Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 259
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) For the god Enlil, lord of the lands, his lord: Ashurbanipal, (5) his obedient shepherd, mighty king, king of the four quarters (of the world), (re)built Ekur, his beloved temple, with baked bricks.
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/Q008348/
Why it matters
Transliteration
den-líl-lá / lugal kur-kur-ra / lugal-a-ni-ir / AN.ŠÁR-ba-an-ap-lu / sipa še-ga-bi / lugal kala-ga / lugal ub-da límmu-ba / é-kur / é ki ág-gá-a-ni1 / sig₄ al-ùr-ra-ta / mu-un-na-dù
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q008348.
Attribution
Image: Based on Grant Frame, Rulers of Babylonia: From the Second Dynasty of Isin to the End of Assyrian Domination (1157-612 BC) (RIMB 2; Toronto, 1995). Digitized, lemmatized, and updated by Alexa Bartelmus, 2015-16, for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation-funded OIMEA Project at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/rinap/Q008348/..
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/Q008348/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.