Position in chronology
Tukulti-Ninurta I 1005
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/Q005883/
Why it matters
A royal inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I preserved across multiple manuscript witnesses, attesting the Assyrian court's scribal practice of copying and circulating royal commemorative texts.
Transliteration
[...]-šú-nu šá da-nu x x [...] / [... AN]-e u KI-tim [...] / [... KUR.lu-lu?]-⸢bi⸣-i ik-šu-ud-ma ⸢um⸣-[ma-an? ...] / [...] ⸢KÁ⸣.DINGIR.RA.KI il-lik [...] / [...] nap-ḫar-šú-nu dEN.⸢LÍL?⸣ [...] / [...] ul-⸢tu⸣ [...] / [... KÁ.DINGIR].⸢RA⸣.KI ana muḫ-⸢ḫi⸣ [...] / [...].MEŠ gu-x [...] / [...] x a a ⸢am⸣ 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 Q005883.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P425917). 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/Q005883/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.