Position in chronology
Aššur-dan I 1001
Not yet translated
This tablet is catalogued with its transliteration and photographed, but no published translation exists yet. Our translation engine works through the untranslated corpus every night, oldest first — this page will update the day its turn comes. If you are a specialist and can read it, we would love your help.
Why it matters
One of the surviving royal inscriptions of Aššur-dān I, attesting the titulary and self-presentation of a Middle Assyrian king at the threshold of Assyria's rise to imperial power.
Transliteration
[...] x x [(x)] / [...] x ⸢e⸣ et te [(x)] / [...] x ka-ra-ši-šu áš-⸢ši?⸣ / [...] x-ta-al-qí mi-iṣ-ri / [...] x šá-a-tu / [...] x ⸢ri⸣ e-liš ù šap-liš / [... aš]-⸢ru⸣-up URU.MEŠ-šu a-na šup-pí / [...] x-ia-aš ù KUR.ir-ri-ia / [...] aš-šur ub-la i-na KUR.su-ḫi / [...] x ⸢ak⸣-šud šal-la-su aš-lu-la / [...] ⸢LUGAL⸣.MEŠ šá KUR.šá-da-ni / [...] ⸢a⸣-né-er ù ú-še-ek-ni-iš / [...]-⸢šu⸣ i-na-ru it-te-ia-ma / [...] x ka-bi-ta ù aq-ra / [...]-⸢ia-e-ni⸣ LUGAL KUR.še-li-ni / [...] x im 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 Q005896.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P394589). 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/Q005896/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.