Position in chronology
Esarhaddon 1015
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 4(i 1') [...] ... [...] creator of the royal crown [... diviner]s [...] ... the oil expert [...] ... difficult ... [who makes] decision(s), filled with radiance, (i 5′) [...] perfect lambs [that] had [no] black spots. He repeated to me [al]l that was in his heart. He did not impart (it) to the wise diviners, (but rather) he wrote (it) on a tablet, put (it) in an envelope, sealed (it), (and) gave (it) to them. He did not sleep all night until the giver of decisions, the lord of lords, the god Šamaš shone. (i 10′) To obtain (correct) decisions, hands were raised (praying). His favorite son…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Attests Esarhaddon's direct, sealed communication with Šamaš — bypassing the diviner class — as the theological basis for his royal decisions, revealing how Sargonid kings legitimised authority through personal divine access.
Transliteration
[...] ⸢LÚ⸣.x x x x x (x) / [...] x x x [...] ⸢ba⸣-nu-u a-ge-e MAN-ti (x) / [...] DUMU.MEŠ ⸢LÚ⸣.[ḪAL ...]-lu-lu ABGAL šam-ni / [...] x-šu šup-šu-uq ⸢e⸣-x [KUD]-⸢is⸣ EŠ.BAR ma-li nam-ri-ri / [...] ⸢UDU⸣.SILA₄.MEŠ šuk-lu-lu-⸢ti⸣ [šá la] ⸢i-šu⸣-u ti-rik ṣu-ul-me / [mim]-⸢mu⸣-ú ina lìb-bi-šú ba-šu-⸢ú ú⸣-šá-an-⸢ni-an-ni⸣ / ⸢ul⸣ ú-pat-ti ša DUMU.MEŠ LÚ.⸢ḪAL pal⸣-ka-a ḫa-si-sún / i-na ṭup-pi iš-ṭur…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Esarhaddon, edited by Erle Leichty (RINAP 4, 2011). ORACC text Q003387.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P396332). 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/Q003387/.
Related tablets
Related sources
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.