Position in chronology
Erišum I 10
About this tablet
A building inscription of Erišum I, an early Assyrian ruler at Aššur (roughly 1974–1935 BCE), recording his dedication of a temple to the city-god Aššur. The king describes smearing the walls with ghee and honey — a ritual act of consecration — and pouring a libation. The inscription closes with a standard curse or appeal to future rulers: whoever inherits this temple must maintain the sacred nail-pegs (foundation markers) and restore the building if it falls into disrepair. It is one of the oldest known Assyrian royal building inscriptions, giving us a rare first-person window into early Assyrian royal piety and the legal-religious obligations placed on successor princes.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Erišum, governor of Aššur and son of Ilī-šuma, offered a prayer to his lord Aššur. On the walls of the temple he rubbed in ghee and honey and poured out a single libation vessel. The temple's name is 'Wild Bull.' As for any future prince who bears a name like mine and takes on the care of this temple: if the building begins to decay and grow old, he must not neglect the foundation pegs — he must restore them to their rightful place.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Erish]um, / governor / [of A]ššur, / [son of Ilī-šu]ma, / [governor of A]ššur — / [...] ... / [...] ... / to Aššur, / his lord, / he prayed, and / on whatever / wall / ghee and honey / he smeared, / a libation-vessel / one / [he] poured out. / The [house] (temple) — / [its] name is 'Wild Bull' / [its] name [...] / ever[more] / whoever [the temple] / buil[ds], / the prince [whose name] / is like [mine] — / if the temple / wearies / [and] grow[s old], / the nail(-peg) / let him not neglect; / the nail(-peg) / to [its proper place] / [let him restore].
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Engine notes
read from photo7 uncertain terms ↓
- ÉNSI — Rendered 'vice-regent' following standard Assyriological convention for iššiakku; some translate 'city-ruler' or 'governor.' Here it is the Assyrian royal title specifically subordinate to the god Aššur.
- i-na mì-ma i-ga-ri Ì.NUN ù LÀL ú-ší-il₅-ma — 'Upon whatever wall he anointed with ghee and honey' — mīmma igāri is 'any/whatever wall'; ušīl (< šâlum / wašālum) means 'to anoint/smear.' The ritual act of smearing wall foundations with fat and honey is well-attested in building inscriptions but the exact verbal form here is debated.
- ti-ib-kam iš-te₉-en [as]-bu-uk — Literally 'one libation-pouring he poured.' tibkam (< tabākum 'to pour') and asbuk are related forms; the exact syntax and whether this is a relative clause or main clause is uncertain.
- ri-mu-um — 'Wild bull' — standard epithet applied to the house or the dedicant; rimu can mean wild bull (auroch) and is a common royal/divine honorific. Here it apparently designates the house itself as a dedicatory name.
- sí-kà-tám — sikkatum, literally 'peg' or 'nail' — in building inscriptions this is the foundation peg or commemorative nail marking the building. The instruction not to remove it and to restore it to its proper place is a curse/blessing formula protecting the monument.
- [lu-ta-e-er] — Restoration; lutaʾer (D-stem precative of târum) 'may he return/restore.' Fully broken in the text; supplied from parallel exemplars.
- [DUMU DINGIR-šu]-ma — Restoration of the patronymic 'son of Ilum-šuma' (also written Ilu-šumma); brackets indicate the signs are broken and restored from parallel manuscripts of this inscription.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photo (top image, obverse): the tablet is a roughly lozenge-shaped fragment in moderately good condition for its upper and central registers, though the upper-left corner is heavily eroded or flaked away. Several clusters of cuneiform wedges are discernible across approximately 10–12 legible line zones, with two-column layout visible in the middle section. Signs confirming ÉNSI (double-wedge group), the DA-ŠÙR sequence (Aššur determinative + city name), and what appears to be the IK-RU-UB cluster are recognisable, broadly agreeing with the transliteration's core royal dedication formula. The lower portion of the obverse becomes progressively less distinct; wedge impressions are shallow and smeared. The reverse (bottom image) is largely blank/unscribed clay except for a modern museum accession number '1922.188' inked near the base. No transliteration can be verified for the broken and bracketed passages (lines 1–6, 17–26) from the photo alone. This is an Old Assyrian building inscription of Erišum I (ca. 1974–1935 BCE), attested in multiple exemplars; the formula of anointing a wall with ghee and honey and the wild-bull dedication epithet are well-known from parallel Aššur inscriptions (see Grayson, RIMA 1, A.0.33.1; Veenhof, Old Assyrian Period). The sikkatum ('peg') renewal clause is a standard Mesopotamian building-inscription motif.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v3-conventions · May 11, 2026 · 2856 in / 1155 out tokens
Why it matters
Erišum I consecrates the Aššur temple 'Wild Bull' by mixing ghee and honey into the mortar — one of the earliest Assyrian royal building inscriptions, and evidence that the ritual deposit of clay cones as dynastic markers was already standard practice c. 1900 BCE.
Transliteration
[i-ri]-⸢šum⸣ / ⸢ÉNSI⸣ / [da]-⸢šùr⸣ / [DUMU DINGIR-šu]-⸢ma⸣ / [ÉNSI da]-⸢šùr⸣ / [...] x / [...] x / a-na da-šùr / be-lí-šu / ik-⸢ru⸣-ub-ma / i-na mì-ma / i-ga-ri / Ì.NUN ù LÀL / ú-ší-il₅-ma / ti-ib-kam / iš-te₉-en / [as]-bu-uk / [É]-tum / [ri]-mu-um / [šu]-um-šu / [...]-⸢na⸣-[...] / ma-⸢ti⸣-[ma] / ša [be-tám] / i-pu-[šu] / ru-ba-[um (šu-um-šu)] / ša ki-ma [ia-ti] / šu-ma É-[tum] / i-ta-[na-aḫ] / i-la-[bi-ir] / sí-⸢kà⸣-[tám] / la ú-[ra-áb] / sí-kà-[tám] / a-⸢na⸣ [iš-ri-ša-ma] / [lu-ta-e-er]
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 Q005630.
Attribution
Image: Ashm 1922-0188 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P384837). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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