All tablets.

Esarhaddon 051

Esarhaddon records refurbishing divine statues in Ešarra with Arallu gold and jewels approved by Marduk and Zarpanītu — concrete evidence of how Assyrian kings staged ritual renewal of cult images to legitimise royal piety.

~675 BCE·

Neo-Assyrian

RINAP 4

Esarhaddon 054

Records Esarhaddon imposing ritual provisions — honey, groats, and chufa — on the city Kār-Esarhaddon, linking royal foundation ideology to the material upkeep of Aššur and Mullissu's cult.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

Esarhaddon 055

Attests Esarhaddon's program of cultic restoration — linking his legitimacy as 'true shepherd' to the repair of akītu-house imagery, a propagandistic equation of piety with royal right to rule.

Esarhaddon 056

Attests Esarhaddon's claim to piety through his devotion to Eḫulḫul, the temple of the moon-god Sîn at Harran — a sanctuary whose restoration was central to his dynastic legitimacy.

Esarhaddon 057

Esarhaddon frames his rule through divine appointment by Enlil and Aššur across two generations, encoding a father-to-son legitimacy chain that justifies his contested succession after Sennacherib's assassination.

Esarhaddon 060

Catalogs Esarhaddon's conquests from Cilicia to Dilmun in a single inscription — Cimmerian defeat, the beheading of Sidon's king, and the first Assyrian tribute levy on Dilmun attested in royal records.

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRIAo

Esarhaddon 075

Esarhaddon's self-presentation as restorer of Esagil and Babylon documents the ideological rehabilitation of Babylonian cult after Sennacherib's destruction of the city in 689 BCE.

Esarhaddon 077

Claims Esarhaddon restored Esagil and returned gods exiled to Assyria — royal propaganda justifying his Babylonian kingship by casting conquest as pious reconstruction.

Esarhaddon 078

Claims Esarhaddon restored Esagil and returned gods exiled to Assyria — key royal-propaganda evidence for his deliberate reversal of Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon.

Esarhaddon 088

Royal titulary anchoring Esarhaddon's legitimacy through three generations of Sargonid kings — evidence of how Neo-Assyrian rulers used genealogical inscription to consolidate dynastic authority.

Esarhaddon 096

Documents Esarhaddon's construction of a palace at Tarbiṣu, a royal suburb north of Nineveh, attesting the city's role as an administrative satellite within the Assyrian imperial heartland.

Esarhaddon 099

Attests Esarhaddon's dual titulature as both 'king of Assyria' and 'governor of Babylon,' reflecting his policy of reconciliation with the city his father Sennacherib had destroyed in 689 BCE.

Esarhaddon 100

Esarhaddon's royal titulature anchors his reign within a legitimating genealogy stretching from Adasi through Sargon II to Sennacherib, while the blazing-flame simile shows the martial rhetoric woven into Assyrian monumental self-presentation ca. 675 BCE.

Esarhaddon 1004

Attests Esarhaddon's restoration of Esagil and resettlement of Babylon — his politically charged reversal of his father Sennacherib's destruction of the city, here cast in the idiom of pious royal benefaction.

Esarhaddon 1005

Attests Esarhaddon's claim to dual sovereignty as king of Assyria and governor of Babylon, while recording his restoration of Emašmaš — the temple of Ištar at Nineveh — as an act of filial and divine legitimation.

Esarhaddon 1007

Preserves Esarhaddon's claim to have uprooted Kushite power from Egypt (~671 BCE) and reset the region under Assyrian-appointed rulers — direct royal testimony to the conquest that briefly made Assyria an African as well as Asian empire.

Esarhaddon 101

Esarhaddon's self-presentation as chosen simultaneously by Aššur, Nabû, Marduk, Sîn, Anu, and Ištar reflects his calculated effort to legitimise rule across both Assyrian and Babylonian religious traditions after his controversial succession.

Esarhaddon 1010

Esarhaddon claims to have restored 60,000 sheep and goats — sacred herds of Ištar and Nanāya scattered under Sargon II — to Uruk, documenting Assyrian kings' use of temple-livestock restitution as a tool of southern Babylonian legitimation.

Esarhaddon 1011

Preserves Esarhaddon's self-presentation as divinely sanctioned restorer — reversing capital sentences, returning plunder, and resettling displaced populations — within a hymnic frame that fuses royal law and divine mythology.

Esarhaddon 1012

Attests Esarhaddon's intervention in Urarṭu and his installation of a throne-claimant whose name ends in -šuma-iškun, fragmentary evidence for Assyrian proxy rule on its northern frontier ca. 675 BCE.

Esarhaddon 1013

Attests Esarhaddon's rebuilding of an akītu-house and assertion of dual kingship over Assyria and Babylon, linking cultic restoration to royal legitimacy in a period of deliberate reconciliation after his father Sennacherib's sack of Babylon.

Esarhaddon 1014

One of the preserved royal inscriptions of Esarhaddon (RINAP 4, Q003386), whose composite manuscript tradition helps reconstruct the rhetorical and titulary conventions of seventh-century Assyrian kingship.

Esarhaddon 1017

A fragmentary royal inscription of Esarhaddon (~675 BCE) preserving traces of a military muster and invocation of Ištar, adding a damaged but datable witness to Assyrian royal self-presentation.

Esarhaddon 1018

Preserves fragmentary traces of Esarhaddon invoking divine sanction from Aššur himself — attesting the theological grammar by which Neo-Assyrian kings legitimised their rule in royal inscriptions.

Esarhaddon 1019

Chronicles Esarhaddon's capture of Memphis (~671 BCE) — the only Assyrian royal inscription to record a reigning king's conquest of the Egyptian capital, marking the empire's greatest territorial reach.

Esarhaddon 1020

Attests Esarhaddon's ideological program of rebuilding Babylon — destroyed by his father Sennacherib — by relocating the divine births of Bēl, Bēltīya, and Ea to Aššur, rewriting Babylonian theology in Assyrian terms.

Esarhaddon 104

Esarhaddon frames his restoration of Babylon by cataloguing the bad omens that condemned a previous king — making this one of the clearest surviving examples of Assyrian rulers using omen-lore to legitimise regime change.

Esarhaddon 109

Esarhaddon legitimises his reign by casting himself as the gods' chosen restorer of Babylonian shrines and avenger of Akkad — direct ideological response to his father Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon in 689 BCE.

Esarhaddon 116

Esarhaddon's justification for Sennacherib's sack of Babylon: the Babylonians themselves broke divine law — selling Esagil's treasures to Elam — so the gods, not Assyria, destroyed the city.

Esarhaddon 117

Attests Esarhaddon's claim to have restored neglected shrines and forgotten rites — part of his systematic effort to legitimate rule after his father Sennacherib's sack of Babylon.

Esarhaddon 126

Attests Esarhaddon's restoration of Etemenanki, the great ziggurat of Babylon, framing reconstruction as personal piety toward Marduk — evidence of an Assyrian king actively courting Babylonian religious legitimacy.

Esarhaddon 128

Attests Esarhaddon's devotion to Ištar of Nippur — here styled Queen-of-Nippur enthroned in Ebaradurgara — documenting Assyrian royal investment in a Babylonian cult centre during his post-conquest reconciliation policy.

Esarhaddon 129

Dedicates a building project to Enlil 'whose command cannot be revoked,' pairing that theological formula with Esarhaddon's full titulary to show how Assyrian kings grounded imperial legitimacy in divine sanction.

Esarhaddon 133

Dedicatory inscription to Ištar-of-Uruk in her Eanna temple: attests Esarhaddon's deliberate cultivation of the ancient Sumerian cult centre as a source of royal legitimacy seven centuries after Ur III.

Esarhaddon 2003

Issued in the voice of Naqīʾa-Zakūtu, Esarhaddon's mother, this inscription is a rare case of an Assyrian queen mother publicly claiming a share of war spoils and directing conquered peoples to corvée labour in her own name.

Esarhaddon 048

Opens with a seven-god invocation — Aššur through Šamaš — that maps the full Assyrian divine hierarchy, anchoring royal authority in cosmic order at the height of Esarhaddon's empire.

SAA 04 108. Should Esarhaddon Send an Army to a Destination? (PRT 026) [military and political]

(1) [Šam]aš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking y[ou]! (2) [Es]arhaddon, king of Assyria, who now is intent on send[ing to the destin]ation of his preference [the troops and armed forces wh]ich are written in this papyrus, and [placed before your great divinity, and (whom) your great divinity knows] — (5) [in accor]dance with the command of your great divinity, Šam[aš], great lord, and your [favor]able decisions, should the subject of this query, [Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], strive and plan? [Should he send] these troops and armed forces to where he wishes? Is…

SAA 04 289. Is Tammaritu Going to Invade Assyrian Territory? (ABL 1195) [military and political]

(1) (This report) which was co[mmunicated] to Assurbanipal, king of Assyria: "Tammaritu, king of Elam, is mo[bilizing] his troops and making a hos[tile] incursion into Assyrian territory" — (4) is it a reliable rumor? (5) From this day, the first day of this month, [...] of this year, to the first day of the coming month, [...] of this year, will the troops and army of Tammari[tu], king of Elam, come forth to engage in battle and will they make a hostile incursion into Assyrian territory, or against Nippur? (r 1) When the Puqudean troops hear of this sortie of the king of Elam, will they rebel…

SAA 04 321. Is the Rumour of Insurrection against Assurbanipal True? (ABL 1367) [military and political]

(1) I ask you, Manlaharban: (2) This rumor of an insurrection which was reported to Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, thus: (5) "They are making an insurrection against you," (6) is it decreed and confirmed? (r 1) Will it happen? Is it true? Will they catch me? Will I die? Will they capture me in the course of it? (r 4) Disregard that a woman has written it and placed it before you.

SAA 04 322. Will Assurbanipal Survive this Insurrection? (ABL 1368) [military and political]

(1) [I as]k you, [Ma]nlaharbanuni, (2) about this rumor of insurrection which was reported to Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, thus: (5) "They are making an insurrection against you." (6) Will Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, survive and escape this insurrection? (r 3) Will he prevail over those who are making the insurrection against him, and will they fall, [and ...]? (r 6) Disregard that a woman has wri[tte]n and placed it before you.

SAA 04 341. Fragment of a Report Containing Blessings (CT 54 069+) [unclassifiable]

(1) The ['sta]tion' is long [...]. (2) The 'path' [reaches] its 'seats.' (3) The 'strength' is present. The 'path' on the left of the gall [bladder] (4) and the coils of the colon are 16 in number. In [your] fa[vorab]le ext[ispicy] there are two niphus. (6) If [over] the 'increment' there is a 'weapon'-mark and [it rises] from [right to left: my army will take] the enemy's [bo]oty. (Break) (r 2) Month Elul (VI), 17th day, eponym ye[ar of NN]. (r 3) May Šamaš and Adad, impose [a just] verdict and grant th[is to the ki]ng, my lord! (r 6) May they make you attain your goal and [bestow] eternal ha…

SAA 16 001. Letter to Urtaku, King of Elam (ABL 0918)

(1) A tablet from Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, to Urtaku, king of Elam, [my] br[other]. I a[m] well, your sons and daughters are well, my country and magnates are well. May Urtaku, king of Elam, my brother, be well, may my sons and daughters be well, may your magnates and your country be well! (9) Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bel, Nabû, Ištar of Nineveh, Ištar of Arbela and Manziniri have now [fulf]illed and confirmed what they promised, (and) have developed our f[rie]ndship to (its) peak. (14) N[ow t]hen, [...] of establishing fame (15) [......] (Break) (r 1) [...] [1]00 1[00 x x x x] (r 2) [...] [1]50…

SAA 16 006. Reading Letters to the King (CT 53 391)

(Beginning destroyed) (1) As [to what you wrote to me]: "You did not read [nor open the letter] which [I sent] to you." (3) How [would] I [not do] thi[s]? When a letter whi[ch you send to me comes] to [my re]porter, [he pe]rsonally [opens] the let[ter] and [makes me hear] its [infor]mation. (9) [W]hy [should I read] a letter? I take care of myself. (When) I see [a letter], I do not open it nor r[ead it]. (r 2) Besides, the messenger [who brings a letter] to [his lord], whether a guard, [a ...], or a mounted [messenger ...] — let them bring [......] (Rest destroyed)

SAA 16 007. Sealed Order (CT 53 693)

(Beginning destroyed) (1) I wro[te ......] (2) until n[ow ...] (3) When the seal[ed order came to me], I personally sent [......] (6) without [ ......] (7) you [......] (r 1) who is in the presence [......] (r 2) no [......] (Rest destroyed)

SAA 16 008. Augurs from Hamath (ABL 1346)

(1) [O]f the augu[rs ...] (2) [the] (king) of Hamath, the sister [...] (3) [At] the beginning of the reign [...], (4) the year which [...] (5) I brought him here, and [p]ersonally [spoke] as [follows] in the presence of [...]: "[Let] the augur[s le]arn [...]." Therea[fter ...] (Break) (r 1) they deposite[d ......] (r 2) and y[ou ......] (r 3) loyally [...] (r 4) s[end ...] to me! [...] (Break) (r.e. 9) [bef]ore the (king) of Hamath [...] (Rest destroyed or too broken for translation )

SAA 16 009. Fragment Referring to Bel and Offenders (CT 53 351)

(Beginning destroyed) (3) [... sayi]ng: "One [...] (4) [... ] If [...] (5) your [...], which [...] upon you (6) Did he not gather [...]? (7) [... say]ing: "It is not Bel (8) [......] (9) [...] Be loyal! (r 1) [...] your brothers (r 2) [...] here do not know (r 3) [that] you keep sending [letters to the so]n of Marduka (r 4) [...] Now you (r 5) [...] I have sounded (r 6) [......]. And [...] (r 7) [... the o]ffen[der(s) ...] (Rest destroyed)

SAA 16 011. Fragment Referring to Thrones (CT 53 397)

(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...] cam[e ...] (2) [I have he]ard that [...] (3) are continually se[n]ding [...] (4) Again, [(the fact) that] you s[ent] me your [...]s and your [...]s but do not provide them [with ...] (7) [......] says (8) [......] (9) We shall provide you [with ...] (10) [... Š]umma-šarru, a chariot fighter (11) [......] outside [...] (Break) (r 2) [......] throne (r 3) [...] your [...] (r 4) [......] I did [no]t drive away (r 5) [......] enter (r 6) [...] the throne exists (r 7) [...] they are lying to you (r 8) [...] they tell you [...] (r 9) [... wi]th the throne of the deput…

SAA 16 012. (no title) (CT 53 683)

(Beginning destroyed) (1) your [......] ... (2) [...] you (pl.) (3) [...] you (pl.) did not go (4) [...... o]f my father (Rest destroyed)

SAA 16 014. (no title) (ABL 1001)

(1) To the king, my lord: your [serva]nt Assurbanipal. Good health to the king, my lord! May Aššur, Bel and Nabû bless the king, my lord. (7) [... t]o the king, my lord (8) [......] very (Rest destroyed)

SAA 16 015. Report on the Cimmerians of Iyaze (ABL 1026+)

(1) [To the king], my lord: your servant Assurbanipal. [Good health] to the king, my lord! May Aššur, Bel and Nabû bless the king, my lord. (3) Concerning Rahiṣ-Dadi [about whom] the king, my lord, said: "Let him enter [into] your [presen]ce, interrogate him, and report to me" — I have interrogated him, and he told me as follows: (6) "The king having sent me, (saying) 'See how the face of Iyazê is, and give him a piece of your mind about those Cimmerians,' I went to see his face: he was very frightened. I said to him about the Cimmerians: 'Why have you removed the Cimmerians?,' and he said as…