Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 202
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') [...] placed ... [... g]raves [... t]o their side ... [...] you change[d t]hem [from a man] into a woman [... (5´) ...] their fortifie[d] watering place [...] awe-inspiring brill[iance ...] (the god) Aššur and the goddess Ištar like [...] battle like an engine[er ... in a]ll directions daggers [... (10´) ... the pos]ition of the mercile[ss] arrow [... sp]ears, the weapons of (the god) Aššur that conque[r ... I grasp]ed the bows of Ištar, the lady of b[attle, ...] your axes that cannot ... [... cons]tantly flash like lightning [...]. (15') [... to s]trike down the Elamite who(se) [...]…
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/Q007610/
Why it matters
Attests Aššurbanipal's invocation of Aššur and Ištar as divine weapons-bearers in his Elamite campaigns, linking royal military ideology to the goddess's martial persona in mid-7th-century Assyrian royal rhetoric.
Transliteration
[...] ⸢iš-kun NA⸣ x [...] / [...] ⸢ki⸣-maḫ-ḫi MA [...] / [... a?]-⸢na?⸣ i-di-šú-nu šap-⸢la⸣-[...] / [... zik-ru]-⸢su-nu⸣ sin-niš-a-niš tu-šá-⸢lik⸣ [...] / [...] maš-⸢qí⸣-su-nu dan-na-⸢tú⸣ [...] / [...] na-mur-ra-[tu ...] / [...] x AN.ŠÁR u d15 ⸢GIM⸣ [...] / [...] tam-ḫa-ru ki-ma kiš-kàt-⸢te⸣-[e ...] / [... a-na er]-⸢bet⸣-ti šá-a-ri GÍR.MEŠ šul-[...] / [... man]-za-az mul-mul-lu la pa-⸢du⸣-[u ...]…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007610.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P395949). 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/Q007610/.
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