Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 078
Written in modern English
Ashurbanipal showed mercy to Uallî and sent an envoy with a message of goodwill. Uallî responded by sending his own daughter to serve as a housekeeper. A tribute payment that had lapsed during the reign of earlier kings was reinstated, and Ashurbanipal added thirty horses to it before imposing the new total on Uallî. Around the same time, Birisḫatri, a city ruler of the Medes, along with Sarati and Pariḫi — two sons of Gagî, a city ruler of the land Saḫi — had thrown off Ashurbanipal's yoke; the text breaks off as he records their defeat and plunder.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1') [I had mercy on him (Uallî)]. I [dispatched my messenger with (a message of) goodw]ill [to him. He sent me (his) daughter, his own offspring, to serve as a housekeeper. (As for) his former payment, which they had discontinued in] the time of the ki[ngs, my ancestors, they carried (it) before me]. I add[ed thirty horses to his former payment and imposed (it) upon him]. (4') [At that time, (as for) Birisḫatri, a city ruler of the M]edes, (and) Sara[ti (and) Pariḫi, two sons of Gagî, a city ruler of the land Saḫi, who had cast off the yoke of m]y [lordship, I conquered (and) plundered]…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Records Ashurbanipal's reimposition of tribute on the Median ruler Uallî — including thirty additional horses — and his simultaneous campaigns against Median city-rulers who had defected, documenting Assyrian methods of coercion and reward on the empire's eastern frontier.
Transliteration
[... šul]-⸢me ú?⸣-[ma-ʾe-er ...] / [...] ⸢ter?-ṣi? LUGAL?⸣.[MEŠ ...] / [...] ú-⸢rad⸣-[di-ma ...] / [...] ⸢mad⸣-a-a msar-⸢a⸣-[ti ...] / [... EN-ti]-⸢ia?⸣ <<U>> 75 URU.MEŠ-[šú-nu ...] / [...] ⸢al⸣-qa-a a-⸢na⸣ [...] / [... KUR.ur]-⸢ar⸣-ṭi šá ⸢a⸣-na [...]1 / [... il]-li-ka ⸢qé?⸣-[reb ...] / [... ma-(aʾ)-as]-⸢su⸣ i-⸢du⸣-[ku ...] / [...] TU SU [...] / [...] x KUR ŠI [...] / [...] x [...]
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003777.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P396498). 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/Q003777/.
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