Position in chronology
Sargon II 074
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 2(i 1) [Sargon (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer] and [Akkad, ki]n[g of the four quarters (of the world)], favorite of the great gods [...]. (i 6) The gods Aššur, Nabû, (and) [Marduk granted me] a reign without equal [and] exalted my [good] reputation t[o the heights]. (i 10) [I continually acted] as provider for (the cities) Sippar, Ni[ppur, Babylon, and Borsippa, (and) I made restitution for the wrongful damage suffered] by [the people of privileged status, as many as there were (of them); (...)] (i 14) Too…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 2 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[mLUGAL-GI.NA LUGAL GAL-(ú) LUGAL dan-nu] / [LUGAL kiš-šá-ti LUGAL KUR aš-šur.KI] / [GÌR.NÍTA KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI LUGAL KUR šu-me-ri] / ⸢ù?⸣ [URI.KI] ⸢LUGAL?⸣ [kib-rat LÍMMU-i] / ⸢mi⸣-gir DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.⸢MEŠ⸣ [...]1 / AN.ŠÁR dna-bi-um [dAMAR.UTU] / LUGAL-ut la šá-na-an ⸢ú⸣-[šat-li-mu-ni-ma] / zi-kir šu-mì-ia [dam-qu] / ú-še-ṣu-ú ⸢a⸣-[na re-še-e-ti] / ša ZIMBIR.⸢KI NIBRU⸣.[KI KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI u…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Sargon II, edited by Grant Frame (RINAP 2, 2021). ORACC text Q006555.
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/Q006555/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.