Position in chronology
RIMA 3.0.102.111, ex. add78
About this tablet
A standard inscribed brick of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (reigned 858–824 BCE) from his capital Kalhu (modern Nimrud). Thousands of such bricks were stamped or inscribed with the king's name and genealogy and built into the great temple-tower (ziggurat) of the city. This one names three generations of kings — Shalmaneser, his father Ashurnasirpal II, and his grandfather Tukulti-Ninurta II — and labels the object itself as part of the ziggurat's masonry. It is royal branding in its most literal form: the king's claim to his building, repeated brick by brick.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Shalmaneser III, great king, mighty king, king of the world and king of Assyria — son of Ashurnasirpal II, who held the same great titles, himself the son of Tukulti-Ninurta II, likewise king of the world and king of Assyria. This brick belongs to the construction of the ziggurat of Kalhu. In effect, it is a builder's label: the king signs his name and pedigree on the very fabric of his temple-tower so that anyone who ever handles the brick knows who built it.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Sh]almaneser, great [king, strong king], king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Ashurnasirpal (II), [great king,] strong king, king of the universe, king of [Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta (II)], (who was) also king of the universe and king of Assyria: brick[work] of the ziggurat [of Kalhu].
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
[]szul3-ma-nu-masz _man gal_-[u2 _man_ dan-nu] _man szu2 man kur asz a#_ asz-pap-[a _man gal_-u2] _man_ dan-nu _man# szu2# man kur [asz a_ tukul-masz] _man szu2 man kur asz_-ma ri-[s,ip-tu2] _u6#-nir#_ [sza2 kal-hi]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)) — RIMA 3.0.102.111, ex. add78. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: MU 2148 (Museum of Ancient Cultures, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P452257). 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.