Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 060
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) For the goddess Mullissu, the lady of the lands who dwells in Emašmaš: (2) Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, the ruler who reveres her, the governor (who is) the creation of her hands, who, at her great command, cut off the head of Teumman, the king of the land Elam, in the thick of battle. (6) Moreover, with her great support, I defeated Ummanigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš II), Tammarītu, Paʾê, (and) Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), who had exercised kingship over the land Elam after Teumman, and (then) harnessed them to a processional carriage, the vehicle of my royal majesty. (11) Furthermore, at her…
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/Q003759/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na dNIN.LÍL be-let KUR.KUR a-ši-bat é-maš-maš / mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A MAN KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI NUN pa-liḫ-šá / GÌR.NÍTA DÙ-ut ŠU.II-šá šá ina qí-bi-ti-šá GAL-ti / ina qit-ru-ub ta-ḫa-zi ik-ki-su / SAG.DU mte-um-man LUGAL KUR.ELAM.MA.KI / u mum-man-i-gaš mtam-ma-ri-tú mpa-ʾe-e1 / mum-man-al-daš šá EGIR mte-um-man DÙ-šú / LUGAL-ut KUR.ELAM.MA.KI ina tukul-ti-šá GAL-ti / ŠU.II KUR-su-nu-ti-ma ina GIŠ.šá šá-da-di…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003759.
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/Q003759/..
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/Q003759/.
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.