Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 200
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1) [For the goddess] Ištar, the exalted lady who resides in the city Ar[bela, ...] ..., who subjugates [...] Ashurbanipal, who(m) to/for ... [...], (whom) you gave the just scepter, which expands the land, (whom) you presented ... [...], (5) the one called by the goddess Dilbat (the planet Venus), the daughter of the god Enlil, the lady of [...], whom Ištar, the daughter of the god Sîn, [...] to subjugate [his] enemies [...]. (7) During the month Abu (V) — the month of the heliacal rising of the Bow Star, the festival of [the honored queen, the daughter of the god Enlil (the goddess Ištar)]…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Links Ištar of Arbela's cult calendar to the heliacal rising of the Bow Star (Sirius) in month Abu, anchoring Sargonid royal legitimacy in observed astronomical phenomena.
Transliteration
[a-na d]⸢15⸣ GAŠAN ṣi-ir-ti a-ši-bat ⸢URU?.LÍMMU?⸣-[DINGIR ...] / [...] šá? A TA E? NU mu-šak-niš-at [...] / [x x (x)] maš-šur-DÙ-⸢A⸣ ša a-na ṣi-it LA Aʾ x [...] / ⸢ta⸣-ad-di-na ⸢GIŠ.GIDRU⸣ i-⸢šar-tú⸣ mu-rap-piš-at ⸢KUR? ta?-qí?-šá?⸣ x x (x) [...] / ni-bit ddil-⸢bat DUMU.MUNUS⸣ dEN.LÍL be-let [...] / šá d15 DUMU.MUNUS d30 a-na šuk-nu-še LÚ.KÚR.MEŠ-[šú? ...] / ina ITI.NE ITI na-an-mur-ti MUL.PAN…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007608.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P394579). 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/Q007608/.
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