Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

Ashurbanipal 085

~655 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q003784

Written in modern English

The opening lines are too damaged to read. What survives next describes Ummanigaš — also called Ḫumban-nikaš II — who had fled to the city of Susa; he was brought back inside and installed on the throne of Teumman, with chariots and wagons among the spoils or escort. One or two full columns are then lost entirely. On the reverse, the text picks up with a mention of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, called a hostile brother, and someone taking the direct road, but the surrounding lines — including whatever an Elamite did or was commanded to do — are too broken to reconstruct.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — scholar edition

RINAP 5
High confidence
(i 1') (No translation possible) (i 5') Um[manigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš II) ...] who had fl[ed ...] inside the city S[usa ...] I made h[im] enter [... I placed him] on the throne of Teu[mman ...] (With) the chariots, wagon[s, ...] One or two columns completely missing One or two columns completely missing (r i' 1) [... of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, (my)] hostile brother, [...] took [the] direc[t road ...] until they ... [...] his command [...] (that) Elamite [...] ... [...]

Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Why it matters

Records Ashurbanipal's installation of Ummanigaš II on the Elamite throne after Teumman's defeat — a rare royal account of Assyrian-engineered regime change in Elam, corroborating the annals' narrative of the 653 BCE Ulai campaign.

Transliteration

x [...] / x [...] / ⸢it⸣-[...] / a-⸢na⸣ [...] / mum-[man-i-gaš ...] / ša ⸢in-nab⸣-[tu ...] / qé-reb URU.⸢šu⸣-[šá-an ...] / ú-še-rib-⸢šú?⸣ [...] / ina GIŠ.GU.ZA mte-⸢um⸣-[man ú-še-šib ...] / GIŠ.GIGIR.MEŠ GIŠ.ṣu-um-⸢bi⸣ [...] / ŠEŠ nak-⸢ri⸣ [...] / uš-te-eš-še-⸢ru⸣-[ni ḫar-ra-nu ...] / a-di šú-nu it-ti-[...] / e-peš pi-i-šú x [...] / LÚ.e-la-mu-⸢ú⸣ x [...] / ⸢ú⸣-x [...]

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003784.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P394588). 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/Q003784/.

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