Position in chronology
Adad-nerari III 15
Written in modern English
Adad-nārārī III identifies himself by his lineage and divine mandate: he is the chosen of Enlil and vice-regent of Aššur, son of Šamšī-Adad V — who held the same titles — and grandson of Shalmaneser III, who was likewise chosen of Enlil and vice-regent of Aššur.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RIAo(1) Adad-nārārī (III), appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of Šamšī-Adad (V), appointee of the god Enlil, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of Shalmaneser (III), (who was) also appointee of the god Enlil and vice-regent of (the god) Aššur.
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
Why it matters
Adad-nerari III's royal titulary chains three successive kings as Enlil's appointees and Aššur's vice-regents, attesting the dynastic legitimation formula the Assyrians used to anchor living rule in divine mandate.
Transliteration
m10-ERIM.TÁḪ GAR dBAD ŠID AŠ / A mšam-ši-10 GAR dBAD ŠID AŠ / A msál-ma-nu-MAŠ GAR dBAD ŠID AŠ-ma
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of an Assyrian king, published in the Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online project (RIAo). Translation reproduced from the ORACC edition. ORACC text Q004763.
Attribution
Image: BM 090742 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P428323). source
Translation excerpted from Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo), Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; in association with the RINAP Project, University of Pennsylvania. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q004763/.
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