Chapter 00 · 2000 – 1700 BCE
Old Assyrian
Aššur the merchant city — the great trade with Anatolia.
~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ilu-šumma 1
“(1) Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, beloved of the god Aššur and the goddess Ištar, [son of Ša]lim-aḫum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, built a temple for the goddess Ištar, his lady, (and) for his life. (14) He established the freedom (andurāru) of the Akkadians.”
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/Q005619/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ilu-šumma 2
“(1) Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, beloved of the god Aššur and the goddess Ištar, son of Šalim-aḫum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur. Šalim-aḫum, vice-regent of Aššur, (was) the son of Puzur-Aššur (I) (and) vice-regent of (the god) Aššur. (16) Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, built a temple for the goddess Ištar, his lady, (and) for his life, and he constructed a façade (and) new wall. (27) I subdivided house-plots for my city. The god Aššur opened up for me two springs on Mount Ebiḫ (Abiḫ) and (then) I made bricks for th(at) wall using (the water of) those two springs.…”
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/Q005620/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · MAH 19631 — Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland
RA 059, 036 no. 15
In plain English
Only the opening survives. It reads like the preamble of a sworn statement: 'Mannum-kī-Ištar ... and Enna-Suen, son of Šu-Anum — in this dispute, the full assembly of the trading colony at Waḫšušana, junior and senior members alike, assigned us to act...' What follows — presumably the testimony itself and the outcome of the case — is broken away and lost.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“[Mannum]-kī-Ištar [...] (and) [Enna-Su]en, son of Šu-Anum: [for] these [ma]tters the [kārum of Waḫ]šušana, [small and great], gave us (as arbitrators/witnesses), [and ...]”
Source: engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-fable-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šalim-aḫum 1
“(1) Šalim-aḫum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of Puzur-Aššur (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur. (7) The god Aššur requested a temple from him and he built a temple of ... (to last) forever. Moreover, he bu[ilt] the palace of ... (-) Dagan, its shrine, its temple area, ...,(its) house of beer vats, and its storage area for <his> life and the life of his ci[ty], (erasure), for the god Aššur.”
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/Q005618/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šamši-Adad I 03 (= Ikunum 5add)
“(1) Šamšī-[Adad (I)], appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of the god Aššur. (4) (As for) the temple of the goddess Ereškigal, which Ikūnum, the son of Erišum (I), had built, it had become dilapidated and Šamšī-A[dad (I)], son of”
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/Q005647/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Sargon I 1 / CDLI Seals 003474
“(1) The divine Sargon (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Ikūnum, vice-regent of the god Aššur.”
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/Q005643/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Sargon I 2001
“(1) When the divine Sargon (was) vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, Ḫadītum, the wife of Bēlam-nāda, dedicated (this) to the Assyrian Ištar, her lady. She put (the symbol of the) pudendum into (the Ištar temple) for the life of her husband, her (own) life, and the life of her children.”
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/Q005644/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · VAT 06199 — Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany
VS 26, 193
In plain English
What survives reads like an exasperated follow-up letter: 'I keep writing to you about this. One textile... receive it for me... and have the textiles returned.' The writer leans on his correspondent with the standard courtesies of the trade — 'you're my brother, so take this seriously' — and repeats his main demand a second time: the textiles must be sent back. A closing remark seems to stress that the goods in question are valuable. The edges of every line are broken away, so the details of quantities and names are lost.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“(obverse) [I] have written to you (repeatedly), [thus] (say) I: "One textile [...] [...] to me, recei[ve ...] [...] let [them] retur[n] the textiles [...] [...] ... ever [...] [...] its/her [...], as much as [...] [...] you are my brother — pay heed! [...] [...] ... do not [...] [...] and let them return the textiles [...] [...] ... that [...] is preci[ous(?) ...]”
Source: engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved) · claude-fable-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry