Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

Ashurnasirpal II 023

~875 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q004477

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) Palace of Ashurnasirpal (II), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, chosen of the gods Enlil and Ninurta, beloved of the gods Anu and Dagān, destructive weapon of the great gods, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Tukultī-Ninurta (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Adad-nārārī (II), (who was) also great king, strong king, king of the world, (and) king of Assyria; the valiant man who acts with the support of (the god) Aššur, his lord, and who has no rival among the rulers of the four quarters (of the world); marvelous shepherd, fearless…

Source: Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo), Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; in association with the RINAP Project, University of Pennsylvania. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q004477/

Why it matters

One of the standard titulary inscriptions of Ashurnasirpal II, tracing his legitimacy through three generations of Assyrian kings and anchoring royal authority in a chain of divine election by Aššur, Enlil, Ninurta, Anu, and Dagān.

Transliteration

É.GAL maš-šur-PAP-A ŠID aš-šur ni-šit dBAD u dMAŠ na-ra-am da-nim u dda-gan ka-šu-uš DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur A TUKUL-MAŠ MAN GAL-e MAN dan-ni MAN ŠÚ / MAN KUR aš-šur A 10-ERIM.TÁḪ MAN GAL-e MAN dan-ni MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur-ma eṭ-lu qar-du šá ina GIŠ.tukul-ti aš-šur EN-šú DU.DU-ku-ma ina mal-ki.MEŠ šá kib-rat LÍMMU-ta šá-nin-šú la-a TUKU-ú LÚ.SIPA / tab-ra-te la a-di-ru…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of an Assyrian king, published in the Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online project (RIAo). Translation reproduced from the ORACC edition. ORACC text Q004477.

Attribution

Image: HMA 9-01762 + HMA 9-01763 (Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P247872). source
Translation excerpted from Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo), Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; in association with the RINAP Project, University of Pennsylvania. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q004477/.

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