Position in chronology
Ashurnasirpal II 039
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Ashurnasirpal (II), great king, 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, conqueror from the opposite bank of the Tigris River as far as Mount Lebanon and the Great Sea, he made all of the lands from east to west bow down at his feet.
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/Q004493/
Why it matters
Transliteration
maš-šur-PAP-A MAN GAL MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR AŠ / A TUKUL-MAŠ MAN GAL MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR AŠ / A 10-ERIM.TÁḪ MAN GAL MAN dan-nu / MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur-ma ka-šid TA e-ber-ta-an / ÍD.ḪAL.ḪAL a-di KUR.lab-na-na / u A.AB.BA GAL-ti KUR.KUR.MEŠ DÙ-ši-na / iš-tu ṣi-it dšam-ši a-di e-reb dšam-ši / a-na GÌR.II-šú ú-šék-ni-šá
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 Q004493.
Attribution
Image: Based on A. Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC I (1114-859 BC) (RIMA 2), Toronto, 1991. Adapted by Jamie Novotny (2015-16) and lemmatized and updated by Nathan Morello (2016-17) 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. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/riao/Q004493/..
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/Q004493/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.