Position in chronology
Ashurnasirpal II 125
Translation — scholar edition
RIAo(1) Palace of Ashurnasirpal (II), king of Assyria, son of Tukultī-Ninurta (II), king of Assyria, son of Adad-nārārī (II), (who was) also king of Assyria.
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
Why it matters
Anchors Ashurnasirpal II's reign in a three-generation patriline — Adad-nārārī II, Tukultī-Ninurta II, Ashurnasirpal II — asserting dynastic continuity as ideological foundation for his aggressive territorial expansion.
Transliteration
É.GAL mAŠ-PAP-A MAN KUR AŠ / A TUKUL-MAŠ MAN KUR AŠ / A 10-ERIM.TÁḪ MAN KUR AŠ-ma
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 Q004579.
Attribution
Image: BM 090752 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Kalhu (mod. Nimrud) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P428332). 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/Q004579/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.