Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 022
Translation · reference
High confidence(i 1') [(...) I placed (the bed) in Kaḫilisu, the residence of the goddess Zarpanītu, which] is lad[en with sexual cha]rm. (i 2') [I presented the] god [Mard]uk, the one who loves [my] reign, [with a bed of ebony, a durable wood, (and) which is clad with reddish gold]. (i 3') [...] pure [san]ctuary, [his] prince[ly] abode. [I constructed ...] ... ane[w] for the god Marduk, my lord. (i 5') [(...) in ...] ... and gateways, [I made] the foundations of [two shiny silver pirkus, wh]os[e] weight is [s]ix talents [each], as firm as a m[o]untain. (i 7') [(...)] I s[tationed six fierce wild bulls of…
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/Q003721/
Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's furnishing of Marduk's sanctuary at Babylon — an ebony bed clad in gold, silver pirkus weighing six talents each — charting the Assyrian king's calculated piety toward the Babylonian god after decades of fraught Assyro-Babylonian conflict.
Transliteration
[(...) ina ká-ḫi-li-sù maš-tak dzar-pa-ni-tum ša ku-uz]-⸢bu⸣ sa-⸢al⸣-[ḫu ad-di]1 / [GIŠ.NÁ GIŠ.ESI iṣ-ṣi dà-re-e šá KÙ.GI ḪUŠ.A lit-bu-šat] ⸢a?-na? d⸣[AMAR].UTU ra-im BALA.⸢MEŠ⸣-[ia a-qiš] / [... a-a?]-ak-ku KÙ ⸢šu⸣-bat ru-bu-[ti-šú x x]2 / [...]-⸢uk⸣-tú a-na d⸢AMAR.UTU⸣ EN-ia eš-⸢šiš⸣ [ar-ṣip] / [(...) 2 per-ku KÙ.BABBAR eb-ba ša] ⸢AŠ₄⸣ GUN.[TA.ÀM?] KI.LÁ-⸢šú⸣-[nu] / [...]-⸢a⸣-ni u KÁ.MEŠ-ni…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003721.
Attribution
Image: HMA 9-01773 (Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P247878). 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/Q003721/.
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