Position in chronology
Ashurnasirpal II 026
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Ashurnasirpal (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Tukultī-Ninurta (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Adad-nārārī (II), (who was) also great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria; the valiant man who acts with the support of (the god) Aššur, his lord, and who has no rival among the rulers of the four quarters (of the world); marvelous shepherd, fearless in battle, mighty flood-tide which has no opponent, the king who subdues those insubordinate to him, who rules all of the peoples, strong male, who…
Source: 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/Q004480/
Why it matters
Transliteration
maš-šur-PAP-A MAN GAL-ú MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur / A TUKUL-MAŠ MAN GAL-ú MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur A 10-ERIM.TÁḪ / MAN GAL-ú MAN dan-nu MAN ŠÚ MAN KUR aš-šur-ma eṭ-lu qar-du / šá ina GIŠ.tukul-ti aš-šur EN-šú DU.DU-ku-ma ina mal-ki.MEŠ / šá kib-rat LÍMMU-ta šá-nin-šu la i-šu-ú LÚ.SIPA / tab-ra-te la-di-ru GIŠ.LAL e-du-ú gap-šu / šá ma-ḫi-ra la i-šu-ú MAN mu-šá-ak-ni-ìš / la-a…
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 Q004480.
Attribution
Image: Based on A. Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC I (1114-859 BC) (RIMA 2), Toronto, 1991. Adapted by Jamie Novotny (2015-16) and lemmatized and updated by Nathan Morello (2016-17) 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. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/riao/Q004480/..
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/Q004480/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.