Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 083
Written in modern English
Teumman repeatedly sent insulting messages demanding that Ashurbanipal hand over five fugitives — Ummanigaš, Ummanappa, Tammarītu, Kudurru, and Parrû — who had thrown themselves at the king's feet seeking protection. Trusting in Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bēl, Nabû, Ištar of Nineveh, Ištar of Arbela, Ninurta, Nusku, and Nergal, who had given him courage, Ashurbanipal refused every demand and would not give the fugitives up. Teumman then raised his army, readied for battle, and began sharpening his weapons for a march against Assyria — at which point Ashurbanipal mustered his own forces, but the tablet breaks off before the account continues.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i' 1) [Teumm]an regularly sent insul[t(s) concerning Ummani]gaš, Ummanappa, Tammarītu, Kudurr[u, (and) Parrû, f]ugitive(s) who had grasped the feet of m[y] royal majesty. [I trusted] in the deities Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bēl (Marduk), Nabû, Ištar of [Nineveh, (i´ 5) Iš]tar of Arbela, Ninurta, Nusku, (and) Nergal who had encour[aged me]. I did not comply with [the utte]rance(s) of his provocative speech (lit. “mouth”). I did not give him [those] fugi[tives. He] mustered his troops, prepared for bat[tle], (and) was sharpening his weapons in order to march to [Assyria. I mus]tered my battle troops,…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Ashurbanipal justifies refusing extradition of Elamite royal refugees to Teumman — framing the rejection as divine command — before narrating the campaign that ended at the Battle of the Ulaya River, 653 BCE.
Transliteration
[šá (UGU) mum-man-i]-gaš mum-man-ap-pa mtam-ma-ri-tú mku-dúr-⸢ru⸣ / [mpa-ru-u] ⸢mun⸣-nab-ti šá iṣ-ba-tú GÌR.II LUGAL-ti-⸢ia⸣ / [mte-um]-⸢man⸣ iš-tap-pa-ra me-re-eḫ-[tu] / [at-kil] a-na AN.ŠÁR d30 dUTU dEN dAG d15 ⸢šá⸣ [NINA.KI] / [d]⸢15⸣ šá URU.LÍMMU-DINGIR dMAŠ dnusku dU.GUR ša ú-⸢tak-kil⸣-[u-in-ni] / [qí]-bit pi-i-šú er-ḫu ul am-gúr ul a-din-šú ⸢mun⸣-[nab-ti šá-a-tu-nu] / ⸢id⸣-ka-a ERIM.ḪI.A-šú…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q003782.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P394830). 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/Q003782/.
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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.