Position in chronology
Adad-narari I 06
Written in modern English
The inscription records that Adad-narari captured a standard belonging to a servant of a deity whose name is now lost, then built something — the object or structure is not fully preserved — for Aššur's Ištar, his lady, depositing his commemorative inscriptions inside it. He closes with a charge to future rulers: if any of them repairs the crumbling sections and restores his inscribed name to its proper place, the god Aššur will hear that ruler's prayers.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RIAo(18') [...] the standard, the servant [of ...] I took and [I built] for the Assyrian Ištar, my lady. [I deposited my commemorative inscriptions (therein)]. (20'b) [In the future], may [a future ruler] renovate its [dilap]idated section(s) (and) [return] my inscribed name [to its place. (The god) Aššur] will (then) listen to his [prayers].
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
Why it matters
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.
Transliteration
[...] ⸢ú⸣-ri-gal-li mu-ta-bi-⸢il⸣ / [...] x al-qa-ma a-na diš₈-tár aš-šur-ri-te GAŠAN-ia / [e-pu-uš? ù na-re-ia aš-ku-un a-na ar-kat UD.MEŠ NUN ar-ku-ú] ⸢an⸣-ḫu-su lu-di-iš MU šaṭ-ra / [a-na aš-ri-šu lu-te-er daš-šur ik-ri-bi]-⸢šu⸣ i-še-me
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 Q005743.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Assur (mod. Qalat Sherqat) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P451864). source
Translation excerpted from 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/Q005743/.
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