Esarhaddon 053

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·Q003282

Translation — scholar edition

RINAP 4

High confidence

(1') [...] ... [...] the god(dess) Nin[...] ... [... his] important city [... (5′) ...] his ..., the contributions of (his) eter[nal] dais; [I] brought before him [choice oxen], fattened sheep, strings of fish [and birds, the abundance of the apsû] which never lessens, [...] honey, ghee, suitable for his pure sattukku offerings. (10′) I gave [Šamaš]-šuma-ukīn, (my) son, my offspring, as a present to the god Marduk and the goddess Zarpanītu. I presented (them) with tribute, payment, abundant gifts, (and) unceasing contributions as my [gifts], and I looked after Adediḫegal (Edadiḫegal). (14')…

Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.

Why it matters

Records Esarhaddon's formal dedication of his son Šamaš-šuma-ukīn to Marduk and Zarpanītu, with ritual offerings — a rare first-person account of the succession arrangement that would later split the empire between two brothers.

Transliteration

[...] x x [...] / [...] ⸢dnin⸣-[...] / [...]-⸢šú⸣ lu-u ⸢ra⸣-[...] / [...] URU tak-bit-⸢ti⸣-[šú ...] / [...] x-le-e-šú ⸢i⸣-rib pa-rak ⸢da⸣-[ra-a-ti] / [GU₄.MAḪ-ḫi bit-ru-ti] ⸢šu⸣-uʾ-e ma-ru-ti iz-ḫe-⸢et KU₆⸣ / [u MUŠEN ḪÉ.GÁL ZU.AB] šá la i-šu-u mi-ṭi-tú / [...] ⸢LÀL⸣ Ì.NUN.NA si-mat sat-⸢tuk⸣-ki-šú eb-bu-ti / [ú-ṭaḫ]-⸢ḫa⸣-a ma-ḫar-šú / [mdGIŠ.NU₁₁]-⸢MU⸣-GI.NA DUMU ṣi-it lìb-bi-ia a-na dAMAR.UTU /…

Scholarly note

Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003282.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P396011). 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/Q003282/.

Related tablets

Related sources

~650 BCE

Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI (the Flood)

The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.

~2300 BCE

Disk of Enheduanna

The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.

~1808 BCE

Sumerian King List (Weld-Blundell Prism)

The single most influential Mesopotamian king list — the model for every later attempt to chronicle the deep history of the region. It transmits the political theology of divinely granted kingship, an idea that would echo through Babylon, Assyria, and into the Hebrew Bible. The Weld-Blundell prism (WB 444) at the Ashmolean is the most complete surviving copy.