Position in chronology
Adad-nerari III 21
Written in modern English
Adad-nārārī III dedicated this to Aššur, his great lord. He identifies himself as appointee of Enlil and vice-regent of Aššur, son of Šamšī-Adad V — who held the same titles — and grandson of Shalmaneser III, who likewise served as appointee of Enlil and vice-regent of Aššur. The dedication was made for Adad-nārārī's own life, the well-being of his descendants, and the welfare of his land.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
RIAoFor (the god) Aššur, the great lord, his lord: 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, [dedicated (this)] for his life (and) [the well-being of his seed] and his land.
Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online — scholar edition (ORACC / MOCCI).
Transliteration
a-na aš-šur EN GAL EN-šú [m]⸢d⸣IŠKUR-ERIM.TÁḪ GAR d[EN.LÍL ŠID aš-šur] ⸢A⸣ mšam-ši-10 [GAR dBAD] / ŠID aš-šur A* mdsál-ma-nu-⸢MAŠ⸣ [GAR] ⸢d⸣BAD ŠID aš-šur-<ma> ana TI-⸢šú⸣ [šùl-mu NUMUN-šú] u KUR-⸢šú⸣ [BA]
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 Q004769.
Attribution
Image: Based on A. Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC II (858-745 BC) (RIMA 3), Toronto, 1996. Adapted by Jamie Novotny (2016) and lemmatized and updated by Nathan Morello (2016) for the Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), a corpus-building initiative funded by LMU Munich and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (through the establishment of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East) and based 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. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/riao/Q004769/..
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/Q004769/.
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.