Position in chronology
Sîn-šarru-iškun 05
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') [...] ... [... that ..., king of A]ssyria, [... had bu]ilt became dilapidated [and] o[ld ...] I built (and) [completed (it) from] its [fo]undation(s) to [its] crenellatio[ns. ... I enlarged] its struc[tu]re. [...] ... [...] (7') [... when that] house [...]
Source: Novotny, J. & Jeffers, J. 2018–. The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (630–627 BC) and Sîn-šarra-iškun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria. RINAP 5. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003866/
Why it matters
Attests late Sargonid royal building rhetoric — the formulaic 'foundation to crenellation' restoration topos — applied to an Assyrian cultic or palatial structure in the empire's final decades before Nineveh's fall in 612 BCE.
Transliteration
[...] x A [(x)] AD [...] / [... LUGAL KUR] ⸢AN⸣.ŠÁR.KI x [...] / [... e]-⸢pu⸣-šu e-na-aḫ-[ma] la-⸢ba⸣-[riš il-lik ...] / [... ul-tu] ⸢UŠ₈⸣-šú a-di gaba-dib-⸢bi⸣-[šú] ar-ṣip [ú-šak-lil ...] / [...] x ši-⸢kit-ta⸣-šu [ú-rab-bi? ...] / [...] x [x x] x [...] / [... e-nu-ma?] ⸢É⸣ [šu-a-tu? ...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003866.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P397675). source
Translation excerpted from Novotny, J. & Jeffers, J. 2018–. The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (630–627 BC) and Sîn-šarra-iškun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria. RINAP 5. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003866/.
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