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Sumerian · Book

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Ubaid Uruk Period Early Dynastic Akkadian Empire Ur III · Neo-Sumerian Old Babylonian Old Assyrian Middle Babylonian Middle Assyrian Neo-Assyrian Neo-Babylonian Achaemenid Persian

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Editorial Sumerian literature Sumerian royal Assyrian royal Assyrian archives

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Page 3 / 35

~1900 BCE·Old Assyrian

RIAo

Ikunum 2

(1) Ikūnum, vice-regent of the god Aššur, dedicated (this) stone chest to the god Aššur, his lord, the god who is his helper, and Aššur-imittī, his son, took it in(to Aššur’s temple) for his life.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Ikunum 3

(1) [Ikūnum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of] E[rišum (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur]. Er[išum (was) the son of Ilu-šūma], vice-regent of [(the god) Aššur], [Ilu-šūma (was) the son of Š]alim-a[ḫum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur], (and) Šalim-a[ḫum (was) the son of Puzur-Aššu]r, vice-regent [of (the god) Aššur]. (8) [Ikūnum, vice]-regent of (the god) Ašš[ur, for his life] and the life [of his city] (11) (No translation possible)

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Ikunum 4

(1) Ikūnum, vice-regent of [the god Aššur],

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Ikunum 5add (formerly Šamši-Adad I 03)

(1′) vice-regent of [(the god) Aššur; (and) Il]u-[šūma] (was) the son of Ša[lim-aḫum, vice-re]gent [of (the god) Aššur]. (5′) Ikūnum, vice[-regent of (the god) Aššur, buil]t the temple of the [goddess Ereškigal, for his life and the life of his city]. Moreover, he depo[sited (his) clay c]one (therein). (11′) (May) a f[uture ruler], when th(at) tem[ple ...] has become dilapida[ted, re]turn my clay co[ne t]o its place.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

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.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

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.…

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Puzur-Sin 1001

(1) When Puzur-Sîn, vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Aššur-bēl-šamê, destroyed the evil of Asīnum, offspring of Šamšī-[Adad (I)], who was ... of the city Aššur, and instituted proper rule for the city Aššur, (at that time), [I (Puzur-Sîn) removed] ... a foreign plague, (who was) not of the flesh of [the city] Aššur. (15) The god Aššur justly ... [with] his pure hands and I, by the command of (the god) Aššur himself, my lord, destroyed that improper thing that he had worked on, (specially) the wall and palace of Šamšī-Adad (I), his grandfather, (who was) a foreign plague (and) not of the…

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

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.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 01

(1) Šamšī-Adad (I), king of the world, builder of the temple of the god Aššur, pacifier of the land between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River, by the command of the god Aššur, who loves him, (and the one) whom the gods Anu and Enlil called by name for greatness among the kings who came before (him). (18) (As for) the temple of the god Enlil, which Erišum (I), the son of Ilu-šūma, had built, it had become dilapidated and I abandoned it. Then, I built the temple of the god Enlil, my lord, the fearful dais, the large chapel, the seat of the god Enlil, my lord, (all of) which were…

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

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

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 04

(1) Šamšī-Adad (I), appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of the god Aššur. (4) When the god Itūr-Mēr, my lord, fully entrusted to [me] the ru[le] and control [over] the land Mari and the bank(s) of the Eu[phrates] River, I prayed to hi[m a]nd (then) [I offered up (to him), [(for the splendor of his divinity,)] a throne of light-colored medlar-wood ... [...] that had been perfected with everything pertaining to the goldsmith’s art (lit. “by gold and skilled craftsmen”).

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 05

(1) [Šamšī-Adad (I), appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of the god Aššur]. (4) Wh[en] the god Itūr-Mē[r] heard my pray[e]rs and petitions and fully entrusted to me the land Mari, the bank(s) of the Euphr[ates] River, and its domains, I prayed to him and (then) I offered up (to him), for the splendor of his divinity, a great ebony throne that had been methodically made with everything pertaining to the goldsmith’s art (lit. “by gold and skilled craftsmen”).

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 06

(1) For the goddess Ištar-šarrum, the controller of all of heaven and netherworld, the one who favorably receives his prayers (and) goes at his right hand: (6) Šamšī-Adad (I), strong king, king of Agade, conqueror of all of his enemies, dedicated a bronze kettledrum with good sound (and) befitting his being a warrior.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 07

(1) [Šam]šī-[Adad (I)], strong king, appointee of the god [Enlil], vice-regent of the god Aššur, beloved of the god Dagān, pacifier of the land between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River, ruler of [Mar]i, king of Ekallātum, (and) governor of Šubat-Enlil. (12) [I ...] twin (vases) for the god Dagān and the banquet of [...] the god Aššur fo[r [...]. (r 1) (No translation possible)

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 08

(1) Šamšī-Adad (I), king of the world, appointee of the god Enlil, worshipper of the god Dagān, vice-regent of the god Aššur, builder of Ekisiga — “His Silent Temple,” the temple of the god Dagān in Terqa.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 09

(1) Šamšī-Adad (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Ilā-kabkabī, builder of the temple of the god Aššur.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 10

(1) Šamšī-Ad[ad (I)], beloved of the god Aššur, vice-regent of the god Aššur, [son of] Ilā-kabkabī.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 1001

(i' 1) ... [By] command of [the god] Enlil and [...] my attack [in Arra]pḫa [...] seventh day [...] and [I] sacrificed, ...] and (ii' 1) I entered his fortress. I kissed the feet of the god Adad, my lord, and reorganized that land. I installed my governors everywhere and, (at) the Festival of Heat, I sacrificed to the gods Šamaš and Adad, in Arrapḫa itself. (ii' 12) (In) Addaru (XII), on the twentieth day, I crossed the (Lower) Zab (Zaiba) and made a razzia in the land Qabra. I struck down the harvest of that land and, in the month Magrānum, I captured the fortified cities of the land Arbela…

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 12

(1) Šamšī-[Adad (I)], king of [the world].

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 2001

(1) The name of this lion is “The Sealer of the Enemy of Šamšī-Adad (I) by the Command of the Goddess Ištar.”

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old BabylonianRIAo

Šamši-Adad I 2002

(1) The name of [this] lion is “The Drinker of the Blood of the Enemies of Ša[mšī-Adad (I)] by [the Command of] the Goddess [Ištar].” (8) (Belonging to) Eme[urur], (which means) “the temple of gathering together divine powers.”

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

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.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

BiMes 19, 187, 244 9-02878

Ipiq-[...], son of Ili-wedeku; Imgur-Enlil, son of Enlil-abum; Ipiq-šina, son of Ilum-abum; Sipipum, son of Imgurrum; Ipiq-šina, the diviner, son of Ilum-abum.

Writing & Literature

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000343, ex. 056

(obverse, fragmentary) 1. [...] ... [...] 2. [When they] offer [(the river with its water)] to you, do not accept it! 3. [When they] offer [(the field with its grain)] to you, do not accept it! 4. "[Give us the corpse] hanging from the peg," say to her! 5. [One of you sprinkle the plant of] life, one [the water of life], over [her] ... 6. [...] ... [...] (remainder broken)

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 048

Young man, free-born son, ... [in] the mountain, what [...]? Utu, let me speak a word to you — give [your] ear to my word! Let me greet you — may you pay heed to it! In my city a man dies, and the heart is stricken; a man perishes, and [my] heart [is heavy]. I craned my neck over the city wall: corpses floating on the water ... [made the river] overflow [...]. And I too ... [...] — shall it be so for me? [Thus] it shall be. The tallest man ... [cannot stretch to heaven ...] (remainder broken)

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 053

(Beginning broken) 1. "[... if today you are going to] enter [the mountains ...], 2. [...] youthful Utu should [know about it from us]. 3. [...] the decisions concerning [the mountains are Utu's business]; 4. the decisions concerning [the mountains] of felled cedar are youthful Utu's — Utu should know about it from us." 5. [Then] Gilgamesh took hold of a white kid; 6. he clasped [a brown] kid, a sacrificial offering, [to his breast]; 7. [in his hand] he held the holy staff before his nose, 8. as he spoke to [Utu of heaven]: 9. "[Utu, I am going to] enter [the mountains] — [be my] helper! 10. […

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 058

1. [...] he set [...] toward [...] 2. [By the life of] my own mother, divine [Nin]sun(?), and my [father], holy Lugal[banda]! 3. May I [become again(?)] as if slumbering in wonder(?) on the lap of my own mother Ninsun. 4. For a [second] time he indeed said it to him: 5. By the life of my own mother Ninsun and my [father(?)], holy Lugalbanda! 6. Whether he be a [hu]man, whether he be known(?), whether he be a god [...], 7. my steps that I have set toward the mountains I shall not set back toward the city! 8. The faithful slave, who would soothe(?), who makes life seem sweet, 9. answered his mas…

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000561, ex. 004

obverse (fragment, three lines preserved): [A cl]od that has been bathed in water — dust has come into my eyes. A dog, when it gnaws a corpse, its chest heaves up. The great dragon (ušumgal), having smitten heads (i.e. having slain) [...] (remainder broken)

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000578, ex. 002

Say to my [brothers]: this is what Ilaba-tah-lugalĝa says: The journey we are going on is long, and the true king, our king, [has pressed on(?)] ... journey [has been added] to journey. We will not be able to ask after our mother. May the day not set upon our neighborhood ... deceitfully(?). 1 sila of salt, 1 [sila of gazi-spice], 1 šagadu-garment — have a courier bring (them) back to me! Our journey is long. It is urgent!

Daily Life·Writing & Literature

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000584, ex. 003

Say to Lugal-ibila: this is what Inim-Inanna says: Do not neglect the Sumerian language! (lit. "do not let your neck fall away from Sumerian") For the second time I am sending someone to you concerning the correct (use of the) language. The youngster who sits before you — do not let him go out of the tablet-house (school)! And furthermore, let no one deceive you with lies. Should he say to you, "Let me go to his (i.e. my) father," until I and you have exchanged word about the agreed sign, [I will keep] sending a man to you. [...] (remainder broken)

Writing & Literature·Daily Life

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Adad-narari I 01

Lists the cities and peoples — Kassites, Gutians, Lullumê, Šubareans — subjugated by Adad-nārārī I, documenting Assyria's territorial expansion toward the Euphrates and into Mitanni's former heartland around 1300 BCE.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 06

A building inscription of Adad-nārārī I dedicating a standard to Ištar and invoking Aššur's favour for any future ruler who restores the monument — an early attestation of the Assyrian royal restoration formula that would persist for centuries.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 1001

Attests Adad-nārārī I's campaign into the Lullumê highlands, placing Assyrian military reach into the Zagros within the generation that transformed Assyria from a vassal into an imperial power.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 25

Labels booty taken from Naḫur, placing the city within Adad-nārārī I's documented conquests and anchoring his western campaigns in the archaeological record of early Middle Assyrian expansion.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 31

Stamps Adad-nārārī I's ownership of a labūnu-house forecourt: one of the earliest Assyrian royal building inscriptions asserting the "king of the world" titulary that would define imperial rhetoric for centuries.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 35

Records Adad-nārārī I's renovation of the processional avenue at Aššur's temple, anchoring the physical expansion of Assyrian royal piety to a specific monarch at the dawn of the Middle Assyrian kingdom.

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 39

Marks Adad-nārārī I's construction of a quay wall at the palace canal: physical evidence of royal infrastructure investment at Aššur in the early Middle Assyrian period.

Writing & Literature

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 40

Marks Adad-nārārī I as builder of Aššur's Tigris quay wall, anchoring his public-works program in the archaeological and epigraphic record of early Middle Assyrian urban infrastructure.

Writing & Literature

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianRIAo

Adad-narari I 44

A palace inscription of Adad-nārārī I asserting the title 'king of the world' — early epigraphic evidence of Assyrian kings adopting the universal-sovereignty rhetoric previously claimed by Babylonian and Akkadian rulers.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

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.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Aššur-bel-kala 08

Attests Aššur-bēl-kala's titulature and genealogy — anchoring his reign within the Tiglath-pileser I dynasty — though heavy damage leaves his specific deeds and the presiding eponym unrecoverable.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Aššur-bel-kala 09

Records Aššur-bel-kala crossing the Euphrates twice in one year on goatskin rafts to pursue Aramean and Sutean groups near Mount Lebanon — early evidence of Assyrian military pressure on these semi-nomadic peoples.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Aššur-reša-iši I 02

Records Aššur-rēša-iši I's construction at the Ištar temple in Nineveh, situating this reign within the architectural patronage that defined Middle Assyrian kingship's claim to divine favour from Anu, Enlil, and Ea.

Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Eriba-Adad II 1

Preserves the titulary of Erība-Adad II, attesting the full fourfold royal ideology — king of the world, Assyria, and the four quarters — at the dawn of the Middle Assyrian imperial self-conception.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle BabylonianOur engine

Šamši-Adad IV 1

Documents Šamšī-Adad IV's restoration of the Assyrian Ištar temple at Aššur, anchoring the reign's chronology to a specific eponymy date and establishing the dynastic continuity he claimed from Tiglath-pileser I.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Shalmaneser I 09

Records Shalmaneser I's restoration of the Libūr-šalḫī Gate at Aššur, fixing the king's piety and building programme in the mid-13th century BCE, before Assyria's rise to full imperial power.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Shalmaneser I 17

Credits Ištar of Nineveh — not Aššur alone — as the divine force behind Shalmaneser I's campaigns against Šubarû, Lullumê, and Qutû, documenting the goddess's role in mid-13th-century Assyrian royal ideology.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Shalmaneser I 18

Shalmaneser I's titulary here fuses Enlil-derived legitimacy with military conquest across Qutû, Lullumê, and Šubarû, documenting the mid-13th-century BCE consolidation of Assyrian royal ideology in its earliest monumental form.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Tiglath-pileser I 01

Opens with the fullest early pantheon invocation in Tiglath-pileser I's royal corpus, mapping the precise hierarchy — Aššur, Enlil, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, Ninurta — that legitimised Middle Assyrian imperial kingship.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~1300 BCE·Middle AssyrianOur engine

Tiglath-pileser I 02

Preserves the divine invocation formula of Tiglath-pileser I, naming Aššur, Enlil, Sîn, Šamaš, and Adad as guarantors of Assyrian royal authority — a theological blueprint for Middle Assyrian kingship ideology.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

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