Position in chronology
Sennacherib 146
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [A] Chaldea[n (Šūzubu), ... a rash fellow, a] chariot fighter, a servant who belonged to the [governor of the city Laḫīru, (...) who in the time of my father fled like a bird on a]ccount of the beating of the ...-official and the tearing out (of his hair) [... and] wandered about in the open country, [who entered Babylon] when there was rebellion and [revolt (...) and] was reckoned as one of them: They (the Babylonians) exalted him over them and [they entrusted him with] the king[ship of the land of Sumer and Akkad]. (6) To Babylon, which was very guilty, [... (wherein) Šūzubu, a…
Source: Grayson, A.K. & Novotny, J. 2012–2014. The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704–681 BC). RINAP 3. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003951/
Why it matters
Sennacherib frames his destruction of Babylon as justified punishment by casting its king Šūzubu — a runaway Chaldean slave who seized the throne — as a usurper whose illegitimacy condemned the city itself.
Transliteration
[LÚ].⸢kal?-da?-a?⸣-[a? ...-nu la ḫa-sis a-ma-ti]1 / [LÚ].⸢A⸣ SIG ARAD da-⸢gíl pa-ni LÚ⸣.[EN.NAM URU.la-ḫi-ri ... ša i-na ŠÀ u₄-me ša AD-ia] / ⸢la?⸣-pa-an ṭa-re-e ù ba-qa-me ša LÚ.x x [... iṣ-ṣu-riš in-nab-tu-ma] / i-rap-pu-du ka-ma-a-ti i-na si-ḫi ù [bar-ti (...) qé-reb KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI e-ru-bu-ma] / im-ma-nu-u it-ti-šú-un UGU-šú-nu ú-šar-bu-šú-ma ⸢LUGAL⸣-[ut KUR EME.GI₇ ù URI.KI ú-šad-gi-lu…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003951.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P394554). source
Translation excerpted from Grayson, A.K. & Novotny, J. 2012–2014. The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704–681 BC). RINAP 3. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003951/.
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