Read Chronology Themes Tablets Engine About

Read
Chronology
Themes
Tablets
Engine
About

Sumerian · Book

Reading the tablets…

A curated narrative reconstruction of humanity's first great civilization, sourced from the tablets themselves. Open scholarship, beautifully accessible.

The site

About the project The engine Dossiers FAQ Methodology Sources & licensing Provenance & ethics Contact & support

Legal

Independent scholarship · No academic affiliation · No institutional funding · Tablet imagery attributed per item via CDLI, ETCSL, ORACC, Wikimedia, and public museum collections.

Home
All tablets

The corpus

All tablets.

Every tablet in the corpus — sortable by date, title or period; filterable by theme and period. Use the controls below or change the URL parameters directly.

Sort

Oldest first Newest first Title (A–Z)By period

Theme

Religion & Myth Law Economy Astronomy & Mathematics Daily Life Writing & Literature

Period

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

Source

Editorial Sumerian literature Sumerian royal Assyrian royal Assyrian archives

28,977 of 102,257 tablets · 4 filters activeClear filters

23601–23650 of 28977

Page 473 / 580

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1012

Attests Esarhaddon's intervention in Urarṭu and his installation of a throne-claimant whose name ends in -šuma-iškun, fragmentary evidence for Assyrian proxy rule on its northern frontier ca. 675 BCE.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian

RINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1013

Attests Esarhaddon's rebuilding of an akītu-house and assertion of dual kingship over Assyria and Babylon, linking cultic restoration to royal legitimacy in a period of deliberate reconciliation after his father Sennacherib's sack of Babylon.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1014

One of the preserved royal inscriptions of Esarhaddon (RINAP 4, Q003386), whose composite manuscript tradition helps reconstruct the rhetorical and titulary conventions of seventh-century Assyrian kingship.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1015

Attests Esarhaddon's direct, sealed communication with Šamaš — bypassing the diviner class — as the theological basis for his royal decisions, revealing how Sargonid kings legitimised authority through personal divine access.

Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1016

Esarhaddon records sealing a secret divination query in an envelope before consulting Šamaš and Adad — a rare first-person royal account of the procedural safeguards used to prevent diviners from tailoring omens to please the king.

Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1017

A fragmentary royal inscription of Esarhaddon (~675 BCE) preserving traces of a military muster and invocation of Ištar, adding a damaged but datable witness to Assyrian royal self-presentation.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1018

Preserves fragmentary traces of Esarhaddon invoking divine sanction from Aššur himself — attesting the theological grammar by which Neo-Assyrian kings legitimised their rule in royal inscriptions.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1019

Chronicles Esarhaddon's capture of Memphis (~671 BCE) — the only Assyrian royal inscription to record a reigning king's conquest of the Egyptian capital, marking the empire's greatest territorial reach.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 1020

Attests Esarhaddon's ideological program of rebuilding Babylon — destroyed by his father Sennacherib — by relocating the divine births of Bēl, Bēltīya, and Ea to Aššur, rewriting Babylonian theology in Assyrian terms.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 104

Esarhaddon frames his restoration of Babylon by cataloguing the bad omens that condemned a previous king — making this one of the clearest surviving examples of Assyrian rulers using omen-lore to legitimise regime change.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 109

Esarhaddon legitimises his reign by casting himself as the gods' chosen restorer of Babylonian shrines and avenger of Akkad — direct ideological response to his father Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon in 689 BCE.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 116

Esarhaddon's justification for Sennacherib's sack of Babylon: the Babylonians themselves broke divine law — selling Esagil's treasures to Elam — so the gods, not Assyria, destroyed the city.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 117

Attests Esarhaddon's claim to have restored neglected shrines and forgotten rites — part of his systematic effort to legitimate rule after his father Sennacherib's sack of Babylon.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 126

Attests Esarhaddon's restoration of Etemenanki, the great ziggurat of Babylon, framing reconstruction as personal piety toward Marduk — evidence of an Assyrian king actively courting Babylonian religious legitimacy.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 128

Attests Esarhaddon's devotion to Ištar of Nippur — here styled Queen-of-Nippur enthroned in Ebaradurgara — documenting Assyrian royal investment in a Babylonian cult centre during his post-conquest reconciliation policy.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 129

Dedicates a building project to Enlil 'whose command cannot be revoked,' pairing that theological formula with Esarhaddon's full titulary to show how Assyrian kings grounded imperial legitimacy in divine sanction.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 133

Dedicatory inscription to Ištar-of-Uruk in her Eanna temple: attests Esarhaddon's deliberate cultivation of the ancient Sumerian cult centre as a source of royal legitimacy seven centuries after Ur III.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 2003

Issued in the voice of Naqīʾa-Zakūtu, Esarhaddon's mother, this inscription is a rare case of an Assyrian queen mother publicly claiming a share of war spoils and directing conquered peoples to corvée labour in her own name.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 4

Esarhaddon 048

Opens with a seven-god invocation — Aššur through Šamaš — that maps the full Assyrian divine hierarchy, anchoring royal authority in cosmic order at the height of Esarhaddon's empire.

Esarhaddon 1012

Esarhaddon 1013

Esarhaddon 1014

Esarhaddon 1015

Esarhaddon 1016

Esarhaddon 1017

Esarhaddon 1018

Esarhaddon 1019

Esarhaddon 1020

Esarhaddon 104

Esarhaddon 109

Esarhaddon 116

Esarhaddon 117

Esarhaddon 126

Esarhaddon 128

Esarhaddon 129

Esarhaddon 133

Esarhaddon 2003

Esarhaddon 048

SAA 04 001. Will the King of Phrygia or Mugallu Attack a Fortress of Melid? [military and political]

SAA 04 002. Will Mugallu ...? (PRT 089) [military and political]

SAA 04 003. Will the Chief Eunuch Drive Mugallu away from a Fortress of Melid? (AGS 055) [military and political]

SAA 04 005. Will Mugallu Attack Mannu-ki-..., who is Besieging a Fortress? (PRT 029) [military and political]

SAA 04 007. Will Assyrian Troops Conquer Quhna, a Fortress of Mugallu of Melid? (AGS 021+) [military and political]

SAA 04 008. Should Assyrian Army Lay Siege to a Fortress of Mugallu of Melid? (PRT 027) [military and political]

SAA 04 009. Will Mugallu or Iškallu Attack Chief Eunuch Ša-Nabu-šu? (AGS 057) [military and political]

SAA 04 010. Hostilities between Iškallu of Tabal and Mugallu of Melid (AGS 056a) [military and political]

SAA 04 011. Will Mugallu of Melid and Iškallu of Tabal Wage War? (AGS 059) [military and political]

SAA 04 012. Messenger of Mugallu Sent to Conclude a Peace Treaty (AGS 054) [military and political]

SAA 04 014. Will Kuzzurakeans, Tabaleans or Cilicians Invade Que? (AGS 060) [military and political]

SAA 04 016. NN Sent to Que (AGS 062+) [military and political]

SAA 04 017. Cimmerian and Cilician Invasion of ... (PRT 043) [military and political]

SAA 04 018. Will Ursaya of Urartu Invade Šubria? (AGS 048) [military and political]

SAA 04 019. Will the King of Urartu ...? (AGS 049) [military and political]

SAA 04 020. Giving a Princess in Marriage to Bartatua, King of the Scythians (PRT 016) [military and political]

SAA 04 021. Giving a Princess in Marriage to NN (AGS 080) [military and political]

SAA 04 022. Fragment Similar to Nos. 20-21 (AGS 087) [military and political]

SAA 04 023. Will Scythians Invade Assyria through Passes of Hubuškia? (AGS 035) [military and political]

SAA 04 024. Should Esarhaddon Send his Messenger to Hubuškia? (AGS 025+) [military and political]

SAA 04 025. Esarhaddon Sending his Messenger to NN (AGS 026) [military and political]

SAA 04 026. Esarhaddon and Hubuškia (AGS 039) [military and political]

SAA 04 027. Fragment Mentioning Hubuškia (AGS 040) [military and political]

SAA 04 029. Will Mannean Troops Capture Šarru-iqbi? (AGS 016) [military and political]

SAA 04 030. Will Army of Assyria Retake Dur-Illil? (AGS 019) [military and political]

SAA 04 031. Will Army of Assyria Retake Dur-Illil? (PRT 010) [military and political]

SAA 04 032. Esarhaddon and Dur-Illil (AGS 020) [military and political]

SAA 04 033. Will the Army of Assyria Defeat the Manneans? (AGS 041) [military and political]

SAA 04 035. Will Scythian and Cimmerian Troops Invade Bit-Hamban? (AGS 036) [military and political]

SAA 04 037. Fragment Similar to Nos. 35-36 (PRT 024) [military and political]

SAA 04 038. Will Scythians and Cimmerians Invade Bit-Hamban and Yašuh? [military and political]