Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 015
Written in modern English
Marduk, sage of the gods, granted him a broad mind and extensive knowledge; Nabû, scribe of all things, gave him the precepts of his wisdom; and Ninurta and Nergal endowed his body with power, virility, and unrivalled strength. He learned as much as the legendary sage Adapa, mastering the secret and hidden lore of all the scribal arts. The text then skips — most of what followed is lost — before picking up with a reference to the years he sat proudly on the throne of his father, and a statement that he completed Eḫursaggalkurkurra, the temple of the god Aššur his lord.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i 1') [...] the god Marduk, the sage of the god[s, granted me a broad mind] (and) extensive knowledge [as a gift]; the god Nabû, the scribe of everything, bestowed on me the pr[ecepts of his wisdom] as [a present]; (and) the gods Ninurta (and) Nergal endowe[d my body] with power, viri[lity], (and) unrivalled strength. [I learned] as much as the sage A[dapa], the secr[et (and) hidden lore of all of the scribal arts]. (ii 1) [...] my [yea]rs that [I sat] proudly [on the] throne of the father who had engendered me. (ii 3) I completed [Eḫursaggalku]rkurra, the temple of (the god) Aššur, my lord.…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Ashurbanipal claims the wisdom of the antediluvian sage Adapa as personal divine endowment — coupling scribal mastery with military might to justify one king's embodiment of both priestly and warrior ideals.
Transliteration
x [x (x)] x [...]1 / dAMAR.⸢UTU ABGAL DINGIR⸣.[MEŠ uz-nu ra-pa-áš-tu] / ḫa-si-su pal-⸢ka-a⸣ [iš-ru-ka ši-rik-te] / dAG DUB.SAR gim-ri ⸢iḫ⸣-[ze né-me-qi-šú] / i-⸢qi⸣-šá-an-ni a-na [qiš-ti] / dnin-urta dU.GUR dun-ni ⸢zik⸣-[ru-te] / e-mu-qi la šá-na-an ⸢ú-šar-šu⸣-[u gat-ti] / šin-na-at ⸢ABGAL a?⸣-[da-pà a-ḫu-uz] / ⸢ni-ṣir⸣-[tú ka-tim-tú kul-lat ṭup-šar-ru-tú] / [... MU.AN?].NA.MEŠ-ia ša šá-qí-iš2 /…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003714.
Attribution
Image: BM 099326 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P422253). 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/Q003714/.
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One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
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.