Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of Assyria, unrivalled king, pious shepherd who reveres the great gods, guardian of truth who loves justice, renders assistance, goes to the aid of the weak, (and) strives after good deeds, perfect man, virile warrior, foremost of all rulers, the bridle that controls the insubmissive, (and) the one who strikes enemies with lightning:

The god Aššur, the great mountain, granted to me unrivalled sovereignty and made my weapons greater than (those of) all who sit on (royal) daises.

At the beginning of my kingship, after [I] sat on the [(lordly)] throne and took command of the population of Assyria amid obedience and peace, Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan), king of Kardun[iaš (Babylonia), an ev]il [foe], a rebel (with) a treacherous mind, an evildoer whose villainous acts are true, sought [frie]ndship with Šutur-Naḫundu (Šutruk-Naḫḫunte II), an E[lamite], by presenting him with gold, silver, (and) precious stones; then, he continuously requested reinforcements.

To the land of Sumer and Akkad, he (Šutur-Naḫundu) sent to his (Marduk-apla-iddina’s) assis[tance] Imbappa, [his] field marshal, [together with the massed body of] his [tr]oops, Tannānu, (his) third man, ten unit commanders, including Nergal-nāṣir, a Sutian who is fearless in battle, 80,000 archers (and) [lancers, (and) the 850] wagons (and) horses that were with them.

Moreover, he, [the evil Chaldean, evildoer, (and) offspring of murder], gathered together [Uruk, Lars]a, Ur, Eridu, Kulaba, Kissik, (and) Nēmed-La[gu]da, the lands of the Bīt-Ya[kīn, Bīt-Amukāni, Bīt-Ašillāni (Bīt-Šillāni), Bīt-Saʾa]lli, (and) Bīt-Dakkūri, all of the Chaldeans, as many as there were; on the bank(s) of the [Tigris] River, the [Tuʾumuna, Riḫiḫu], Yadaqqu, Gibrê, (and) Maliḫu (Malaḫu); on the bank(s) of the [Surappu] River, [the Gurumu, Ubulu, Damu]nu, Gambulu, Hindaru, Ruʾuʾa, (and) Puqudu; on the bank(s) of the [Euphrates] River, [the Ḫamrānu, Ḫagarānu], Nabatu, (and) Liʾtaʾu — insubmissive Arameans who did not know (fear of) death; (15) Nippur, Dilbat, [Marad, Kish, Ḫursagkalama, Baby]lon, Borsippa, (and) Cutha, all of Karduniaš (Babylonia) an[d pr]epared (them) for battle.

When they reported his (Marduk-apla-iddina’s) evil deeds to me, Sennacherib, the attentive man of the steppe, I raged up like a lion and ordered the march into Babylon to confront him. He (Marduk-apla-iddina), the (very) image of an evil gallû-demon, heard about the advance of my expeditionary force, then he reinforced their companies with horses (and) Elamite, Aramean, (and) Chaldean archers, together with Nergal-nāṣir and ten unit commander[s of the king of] the land Elam who did not know (fear of) death, (and) the countless forces who were with them. He brought their contingents together in Cutha and had (them) keep watch at outposts for the approach of my expeditionary force.

I put my yoked teams in order. On the twentieth day of the month Šabāṭu (XI), like a powerful wild ox, I took the lead of my troops from Baltil (Aššur), but I did not wait for the main force of my army, nor did I wait for the rear guard. (20) I sent (my) chief eunuch (and) my provincial governors to Kish ahead of me, (saying): “Take the road to Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan), but do not be careless about putting a strong watch on him!”

He (Marduk-apla-iddina) saw my provincial governors, then came out of the Zababa Gate with all of his forces and did battle with my magnates in the plain of Kish. The enemy prevailed over my magnates in the thick of battle and they (my magnates) were unable to withstand him. They sent their messenger to me in the plain of Cutha for help.

In my rage, I unleashed a fierce assault on Cutha, then I slaughtered the warriors surrounding its wall like sheep and took possession of the city. I brought out horses, the Elamite, Aramean, (and) Chaldean archers, the Elamite unit commanders, and Nergal-nāṣir, together with the guilty citizens, and I counted (them) as booty.

I raged up like a lion and became furious like the Deluge. With my merciless warriors, I set out for Kish against Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan). Moreover, he, (that) evildoer, saw the cloud of dust of my expeditionary force from afar and fear fell upon him. He abandoned all of his forces and fled to the land Guzummānu.

I defeated Tannānu, together with the Elamite, Chaldean, and Aramean troops who had stood by him and had come to his aid, and I scattered his forces. I captured alive Adinu, a nephew of Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan), together with Basqānu, a brother of Iatiʾe, queen of the Arabs, along with their troops. I seized the chariots, wagons, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, (and) Bactrian camels that he had abandoned during the battle.

With a rejoicing heart and a radiant face, I rushed to Babylon and entered the palace of Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-baladan) to take charge of the possessions and property therein. I opened his treasury and brought out gold, silver, gold (and) silver utensils, precious stones, beds, armchairs, a processional carriage, royal paraphernalia of his with gold (and) silver mountings, all kinds of possessions (and) property without number, a substantial treasure, (together with) his wife, his palace women, female stewards, eunuchs, courtiers, attendants, male singers, female singers, palace servants who cheered up his princely mind, all of the craftsmen, as many as there were, (and) his palace attendants, and I counted (them) as booty.

I hastened after him to the land Guzummānu and ordered my warriors into the midst of swamps and marshes. For five days they sought him out, but his (hiding) place could not be found. (35) I gathered together the rest of his horses (and) troops, who were weary (and) who had fled like deer instead of going with him, from the midst of the open country and plain.

In the course of my campaign, I surrounded, conquered, (and) plundered the cities Amatu, Ḫauae, Supapu, Nuqabu, Bīt-Sannabi, Qudayyin, Kidrina, Dūr-Ladini, Bitāti, (and) Bānītu, the land Guzummānu, the cities Dūr-Yanṣuri, Dūr-Abī-Yataʾ, Dūr-Rudumme, Bīt-Raḫê, Ḫapiša, Sadian, Ḫurudu, Ṣaḫrina, Iltuk, Allallu, Marad, Yaqimuna, Kupruna, Bīt-Kudurri, Sūqa-Marusi, altogether 33 fortified cities, fortresses of the land of the Bīt-Dakkūri, together with 250 small(er) settlements in their environs;

the cities Dūr-Appê, Dūr-Tanê, Dūr-Samaʾ, Sarrabātu, Ṣalaḫatu, Dūr-Abdāya, Sappi-ḫimari, Ṣibtu-ša-Makkamê, altogether 8 fortified cities, fortresses of the land of the Bīt-Saʾalli, together with 120 small(er) settlements in their environs;

the cities Sapīya (Šapīya), Sarrabānu, Larak, Parak-Marri, Bīt-Ilu-bāni, Aḫudu, Ša-iṣṣur-Adad, Šaḫarratu, Manaḫḫu, Ša-amēlê, Dūr-Aqqīya, Nagītu, Nūr-abīnu, Ḫar-Ṣuarra, Dūr-Rukbi, Danda-Ḫulla, Dūr-Bir-Dada, Bīt-Reʾê, Dūr-Ugurri, Ḫindaina, Dūr-Uayyit, Bīt-Taurâ, Sapḫuna, Bu-ḫarru, (45) Ḫarbat-Iddina, Ḫarbat-Kalbi, Ša-barê, Bīt-Bāni-ilūya, Sulādu, Bīt-Iltama-samaʾa, Bīt-Dīni-ili, Daqala, Ḫameza, Bēlā, Tairu, Kiprānu, Iltaratu, Aqqar-ša-kīna, Sagabatu-ša-Mardukīya, altogether 39 fortified cities of the land of the Bīt-Amukāni, together with 350 small(er) settlements in their environs;

(and) the cities Bīt-Zabidīya, Larsa, Kulaba, Eridu, Kissik, Nēmed-Laguda, (and) Dūr-Yakīn, including the city Kār-Nabû, which is on the shore of the Bitter Sea, altogether 8 fortified cities, fortresses of the land of the Bīt-Yakīn, together with 100 small(er) settlements in their environs;

the (grand) total is 88 fortified cities, fortresses of Chaldea, together with 820 small(er) settlement[s] in their environs.

I let my troops eat the grain (and) dates in their gardens (and) their crops in the countryside. I destroyed (them), devastated (them), (and) burned (them) with fire, (and) turned (them) into forgotten ruin hills.

I brought out the auxiliary forces of the Arameans (and) Chaldeans who were in Uruk, Nippur, Kish, (and) Ḫursagkalama, together with the [guil]ty citizens, and I counted (them) as booty.

I let my army eat the grain (and) dates in their gardens, the fields they had labored in, (and) the crops in the countryside, which is t[heir] li[fe’s] necessity.

I appointed over them Bēl-ibni, a son of a rab banî (and) a scion of Šuanna (Babylon) who had grown up like a young puppy in my palace, [as king of the land of Sumer] and Akkad.

On my return march, I defeated [all toget]her the Tuʾumuna, Riḫiḫu, Yadaqqu, Ubudu, Gibr[ê, Maliḫu (Malaḫu), Gurumu, U]bulu, Damunu, Gambulu, Ḫindaru, Ruʾuʾa, Puqudu, Ḫamrānu, Ḫagarānu, Nabatu, (and) Li[ʾ]taʾ[u, insubmissive Arameans] and I plundered them.

In the course of my campaign, I re[ceived] a substantial payment from Nabû-bēl-šumāti, the official in charge of the city Ḫararatu: gold, silver, large mu[sukkannu]-trees, donkey[s, c]amels, oxen, and sheep and goats.

I put to the sword the population of the city Ḫirimmu, a dangerous enemy who since time immemorial had not submitted to the kings, my ancestors, and I did not leave one alive. I reorganized that district (and) imposed for eternity one ox, ten sheep, ten homers of wine, (and) twenty homers of dates as his first-fruits offerings for the ginû-offerings to the gods of Assyria, my lords.

I returned safely to Assyria with 208,000 substantial captives, 7,200 horses (and) mules, 11,073 donkeys, 5,230 camels, 80,050 oxen, (and) 800,100 sheep and goats. This is apart from the people, donkeys, camels, oxen, and sheep and goats that all of my troops had carried away and appropriated for themselves.

Moreover, I put to the sword the soldiers of the enemy, a recalcitrant force who had not submitted to my yoke, and hung (their corpses) on poles.

At that time, Nineveh, the exalted cult center, the city loved by the goddess Ištar in which all of the rituals for gods and goddesses are present; the enduring foundation (and) eternal base whose plan had been designed by the stars (lit. “writing”) of the firmament and whose arrangement was made manifest since time immemorial; (65) a sophisticated place (and) site of secret lore in which every kind of skilled craftsmanship, all of the rituals, (and) the secret(s) of the lalgar (cosmic subterranean water) are apprehended;

in which since time immemorial earlier kings, my ancestors, before me exercised dominion over Assyria and ruled the subjects of the god Enlil, and wherein annually, without interruption, they received an income unsurpassed in amount, the tribute of the rulers of the four quarters (of the world);

(but) not one among them had paid heed to (or) shown interest in the palace inside it, the seat of lordly dwelling whose site had become too small; nor had anyone (of them) conceived of and put his mind towards the straightening of the city’s street(s) and the widening of (its) squares, the dredging of the river, (and) the planting of orchards:

(But) as for me, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, the performing of this work came to my attention by the will of the gods and I put my mind to it. I forcibly removed the people of Chaldea, Aramean (tribes), the land of the Manneans, (and) the lands Que and Ḫilakku, who had not submitted to my yoke, then I made them carry baskets (of earth) and they made bricks. I cut down canebrakes in Chaldea and I had their splendid reeds hauled (to Nineveh) for its (the palace’s) construction by enemy soldiers whom I had defeated.

The fo[rm]er palace, whose longer side was thirty nindanu and whose shorter side was ten nindanu, which earlier kings, my ancestors, had had constructed, but whose construction they had carried out inexpertly, (and) alongside of which the Tebilti River had flowed from [dis]tant [days], caused erosion in its foundations, (and) shaken its base:

I tore down [that] small pala[ce] in its entirety and improved the course of the Tebilti River and directed its outflow.

In [a] pro[pitious month, on] a favorable day, in the hidden depths of its subterranean waters I bonded together strong mountain stone sixty (nindanu) along (its) longer side (and) thirty-four (nindanu) along (its) shorter side, then I raised (that) area out of the water and converted (it) to dry land. In order to prevent its foundation from being weakened over the passage of time by cresting flood(s), I surrounded its damp course with large limestone slabs (and thereby) reinforced its base. Upon them, I filled in a terrace to a height of 160 courses of brick, then added (it) to the dimensions of the former palace and (thus) enlarged its structure.

I had a palace of elephant ivory, ebony, boxwood, musukkannu-wood, cedar, cypress, juniper, and terebinth, (a palace that I named) Egalzagdunutukua (“The Palace Without a Rival”), constructed thereon as my royal residence.

I roofed them (the rooms of the palace) with beams of cedar grown on Mount Amanus, which were brought with difficulty from (that) distant mountain terrain. I fastened bands of shining bronze on magnificent doors of cypress, whose scent is sweet on opening and closing, and I installed (them) in their gates.

For my lordly pleasure, I had a portico, a replica of a Hittite palace, which is called bīt-ḫilāni in the language of the land Amurru, constructed inside them.

Eight striding lions, standing opposite one another, which were made from 11,400 talents of shining copper, cast by the god Ninagal, (and) were filled with radiance — upon (those) lion colossi I installed two identical columns that were cast from 6,000 talents of bronze, together with two large cedar columns, and I positioned cross-beams (upon them) as a cornice for their gate(s).

I expertly fashioned four mountain sheep colossi of silver (and) bronze, together with mountain sheep colossi of massive mountain stone, and in four directions I had (them) hold their (the gates’) suitable door bolt(s).

I engraved on large limestone slabs (images of) the enemy settlements that I had conquered. I surrounded their (the palace rooms’) lower courses (with them and) made (them) an object of wonder.

I planted alongside it (the palace) a botanical garden, a replica of Mount Amanus, which has all kinds of aromatic plants (and) fruit trees, trees that are the mainstay of the mountains and Chaldea, collected inside it.

To plant gardens, I subdivided the meadowland upstream of the city into plots of two pānu each for the citizens of Nineveh and I handed (them) over to them.

To make (those) planted areas luxuriant, I cut with iron picks a canal straight through mountain and valley, from the border of the city Kisiru to the plain of Nineveh. (90) I caused an inexhaustible supply of water to flow there for a distance of one and a half leagues from the Ḫusur River (and) made (it) gush through feeder canals into those gardens.

After I had finished the work on my lordly palace, broadened the squares, (and) brought light into the alleys (and) streets, making (them) as bright as day, I invited inside it (the palace) the god Aššur, the great lord, (and) the gods and goddesses living in Assyria, then I made splendid offerings and presented my gift(s).

In the future, may one of the kings, my descendants, whom the god Aššur names for shepherding the land and people, renovate its dilapidated section(s) when that palace becomes old and dilapidated. May he find an inscribed object bearing my name, an[oint] (it) with oil, make an offering, (and) return (it) to its place. The god Aššur will (then) hear his prayers.

ruling

The line count of the inscription is 94 (lines).