Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 190
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(i 1) [Before] my [father] was bor[n] (and) my [birt]h-[mother] was created in [her] moth[er’s] womb, the god Sîn, who created me to be king, named me [to] (re)build Eḫulḫul, (i 5) saying: “Ashurbanipal will (re)build that temple and make me dwell therein upon an eternal dais.” The word of the god Sîn, which he had spoken in distant days, he now revealed to the people of a later generation. He allowed the temple of the god Sîn — which Shalmaneser (III), son of Ashurnasirpal (II), (i 10) [a ki]ng of the past (who had come) before me, had built — to become [ol]d and [he entrus]ted (its…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Sîn's prenatal naming of Ashurbanipal as rebuilder of Eḫulḫul — the moon-god's temple at Ḥarrān — grounds a political construction project in divine predestination, illustrating how Sargonid kings legitimised costly building programmes through celestial prophecy.
Transliteration
[a-di a-di-ni a]-⸢bi la im-ma-al-la?⸣-[du] / [um-mì a-lit]-ti ⸢la ba⸣-na-a-ta ina lìb-bi ⸢AMA?⸣-[šá] / [a-na] ⸢e⸣-peš é-ḫúl-ḫúl iz-kur ni-bit MU-⸢ia⸣ / ⸢d⸣30 šá ib-na-an-ni a-na LUGAL-u-ti / um-ma mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A É.KUR šú-a-tú ip-pu-uš-ma / qé-reb-šú ú-⸢šar⸣-man-ni pa-rak da-ra-a-ti / ⸢a⸣-mat d30 šá ul-tu u₄-me ru-qu-ti iq-bu-u / e-nen-na ú-kal-lim UN.MEŠ ar-ku-u-ti / ⸢É⸣ d30 šá…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007598.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P394785). 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/Q007598/.
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