Position in chronology
Sennacherib 017
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 3(i 1) Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters (of the world), capable shepherd, favorite of the great gods, (i 5) guardian of truth who loves justice, renders assistance, goes to the aid of the weak, (and) strives after good deeds, perfect man, virile warrior, foremost of all rulers, the bridle that controls (i 10) the insubmissive, (and) the one who strikes enemies with lightning: (i 11) The god Aššur, the great mountain, granted to me unrivalled sovereignty and made my weapons greater than (those of) all who sit on (royal) daises.…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 3 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Sennacherib's self-presentation as cosmic shepherd and lightning-wielding warrior attests the formulaic theology of Assyrian royal legitimacy at the height of the empire, rooting military supremacy in the god Aššur's personal mandate.
Transliteration
mdEN.ZU-ŠEŠ.MEŠ-eri-ba LUGAL GAL1 / LUGAL dan-nu LUGAL kiš-šá-ti / LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI LUGAL kib-rat LÍMMU-ti / RE.É.UM it-pe-šu mi-gir DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ / na-ṣir kit-ti ra-ʾi-im mi-šá-ri / e-piš ú-sa-a-ti a-lik tap-pu-ut / a-ki-i sa-ḫi-ru dam-qa-a-ti / eṭ-lum gít-ma-lum zi-ka-ru qar-du / a-šá-red kal ma-al-ki rap-pu la-ʾi-iṭ / la ma-gi-ri mu-šab-ri-qu za-ma-a-ni / daš-šur KUR-ú GAL-ú LUGAL-ut…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sennacherib, edited by A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny (RINAP 3, 2012–2014). ORACC text Q003491.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P424594). 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/Q003491/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.