Position in chronology
Sennacherib 191
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(1) For (the god) Aššur, king of the gods, the great lord, [his] lord: (3) Sennach[erib], king of the world, king of Assyria, the one who fashioned image(s) of (the god) Aš[šur] and the great gods, [had] twin doors of cedar, the pure wood, [made] for [his] life, the lengthening of [his] days, the securing of [his] reign, (and) the well-being of his offspring, [and] he had (them) secured in their position(s) upon kašur[rû]-stone, stone from the mountains, in the Gate of the Wa[gon] Star.
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
Sennacherib records installing cedar doors on kasurrû-stone thresholds at the Gate of the Wagon Star, anchoring the renovation of an Aššur temple gate to a datable reign and a named astronomical feature.
Transliteration
a-na AN.ŠÁR MAN DINGIR.⸢MEŠ⸣ / EN GAL-i EN-[šú] / md30-PAP.MEŠ-[SU] / MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur.[KI] / e-piš ṣa-lam AN.[ŠÁR] / ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.[MEŠ] / a-na TI-[šú] / GÍD.DA UD.⸢MEŠ⸣-[šú] / GIN BALA-[šú] ⸢SILIM⸣ NUMUN-šú / GIŠ.IG MAŠ.⸢TAB⸣.[BA] GIŠ.EREN / GIŠ KÙ ú-[še-piš-ma?] / ina KÁ MUL.MAR.[GÍD.DA]1 / UGU NA₄.ka-šur-[re-e] / NA₄ KUR-i2 / ú-šar-šid / man-za-as-⸢si⸣-in
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003996.
Attribution
Image: DUROM N 2261 (Oriental Museum, University of Durham, Durham, UK) — from Assur (mod. Qalat Sherqat) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P404752). 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/Q003996/.
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.