Sennacherib 222

1After DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ “great gods,” ex. 2 adds ša ú^?-⸢kan⸣-na-pu-ú^? ⸢ma-al-ki⸣ “who take (legitimate) rulers under their wings.” For details on the reading, see Frahm, Sanherib p. 151.

2ke-nim “firm”: For the restoration, cf. text no. 223 line 3. L.W. King (PSBA 35 [1913] p. 84), followed by the CAD (A/1 p. 326 sub alāku 6b 2´), tentatively restores e-tel-liš “nobly.” Seux, ERAS p. 130 and n. 33, restores [ke]-e-[ni] “[f]ir[m]” on the basis of ex. 4.

3In place of these lines, ex. 2 lines 7b–10, ex. 3 lines 6b–13, and ex. 5 lines 6b–13a have different passages. L.W. King was unable to decipher much of the contents of those lines. Exs. 3 and 5 begin this section with LUGAL.MEŠ “kings” instead of KUR.MEŠ “lands.” Ex. 2 lines 7b–10 have [...] ⸢la⸣ [...] x x [...] x [...] x x [...] x ḪI KI x [x (x)] A x [...] (no translation possible). Ex. 3 lines 6b–13 have LUGAL.MEŠ [(x)] x x [...] x ⸢SAG⸣ [x (x)] x x ZA [...].MEŠ šá [(x)] x ŠU [...] te x [...] x [...] x x [...] x ti x [...] (no translation possible). Ex. 5 lines 6b–13a have LUGAL.MEŠ [...] x-ri [...] x-ti-x [...] x-ti [...] (x) x-ti [...] x ⸢ZA^?⸣ [...]-niš [...] (no translation possible).

4Ex. 5 probably lists the cities in a different order since URU.ki-ib-šá “the city Kibšu” appears between the cities Ezāma and Qūa; there is sufficient room to restore those four signs at the beginning of line 15 of that exemplar.

5Between šu-bat-su-un “whose site” and ú-šab-šú-u “they made ...,” ex. 6 has [...] ša qé-reb KUR x x [...] šu-u GIM MUŠEN ṣi-[...]-tar [...] x-ra-šu [...] tu [...] ṣe-ru-uš-[...].MEŠ^?-[...] “[...] which in the land ... [...] he, like a bird [...] ... [...] upon hi[m/them ...]s [...].” KUR x x “the land ...”: R.C. Thompson (King, PSBA 35 [1913] p. 89) read the signs as KUR aš-šur “Assyria,” but L.W. King (ibid. p. 89 n. 92) rejects that proposal and suggests KUR.⸢ni-pur⸣ “Mount Nipur.” Ex. 5 may have the same passage as ex. 6; line 18 of that exemplar may read [...]-⸢reb⸣

6Before DINGIR.MEŠ-šú-un “their gods,” ex. 2 has ⸢i-na⸣ URU.[...] “at the city [...].” Between DINGIR.MEŠ-šú-un “their gods” and ka-ra-ši ú-šá-áš-kin-ma “I had my camp pitched and,” ex. 2 has [...] KUR ⸢aš-šur⸣ [...] LÚ.x x x [...] ^daš-šur ⸢EN⸣-[...] “[...] Assyria [...] ... [...] the god Aššur, [...] lord, [...].”

7ri-qú-ut-⸢su-un⸣ “vulnerable”: There has been much discussion of the reading, but this understanding of the signs seems the most plausible and fits the traces. L.W. King (PSBA 35 [1913] p. 85) read the signs as tal-ku-ut-su-⸢un⸣ (talkūtu), but that word is otherwise unknown. Others, including E. Frahm (Sanherib p. 151), have read ri-kil-tú (rikiltu), but this interpretation does not make sense. For a full discussion (including previous literature), see Cogan, Imperialism p. 11 and n. 13.

8Ex. 4 has [...] x ti KUR x [...] ú-šaḫ-x (x) x x na x [(x)] x MAŠ x [...] (no translation possible).

9Ex. 6 has [...] x DUMU.MEŠ KUR aš-šur ka-[...] ḫi^? [...] ta [...] “[...] Assyrians [...].”

10DUMU-šú [(x)] x-[(x)]-pu-su x [x]-ri (no translation possible): Ex. 4 has [...] ú-ma ir-⸢pu⸣-su x x x (no translation possible).

11ú-x-x-x ERIM.MEŠ i-piš MÈ-a “... my combat troops”: Ex. 4 has ⸢ú^?⸣-x x-ma ERIM.MEŠ ⸢i⸣-[piš MÈ-a] “... and [my] c[ombat] troops” and ex. 6 has [...]-⸢uš-šu-ma⸣ ERIM.MEŠ ta-ḫa-zi-ia “[...] ... and my combat troops.” Ex. 2 has [...] ù GIŠ x x x [...] (no translation possible).

12Between šá-qa-ti “highest” and GIŠ.GU.ZA “throne,” ex. 4 has šá [...] šá x [... i]-⸢na⸣ “which [...] ... [... o]n.”

13Between šá-qa-ti “highest” and áš-taḫ-ḫi-iṭ “I leapt forward,” ex. 6 has [...]-it^? re-šá-šun a-na-ku ina GIŠ.GU.ZA [... a-na-ku GIM GU₄.AM] pa-nu-uš-šu-un aṣ-bat [...] “[...] their summits. I myself [...] on (my) throne [... Like a (fierce) wild bull], I took the lead of them (the soldiers in my camp). [...].”

14GIŠ.GU.ZA “throne”: Ex. 4 has GIŠ.GU.ZA-šu “his throne.”

15Ex. 6 has [...]-ia URU.MEŠ šá-tu-nu al-me KUR-ud [(...)] áš-lu-la šal-la-sun ap-pul aq-qur [...] “[...] my [...] those cities I surrounded, captured, [(...)] plundered, destroyed, devastated, [...].”

16Before ṣe-er zuq-ti KUR-e, ex. 6 has [ar]-de-šu-nu-ti-ma áš-ta-kan [taḫ-ta-šú-un ...] kul-li-šu-nu “[I pu]rsued them and defe[ated them ...] ... them.”

17After NA₄.NA.RÚ.A “a stele,” ex. 6 has [...] IR [...] PUR [...] UN.MEŠ [...] NA₄ [...] “[...] people [...] stone [...].”

18Between KUR.ni-pur “Mount Nipur” and aš-šur “(the god) Aššur,” ex. 6 has [...] ša [...] u ma [...] šit [...] (no transation possible). Ex. 2 has [...] u URU.[...] “[...] and the city [...].”

19ag-giš ⸢lik⸣-kil-mu-šú lis-ki-[pu-šú] “may they glare at him angrily (and) overth[row him]”: Ex. 2 has x [...] ag-giš li-ir-ru-[ru-šu] “[...] may they angrily cur[se him]”; and ex. 6 has [...] li-ru-[...] li-[...] a-di la [...] li-[...]-šu. Depending on the space available, one could very tentatively read [...] li-ru-[...] as [ag-giš^?] li-ru-[ru-šu^?] “may they [angrily] cur[se him]” and a-di la [...] li-[...]-šu as a-di la [ba-še₂₀-e^?] li-[šá-li-ku^?]-šu “may th[ey bring] him to nou[ght].”