Inscriptions

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1

This inscription is on a broken stone object (BM 115690) with two holes, which was probably part of a lock-system. The object was found at floor level in the south-east cella of the Old Assyrian temple of Ištar (eB7iii); according to W. Andrae (1922), its original position was inside the temple. After the lines commemorating the building of the temple of the goddess Ištar (lines 1-13), in the last two lines of the text, Ilu-šūma states that he established the addurārum of the Akkadians.

BM 115690. Schroeder, KAH 2 no. 4

Access the composite text [/riao/ria1/Q005619/] of Ilu-šumma 1.

Source: BM 115690 (1922-08-12, 0065; Ass 19977)

Bibliography

1922 Andrae, AIT pp. 115-16 and pl. 65 (photo, copy, edition)

1922 Schroeder, KAH 2 no. 4 (copy)

1922 BM Guide p. 62 no. 135 (study)

1926 Meissner, IAK IV 1 (edition)

1926-27 Luckenbill, ARAB 1 §§25-26; 2 p. 501 (translation)

1926-27 Luckenbill, AJSL 43 p. 210 (study)

1957 Edzard, Zwischenzeit pp. 90-93 (study)

1970 Kraus, Sumerer pp. 30-31 §14a (study)

1972 Grayson, ARI 1 XXXII 1 (translation)

1976 Larsen, City-State pp. 63-78 (study)

1984 Kraus, König. Verfassung. pp. 103-104 (study)

1987 Grayson, RIMA 1 p. 15 A.0.32.1 (edition)

2

This text is known from sixteen bricks discovered in various areas (most of them unknown) in Aššur. After a brief genealogy, which traces the ruler's ancestry back to the founder of the dynasty, his grandfather Puzur-Aššur I (lines 1-15), the text records Ilu-šūma's building of the temple of Ištar (lines 16-22), the city walls, and the residential area of the city (lines 23-29). The inscription also reports that he provided the city Aššur with water from the springs of mount Abiḫ, the Jebel Maḥlul, a northern spur of the Ǧebel Hamrīn, on which the city was founded (lines 30-48). The text concludes (lines 49-65) with a passage stating that Ilu-šūma established the addurārum of the Akkadians.

BM 115696. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Access the composite text [/riao/ria1/Q005620/] of Ilu-šumma 2.

Sources: (1) Weidner, ZA 43 pl. 7 (2-3) Weidner, ZA 43 pp. 114-123 (4) BM 115696 (1922-08-12, 0071) (5) WML 33.160 (6) IA5.070 (7) VA Ass 03216b (Ass 06664) (8) LB - (9) IM 025751 (10) VA Ass 03216g (Ass 22274) (11) VA Ass 03216e (Ass 19954) (12) VA Ass 03216a (Ass 04016) (13) VA Ass 03216f (Ass 21297) (14) VA Ass 03216c (Ass 13705) (15) VA Ass 03216d (Ass 19597) (16) Maresch, MDOG 51 p. 25

Possible Source: (1*) Ass 19953

Bibliography

1913 Maresch, MDOG 51 p. 25 (ex. 16, study)

1922 BM Guide p. 62 no. 137 (ex. 4, study)

1926 Meissner, IAK IV 2 (exs. 4, 7, 10-15, edition)

1936 Weidner, ZA 43 pp. 114-23 and pl. 7 (exs. 1-4, 7-8, 10-15, photo, edition)

1957 Edzard, Zwischenzeit pp. 90-93 (study)

1958 Kraus, Edikt p. 233 (study)

1959 Edzard, Sumer 15 p. 27 (ex. 9, study)

1961 Borger, EAK 1 p. 2 and n. 3 (study)

1965 H. Lewy, CAH 1/2 p. 708 (study)

1970 Kraus, Sumerer pp. 30-31§14a (study)

1972 Grayson, ARI 1 XXXII 2 (translation)

1976 Larsen, City-State pp. 29 and 61-80 (translation, study)

1981 Walker, CBI no. 118 (edition)

1984 Kraus, König. Verfüg. pp. 103-104 (study)

1984 Marzahn and Rost, Ziegeln 1 nos. 1-7 (exs. 7, 10-15, study)

1985 Rost and Marzahn, VAS 23 nos. 1-7 (exs. 7, 10-15, copy)

1987 Grayson, RIMA 1 pp. 16-18 A.0.32.2 (edition)

3

This text is engraved on a socketed spear-head. It is made primarily of copper and has a silver band, which suggests that it was intended for ceremonial use. This type of spear-head was typically used in Iran and Iraq during the first half of the second millennium BCE. According to M. Mallowan, it was found at Nineveh "within the limits of the temple of Ishtar." The reading of the engraved text is uncertain, but J. Reade has recently suggested that it should be read as É.GAL DINGIR-šu-ma, thus, linking it to the reign of this early Old Assyrian ruler. The object is currently housed in the British Museum (London).

[Poppy Tushingham]

BM 123343. Reade 2005, p. 360.

Access the composite text [/riao/ria1/Q007285/] of Ilu-šumma 3.

Source: BM 123343 (1932-12-10, 0055)

Bibliography

1932 Thompson and Hamilton, AAA 19 p. 72 (edition, study)

1933 Thompson and Mallowan, AAA 20 pl. LXXVIII.42 (photo)

2005 Reade, Iraq 67 pp. 358-361 (study)

Nathan Morello & Poppy Tushingham

Nathan Morello & Poppy Tushingham, 'Inscriptions', RIA 1: Inscriptions from the Origins of Assyria to Arik-dīn-ili, The RIA Project, 2023 [http://oracc.org/EarlyBeginnings/Puzur-AshurDynasty/Ilu-shumma/Inscriptions/]