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;

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 were) people of the gods Anu and Dagān;

the valiant man who brought about the defeat of Ḫumbanigaš (Ḫumban-nikaš I), the Elamite; (15) who destroyed the land Karalla, the land Šurda, the city Kišesim, the city Ḫarḫar, the land Media, (and) the land Ellipi, (and) imposed the yoke of the god Aššur (upon them); who laid waste to the land Urarṭu, plundered the city Muṣaṣir, (20) slaughtered the lands Andia (and) Zikirtu, (and) pacified the land Mannea; who made the rulers of the land Hamath, the city Carchemish, and the land Kummuḫu tremble (and) plundered the land Kammanu; who deported Gunzinānu from (25) the city Melid, his (Gunzinānu’s) royal city, and set officials over all of their lands; who did away with the kingship of Tarḫu-lara of the city Marqasa (and) who made all of the land Gurgum (part of) the territory of Assyria;

who conquered the city Samaria and all of the land Bīt-Ḫumria (Israel); who plundered the cities Ashdod (and) Šinuḫtu; who caught the Ionians who (live in) the middle of the sea (35) like fish; who deported (the people of) the land Kasku, all of the land Tabal, and the land Ḫilakku, (and) drove out Mitâ (Midas), king of the land Musku; who brougt about the defeat of Egypt in the land Raphia and counted (40) Ḫanūnu (Hanno), king of the city Gaza as booty; who subjugated seven kings of the land Yāʾ — a region of the land Yadnana (Cyprus) — whose abode is situated at a distance of seven days (journey) in the middle of the sea;

moreover, (who)se great hand defeated Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-Baladan), king of Chaldea, who dwelt on the shore of the sea (and) who exercised kingship over Babylon against the will of the gods; (50) (who) divided up all of his (Marduk-apla-iddina’s) wide land into equal parts, assigned (them) to the authority of a eunuch of his (Sargon’s), the governor of Babylon, and a(nother) eunuch of his, the governor of the land Gambulu, and imposed his yoke (upon them) — Upēri, (55) king of Dilmun, who(se) lair is situated at a distance of thirty leagues in the middle of the sea, like that of a fish, heard of his (Sargon’s) lordly might, and brought (him) his audience gift;

(the one who) with the power and might (granted him by) the great gods, his lords, mobilized his weapons and cut down all his foes; (who) 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 (65) 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 (70) of the land Elam, those who (live) beside the Tigris River — the Ituʾu, Rubuʾu, Ḫaṭallu, Labdudu, Ḫamrānu, Ubulu, Ruʾuʾa, (and) Liʾtaʾu (tribes) — (75) those who (live) beside the Surappu and Uqnû Rivers — the Gambulu, Ḫindaru, (and) Puqudu (tribes) — the Sutians, the people of the steppe of the land Yadburu, as many as there are, from the land Samʾūna (80) as far as the cities Bubê (and) Tīl-Ḫumba which are on the border of the land Elam, the land Karduniaš (Babylonia) from one end to the other (lit.: “above and below”), the lands Bīt-Amukāni, Bīt-Dakkūri, Bīt-Šilāni, (and) Bīt-Saʾalli, all of (85) Chaldea, as much as there is (of it), the land Bīt-Yakīn, which is on the shore of the sea, as far as the border of Dilmun; (who) set eunuchs of his as provincial governors over them and imposed the yoke of his lordship upon them.

At that time, using (as laborers) enemy people whom he had captured, whom the gods Aššur, Nabû, and Marduk, his divine helpers, had granted (to him) as his lot, in accordance with divine will (95) (and) his heart’s desire, he built a city at the foot of Mount Muṣri, upstream from the city Nineveh, and named it Dūr-Šarrukīn.

He built inside it (the city) palatial halls using (lit.: “of”) elephant ivory, ebony, boxwood, musukkannu-wood, cedar, cypress, daprānu-juniper, juniper, and terebinth (100) to be his royal residence and he roofed them with large beams of cedar. He bound the doors of cypress (and) musukkannu-wood with band(s) of shining copper and installed (them) in (105) their entrance(s). He had built in front of their gates a portico (bīt appāti), a replica of a Hittite palace, which is called a bīt ḫilāni in the language of Amurru.

Eight twin lion (colossi) of shining copper that weigh 4,610 (110) full (lit.: “tested”) talents (and) that were cast by the craft of the god Ninagal and filled with radiance — upon (those) lion colossi he installed four matching cedar columns, whose diameter(s) are one nindanu each, the product of (115) Mount Amanus; and he positioned cross-beams (upon them) as a cornice for their gates. He had magnificent mountain sheep colossi of massive mountain stone skillfully made and in the four directions he had (them) hold their (the gates’) door bolt(s). He depicted the settlements that he had conquered upon large limestone slabs and surrounded their (the palatial halls’) lower courses (with them). He made (them) an object of wonder.

He invited the god Aššur, the great lord, and the great gods who dwell in Assyria (to come) inside them (the palace halls), and he offered pure sacrifices before them. He offered them gifts of red ṣāriru-gold (and) pure silver as (his) substantial audience gift, and (thus) made their (the gods’) moods joyful.

May the god Aššur, the father of the gods, steadfastly look upon this palace with his holy, radiant face and (135) may he ordain its renovation for future days. May (the following commands) come from (lit.: “be set in”) his holy mouth: May the guardian spirit (and) the protective god stay continually in it, day and night, and (140) may they never leave it. At his command, may the ruler who constructed it live long (and) reach extreme old age. May its builder remain in good health forever. May (the following command) issue (145) from his (the god Aššur’s) holy lips. May the one who dwells inside it (the palace) rejoice there in physical well-being, merriment, and happiness, (and) may he be fully satisfied with (his) good fortune.