Position in chronology
Adad-narari I 1001
Written in modern English
A king — the son of Irištienni and grandson of someone whose name is lost — rebelled, and events involving a city wall and matters of life followed, though the damaged surface makes the details unreadable. Irištienni spoke some words that are also lost. With great strength and with weapons given to him by the goddess Ištar, his lady who marched before him, Adad-narari entered the distant land of the Lullumê with a resolute heart. What followed — conquest, submission, and actions involving a wall — is too broken to piece together. The inscription closes with a blessing: whoever restores Adad-narari's inscribed name and foundation texts, the god Aššur will hear his prayers. A final partial line reads 'the hand of MES—' before the text breaks off.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RIAo(1') [..., the son of Ir]ištienni, [...], the grandson of I[...], the offspring of [...: ...]ki, the king of the land [...] rebelled. The wall of the city [...]... and life [...]. Irištienni said: “[...].” (9') With great strength [...], with the mighty weapons [that the goddess Ištar, my lady], the one who goes before me, [had given to me, I entered with] my [firm/wise] heart the land of the Lullumê, w[hich is far off]. Conquest [...] submission [...]. (16') [...] that wall [...] that wall [...]. (20') [(As for) the one who restores my] inscribed [name and my foundation inscriptions, the god Aššur will (then) listen to] his prayers. (21'b) [...] (l.e. 1) The hand of MES[...]
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
Why it matters
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.
Transliteration
[...] x x x [...] / [mi-ri]-iš-ti-e-en-ni [...] / [ma]-⸢ar⸣ ma-ri ša mi-x [...] / ⸢le⸣-e-ep-le-e-pí ša [...] / [m?x]-ki LUGAL KUR.x [...] / [ik-ki?]-ir BÀD ša ⸢URU⸣.[...] / ⸢ar/ri⸣-mi-⸢šu⸣-ma ba-la-⸢ṭa?⸣ [...] / um-ma? mi-ri-iš-ti-⸢e?⸣-[en-ni ...] / i-na e-mu-qí da-an-na-⸢ti⸣ [...] / ⸢i-na⸣ ka-ak-ki da-an-nu-⸢ti⸣ [...] / ⸢a⸣-li-ka-at pa-ni-[ia ...] / i-na KUR.lu-ul-lu-ma-a ⸢ša?⸣ [... ina…
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 Q005787.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P452479). 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/Q005787/.
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