Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 079
Written in modern English
On his sixth campaign, Ashurbanipal marched against Urtaku, king of Elam, who had forgotten the goodwill shown by Ashurbanipal's father and no longer respected Ashurbanipal's friendship. When famine struck Elam and hunger took hold, Ashurbanipal sent grain to sustain the population and effectively kept Urtaku afloat. Elamites who had fled the famine and taken refuge in Assyria were sheltered there until rain returned to their land and harvests grew again, at which point Ashurbanipal sent them home. The text breaks off before it describes what Urtaku did next.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i 1) On my sixth campaign, I marched against Urtaku, the king of the land Elam who did not remember the kindness of the father who had engendered me (nor) did he respect my friendship. After famine occurred in the land Elam (and) hunge[r] had set in, (i 5) I sent to him grain, (which) sustains the live(s) of [people], and (thus) held [him by the hand]. (As for) his [peopl]e, who [had fled] on account of the famine [and sett]led in [Assyria until it r]aine[d] (again) in his land (and) [harvests grew — (i 10) I sent t]hose [people] wh[o] had st[ayed alive in m]y [land (back) to him. But (as…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Records Assyria's grain relief to famine-struck Elam and the repatriation of Elamite refugees — then frames Urtaku's subsequent aggression as ingratitude, revealing how Sargonid kings cast humanitarian acts as instruments of political obligation.
Transliteration
ina 6-ši ger-ri-⸢ia⸣ / UGU mur-ta-ki MAN KUR.ELAM.MA.KI lu-u al-lik / ⸢ša⸣ MUN AD ba-ni-ia la ⸢ḫa⸣-as-su la iṣ-ṣu-⸢ru ib-ru-ti⸣ / ⸢ul⸣-tu ina KUR.ELAM.MA.KI su-un-⸢qu⸣ iš-ku-nu ib-ba-šu-u ⸢né-eb-re-tú⸣ / ⸢d⸣nisaba ba-laṭ ZI-tim [UN.MEŠ] / ⸢ú?-še⸣-bil-šu-ma ⸢aṣ⸣-bat [ŠU.II-su] / [UN].⸢MEŠ-šú ša la-pa⸣-an su-⸢un⸣-qí [in-nab-tu-nim-ma] / [ú-ši]-⸢bu⸣ qé-reb [KUR aš-šur.KI] / [a-di zu]-⸢un⸣-nu ina…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003778.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P394771). 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/Q003778/.
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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.