Position in chronology
Sargon II 018
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 2(1) O god Sîn, the holy god, who renders decisions (and) reveals (ominous) signs, with regard to Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, the one who constructed your cella, duly look at him with your steadfast heart and (5) direct your just countenance upon him. Grant him a long life (lit.: “distant days”) of physical well-being. Determine as his fate years of happiness. Make his reign last as long as heaven and netherworld. Establish his throne firmly over the four quarters (of the world).
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 2 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
dEN.ZU DINGIR KÙ KUD-is EŠ.BAR mu-šak-lim / ṣa-ad-di a-na mMAN-GIN MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur.KI GÌR.NÍTA / KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI MAN KUR EME.GI₇ ù URI.KI ba-nu-ú / ku-me-ka ina ku-un lìb-bi-ka ki-niš IGI.BAR-su-ma1 / bu-un-ni-ka šá me-šá-ri šu-ut-ri-ṣa e-li-šú / šu-ut-lim-šú UD.MEŠ DÙG.GA UZU.MEŠ ru-qu-ti / MU.AN.NA.MEŠ ḫu-ud lìb-bi ši-i-me ši-ma-tuš / it-ti AN-e u KI-tim šu-ri-ik BALA-šú / UGU kib-rat LÍMMU-i ki-in GIŠ.GU.ZA-šú
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006499.
Attribution
Image: Created by Grant Frame and the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) Project, 2019. Adapted for RINAP Online by Joshua Jeffers and Jamie Novotny and lemmatized by Giulia Lentini, Nathan Morello, and Jamie Novotny, 2019, for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation-funded OIMEA Project at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0..
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/Q006499/.
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.