Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 231
Translation · reference
High confidence(1') [...] ... [... of Babyl]on, true shepherd, who makes the foundations of the land firm, who [...] by his clever knowledge [... with]in the eternal city he elevated. The city of privileged-status, which is depicted as the “Crab” in the heavens and ... [...] its foundations were tottering. The abode of his city was torn out and one could not examine [its] structu[re ... (5´) ...] its [plain]s were full of lions instead of oxen and sheep. In [my] ro[yal] chariot [... whi]ch (with) mighty strength, the fierce bow, the me[rciless] arrow [...]s, I slew and totally destroyed (them). The plains…
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/Q008319/
Why it matters
Equates Babylon with the zodiacal Crab constellation while describing Ashurbanipal's restoration of its tottering foundations — linking Assyrian royal ideology to celestial geography in a rare astro-theological framing of conquest and clemency.
Transliteration
[...] x [x (x)] x x x [...] / [... KÁ].⸢DINGIR.RA⸣.KI SIPA GIN mu-kin iš-di KUR ša ina ⸢ni⸣-kil-ti ZU-ti-šú ⸢ú⸣-[...] / [... ina] ⸢ŠÀ⸣ URU ṣa-⸢a-te⸣ ú-šá-aš-qi URU ki-din-ni ša MUL.AL.LUL ina šá-ma-mi eṣ-ru-ma ŠAB x [...]1 / [...] x it-ru-ra iš-da-a-šú šu-bat URU-šú in-na-as-ḫa-ma la ú-ṣab-bu-u nab-⸢nit⸣-[sa ...] / [... ta?-mir?]-⸢ti?⸣-šú ku-um GU₄.MEŠ u US₅.UDU.ḪI.A im-lu-u UR.MAḪ.MEŠ ina…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q008319.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P396398). 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/Q008319/.
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