All tablets.

Shalmaneser V 1004

(Akkadian 1) Palace of [Shalmaneser (V)], king of Assyria: one mina of the king. (Aramaic 1) (One) mina of the king.

Shalmaneser V 2

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shalman[eser (V), king of Assyria]: three minas of the king. (Aramaic 1) Three minas (by the standard) of the land. Three minas of [the] king.

Shalmaneser V 2001

(1) Belonging to Bānītu, queen of Shalmaneser (V), king of Assyria.

Shalmaneser V 2002

(1) Belonging to Bānītu, queen of Shalmaneser (V), king of Assyria.

Shalmaneser V 3

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shal[maneser] (V), king of Assyria: two minas of the king. (Aramaic 1) Two minas (by the standard) of the land. Two minas of the king.

Shalmaneser V 4

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shalmaneser (V), king of Assyria: two minas of the king. (Aramaic 1) Two minas of the king.

Shalmaneser V 5

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shalmaneser (V), king of Assyria: one mina of the king. (Aramaic 1) (One) mina. Mina of the king.

Shalmaneser V 6

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shal[maneser] (V), king of Assyria: two-thirds mina of the king. (Aramaic 1) Two-thirds (mina) of the land.

Shalmaneser V 7

(Akkadian 1) One mina. Palace of Shalmaneser (V), king [of Assyria]. (Aramaic 1) (One) mina of the king.

Shalmaneser V 8

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shal[maneser (V), king of Assyria]: one-fourth (mina) of the king. (Aramaic 1) One-fourth (mina) of the land.

Shalmaneser V 9

(Akkadian 1) Palace of Shal[man]eser (V), king of Assyria: one-[fifth] (mina) of the king. (Aramaic 1) One-fifth (mina). One-fifth (mina) [(...)].

~715 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRIAo

Sargon II 009

Claims Sargon II restored the šubarrû-tax exemptions and abolished corvée in seven southern Babylonian cities, documenting how an Assyrian king legitimised rule over Babylon by presenting himself as guardian of ancient urban privileges.

Sargon II 043

Attests Sargon II's restoration of šubarrû-exemption rights to Sippar, Nippur, and Babylon — a deliberate policy of legitimising Assyrian rule over Babylonia by honouring ancient Babylonian civic privileges.

Sargon II 050

Attests Sargon II's dual claim as secular world-king and nešakku-priest of Aššur, yoking imperial military authority to cultic legitimacy in the standard idiom of Sargonid royal titulary.

Sargon II 053

Sargon II's own account of founding Dūr-Šarrukīn (modern Khorsabad) anchors the date and royal ideology behind one of antiquity's few purpose-built capital cities, completed c. 706 BCE.

Sargon II 054

Records Sargon II's founding of Dūr-Šarrukīn and the explicit theological rationale — divine favor securing his reign — behind building temples to Sîn and Šamaš within the new capital.

Sargon II 076

Attests Sargon II's claim to have restored the šubarrû tax-exemption privileges of Sippar, Nippur, and Babylon — a calculated bid for Babylonian loyalty after his controversial seizure of power.

Sargon II 082

Heavily fragmented royal inscription invoking Ea the creator alongside Sargon II's epithets: one of the manuscript witnesses preserving the theological vocabulary by which Sargonid kings legitimised their rule.

Sargon II 083

Records the king of Meluḫḫa (Kush/Egypt) surrendering the fugitive Iāmānī in chains — the sole cuneiform witness to Assyrian diplomatic reach touching the Nile Valley in the 8th century BCE.

Sargon II 085

Documents Sargon II's founding of Dūr-Šarrukīn and the installation of seven major deities in its temple Eḫursaggalkurkurra, linking imperial city-building directly to divine legitimation.

Sargon II 086

Sargon II's own account of his campaign against Merodach-Baladan II attests the Assyrian siege of Dūr-Yakīn (~710 BCE) and the Chaldean king's defensive tactic of withdrawing troops behind a second perimeter ten nindanu from the main wall.

Sargon II 087

Records Sargon II restoring captive Babylonians of Sippar, Nippur, Babylon, and Borsippa to freedom and repossessing their fields from Sutian squatters — a calculated display of Assyrian benevolence toward the ancient Babylonian cult cities.

Sargon II 089

Addresses Aššur as 'the Assyrian Enlil' whose judgment is absolute and whose oath cannot be broken — anchoring Sargon II's royal authority directly in cosmic law rather than mere military conquest.

Sargon II 090

Dedicatory inscription to Anunītu, a martial aspect of Ištar, attesting Sargon II's cultivation of this relatively rare goddess as a personal divine patron during his reign.

Sargon II 091

Attests Sargon II's campaigns against the Chaldean tribes of the southern marshes, situating Assyrian royal ideology — conquest legitimized by divine favor — within a rare coastal-frontier context.

Sargon II 092

Documents Sargon II renovating a Nabû-and-Marduk temple at a northern gate, citing a 75-year structural failure since Adad-nārārī III's repair — concrete evidence of Assyrian kings invoking building history to legitimise their own piety.

Sargon II 095

Sargon II dedicates a temple to Nabû and Marduk — Babylonian gods — listing five explicit royal goals, evidence that Assyrian kings cultivated Babylonian divine patronage to legitimize rule over the south.

Sargon II 096

Attests Sargon II's construction of a Nabû temple at Nineveh, anchoring the scribal god's cult within the city a generation before Nineveh became Assyria's imperial capital.

Sargon II 1006

Preserves fragmentary benedictions from a Sargon II royal inscription — a temple renovation dedication with curses against future desecrators and prayers for dynastic continuity, attesting the formulaic ideology binding Assyrian kingship to divine favour.

Sargon II 101

One of Sargon II's royal inscriptions attesting Assyrian military activity near Qarqar — a site already famous as the battlefield of 853 BCE — extending the documentary record of Assyrian westward campaigns in the late eighth century.

Sargon II 110

Stamps royal ownership in the formulaic idiom of Sargonid self-presentation — 'king of the world, king of Assyria' — one of the titulary witnesses that collectively map how Sargon II projected authority across his empire.

Sargon II 123

Records Sargon II's restoration of Imgur-Enlil, Babylon's great circuit wall, casting an Assyrian conqueror as pious benefactor of Marduk's city — a calculated legitimation strategy after his seizure of Babylonia in 710 BCE.

~715 BCE·Neo-AssyrianSAA 1

SAA 01 054. Transporting Cultic Objects to Assur (ABL 0433)

(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Ṭab-šar-Aššur. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) The first day after we left the Palace, we stayed overnight in Ubasê. The boats are all right. On the next day, the gods of the king guarding, we shall safely arrive in [the Inner City], and I shall bring the golden [monster]s [...] into the temple of Aššur. (Break) (14) And [...... the b]ed, th[ere is a ritual] to put together for decorating and washing the bed. If the king, my lord, orders, we shall bring it into the temple of Aššur and perform our rites jointly together. There is room there, and it…

Religion & Myth

~715 BCE·Neo-AssyrianSAA 1

SAA 01 134. Blessings and Rituals (CT 53 043)

(1) [To the king m]y lord: your servant [Hunnî]. Good health to the king, my lord! [May] Nabû and [Marduk bless the king, my lord]! May they give the king my lord a long life, peace of mind and good hea[lth, extreme old age], a strong army, a long reign and as many years as [......]; may they make all countries submit themselves [to you]! (6) May the king, my lord, the good shepherd [......] truly tend and shepherd them; may Aššur, Bel and Nabû [add] flocks to your flocks, give them to you, and enlarge your spacious fold; may the peoples of all the countries come into your presence! (10) O…

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~715 BCE·Neo-AssyrianSAA 1

SAA 01 188. Festival of the Moon God (ABL 0134)

(1) [To the king], my [lord: your servant Na[bû-pašir. [Good health to the ki]ng, my lord! [May Sin and] Nikkal bless [the kin]g, my lord! (7) On the 17th of [... Sin] came out and entered the akitu chapel. The sacrifices of the king my lord having been performed successfully, (r 1) Sin returned, entered his temple, took his seat in peace and blessed the king, my lord.

Religion & Myth

Sargon II 004

Continued from several unpreserved slabs (1') I shattered their very strong walls [wi]th a mighty battering ram, leveling (them) to the gr[ou]nd. I took as booty [the people], [together] with their property. I destroyed, demolished, (and) burned down those cities with fire. (3') The people of the cities Sukkia, Bāla (and) Abitikna conceived (lit.: “deliberated”) an evil plan [that] was to eradicate (lit.: “to tear out the root of”) (their own) land and [g]ave [the]ir word to Ursâ (Rusâ), the Urarṭian, to do obeisance (to him). Because of the crime that they had committed, I deported them…

Sargon II 005

Continued from several unpreserved slabs (1') [... I offe]red [before them ... geese (and) ducks. I appealed to them (the gods)] in order to bring about the defeat of Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-Baladan), descendant of Yakīn, of Chalde[an] extraction, [the (very) image of an evil gallû-demon;] I prayed t[o the]m [with supplications and entre]aties. After I had carried out in full the festival of the great lord, the god Marduk, [...] Continued on several unpreserved slabs

Sargon II 007

(1) Pal[ac]e of Sargon (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Ak[k]ad, favorite of the great gods. (3b) The gods Aššur, Nabû (and) Marduk granted me a reign without equal and exalted my good reputation to the heights. (5b) I continually acted as provider for (the cities) Sippar, Nippur, Babylon, and Borsippa (and) I made restitution for the wrongful damage suffered by the people of privileged status, as many as there were (of them); I abolished corvée duty for (the cities) Dēr, Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Larsa, Kullaba,…

Sargon II 010

(1) Palace of Sargon (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad; (5) the king who with the support of the gods Aššur, Nabû, (and) Marduk ruled all together from the land Yadnana (Cyprus), which is in the middle of the sea, as far as the border(s) of Egypt (and) the land Musku, the wide land Amurru, the land Ḫatti (Syria) in its entirety, (10) all of (the land) Gutium, the distant Medes (who live) on the border of Mount Bikni, the lands Ellipi (and) Rāši on the border of the land Elam, all the Arameans who live…

Sargon II 011

(1) Palace of Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad; (3) the king who with the support of the gods Aššur, Nabû, (and) Marduk ruled all together from the land Yadnana (Cyprus), which is in the middle of the Western Sea, (5) as far as the border(s) of Egypt and the land Musku, the wide land Amurru, the land Ḫatti (Syria) in its entirety, all of (the land) Gutium, the distant Medes (who live) on the border of Mount Bikni, the lands Ellipi (and) Rāši on the border of the land Elam, (10) all the Arameans who live beside the…

Sargon II 012

(1) Palace of Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad; (4) the king who with the support of the gods Aššur, Nabû, (and) Marduk, ruled (lit.: “I ruled”) all together from the land Yadnana (Cyprus), which is in the middle of the Western Sea, as far as the border(s) of Egypt and the land Musku, the wide land Amurru, the land Ḫatti (Syria) in its entirety, (10) all of (the land) Gutium, the distant Medes (who live) on the border of Mount Bikni, the lands Ellipi (and) Rāši on the border of the land Elam, all the Arameans who live…

Sargon II 013

(1) Palace of Sargon (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, favorite of the great gods; (5) who provides for (the cities) Sippar, Nippur, (and) Babylon; who abolished corvée duty for (the cities) Dēr, Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Larsa, Kullaba, Kissik, (and) Nēmed-Laguda (and) who gave relief to their people; who (re)-established the privileged status (10) of (the city) Baltil (Aššur) that had lapsed; who extended his protection over the city Ḫarrān and recorded their exemption (from obligations) as if (its people…

Sargon II 014

(1) Palace of Sargon (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, favorite of the great gods. (4b) I continually act[ed] as provider for (the cities) Sippar, Nippur, Babylon, and Borsippa; I [(re)-established] the freedom (from obligations) of (the cities) Dēr, Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Larsa, Kulla[ba], Kissik, (and) Nēmed-La[gu]da. I restored the exemption (from obligations) of (the city) [Bal]til (Aššur) (10) and [the city] Ḫarrā[n], which had fallen into [oblivion] in the distant [pa]st, and [their privile]ged status…

Sargon II 015

(1') [With ... provincial governors of] my [land], ov[erseers, command]ers, noble[s, eunuch]s, and el[ders of Assyria, I sat down] insi[de my palace and h]eld a fest[ival.

Sargon II 016

(1) O god Ninurta, the one endowed with (lit.: “lord of”) power, whose strength is supreme, with regard to S[ar]gon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Su[me]r and Akkad, the one who constructed your cella, make him attain old age. May he be fully satisfied with (his) good fortune. (5) Establish his reign firmly [in]side Esagila and Ešarra. Keep his thoroughbred horses in good order (and) his (chariot) teams in good condition. Grant him [un]equaled strength (and) manly might. Mobilize his weapons so that he might strike down his foes.

Sargon II 017

(1) O god Ninšiku (Ea), the lord of wisdom who fashions absolutely everything, make your springs open up for Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, the one who constructed your cella. (5) Send forth (water from) his wells (and) provide water in great abundance for his meadowland(s). Determine as his fate wide intelligence (and) broad understanding. Bring his undertaking(s) to completion so that he might attain his desire.

Sargon II 018

(1) O god Sîn, the holy god, who renders decisions (and) reveals (ominous) signs, with regard to Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, the one who constructed your cella, duly look at him with your steadfast heart and (5) direct your just countenance upon him. Grant him a long life (lit.: “distant days”) of physical well-being. Determine as his fate years of happiness. Make his reign last as long as heaven and netherworld. Establish his throne firmly over the four quarters (of the world).

~715 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRIAo

Sargon II 019

(1) O god Adad, the canal inspector of heaven and netherworld, who illuminates the daises, with regard to Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, the one who constructed your cella, bring him at the right times rain from the sky (and) (5) floods from the depths. Pile up grain and oil in his meadowland(s). Have his people dwell (as safely) as in a meadow in great prosperity. Establish the foundation of his throne firmly (and) prolong his reign.

Sargon II 020

(1) O most honored of ladies, exalted goddess Ningal, with regard to Sargon (II), king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, the one who constructed your cella, intercede for him in the presence of the god Sîn, your beloved husband. (5) Say good thing(s) about him for the [firm] establishment of his reign. May he (Sîn) determine as his fate good health (and) a long life (lit.: “distant days”). May his (Sargon’s) descendants rule every inhabited region forever.