Position in chronology
Sennacherib 147
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [A Chaldean (Šūzubu), ...] ... a rash fellow, [a chariot fighter, a servant who belonged to the governor of the city Laḫīru, (...) w]ho in the time of my father fled [li]ke a bird [on account of the beating of the ...-official and the tearing out (of his hair) ...] and [wandered about in the open country], who entered [B]abylon [when there was rebellion and revolt (...)] and [was reckoned as one of them: They (the Babylonians) exalted him over them and] they entrusted him with [the kingship of the land of Sumer and Akkad]. (6) [To Babylon, which was very guilty, ... (wherein) Šūzubu], a…
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/Q003952/
Why it matters
Sennacherib frames the rebel Šūzubu's rise from runaway slave to king of Babylon as proof of Babylon's moral disorder — a rare royal justification for the city's destruction in 689 BCE.
Transliteration
[LÚ.kal-da-a-a? ...]-⸢nu⸣ la ḫa-sis a-ma-⸢ti⸣1 / [LÚ.A SIG LÚ.ARAD da-gíl pa-ni LÚ.EN.NAM URU.la-ḫi-ri ...] ⸢ša⸣ i-na ŠÀ u₄-me ša AD-ia / [la-pa-an ṭa-re-e ù ba-qa-me ša LÚ ... iṣ]-⸢ṣu⸣-riš in-nab-tu-ma / [i-rap-pu-du ka-ma-a-ti i-na si-ḫi ù bar-ti (...) qé-reb] ⸢KÁ⸣.DINGIR.RA.KI e-ru-bu-ma / [im-ma-nu-u it-ti-šú-un UGU-šú-nu ú-šar-bu-šú-ma LUGAL-ut KUR EME.GI₇ ù URI].KI ú-šad-gi-lu pa-nu-uš-šú /…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003952.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P424542). 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/Q003952/.
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