Position in chronology
Sennacherib 159
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(1) To (the god) Aššur, king of all of the gods, the one who created himself, father of the great gods, whose form took its beautiful shape in the apsû, king of heaven and netherworld, lord of all gods, the one who molds the Igīgū and Anunnakū gods, the one who formed the cover of the heavens (lit. “the god Anu”) and the netherworld, creator of the whole of the inhabited world, (5) the one who dwells in the bright firmament, the Enlil of the gods, the one who decrees fates, (and) the one who dwells in Ešarra, which is in Baltil (Aššur), the great lord, his lord: (6b) [Sennach]erib, king of…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 3 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Sennacherib's hymnic titulature for Aššur absorbs the roles of Anu and Enlil into a single deity — an early cuneiform witness to Assyrian theological centralisation of the pantheon around a national god.
Transliteration
a-na ⸢AN⸣.ŠÁR LUGAL kiš-šat DINGIR.MEŠ ba-nu-u ram-ni-šú AD DINGIR.⸢MEŠ GAL.MEŠ⸣ / ša ina ZU.AB iš-mu-ḫu gat-tu-uš LUGAL AN-e u KI-⸢tim⸣ / EN DINGIR.MEŠ ka-la-ma šá-pi-ik dí-gì-gì u da-nun-na-⸢ki⸣ / pa-ti-iq er-mi da-nim u ki-gal-li e-piš kul-lat da-ád-me / a-šib bu-ru-mu KÙ.MEŠ dEN.LÍL DINGIR.MEŠ mu-šim NAM.MEŠ / a-šib é-šár-ra šá qé-reb bal-til.KI EN GAL-i EN-šú ⸢m⸣[d30-PAP.MEŠ]-SU / MAN KUR…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003964.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P396017). 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/Q003964/.
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