⸣ šad-di-i ar-ṣip ú-šak-⸢lil⸣…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003385.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P395568). 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/Q003385/.

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet (VAT 15211)

An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.

~3100 BCE

Kish Tablet

An early witness to systematic administrative notation at Kish. Its signs and numerals can be catalogued, but that does not establish a full translation or prove that it is the world's first writing.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

An early surviving historical monument that joins named rulers, a territorial dispute and religious oaths. It shows how a city-state turned victory into a lasting public claim, without establishing that this was the first recorded conflict.