Position in chronology
Sargon II 096
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 2(1) Sargon (II), strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, completely built the temple of the lord, the god Nabû, (located) inside the city of Nineveh from its foundations to its crenellations for the sake of ensuring his good health (and) and prolonging his life.
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 2 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Attests Sargon II's construction of a Nabû temple at Nineveh, anchoring the scribal god's cult within the city a generation before Nineveh became Assyria's imperial capital.
Transliteration
mMAN-GIN MAN KAL MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR AŠ / É EN dMUATI ŠÀ URU.NINA.KI1 / ana TI ZI.MEŠ-šú GÍD TI-šú2 / TA UŠ₈-šú EN gaba-dib-bi-šú3 / DÙ-uš ú-šak-lil
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006577.
Attribution
Image: BM 137468 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P428599). 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/Q006577/.
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