Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 063
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) The palace of Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of [Assyria], the one who conquered the wi[de] land Elam (and) who devastated [its] settl[ements], son of Esarhaddon, king of the world, king of A[ssyria], son of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of [Assyria], descendant of Sargon (II), king of the world, king of [Assyria] — after [I had brought about] the defeat of <Te>umman i[n battle], by the command of the gods Aššur and Marduk, in[side Nineveh, ...] an i[mage of] my [royal majest]y [...]
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/Q003762/
Why it matters
Transliteration
KUR mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A MAN ŠÚ MAN ⸢KUR⸣ [AN.ŠÁR.KI] / ka-šid KUR.ELAM.MA.KI ra-[pa?-áš?-tú?] / mu-šaḫ-rib da-⸢ád⸣-[me-šá] / A mAN.ŠÁR-PAP-AŠ MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR ⸢AN⸣.[ŠÁR.KI] / A md30-PAP.MEŠ-SU MAN ŠÚ MAN ⸢KUR⸣ [AN.ŠÁR.KI] / ŠÀ.BAL.BAL mLUGAL-GI.NA MAN ŠÚ MAN [KUR AN.ŠÁR.KI] / ul-tú BAD₅.BAD₅ m<te>-um-man i-⸢na⸣ [MÈ áš-ku-nu] / ina qí-bit AN.ŠÁR u dAMAR.UTU ina ⸢qé⸣-[reb NINA.KI] / ⸢ṣa⸣-[lam LUGAL-ú]-⸢ti⸣-ia NA₄.[...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003762.
Attribution
Image: Created by Jamie Novotny and Joshua Jeffers, 2015-18. Lemmatized by Jamie Novotny, 2017, 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/Q003762/..
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/Q003762/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.