Chapter 05 · 2000 – 1600 BCE
Old Babylonian
Hammurabi, the Epic of Gilgamesh, mathematics.

~1925 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šu-ilišu 2002 / CDLI Seals 012212 (CDLI Seals 012212 (composite))
“(1) Šu-ilišu, the powerful man, king of his land: Šara-mutum, the scribe, son of Ur-Šulpae.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001939/
Read the full tablet entry~1925 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šu-ilišu 2003 / CDLI Seals 012026 (CDLI Seals 012026 (composite))
“(1) ..., child of ..., servant of Šu-ilišu.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001940/
Read the full tablet entry~1925 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šu-ilišu 3
“(1) Because of his great love for Ninisina, Šu-ilišu, the powerful king, king of Sumer and Akkad, built a great city wall whose fearsome radiance silences everyone in order to make the scattered people of the south and highlands secure in their dwellings around Isin. The name of this city wall is “Šu-ilišu is the beloved of Eštar.””
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001936/
Read the full tablet entry~1925 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šu-ilišu 4 / CDLI Seals 013691 (CDLI Seals 013691 (composite))
“(1) Šu-ilišu, the powerful king, king of Urim, the beloved of Enlil and Ninisina.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001937/
Read the full tablet entry~1925 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Ur-Ninurta 1
Royal titulary of Ur-Ninurta of Isin (~1923–1896 BCE) accumulates priestly and pastoral epithets across Nippur, Ur, Eridu, and Uruk, mapping the ideological geography of a dynasty competing to reunify Sumer after Ur III's collapse.
“(1) Ur-Ninurta, the shepherd, who provides Nibru with everything, the herdsman of Urim, the išib priest of Eridug with pure hands, the favourite en priest of Unug, king of Isin, king of Sumer and Akkad, the spouse chosen by Inana.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q001971/
Read the full tablet entry~1925 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Zambiya 2add
“(1) For Ninisina, his lady, Zambiya, the powerful king, king of Isin, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the pure E-niĝar for her joyful festival.”
Source: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q006341/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Puzur-Sin 1001
“(1) When Puzur-Sîn, vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Aššur-bēl-šamê, destroyed the evil of Asīnum, offspring of Šamšī-[Adad (I)], who was ... of the city Aššur, and instituted proper rule for the city Aššur, (at that time), [I (Puzur-Sîn) removed] ... a foreign plague, (who was) not of the flesh of [the city] Aššur. (15) The god Aššur justly ... [with] his pure hands and I, by the command of (the god) Aššur himself, my lord, destroyed that improper thing that he had worked on, (specially) the wall and palace of Šamšī-Adad (I), his grandfather, (who was) a foreign plague (and) not of the…”
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/Q005681/
Read the full tablet entry~1900 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses
Šamši-Adad I 01
“(1) Šamšī-Adad (I), king of the world, builder of the temple of the god Aššur, pacifier of the land between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River, by the command of the god Aššur, who loves him, (and the one) whom the gods Anu and Enlil called by name for greatness among the kings who came before (him). (18) (As for) the temple of the god Enlil, which Erišum (I), the son of Ilu-šūma, had built, it had become dilapidated and I abandoned it. Then, I built the temple of the god Enlil, my lord, the fearful dais, the large chapel, the seat of the god Enlil, my lord, (all of) which were…”
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/Q005645/
Read the full tablet entry