Position in chronology
Adad-narari I 01
About this tablet
This is a royal inscription of Adad-narari I, king of Assyria in the 13th century BCE, preserved across multiple clay tablet copies. It opens with an elaborate series of royal epithets — titles proclaiming the king as divinely appointed, militarily supreme, and geographically sweeping in his conquests — before listing the cities and regions he claims to have subjugated, stretching from the foothills of the Zagros mountains to the upper Euphrates region. These boastful campaigns against the Kassites (who then ruled Babylonia), the Qutians, the Lullumeans, and the Subareans reflect the aggressive Assyrian expansion of this period. Such inscriptions were composed to glorify the king before both gods and posterity, and are among our earliest substantial sources for Middle Assyrian royal ideology.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Adad-narari, pure prince and chosen favourite of the gods, establisher of temples, who crushed the armies of the Kassites, Qutians, Lullumeans, and Subareans, scattering his enemies in every direction and overrunning their territories — from Lubdu and the region of Rapiqu all the way to Eluḫat — captured the cities of Taidi, Šuri, Kaḫat, Amasaki, Ḫurra, Šuduḫi, and Nabula. The inscription continues but the remaining lines are not preserved in the excerpt provided.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineAdad-narari, the pure prince, adornment of the gods, pre-eminent one, appointee of the gods, establisher of cult-centres, who slew the mighty Kassite forces, the Qutians, the Lullumeans, and the Subareans, who scattered all enemies above and below, who trampled their lands, from Lubdu and Mount Rapiqu to Eluḫat — conqueror of the city of Taidi, the city of Šuri, the city of Kaḫat, the city of Amasaki, the city of Ḫurra, the city of Šuduḫi, the city of Nabula, [...]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Engine notes
read from photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- si-mat DINGIR.MEŠ — 'Fitting ornament / appropriate adornment of the gods' — si-mat can mean 'fitting for, worthy of'; some translate 'chosen of the gods'.
- šá-ka-an-ki DINGIR.MEŠ — Reading šá-ka-an-ki as 'establisher of cult-seats (kigallū?)'; -ki may refer to cult-seats or sacred precincts; some editions read šá-ka-an GIŠ.GU.ZA.
- mu-kín ma-ḫa-zi — 'Confirmer / restorer of cult-centres (maḫāzu)'; maḫāzu can mean cult city, shrine-city, or cult-centre broadly.
- né-ir dap-nu-ti — 'Slayer of the mighty (ones)' — dapnūti can mean mighty, fierce, or powerful; applied to enemy armies.
- lu-ub-di — Lubdi — a geographic region; exact location debated, generally placed near the middle Euphrates or Zagros foothills area.
- KUR.ra-pi-qu — Mount / land Rapiqu — a border region on the middle Euphrates; the precise extent of Assyrian control here is discussed in scholarship.
Reasoning ↓
Photo examined: The image shows a multi-part clay tablet composite — a large obverse face flanked by two lateral edge-pieces and a top register fragment, plus what appears to be a reverse face below. The wedge impressions are generally clear and well-preserved across most of the surface, though the lower portion of the main face shows some surface wear and the lateral edge pieces are narrow with partially legible signs. The upper registers of the main face show dense, well-incised Akkadian cuneiform consistent with Middle Assyrian scribal practice. The photo resolution allows recognition of sign clusters but not individual sign-by-sign verification across all lines; the opening royal epithets and geographical names are broadly consistent with what the transliteration provides. The transliteration follows the standard Adad-narari I royal titulary well-known from RIMA 1, A.0.76, with established readings for the city names Taidi, Kaḫat, and others. The term 'mdIŠKUR-ERIM.TÁḪ' (Adad-narari) is clearly the royal name. Cross-check: the photo cannot be used to verify individual sign values line by line at this resolution, but no obvious discrepancies between the visual impression and the transliteration were detected.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v2 · May 11, 2026 · 2650 in / 924 out tokens
Why it matters
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.
Transliteration
mdIŠKUR-ERIM.TÁḪ NUN el-lu si-mat DINGIR.MEŠ / e-tel-lu šá-ka-an-ki DINGIR.MEŠ mu-kín ma-ḫa-zi / né-ir dap-nu-ti um-ma-an kaš-ši-i / qu-ti-i lu-lu-mì-i ù šu-ba-ri-i / mu-dí-ip kúl-la-at na-ki-ri e-li-iš / ù šap-li-iš da-iš KUR.KUR-šu-nu / iš-tu lu-ub-di ù KUR.ra-pi-qu / a-di e-lu-ḫa-at ka-ši-id URU.ta-i-di / URU.šu-ri URU.ka-ḫa-at URU.a-ma-sa-ki / URU.ḫu-ur-ra URU.šu-du-ḫi URU.na-bu-la /…
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 Q005738.
Attribution
Image: CBS 09446 (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P264815). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.