RINAP 5 was originally conceived as being split into three parts. Part 1 was to include all of the historical inscriptions on clay prisms, clay cylinders, and wall slabs and other stone objects from Nineveh, Aššur, and Kalḫu; Part 2 was to edit together the texts of Ashurbanipal preserved on clay tablets; and Part 3 was to contain all of Ashurbanipal's Babylonian inscriptions, the royal compositions of Aššur-etel-ilāni and Sîn-šarra-iškun, as well as the texts whose attribution is uncertain (the 1000-numbered texts) and those inscriptions written in the names of other members of the royal family (the queens) and officials (including loyal supporters in Babylonia). In 2018, however, the authors felt that RINAP 5 should be published in two parts, rather than in three parts; this is stated several times in Part 1, especially in the book's introduction. During the course of the preparation of Part 2, it became increasingly clear that the original plan to split the corpus of inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun into three parts was the most viable option for publishing this large group of texts. Thus, RINAP 5 once again became a three-part volume.
Part 2 contains all of the certainly-identifiable and positively-attributable inscriptions of Ashurbanipal preserved on clay tablets. In total, 168 texts are edited here. All but two of these originate from, or are presumed to have come from, Nineveh, in particular, the city's large citadel mound (modern Kuyunjik).[8] The varied contents of these texts fall into six broad categories: (1) building inscriptions, (2) annalistic texts, (3) summary inscriptions, (4) dedicatory inscriptions (including display inscriptions), (5) collections of epigraphs, and (6) letters addressed to gods.[9] Other subgenres of royal compositions (for example, historical-literary texts, colophons, and land grants in the form of dedications), however, are excluded entirely from RINAP 5; see below for details. Part 3, the third and final installment of RINAP 5, as well as the last volume of the RINAP series to appear, will contain the remaining inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (chiefly texts from Babylonia, as well as the 1000- and 2000-numbered texts) and those of his successors Aššur-etel-ilāni and Sîn-šarra-iškun, together with complete indexes of names, museum numbers, excavation numbers, and excavation photograph numbers.
All of the inscriptions included in Part 2 are composed in the Standard Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, with some Assyrianisms (which is typical for late Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions), usually written in Neo-Assyrian script; a few texts are written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script (text nos. 185, 224, 237–238, and 240).
[8] Two tablets, which are inscribed with collections of epigraphs (text nos. 181–182), are presumably from Aššur (modern Qalʿat Širqāt).
[9] For some details, as well as references to earlier scholarly literature, see Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 pp. 3–4.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Texts Included in Part 2', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2022 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/RINAP52Introduction/TextsIncludedinPart2/]