All tablets.

Sennacherib 204

(1) Palace of Sleep, a restful tomb, the eternal dwelling of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria.

Sennacherib 205

(1) Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, the one who fashioned image(s) of (the god) Aššur and the great gods, I: I built a house for Aššur-nādin-šumi, my eldest son, and laid its foundation(s) with limestone, stone from the mountains. I had (it) made with the craft of the god Kulla and I raised (it) as high as a mountain.

Sennacherib 209

(1') [...] of gold, two bull-shaped [son-of-Šamaš figures of ...] I opened [a n]ew [gate ... towards the east], and [named it “The Royal] Gate.” (3') [...] I built (anew) [the ga]te (of) ... and [widened ...] that [gate of the ce]lla had become dilap[idated and ...] of gold, a bull-shaped son-of-Šamaš figure of gold, a scorpion-m[an figure of ..., ...] I widened [the gate of the c]ella and [I named it] “The Gate of the Path of the En[lil-Stars.”] Four bull-shaped son-of-Šamaš figures of reddish bronze ra[ise] up in their hands a sun disk (and) [hold up the roof] above, (while) below, their…

Sennacherib 210

(1) Palace of Sennach[erib, king of Assyria]: papparmīnu-stone from the land/mountain [...]. Whoever [places (it)] in the service [of a god (or another) person (or) erases] my inscribed name, [may] the deities Aššur, Mullissu, [...] make his name (and) his seed dis[appear].

Sennacherib 211

(1) Palace of Sennacherib, king of Assyria: One-half mina. (4) One-half (mina).

Sennacherib 212

(1) The Seal of Destinies [by which] (the god) Aššur, king of the gods, seals (the destinies of) the Igīgū and Anunnakū gods, the heavens, the netherworld, and man[kind]. (6) Whatever he seals cannot be changed. Whoever (tries to) change (what he seals), may (the god) Aššur, king of the gods, (and) the goddess Mullissu, together with their children, kill him with their mighty weapons. (11) I am Sennacherib, king of [As]syria, the ruler who reveres you. (13) Whoever erases (my) [inscr]ibed name (or) alters this Seal of Destinies belonging to you, erase his name (and) his seed from the land.

Economy

Sennacherib 213

(1) Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of Assyria, unrivalled king, true shepherd, favorite of the great gods, guardian of truth who loves justice, renders assistance, goes to the aid of the weak, (and) strives after good deeds, perfect man, virile warrior, foremost of all rulers, the bridle that controls the insubmissive, (and) the one who strikes enemies with lightning: (4) The god Aššur, the great mountain, granted to me unrivalled sovereignty and made my weapons greater than (those of) all who sit on (royal) daises. (5) At the beginning of my kingship, after I sat on the lordly…

Sennacherib 214

(1) For the god Nergal, his lord: I, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, built Egallammes, which is in the city Tarbiṣu, from its foundations to its crenellations for my life, the well-being of my offspring, the overthrow of my enemies, the success of the harvest of Assyria, (and) the well-being of Assyria. [I deposited] (my) clay cones (therein).

Sennacherib 215

(1) Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, had Egallammes, the temple of the god Nergal, which is in the city Tarbiṣu, built and I made (it) as bright as day.

Sennacherib 218

(1) Sennacherib, great king, king of the world, king of Assyria, had the (inner) wall (and) the outer wall of the city Kilīzu built anew and raised as high as mountains.

Sennacherib 222

(1) The deities Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, Ninurta, and Ištar, the great gods who stand at the side of the king, their favorite, and make his weapons prevail over all enemies: (6) Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, the attentive prince (who is) your protégé, who by your [firm] ‘yes’ marched about and who made the insubmissive lands (and) disobedient people of the mountains bow down at his feet: (12) At that time, the cities Tumurrum, Šarum, Ḫalbuda, Kipšu, Ezāma, Qūa, (and) Qana, which were on the border of the land Katmuḫi, which were situated like the…

Sennacherib 223

(1) Deities Aššur, Anu, Enlil, Ea, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, Marduk, Nabû, [Nerg]al, Ištar, (and) the Sebetti, the great gods, who install the lord (and) name the ruler to lead the black-headed (people) all over the inhabited world: (3) Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters (of the world), the prince who provides for them, by your firm ‘yes’ I marched about safely from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, and (then) I made rulers of the (four) quarters (of the world) bow down at my feet and they (now) pull my yoke: (5b) At that time, I greatly…

Sennacherib 224

(1) The palace of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria.

Sennacherib 225

(1) The palace of Sennacherib, king of Assyria.

Sennacherib 226

(1) Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria: Over a long distance, I had the water of the two Ḫazur Rivers, the water of the Pulpullia River, the water of the city Ḫanusa, the water of the city Gammagara, (5) (and) water from mountain springs on the right and left sides of it added to it (and thereby) I had a canal dug to the plain of Nineveh. I had an aqueduct constructed (by packing down) white limestone over deep wadis (and thereby) enabled those waters to flow over it.

Sennacherib 227

(1) [Sennacherib ...]: I had a [can]al d[ug] over a long distance, from the Ḫusu[r] River [...] I had an aqueduct constructed (by packing down) limestone [over dee]p [wadis (and thereby) ...] water[s ...].

Sennacherib 228

(Frgm._A 1) At tha[t t]ime [... I marched] quick[ly] to Babylon [and ...], the king of Karduniaš (Babylonia), who [...] (Frgm._B 1) [...] captured [...] ... [... h]e, Mar[duk-apla]-iddin[a (II) (Merodach-baladan) ... hea]rd about [the advance of my expeditionary force] and fear and [t]err[or fell upon him ...] (Frgm._C 1) [...] his city gates [...] Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan) [...] I brought out [... from] that [...] and I counted (them) as booty. (Frgm._D 1) I brought out [...] precious [stones], utensils of ... [...] attendants, male singers, [...] and [I counted (them) as]…

Sennacherib 229

(1) Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria: (As for) the three watercourses which (flow) from Mount Ḫāni, a mountain above the city Arbela, I dug out the springs which are on the right and left banks of those watercourses and (thus) added (the springs’ water) to them. I dug a (subterranean) watercourse and directed (all of) their course(s) inside the city Arbela, the dwelling of the goddess Ištar, the exalted lady.

Sennacherib 230

(1) The deities Aššur — great lord, the father of the gods — Anu, Enlil, and Ea, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, Marduk, Nabû, Nergal, Ištar, (and) the Sebetti, the great gods who stand at the side of the king who reveres them and make his weapons prevail over all enemies: (3) Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters (of the world), the king who was chosen by you, guardian of truth who loves justice, renders assistance, goes to the aid of the weak, (and) strives after good deeds, perfect man, virile warrior, foremost of all rulers, the bridle that…

Sennacherib 231

(1) [Palace of Sennacherib, great king], strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, [king of the four quarters (of the world), favorite of the] great [god]s, wise prince, [circumspect] rul[er, shepherd of the peop]le, (and) leader of a widespre[ad] population, [I]: (4) [The god Aššur, father of the gods], looked steadfastly upon me [among all of the ru]lers and [made] my [we]apons [greater] than (those of) a[ll who sit on (royal) daises]. He gave me a ju[st] scepter [that widens borders (and) he put in my hand] a merciless [ro]d to fell ene[mies]. (7b) [I]n a pitched battle, I…

Sennacherib 232

(1) Sennacherib, king of Assyria.

Sennacherib 233

(1) [Senn]acherib, king of the world, [king of Assyria], gave (this object) [to] Esarhaddon, his senior-ranking son.

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianOur engine

SAA 04 085. Fragment Similar to No. 84 [military and political]

[......] ... [... I ask you, Šamaš, great lord: give me a firm positive answer to what I am asking you!] [Concerning] this [matter of the query]: [Esarhaddon, king of Assyria] — [from] the beginning of this year until [the month of Tammuz (IV) of this] year, [with]in that ... , days (and) ni[ghts, the stipulated term] — should they take [the road] and the highway and [march to Egypt (Muṣru)], and come [safely] to Nineveh, an[d ......]? [Be present in th]is [ram], pla[ce (in it)] [a firm positive answer], favorable, propitious [fles]hes of the oracular query, by [the command of your great divi…

Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianOur engine

SAA 04 207. Fragment Referring to Hardships of Travel [miscellaneous]

(Beginning destroyed) (1) [......] ... ṣu ...[......] (2) [......]... -šu (blank) [......] (3) [Disregard that ......] the forces of Esarhaddon [(Aššur-aḫu-iddina), king of Assyria, ......] (4) [Disregard that ......] they bring him back, (being) ill, [(and that) they experience the hardship of the journey]. (5) [Disregard that ...... an evil god], an evil goddess [......] (6) [Disregard that a clean or an unclean person has touched the] sacrificial sheep [of the offering], (7) [or has blocked the way] before [the sacrificial sheep]. (8) [Disregard that an unclean man or woman has come near t…

Religion & Myth

~675 BCE·Neo-AssyrianOur engine

SAA 16 081. Jewellery for the King (ABL 0847)

To the king, my lord: your servant Nabû-sagib, son of Paruṭu, the goldsmith of the household of the queen. Good health to the king, [my lord]! May Nabû and Marduk bless [the] king, my lord! [For x] years, from the house of [.........] they have been questioning me. [.........] of the month [...]. [..................] silver: a pappardilû-stone, three fingers in its width, (and) a DAG.GAZ-piece of igizaggû-stone — I gave (them) to Matanaḫ-ili, the porter, and a letter along with (them), saying: "Deliver (it) to the king, my lord!" Whether he has delivered it, or whether he has not delivered…

Daily Life·Economy

Esarhaddon 001

Esarhaddon justifies his anomalous succession — youngest son elevated over elder brothers — by attributing the choice directly to Aššur, Šamaš, and both Ištars, revealing how Sargonid kings marshalled divine authority to legitimise politically irregular transfers of power.

Esarhaddon 002

Esarhaddon's own account of razing Sidon — a coastal Phoenician power — ca. 677 BCE, documenting Assyrian westward expansion and the king's claim to rule 'from the rising sun to the setting sun.'

Esarhaddon 005

Esarhaddon justifies his irregular succession — youngest son elevated over older brothers — by citing divination omens from Šamaš and Adad, documenting how Sargonid kings used extispicy to legitimize contested royal transitions.

Esarhaddon 008

Claims Assyrian boots on the soil of Patušarra — a district near Mount Bikni in the Median salt desert — where no predecessor king had walked, pushing the attested eastern horizon of Esarhaddon's campaigns beyond earlier royal records.

Esarhaddon 010

Claims Esarhaddon's simultaneous restoration of Aššur's temple and Babylon's Esagil — the ideological balancing act by which an Assyrian king sought legitimacy in both the north and south after Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon.

Esarhaddon 011

Esarhaddon petitions Sîn and Šamaš jointly for long life, abundant heirs, and victory over enemies — placing the moon- and sun-gods at the centre of his dynastic theology in an era when Esarhaddon was aggressively rebuilding Babylon.

Esarhaddon 012

Records Esarhaddon's restoration of the Aššur temple and manufacture of cult statues for Sîn and Ningal, linking his legitimacy directly to cultic reconstruction after his father Sennacherib's reign.

Esarhaddon 015

Records Esarhaddon's claim to have captured the household of Taharqa — wives, concubines, sons — after his Egyptian campaign, corroborating Assyrian dominance over the 25th Dynasty in the 670s BCE.

Esarhaddon 018

Attests Esarhaddon's restoration of looted divine statues to their sanctuaries and his reinstatement of regular sattukku- and ginû-offerings — cultic amends that legitimised his reign after Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon.

Esarhaddon 030

Records Esarhaddon's military campaign into the Sealand against Nabû-zēr-kitti-līšir, son of the famed Merodach-baladan II — linking dynastic Chaldean resistance to Assyrian rule across two generations.

Esarhaddon 031

Records Nabû-zēr-kitti-līšir's flight and death in Elam — corroborating evidence for Esarhaddon's suppression of the Sealand rebellion and his subsequent reception of the fugitive Naʾid-Marduk.

Esarhaddon 032

Records the flight and violent death of Nabû-zēr-kitti-līšir in Elam as divine punishment for oath-breaking — Esarhaddon's framing of a political rival's fate as gods Aššur and Šamaš enforcing sacred law.

Religion & Myth

Esarhaddon 033

Records Esarhaddon's demand that the kingdom of Šubria surrender Assyrian fugitives — deserters, oath-breakers, and criminals — foreshadowing the punitive campaign he launched against Šubria around 674 BCE.

Esarhaddon 034

Records Esarhaddon's tenth campaign toward Kush and Egypt — the Assyrian conquest of Egypt in 671 BCE — and his administrative reorganization of a divided province, attesting the empire's dual reach into Africa and the Near East.

Esarhaddon 036

Preserves Esarhaddon's account of a desert march near the Brook of Egypt — waterless terrain, vipers, and divine storm-signs — documenting how Assyrian kings framed military logistics as proof of divine favor.

Esarhaddon 037

Attests Esarhaddon's claim to divine election from the womb and his conquest of Kush — the latter a campaign no Assyrian king before him had achieved — in the rhetorical idiom of Neo-Assyrian royal self-legitimation.

Esarhaddon 038

Attests Esarhaddon's restoration of Babylonian lunar cult — Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Nannar named together — linking Assyrian royal authority to the reorganisation of divine rites after Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon.

Esarhaddon 039

Preserves Esarhaddon's account of wounding the Kushite pharaoh Taharqa five times and seizing Memphis (~671 BCE): direct Assyrian testimony to the conquest that briefly made Esarhaddon ruler of Egypt.

Esarhaddon 040

Records Esarhaddon's campaign against Abdi-Milkūti of Sidon (~677 BCE), framing the city's destruction as Aššur's will — direct Assyrian royal testimony to the elimination of a major Phoenician maritime power.

Esarhaddon 041

Preserves fragmentary language of divine protection and royal legitimation under Esarhaddon, attesting the theological idiom by which Sargonid kings anchored their authority in the gods' 'exalted divinity.'

Esarhaddon 042

Claims dominion over both Egypt and Babylonia (Karduniaš) in a single inscription, placing Esarhaddon among the rare Assyrian kings to assert rule from the Nile to the Persian Gulf.

Esarhaddon 043

Claims Esarhaddon's mandate from Aššur, Marduk, and Ištar simultaneously — reflecting his calculated effort to legitimise rule over both Assyria and Babylon after his father Sennacherib's destruction of the city.

Esarhaddon 044

Esarhaddon presents himself as ritual custodian of the great temples — confirming sattukku offerings and restoring cult centers — placing religious legitimacy at the heart of neo-Assyrian royal ideology, ca. 675 BCE.

Esarhaddon 045

Preserves fragments of Esarhaddon's self-presentation as a ritually assiduous king — purification priests, lamentation singers, and cultic offerings at a quayside — illuminating how Assyrian royal ideology fused military and temple-cult legitimacy.