Ashurbanipal 024

1šá KUR^?: R. Borger (BIWA p. 298) tentatively suggests GAR.KUR (= šākin māti, “governor”) as a possible reading. This interpretation seems unlikely since the name Adad-rēmanni is part of the geographic name, and not the name of an individual. Loosely based on annalistic texts (for example, text no. 3 [Prism B] iii 52b–61), perhaps one could very tentatively read the end of line 1 and the beginning of line 2 as: (1) šá KUR [AN.ŠÁR.KI^? šá^? (ina^? ter-ṣi^? LUGAL.MEŠ^? AD.MEŠ-ia^?) e-ki-mu^?] man-na-a-a “of [Assyria, which] the Manneans [had taken away (in the time of the kings, my ancestors)]”; or (2) šá <ina^?> ⸢ter^!?⸣-[ṣi^? LUGAL.MEŠ^? AD.MEŠ-ia^? e-ki-mu^?] man-na-a-a “which the Manneans [had taken away] <in> the ti[me of the kings, my ancestors].” Of course, this assumes that more than two or three signs are missing from the ends of both lines; compare, Borger, BIWA p. 298, who reads the end of the line as [x x (x)], presumably based on the space shown in the 1 R (pl. 8 no. 1) copy.

2man-na-a-a “Manneans”: One expects KUR.man-na-a-a. Either KUR appears at the end of line 1, was omitted by the ancient scribe, or was omitted in the 1 R copy. KUR-ud “I conquered”: Unlike other Neo-Assyrian epigraphs recording the conquest of a city, this particular epigraph does not include the verb lawû (written al-me), which may imply that Birat-Adad-rēmanni was not beseiged; compare, for example, text nos. 40–41, as well as Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/2 pp. 103–105 nos. 56–59. It is certain that there are at least three signs missing from the end of the line; these are šal-lat-su “its booty.” It is less certain if anything followed those signs. Assuming a longer break (see the note to line 1), then one could tentatively restore ap-pul aq-qur ina ^dGIŠ.BAR aq-mu “I destroyed, demolished, (and) burned with fire” after šal-lat-su; compare text no. 41. Alternatively, following one epigraph of Sennacherib (Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/2 p. 103 no. 56), ina ^dGIŠ.BAR aq-mu, without ap-pul aq-qur, is also possible.