Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 029
Written in modern English
Itunî, a eunuch in the service of Teumman, king of Elam, had been sent arrogantly before Ashurbanipal again and again as an envoy. When he finally came face to face with Ashurbanipal's battle formation, the sight broke him: he drew his own iron belt-dagger and cut his bow — the symbol of his fighting strength — with his own hand.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1) Itunî, a eunuch of Teumman, the king of the land Elam, whom he (Teumman) insolently sent again and again before me, saw my mighty battle array and, with his iron belt-dagger, cut with his own hand (his) bow, the emblem of his strength.
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
⸢mi-tu-ni-i LÚ.šu-ut SAG⸣ mte-um-man LUGAL KUR.⸢ELAM.MA.KI⸣ / šá ⸢er-ḫa-niš iš⸣-tap-pa-raš-šú a-di maḫ-ri-⸢ia⸣ / ⸢ta-ḫa-zi dan-nu⸣ e-mur-⸢ma⸣ ina GÍR AN.BAR šib-⸢bi-šú⸣ / ⸢GIŠ.PAN si-mat Á.II-šu ik-si⸣-ma ŠU.II ra-ma-⸢ni-šú⸣
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003728.
Attribution
Image: Created by Jamie Novotny and Joshua Jeffers, 2015-18. Lemmatized by Jamie Novotny, 2015–16, for the Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), a corpus-building initiative funded by LMU Munich and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (through the establishment of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East) and based at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/rinap/Q003728/..
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/Q003728/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.