Position in chronology
Sargon II 092
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Sargon (II), k[ing ...], nešakku-priest of the god Aššur, [just] shepherd [...] king [...], governor (appointed) by the gods Nabû and Marduk, whom [(...)] the great gods appointed to [...] ... and [...] ..., I — (4) The temple of the gods Nabû (and) Marduk that had previously been built opposite the new gate facing north, became dilapidated and Adad-nārārī (III), son of Šamšī-Adad (V), king of Assyria [(...), a prince who pr]eceded me, (re)built (it). The foundations of this temple were not made strong and its foundation wall was not fixed like bedrock. Seventy-five years elapsed and it…
Source: Frame, G. 2021. The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC). RINAP 2. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap2/Q006573/
Why it matters
Documents Sargon II renovating a Nabû-and-Marduk temple at a northern gate, citing a 75-year structural failure since Adad-nārārī III's repair — concrete evidence of Assyrian kings invoking building history to legitimise their own piety.
Transliteration
mLUGAL-GI.NA ⸢LUGAL?⸣ [...] x NU.ÈŠ da-šur1 / SIPA [ke-e-nu? ...] ⸢UŠ?⸣ MAN [...] GÌR.NÍTA dAG ù dAMAR.UTU2 / ša a-na x [...]-⸢e⸣-ti ⸢ù?⸣ [...] x-⸢a/e?⸣-ti ib-bu-ú-šú DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ a-na-ku-ma3 / É dAG dAMAR.UTU šá ina tar-ṣi KÁ.GAL GIBIL-ti ma-ḫi-rat IM.SI.SÁ i-na pa-na ep-šú e-na-aḫ-ma4 / mdIŠKUR-né-ra-ri DUMU mdUTU-ši-dIŠKUR LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI [(...) NUN? a]-lik pa-ni-ia e-pu-uš / ša É…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006573.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P420323). source
Translation excerpted from Frame, G. 2021. The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC). RINAP 2. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap2/Q006573/.
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