Position in chronology
Aššur-dan I 1002
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') (No translation warranted.)
Source: 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/Q005897/
Why it matters
One of the surviving royal inscriptions of Aššur-dān I, attesting Assyrian kingship ideology at a period when Middle Assyrian power was consolidating along the middle Tigris.
Transliteration
[...] x ⸢at⸣ nu x x ru x [...] / [...] x-su ik-ki-su iš-tu [...] / [...]-su-nu ša as-su-ḫa KUR.x [...] / [...] ma-ri-dte-šub MAN KUR.⸢su?⸣-[bar-te ...] / [...] ⸢ub⸣-lu-ni 2 KA.KEŠDA.MEŠ x [...] / [...] ⸢MAN⸣ KUR.su-bar-te is-ḫúp? [...] / [...] ⸢MURUB₄⸣ KUR-ti-šu x [...] / [...] x-⸢ku⸣-nu ma-ri-⸢d⸣[te-šub ...] / [...] x tu-šu/ku x [...] / [...] x (x) [...]
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 Q005897.
Attribution
Image: BM 121057 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P422333). 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/Q005897/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.