Position in chronology
Sennacherib 1017
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') The foot path [...] onagers (and) gazelles [...] roamed about and [...] among the kings who came before [me ...] region [... Senna]cherib, king of As[syria, ...] that ... [...]
Source: Grayson, A.K. & Novotny, J. 2012–2014. The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704–681 BC). RINAP 3. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q004073/
Why it matters
A fragmentary royal inscription of Sennacherib attesting his characteristic wilderness rhetoric — onagers and gazelles marking untamed land he claimed to have brought under Assyrian order.
Transliteration
⸢ki?-bi-is GÌR.II⸣ [...] / ANŠE.EDIN.NA MAŠ.DÀ.⸢MEŠ⸣ [...]1 / it-tag-gi-šu-ma x [...]2 / ⸢ina?⸣ LUGAL.MEŠ a-li-kut maḫ-ri-[ia ...] / x na-ge-e [...] / [md30]-⸢ŠEŠ⸣.MEŠ-SU MAN ⸢KUR⸣ [aš-šur ...] / [x (x)] x x šu-a-tu [...] / [...] x [...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q004073.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P401250). source
Translation excerpted from Grayson, A.K. & Novotny, J. 2012–2014. The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704–681 BC). RINAP 3. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q004073/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.