Position in chronology
Sargon II 085
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') Not sufficiently preserved to allow translation. (3') [... from] the beginning of [my] rei[gn ...] (4') [In accordance with my heart’s desire, I built a city at the foot of Mount Muṣri, a mountain upstream from the city Nineveh, and] n[amed it Dūr-Šarru]kīn. I had [the gods Ea, Sîn, Šamaš, Nabû, Adad, Ninurta, and their great spouses] created [inside Eḫursaggalkurkurra] and [I installed (them)] in[side it (Dūr-Šarrukīn) on (their) eternal dais(es). I built inside it palatial halls using (lit.: “of”) elephant ivory, ebony, boxwood, musukkannu-wood, cedar, cypress, daprānu-juniper,…
Source: Frame, G. 2021. The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC). RINAP 2. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap2/Q006566/
Why it matters
Documents Sargon II's founding of Dūr-Šarrukīn and the installation of seven major deities in its temple Eḫursaggalkurkurra, linking imperial city-building directly to divine legitimation.
Transliteration
[...] x [...] / [...] x x x [...] / [...] ⸢SAG LUGAL⸣-[ti-ia ...] / [... URU.BÀD-mLUGAL]-⸢GI⸣.NA ⸢az⸣-[ku-ra ...] / [...] ⸢ú⸣-šá-⸢lid⸣-ma ⸢i-na⸣ [...] / [...] ⸢GIŠ⸣.bu-uṭ-ni a-na ⸢mu⸣-[šab ...] / [...] (x) par-(x)-ga-niš ú-⸢šar-bi⸣-[iṣ-ma ...] / [...] ⸢ki⸣-i iš-tén a-⸢bel⸣-ma KUR.MEŠ [...] / [... KUR.ma-da]-a-a a-di pa-aṭ KUR.bi-ik-[ni ...] / [... áš-tak]-⸢kan?-ma⸣ ú-šal-⸢di⸣-[da ...] / [...] ⸢DINGIR.MEŠ⸣-šú ⸢a?⸣-[na ...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006566.
Attribution
Image: BM 098518 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P421828). source
Translation excerpted from Frame, G. 2021. The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC). RINAP 2. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap2/Q006566/.
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