Position in chronology
Sargon II 011
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 2(1) Palace of Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad; (3) the king who with the support of the gods Aššur, Nabû, (and) Marduk ruled all together from the land Yadnana (Cyprus), which is in the middle of the Western Sea, (5) as far as the border(s) of Egypt and the land Musku, the wide land Amurru, the land Ḫatti (Syria) in its entirety, all of (the land) Gutium, the distant Medes (who live) on the border of Mount Bikni, the lands Ellipi (and) Rāši on the border of the land Elam, (10) all the Arameans who live beside the…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 2 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
É.GAL mLUGAL-GI.NA MAN kiš-šá-ti MAN KUR aš-šur.KI / GÌR.NÍTA KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI MAN KUR ⸢EME⸣.GI₇ ù URI.KI / LUGAL ša i-na tu-kul-ti daš-šur dAG dMES / iš-tu KUR.ia-ad-na-na ša MURUB₄ tam-tim / šá-lam dUTU-ši a-di pa-aṭ KUR.mu-ṣu-ri / ù KUR.mu-uš-ki KUR MAR.TU.KI DAGAL-tim / KUR.ḫat-ti a-na si-ḫir-ti-šá nap-ḫar gu-ti-um.KI / KUR.ma-da-a-a ru-qu-ti šá pa-aṭ KUR.bi-ik-ni / KUR.el-li-pí KUR.ra-a-še šá…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006492.
Attribution
Image: Created by Grant Frame and the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) Project, 2019. Adapted for RINAP Online by Joshua Jeffers and Jamie Novotny and lemmatized by Giulia Lentini, Nathan Morello, and Jamie Novotny, 2019, for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation-funded OIMEA Project at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0..
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/Q006492/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.