Position in chronology
Sennacherib 141
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(1') [...] I marched [... every] kind of [valuable] treasu[re, ...] ... and Akk[ad ...] (4') [... to (the city) Nagī]te-raqqi, which is in the midst of the s[ea. ...] the land Bīt-Yakīn and within the sw[amps ...] (6') [... I poured out awe-inspiring brilliance upon] his [al]ly, the king of (the land) Ela[m. ...] I confined them within the marshes [...] (8') [From the booty of those lands that I had plundered], I conscripted [10,000 archers (and) 10,000 shield bearers] and [added (them)] to [my royal] contin[gent. I divided up the rest of the substantial enemy booty like sheep and goats among my entire camp and] my [governor]s, (and) the people of [my great] cult centers. (10') [...] ... [...]
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
Describes Sennacherib's assault on Nagīte-raqqi in the sea-marshes and the dispersal of Chaldean–Elamite booty — one of several royal inscriptions documenting his campaign to extinguish Bīt-Yakīn resistance in the Persian Gulf littoral.
Transliteration
[...] ⸢al-lik⸣ x [...] / [... mim-ma] ⸢šum?-šú? ni-ṣir⸣-[tu ka-bit-tu ...] / [...] x x x ù KUR ⸢URI?⸣.[KI? ...] / [... a-na na-gi]-⸢te-ra⸣-aq-qi šá qé-reb ⸢A⸣.[AB.BA ...]1 / [...] KUR.É-ia-kin₇ ù qé-reb ⸢ÍD⸣.[a-gam-me ...]2 / [... UGU EN] sa-li-mì-i-šú LUGAL ⸢ELAM⸣.[MA.KI na-mur-ra-tum at-bu-uk ...]3 / [...] ⸢qé⸣-reb ÍD.a-gam-me e-sir-⸢šun?⸣ x [...] / [i-na šal-la-at KUR.MEŠ šá-ti-na ša áš-lu-la…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003946.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P424580). 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/Q003946/.
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
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.
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.