Position in chronology
Adad-nerari II 7
About this tablet
This is a standard royal building inscription of Adad-nerari II, king of Assyria (reigned c. 911–891 BCE), almost certainly from a palace doorway, threshold slab, or foundation deposit at one of the Assyrian royal capitals. The inscription identifies the king by name and titles and anchors his legitimacy through a two-generation royal genealogy — his father Aššur-dān II and his grandfather Tiglath-pileser I, both described with the same grandiose titulary. It survives as several broken fragments (museum number 127849, excavated 1929), which is typical for Neo-Assyrian brick and stone inscriptions that were smashed and scattered when Assyrian cities fell. Short as it is, this formula is the backbone of Assyrian royal self-presentation: the king's identity is inseparable from his dynasty.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is the palace of Adad-nerari II, king of the universe and king of Assyria. He was the son of Aššur-dān II, likewise king of the universe and king of Assyria, and the grandson of Tiglath-pileser I, who held those same titles before him. The rest of the inscription is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our enginePalace of Adad-nerari II, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Aššur-dān [II], king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Tiglath-pileser [I], king of the universe, king of Assyria.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo3 uncertain terms ↓
- MAN KIŠ — Logographic writing for šar kiššati, 'king of the universe/totality'; KIŠ here represents kiššatu, not the city Kiš, though the two are related etymologically.
- GISKIM-A-é-šár-ra — Logographic for Tukultī-apil-Ešarra (Tiglath-pileser); GISKIM = tukultu 'trust/support', A = aplu 'heir/son', é-šár-ra = Ešarra (temple of Aššur). Orthography varies across manuscripts.
- aš-šur-KAL-an — Logographic for Aššur-dān; KAL = dannu 'strong', giving 'Aššur is strong/mighty'. The theophoric element is clear but the exact vocalisation of the epithet may vary.
Reasoning ↓
A photograph was examined. The main inscribed fragment (large central piece) shows multiple lines of Neo-Assyrian cuneiform in reasonably clear condition, with small, densely packed wedges. The upper portion of the inscribed face preserves the most legible signs; the lower portion shows surface abrasion and some loss of detail, making individual sign-by-sign verification difficult at this resolution. The museum accession label reads '127849 / Th 1929 / 10-12 / 505', consistent with a British Museum Nimrud or Assur excavation lot. The broader fragment group appears to be the obverse and edges of a single broken tablet. The transliteration is a standard Neo-Assyrian royal titulary formula for Adad-nērārī II (911–891 BCE): É.GAL = 'palace of'; mdIŠKUR-ERIM.TÁḪ = Adad-nērārī; MAN KIŠ = šar kiššati 'king of the universe'; MAN KUR aš-šur = šar māt Aššur 'king of Assyria'; the genealogy traces through Aššur-dān II and Tukultī-apil-Ešarra II. Photo resolution is insufficient to confirm every sign individually, hence medium confidence. See RIMA 2, A.0.99.7 (Grayson 1991) for the standard edition of this inscription.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v2 · May 11, 2026 · 2458 in / 727 out tokens
Why it matters
Attests the royal titulary of Adad-nārārī II — 'king of the world, king of Assyria' — and anchors his lineage through Aššur-dān II to Tiglath-pileser II, fixing the dynastic continuity of the early Neo-Assyrian restoration.
Transliteration
É.GAL mdIŠKUR-ERIM.TÁḪ / MAN KIŠ MAN KUR aš-šur / A aš-šur-KAL-an / MAN KIŠ MAN KUR aš-šur / A GISKIM-A-é-šár-ra / MAN KIŠ MAN KUR aš-šur-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 Q006026.
Attribution
Image: BM 121149 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P467557). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
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.