Sargon II 045

(1) Palace of Sargon (II), appointee of the god Enlil, nešakku-priest of the god Aššur, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria; king who ruled the four quarters (of the world), from east to west, and set governors (over them).

(8) At that time, in accordance with my heart’s desire, I built a city on the outskirts of Nineveh, at the foot of Mount Muṣri, and named it Dūr-Šarrukīn.

(12b) I erected dwelling(s) for the gods Ea, Sîn, Šamaš, Adad, (and) Ninurta, the great gods, my lords, (15) inside it. I had images of their great divine majesties skillfully made and installed (them) on (their) eternal dais(es).

(19) I built inside it (the city) palatial halls using (lit.: “of”) elephant ivory, ebony, boxwood, musukkannu-wood, cedar, cypress, daprānu-juniper, juniper, and terebinth. I then enhanced their gates with a bīt ḫilāni, a replica of a Hittite palace. (25) Through the art of the god Nin[zadim], I had animals of the mountain and sea made from (blocks of) massive mountain stone; I made (them) as secure as a mountain inside them (the palatial halls) and made their entrances as bright as the moon. (30) I roofed them with beams of cedar (and) cypress and installed doors of ebony, boxwood, (and) musukkannu-wood in their gates. (35) I raised its strong walls like a mountain massif, made (them) ten large cubits thick, and constructed their crenellations on top of one hundred and eighty layers of brick. (40) I wrote my name upon tablets of gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, lapis lazuli, (and) alabaster and placed (them) in their foundations.

(44b) May a future prince renovate its dilapidated sections, write his own commemorative inscription, and set (it) with my commemorative inscription. (The god) Aššur will (then) listen to his prayer(s).

(49) (As for) the one alters the work of my hands (or) effaces my own representation(s), may (the god) Aššur, the great lord, make his name (and) his descendant(s) disappear from the land.