Position in chronology
Esarhaddon 129
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [For the god Enlil, lord of the lands], whose comma[nd] cannot be revoked, [... who]se utterance [cannot be reject]ed, [...] gods ... [...] ... ruler [...] ... [...] the great lord, his lord: (7) [Esarhaddon, great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of] the four [quar]ters (of the world), [governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, selected by the steadfast hea]rt of the god Enlil; [who from his childhood trusted in the gods Aššur, Enlil, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, Marduk, Na]bû, Nergal, and the (other) great gods, (10) [his lords, (who) allowed] him [to…
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/Q003358/
Why it matters
Dedicates a building project to Enlil 'whose command cannot be revoked,' pairing that theological formula with Esarhaddon's full titulary to show how Assyrian kings grounded imperial legitimacy in divine sanction.
Transliteration
[ana dEN.LÍL EN KUR.KUR] ⸢šá⸣ la in-nen-nu-ú qí-⸢bit-su⸣ / [x x x ša la uš-tam]-⸢sa?⸣-ku ṣi-it pi-⸢i⸣-šú / [...] x DINGIR.MEŠ šu-⸢ta⸣-x [(...)] x-su / [...] ⸢šá? la?⸣ [(...)] x ma-al-ku / [...] DU / [...] EN GAL-i EN-šú / [mAN.ŠÁR-ŠEŠ-SUM.NA LUGAL GAL-ú LUGAL dan-nu LUGAL ŠÚ LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI LUGAL kib]-⸢rat⸣ er-bet-ti / [GÌR.NÍTA TIN.TIR.KI LUGAL KUR šu-me-ri u URI.KI i-tu-ut kun lìb]-⸢bi⸣…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003358.
Attribution
Image: CBS 02350 (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) — from Nippur (mod. Nuffar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P259355). 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/Q003358/.
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