Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 003
Translation · reference
High confidence(i 1) I, Ashurbanipal, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters (of the world), offspring of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, descendant of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria — (i 6) The great gods in their assembly determined a favorable destiny as [my] l[ot] (and) they granted me a broad mind (and) allowed my mind to learn all of the scribal arts. They glorified the mention of my name in the assembly of princes (lit. “stags”) (and) made my kingship great; they generously granted…
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/Q003702/
Why it matters
Claims divine sanction for Ashurbanipal's literacy — the gods granted him 'a broad mind' to master the scribal arts — embedding scholarly kingship ideology at the heart of Assyrian royal self-presentation.
Transliteration
a-na-ku mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A LUGAL GAL LUGAL dan-nu1 / LUGAL ŠÚ LUGAL KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI LUGAL kib-rat LÍMMU-tim / ṣi-it lìb-bi mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-AŠ LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI / GÌR.NÍTA KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI LUGAL KUR EME.GI₇ u URI.KI / ŠÀ.BAL.BAL md30-PAP.MEŠ-SU LUGAL ŠÚ LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI / DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ ina UKKIN-šú-nu ši-mat SIG₅-tim i-šim-mu ⸢šim⸣-[ti] / uz-nu ra-pa-áš-tum iš-ru-ku-u-ni / kul-lat ṭup-šar-ru-ti…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003702.
Attribution
Image: OIM A07921 (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P392145). 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/Q003702/.
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