Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

Ashurbanipal 178

~655 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q007586

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1') [I, Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, whom (the god) Aššur and the goddess Ištar made stand over his foes (and who) achieved his] hea[rt’s] desire: [Tammarītu, the king of the land Elam, set out t]o aid Šam[aš-šuma-ukīn — (my) hostile brother — (and) t]o fight with [my] troops. (5´) [He, together with his brothers, his family, the seed of his father’s house], (and) his nobles [fled] to Nineveh [from Indabibi, a servant of his wh]o had in[cited] rebellion against him, [and (then) he kissed the feet of my royal majesty and made an appeal to my lord]ly [majesty t]o do obeisance to m[e]. (8')…

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/Q007586/

Why it matters

Records Elamite king Tammarītu's humiliating flight to Nineveh and submission at Ashurbanipal's feet after a servant's coup — corroborating the Rassam Cylinder's account of Assyria exploiting Elam's internal collapse.

Transliteration

[...] x [...]1 / [im-ṣu-u] ma-la ⸢lìb⸣-[bi-šú mtam-ma-ri-tú MAN KUR.ELAM.MA.KI] / [a]-⸢na⸣ kit-ri mdGIŠ.[NU₁₁-MU-GI.NA ŠEŠ nak-ri it-ba-a] / [a]-na mit-ḫu-uṣ ⸢ERIM.ḪI⸣.[A-ia la-pa-an min-da-bi-bi ARAD-šú] / ⸢ša⸣ si-ḫu UGU-šú ú-⸢šab⸣-[šú-u šu-u a-di ŠEŠ.MEŠ-šú qin-ni-šú NUMUN É AD-šú] / ⸢LÚ⸣.GAL.MEŠ-šú a-na ⸢NINA.KI⸣ [in-nab-tú?-nim-ma GÌR.II LUGAL-ti-ia ú-na-šiq-ma] / [a]-⸢na⸣ e-peš ARAD-ti-⸢ia⸣…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007586.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P395563). 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/Q007586/.

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