Position in chronology
Sennacherib 007
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(1') [...] ... [...] its foundations [...]. (3') [I enlarged] the si[te of the citadel and Nineveh], my [c]apital [city. I broadened their squares and brought light into the alleys and streets, making (them) as bright as day]. (4') [I had a bridge constructed opposite] the Citadel [Gate] with paving ston[es of white limestone for the passage of my lordly chariot]. (5') [I had an inscribed object made and had all the mi]ghty victo[ries that I achieved over all of (my) enemies with the support of (the god) Aššur, the great lord, my lord, and all of my (other) achievements inscribed thereon.…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 3 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Documents Sennacherib's physical remaking of Nineveh — widened streets, a limestone-paved chariot bridge — grounding his self-glorifying inscriptions in datable urban-infrastructure works ca. 695 BCE.
Transliteration
[...] x (x) [...] / [...] ⸢iš⸣-de-e-⸢šu⸣ [...]1 / [ša MURUB₄ URU u NINA.KI URU] ⸢be⸣-lu-ti-ia šu-⸢bat⸣-[su-nu uš-rab-bi re-ba-ti-šú-un ú-šá-an-dil-ma bi-re-e-ti ù su-qa-a-ni uš-par-di-ma ú-nam-mir GIM u₄-me]2 / [i-na mé-eḫ-ret KÁ.GAL] ⸢MURUB₄⸣ URU i-na a-⸢gúr⸣-[ri NA₄.pi-i-li pe-ṣe-e a-na me-ti-iq GIŠ.GIGIR be-lu-ti-ia ú-še-piš ti-tur-ru]3 / [MU.SAR-a ú-še-piš-ma li-i]-tum ù ⸢da⸣-[na-nu ša i-na…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003481.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P450331). 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/Q003481/.
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