Position in chronology
Sennacherib 155
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(1') [...] ... [...] did not know, moa[t(s) ... the one who makes brickwork structures (lit. “the craft of the god Kulla”) secure, from buildings for the living to tombs be]fitting the dead (made) from l[imestone, ...]: (4') [(The god) Aššur], the one who regulates the Igīgū and Anunnakū gods, the father of al[l of the gods, ...] made [my weapons] gre[ater than (those of) al]l who sit on (royal) daises. [... From] from the Upper Sea of the Setting [Sun to the Lower Sea of the Rising Sun] he made [(all of) the rulers of the (four) qua]rters (of the world) bow down at my feet and th[ey (now)…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 3 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Attests Sennacherib's claim that Aššur elevated his weapons above all rival kings and subjected rulers from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf — framing universal empire as divine mandate.
Transliteration
[...] x x x [...] / [...] ⸢la?⸣ i-du-u ḫi-ri-⸢ṣu⸣ [... mu-šar-šid ši-pir dkulla ul-tú ši-pir bal-ṭu-ti] / [a-di KI.MAḪ] ⸢si⸣-mat mi-tu-tu ina ⸢NA₄?⸣.[pi-i-li? ...] / [AN.ŠÁR] ⸢pa-qid dí⸣-gì-gì u da-nun-na-ki AD ⸢DÙ⸣ [DINGIR.MEŠ ...]1 / [UGU gim]-⸢ri⸣ a-šib pa-rak-ki ú-⸢šar⸣-[ba-a GIŠ.TUKUL.MEŠ-ia ...] / [ul-tu] tam-tim e-li-ti šá e-reb [dUTU-ši a-di tam-tim šap-li-ti šá ṣi-it dUTU-ši (gi-mir)…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003960.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P424517). 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/Q003960/.
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