Sennacherib 136
| Obverse | ||
| Column i | ||
| o i 1o i 1 | (i 1) Sennacherib, [great] king, [strong king], king of the world, king of Assyria, king of [the four quarters (of the world)], capable shepherd, favorite of the [great] gods, guardian of truth who loves jus[tice], renders assistance, goes to the aid of the w[eak], (and) strives after good de[eds], perfect man, virile warr[ior], foremost of all rul[ers], the bridle that controls the insub[missive], (and) the one who strikes en[emies] with lightning: | |
| o i 22 | ||
| o i 33 | ||
| o i 44 | ||
| o i 55 | ||
| o i 66 | ||
| o i 77 | ||
| o i 88 | ||
| o i 99 | ||
| o i 1010 | (i 10) The god Aššur, the [great] mountain, gran[ted to me] unrivalled sovereignty [and] made [my] w[eapons] greater than (those of) all who sit on [(royal) daises. He made] all of the black-headed (people) from the Upp[er] Sea [of the Setting Sun] to the Low[er] Sea [of the Rising Sun bow down at my feet]. Thus [did] recalcitr[ant] rulers [come to fear battle with me]. | |
| o i 1111 | ||
| o i 1212 | ||
| o i 1313 | ||
| o i 1414 | ||
| o i 1515 | ||
| o i 1616 | ||
| Lacuna | ||
| Reverse | ||
| Column i | ||
| r i'r i | Lacuna | |
| r i' 1'1' | x (x) [...] | (r i' 1') ... [...] I rai[sed as high as a mountain. ...] In order to [prevent its foundations from being weakened] by rain [(and ...)], I had a supporting wall built [(along)] the circumference of the wall of the city [...] (and) ... [...]. |
| r i' 2'2' | ||
| r i' 3'3' | ||
| r i' 4'4' | ||
| r i' 5'5' | ki-su-u ú-še-pi*-šá ú-[...]1 | |
| r i' 6'6' | šá MURUB₄ URU u NINA.⸢KI URU be⸣-[lu-ti-ia šu-bat-su-nu uš-rab-bi]2 | (r i' 6') [I enlarged the site] of the citadel and Nineveh, [my] c[apital c]ity. I broade[ned] their squares [and] brought light into [the alleys and] streets, ma[king (them) as bright as day]. |
| r i' 7'7' | ||
| r i' 8'8' | ||
| r i' 9'9' | ina mé-eḫ-ret ⸢KÁ.GAL⸣ MURUB₄ URU ina a-⸢gúr⸣-[ri NA₄.pi-i-li pe-ṣe-e] | (r i' 9') I had [a bridge] con[structed] opposite the Citadel Gate with paving ston[es of white limestone] for the passage of my lordly chariot. |
| r i' 10'10' | ||
| r i' 11'11' | (r i' 11') I fashioned an inscribed object and had all the mighty victories [that] I achi[eved (...)] over all of (my) enemies [and] all of my (other) achievements inscrib[ed thereon]. With inscribed objects of earl[ier] rulers, [my ancestors], I de[pos]ited (it) for [ever after] in the citadel wall of Nineveh, [my] ca[pital] city, for the kings, my descendants. | |
| r i' 12'12' | ||
| r i' 13'13' | ||
| r i' 14'14' | ||
| r i' 15'15' | ||
| r i' 16'16' | ||
| r i' 17'17' | (r i' 17') At any time (in the future), may one of my descen[dants] (lit. “[future] children”), whom (the god) Aššur [names] for the lordship of the land and [people, renovate its dilapidated section(s)] when that wall becomes o[ld and dilapidated]. May he fin[d] an inscribed object bearing my name, [anoint (it) with oil], make an offering, (and) [return (it)] to [its] pla[ce]. The god Aššur and the goddess Ištar [will (then) hear his] pray[ers]. | |
| r i' 18'18' | ||
| r i' 19'19' | e-nu-ma BÀD šú-a-tú i-lab-bi-⸢ru⸣-[ma en-na-ḫu an-ḫu-us-su lu-ud-diš] | |
| r i' 20'20' | ||
| r i' 21'21' | ||
| r i' 22'22' | ||
| r i' 23'23' | (r i' 23') That which is upon the inscribed object that [...]; belonging to Senn[acherib ...]. | |
| r i' 24'24' | šá md30-[PAP.MEŠ-SU ...] |
1ú-še-pi*-šá “I had built”: The tablet has ú-še-UD-šá.
2The restorations are based on text no. 7 lines 3´–8´; see the on-page notes to that text for comments.
3su-qa-a-ti “streets”: This is generally written su-qa-a-ni in the Sennacherib corpus; see, for example, text no. 4 line 89.
4There is not sufficient space on the tablet to restore i-na tukul-ti daš-šur EN GAL EN-ia “with the support of the god Aššur, the great lord, my lord” at the end of the line.
5ma-ti-ma: Apart from text no. 7 line 7´, matīma “for ever” is used to introduce the concluding formulae only in text no. 223 line 57 and text no. 230 line 122.
6AN.ŠÁR “(the god) Aššur”: E. Frahm (Sanherib p. 199) points out that the writing of the name Aššur as AN.ŠÁR in this text indicates that the tablet is probably a later copy. a-na be-⸢lut⸣ KUR u [UN.MEŠ] “for the lordship of the land and [people]”: This expression is otherwise unattested in the concluding formulae of Sennacherib’s inscriptions. The use of ana bēlūt māti u nišē may have been introduced by the scribe who copied the inscription, as that expression is commonly used in this context in the inscriptions of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal; see, for example, Leichty, RINAP 4 p. 26 Esarhaddon 1 vi 66; and Borger, BIWA p. 74 Prism A x 109 and Prism F vi 63. This is further evidence that K 2662 is a later copy (reign of Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal).
Created by A. Kirk Grayson, Jamie Novotny, and the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) Project, 2014. Lemmatized by Jamie Novotny, 2013. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/rinap/Q003941/.