Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 084
Written in modern English
An eclipse that lasted all day was read as a sign: the reign of the king of Elam was finished and his land would be destroyed. Sîn — called here 'the Fruit' — had handed down an irreversible verdict, and shortly afterward the Elamite king's lip went slack and his eye shrank. None of this shamed him into submission; despite what Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bêl, Nabû, Ištar of Nineveh, Ištar of Arbela, Ninurta, Nusku, and Nergal had done to him, he called up his army. The text breaks off mid-sentence as it begins to name the month.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i' 1') [it (an eclipse) lasted like this the entire day, (thus signifying) the end of the reign of the king of the land] Elam [(and) the destruction of his land]. (i' 2') [“The Fruit” (the god Sîn) revealed to me his decision], which cannot be chang[e]d. [At that time, a mishap befell him]: His lip became paralyzed and his eye became small. (i´ 5´) [He was not ashamed by thes]e [measures] that the deities Aššur and Sîn, [Šamaš, Bêl (Marduk)], Nabû, Ištar of Nineveh, [Ištar of Arbela, Ninurta], Nusku (and) Nergal had taken against him, [(and) he mu]stered his troops. (i' 8') [During the month…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Why it matters
Links a lunar eclipse, divine omens, and the Elamite king's physical affliction — paralyzed lip, diminished eye — to justify Ashurbanipal's campaign: a rare royal text weaving extispicy logic directly into annalistic narrative.
Transliteration
[kal u₄-me uš-ta-ni-iḫ a-na qí-it BALA.MEŠ MAN KUR].⸢ELAM.MA.KI⸣ [ZÁḪ KUR-šú]1 / [ú-kal-lim-an-ni GURUN EŠ.BAR-šú] ša la in-nen-⸢nu-u⸣ / [ina u₄-me-šú-ma mi-iḫ-ru im-ḫur-šu]-⸢ma⸣ NUNDUM-su uk-tam-bil-ma IGI-šú iṣ-ḫi-ir2 / [it-ti ep-še-e-ti an-na-a]-⸢ti⸣ ša AN.ŠÁR u d*15*(erased) d303 / [dUTU dEN] ⸢d⸣AG d15 šá NINA.KI / [d15 šá LÍMMU-DINGIR dMAŠ] ⸢d⸣nusku dU.GUR e-pu-šú-uš / [ul i-ba-áš id]-ka-a…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003783.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P398785). 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/Q003783/.
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