Chapter 00 · 1400 – 1077 BCE
Middle Assyrian
Aššur's first imperial expansion.
~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Adad-narari I 48
In plain English
This object belonged to Adad-nārārī I, the king.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“(1) [Belong]ing to Adad-[nār]ārī (I), the king.”
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/Q005785/
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Adad-narari I 49
In plain English
Only the beginning of this text survives. It reads: 'Adad-narari, son of Arik-dīn-ili, grandson of Enlil-nārārī...' — the king introducing himself by his royal lineage, as Assyrian kings always did. The next lines are too damaged to read fully, but they mention something 'which Arik-dīn-ili had built' and then a 'house' or temple, so the king was evidently recording repair work on a building his father had put up. The rest is lost.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“(1) Adad-nārārī (I), [appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur ...], (2) son of Arik-[dīn-ili, appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur ...], (3) son of [Enlil-nārārī, (who was) also appointee of the god Enlil (and) vice-regent of (the god) Aššur ...]. (4) ... [...] (traces) (5) which/of ... [...] (traces) (6) that which Arik-[dīn-ili (...) had built(?)] (7) the house/temple [...] (text breaks off)”
Source: engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-fable-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ashurnasirpal I 1
“(1) Palace of Ashurnasirpal (I), king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Šamšī-Adad (IV), (who was) also king of Assyria.”
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/Q006006/
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ashurnasirpal I 1001
“(1') [... vice-regent] of (the god) Aššur, son of Šamšī-[Adad (IV), (who was) also appointee of the god Enlil (and) vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, dedicated (this) for] his [life], the well-being of his seed, [...].”
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/Q006007/
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Aššur-bel-kala 01
Attests Aššur-bel-kala's campaign against the land Ḫimme, preserving early Assyrian royal rhetoric of total destruction — flaying, mass deportation, corpse-mounds — that would define the empire's self-presentation for centuries.
In plain English
Only the middles of the lines survive, but the gist is clear. The king is recounting a military campaign in the land of Ḫimme: he moved against its cities and fortresses, against a population he says was as countless as the stars in the sky. He captured every one of their towns and spared none. The men who ruled those cities he flayed alive, and he piled up the corpses of their soldiers beside their many cities. The text breaks off there; the beginnings and ends of every line, and everything after, are lost.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“(obverse, all lines broken at the beginning) [...] ... of the land Ḫi...[...] [...] ... [...] ... my [...] over/against ... [...] [...] ... his city [...] ... ... [...] their fortresses [... and] their [...]s of the land Ḫimme [...] humankind, and [...] ... which (were as numerous) as the stars of heaven, [...] all of their cities of the land Ḫimme [...] I did not spare. The men who were lords of their cities I flayed. [...] over their ma[ny] cities [... the corpses of] their [troops] who in [...] (remainder broken)”
Source: engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-fable-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Aššur-bel-kala 02
“(i 1') (Too broken for translation) (i 2') [Son of Aššur]-rēša-iš[i (I), king of the world, strong king, king of Assyria], subduer of [the insubmissive ...]; (i 4') [Son of] Mutakkil-Nusku, [(who was) also king of the world, strong king, king of Assyria], his priestly progeny [...] the king of kings, the lord of lords, [...], the eternal royal seed, [...]. (i 8') In my accession year [(and) in my first regnal year, after I sat on the thro]ne of [(my) royal majesty in a grandiose manner], with the exalted strength [of (the god) Aššur, my lord, who goes before me, with the ... of the god…”
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/Q005983/
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Aššur-bel-kala 03
“(1') [...] I fought [...] I made [a col]ossal [statue of my royal majesty (and) wrote] thereon (a description of) the victories of my royal majesty. [...] I traversed [Mount Ḫirua, conquered and burned with fire] the city Uruniaš of the land Ḫimme. I made a statue of my royal majesty (and) [wrote thereon (a description of)] the victories of [my] royal maje[sty. I made (another) statue of my royal majesty (and) erected (it) in Eš]arra, the house of my succor, before (the god) Aššur, [my] lo[rd. ...] On numerous [campaigns against the Ar]ameans, the enemies of (the god) Aššur, who in the land…”
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/Q005984/
Read the full tablet entry~1300 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Aššur-bel-kala 04
“(1) Aššur-bēl-kal[a, great king, king of the] world, king of Assyria, unrivalled king, [king of all four quarters (of the world)], the one provides for Ekur, select of the god Aššur, appointee of the lord of the lands (Enlil), [(the one) who] acts [with the support of the god Aššur] in laying low his enemies, [whose] deeds the gods Aššur (and) Enlil [...], the unconquerable attacker, [the one to whom was entrusted] dominion of Assyria, the one who disintegrates [all of the enemy] lands [with the fire of] the god Gīra, the controller [of the insubmissive] who breaks up [the forces of the…”
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/Q005985/
Read the full tablet entry