Position in chronology
Esarhaddon 008
Translation · reference
High confidence(i' 1') [...] ... [...] I se[nt my officials, the gover]nors [of the boundary areas of their land, with th]em and they trampled [the people living in] those [cities (and) made (them) b]ow down at their feet. I imposed [the tribute (and) paym]ent of my lordship [upon] them. (i' 6') [(As for) the land Pa]tušarra, a district in the [area] of the salt desert, [which is in the midst of the land of the] distant [Med]es, borders Mount Bikni, the lapis lazuli mountain, (and) upon the soil of whose land none [of the kings], my [ancestors], had walked — I carried off to Assyria [Šidir-par]na (and)…
Source: Leichty, E. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). RINAP 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003237/
Why it matters
Claims Assyrian boots on the soil of Patušarra — a district near Mount Bikni in the Median salt desert — where no predecessor king had walked, pushing the attested eastern horizon of Esarhaddon's campaigns beyond earlier royal records.
Transliteration
[...] x (x) [...]1 / [... LÚ.šu-ut] ⸢SAG⸣.MEŠ-⸢ia⸣ [LÚ.NAM.MEŠ šá pa-a]-⸢ṭi⸣2 / [KUR-šu-un it]-⸢ti-šú⸣-nu ú-⸢ma⸣-[ʾe-er]-ma / [UN.MEŠ a-ši-bu-te URU.MEŠ] ⸢šá⸣-tu-nu ik-bu-⸢su⸣ [ú]-⸢šak⸣-ni-šú GÌR.II-šú-⸢un⸣ / [GUN man]-⸢da-tú⸣ be-lu-te-ía ú-kin ⸢ṣe⸣-[ru-uš]-šú-un / [KUR.pa]-tu-⸢uš⸣-ar-ri na-gu-u šá ⸢i⸣-[te]-⸢e⸣ É.MUN / [šá qé-reb KUR.ma-da]-⸢a⸣-a ⸢SÙ⸣.MEŠ šá pa-a-ṭi KUR.bi-ik-ni šad-⸢di⸣…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003237.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P450408). source
Translation excerpted from Leichty, E. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). RINAP 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003237/.
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