Position in chronology
Shalmaneser 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/Q005827/
Why it matters
One of the surviving royal inscriptions of Shalmaneser I, whose reign marks the consolidation of Assyrian imperial ambition in the 13th century BCE — though this manuscript is too fragmentary for its specific content to be read.
Transliteration
[...] x [...] / [...] x su x [...] / [...] ⸢MAN?⸣ KALA? MAN KUR ⸢aš⸣-[šur ...] / [...] x e-na-aḫ [...] / [...] x ri di x tu [...] / [...] x ⸢lu⸣-ter dx [...] / [...] 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 Q005827.
Attribution
Image: BM 128194 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P422947). 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/Q005827/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.