Position in chronology
Sennacherib 011
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(1) [Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of] Assyria, [king of the four quarters (of the world), leader of] a widespread [population, the one who fashioned image(s) of the deities Aššur, Anu, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, Nergal, Ištar of] Bīt-Kidmuri, [Bēlet-ilī, and the great gods, the one who carries out to perfection the rites of E]šarra (5) [and Emašmaš], who knows well [how to revere the gods of heaven and the gods of Assyri]a, [the builder of Assyria, the one who brings his cult centers to completion, the one who uproots] enemies (and) [destroys their settlements,…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 3 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Why it matters
One of Sennacherib's royal titulary inscriptions, attesting his claim to have personally fashioned cult statues for Aššur, Anu, Sîn, Šamaš, and five other deities — linking military kingship to ritual restoration of the Assyrian pantheon.
Transliteration
[md30-PAP.MEŠ-SU MAN GAL MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN] KUR aš-šur.[KI]1 / [MAN kib-rat LÍMMU-tim mut-tar-ru-ú UN.MEŠ] ⸢DAGAL⸣.MEŠ / [e-piš ṣa-lam AN.ŠÁR da-nim d30 dUTU dIŠKUR dU.GUR d15 ša] É-kid-mu-ri / [DINGIR.MAḪ ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ mu-šak-lil pa-ra-aṣ é]-šár-ra / [ù é-maš-maš šá pa-làḫ DINGIR.MEŠ šá AN-e ù DINGIR.MEŠ KUR aš-šur].⸢KI⸣ ra-biš mu-du-u / [e-piš KUR aš-šur.KI mu-šak-lil ma-ḫa-zi-šú…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003485.
Attribution
Image: BM 123418 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P422499). 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/Q003485/.
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
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.