Position in chronology
Nimrud NW Palace zzz010 = RIMA 2.0.101.023, ex. add413
About this tablet
A small fragment of a standard royal inscription of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE), from his Northwest Palace at Kalhu (modern Nimrud). These formulaic texts were carved by the hundreds across the palace's walls and slabs, proclaiming the king's titles — king of the universe, unrivalled ruler of the four quarters — and his descent from Tukulti-Ninurta II. Only the opening titulary survives here, but it is instantly recognizable as the boilerplate of Assyrian imperial self-presentation.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
What survives is the opening of a royal proclamation: '...the mighty one, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the strong king... ruler of the four quarters of the earth, who has no rival... an overwhelming flood that nothing can withstand...' The rest of the text — presumably continuing with the king's conquests or building works — is broken away; only illegible traces remain of the fourth line.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse, fragmentary) [... Ashurnasirpal (II)], strong [king], king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta (II), great king, [strong] king, [...] [... king of all] the four quarters, who has no rival, [...] [... mighty] flood, who has no [opponent, ...] [...] ... (traces only) [...]
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
[...] dan-nu _man szu2 man kur_ aszr _a_ u-erin2-tah2 _man gal_-e _man_ dan#-[...] [...]-_mesz_ sza2 kib-rat _limmu2_-ta sza2#-nin#-szu2 la-a _tuku?_ [...] [...]-u2 gap-szu2 sza2 ma#-hi-ru la-a# [...] [...] x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — Nimrud NW Palace zzz010 = RIMA 2.0.101.023, ex. add413. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: ROM 910.092.054 (Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P416896). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.