Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 088
Written in modern English
The first column and the opening of the second are too damaged to translate. What survives picks up with Indabibi seizing the throne of Tammarītu and taking power over Elam. A group of Assyrians had earlier been captured by Nabû-bēl-šumāti — grandson of Merodach-baladan — who had taken them to Elam by a trick, under cover of night. Indabibi, wanting to keep Ashurbanipal from striking his territory, sent those Assyrians back through his own messenger. The text then turns to the matter of Nabû-bēl-šumāti himself, but breaks off there.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i' 1') (No translation possible) (ii' 1') (No translation possible) (ii' 2') [A]fter [Indabibi (...) sat] on the throne of [Tammarītu] (and) exercised dom[inion over the land Elam], (ii´ 5´) (as for) the [Assyria]ns whom Nabû-bēl-šum[āti, (grand)son of Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan), had seized] by guil[e during the night] (and) taken [(to Elam) with him], Indabib[i, the king of the land Elam], (ii´ 10´) in order to prevent (me) from doing har[m to the territory of his land, sent (them) before me] by the hands of hi[s] messenger. (ii' 12') With regard to Nabû-bēl-šumāti,…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Records Elamite king Indabibi's return of Assyrian captives seized by Nabû-bēl-šumāti — a grandson of the legendary Babylonian rebel Merodach-baladan — documenting the tangled dynastic hostilities of the mid-7th century BCE.
Transliteration
[...] x / [x] x x x [...] / ⸢ul⸣-tu ⸢m⸣[in-da-bi-bi (...)]1 / ina GIŠ.GU.ZA ⸢m⸣[tam-ma-ri-tu ú-ši-bu] / e-pu-šú ⸢be⸣-[lut KUR.ELAM.MA.KI] / DUMU.MEŠ [KUR aš-šur.KI]2 / ša ⸢m⸣d⸢AG⸣-EN-⸢MU⸣.[MEŠ DUMU mdAMAR.UTU-A-SUM.NA/AŠ] / ina pi-ir-ṣa-⸢a⸣-[ti ina šat mu-ši uṣ-ṣab-bi-tu]3 / ú-bi-lu [it-ti-šú] / min-da-bi-⸢bi⸣ [LUGAL KUR.ELAM.MA.KI]4 / áš-šú la ḫa-ṭe-[e mi-ṣir KUR-šú] / ina ŠU.II LÚ.A KIN-⸢šú⸣…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003787.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P394791). 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/Q003787/.
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