Position in chronology
Adad-narari I 09
Written in modern English
Adad-nārārī I, king of Assyria and son of Arik-dīn-ili, grandson of Enlil-nārārī, both also kings of Assyria, records that the facing wall along the Tigris riverbank had fallen into disrepair — floodwaters had eaten away its limestone and baked brick. He rebuilt it with bitumen and baked brick, making it four and a half bricks thick, and lined the back face with limestone set in bitumen mortar. He deposited commemorative inscriptions within the structure. The inscription breaks off after that, with whatever blessing or curse formula followed too damaged to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RIAo(1) Adad-nārārī (I), king of the world, strong king, king of Assyria, son of Arik-dīn-ili, king of Assyria, son of Enlil-nārārī, (who was) also king of Assyria. (5) (As for) the facing (of the quay wall), which faces the (Tigris) River, which through the (action of the river’s) water had become dilapidated and flood(s) had eroded away its limestone and baked brick, I repaired that facing using bitumen and baked brick.I made (it) the thickness of four and one half bricks. I faced the back of it using limestone and bitumen mortar. [I deposited my commemorative inscriptions (therein]. (15b) May…
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
Transliteration
mdIŠKUR-ERIM.TÁḪ LUGAL KIŠ / LUGAL dan-nu LUGAL KUR aš-šur / DUMU GÍD-DI-DINGIR LUGAL KUR aš-šur / DUMU dEN.LÍL-ERIM.TÁḪ LUGAL KUR aš-šur-ma / ki-si-ir-ta ša pa-ni ÍD / ša i-na A.MEŠ i-na-ḫu-ma / mi-lu a-na ša-a-šu NA₄.pu-li-šu / ù a-gu-ri-šu it-ba-lu / ki-si-ir-ta ša-a-ti / iš-tu ku-up-ri ù e-pè-er-ti / ak-si-ir 4 1/2 a-gu-ri ú-ke-be-er i-na / pu-li / ù ep-ri šá ku-up-ri / ku-tal-li ak-sír / [ù…
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 Q005746.
Attribution
Image: Based on A. Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia BC (to 1115 BC) (RIMA 1), Toronto, 1987. Adapted by Jamie Novotny (2015-16) and lemmatized and updated by Nathan Morello (2016) for the Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), a corpus-building initiative funded by LMU Munich and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (through the establishment of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East) and based at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/riao/Q005746/..
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/Q005746/.
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.