Among the numerous clay tablets bearing inscriptions of Ashurbanipal from Nineveh, three pertain to his activities at Aššur, Assyria's principal religious center. Two texts (text nos. 194–195) are the so-called "letters to the god Aššur," which were perhaps read aloud to the Assyrian national god during some type of ceremony in that city. The third text (text no. 196) contains a dedicatory inscription to Aššur commemorating the dedication of a processional carriage for display, likely in the cella Eḫursaggalkurkurra ("House of the Great Mountain of the Lands") of Aššur's temple Ešarra ("House of the Universe").
This text, the so-called "grosse Gottesbrief an Assur" or "Large Letter to the God Aššur" (see also text no. 195), is inscribed upon a three-column tablet, fragments of which are now housed in the collections of the British Museum (London) and the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Berlin). This letter to the god Aššur reports on Ashurbanipal's campaigns against the Arabs, as well as his fifth Elamite campaign (the king's second war against Ummanaldašu [Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III]). The historical narrative of the letter draws directly from the accounts of the prism inscriptions and the text was likely composed sometime around the composition of text no. 11 (Prism A) in 644–642.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q007602/] of Ashurbanipal 194.
The majority of the inscription is found on K 2802 + K 3047 + K 3049, which preserves both faces of the lower two-thirds of the tablet. VAT 5600 and BM 98591 together preserve the obverse of the top one-third of the tablet, with the former containing cols. i, ii, and a small portion of iii, and the latter containing the rest of col. iii. The international join between VAT 5600 and K 2802+ was recognized by B. Landsberger (Bauer, Asb. p. 66 n. 1), and the additional long-distance join of BM 98591 with VAT 5600 was identified by R. Borger (Orientalia NS 26 [1957] p. 1).
The text duplicates (although with variation) text no. 3 (Prism B) vii 83–viii 55; text no. 6 (Prism C) x 1´´–18´´; text no. 7 (Prism Kh) x 28´–52´; text no. 8 (Prism G) ix 1´´–28´´; and text no. 11 (Prism A) vii 9–18, 52–81, 86–124, viii 79–ix 29, 42–74, 123–126, and x 6–16. The order of the contents of this letter of Ashurbanipal to the god Aššur differs significantly from the above-mentioned texts, all of which are inscribed on prisms. For a discussion of the confusion over the identity of Uaiteʾ in Ashurbanipal's inscriptions, including the present text, see the on-page notes to text no. 11 (Prism A) vii 82–x 39; vii 91–101 and viii 1–14; ix 53; and ix 103–114.
In the edition, blank lines on the tablet are provided with line numbers in order to keep the line count of the tablet consistent with that of earlier publications. However, the line count for ii 22–62 in the present edition is one line higher given that ii 20 and 21 were incorrectly edited as a single line (ii 20) in previous publications (see the on-page note to ii 20–21). Furthermore, one should note that in his edition, M. Streck (Asb. pp. 196–207 no. 8) edited the obverse of the tablet as the reverse and vice versa, but then oddly numbered the columns on both faces from left to right. Thus, his edition regarded col. i as col. iv, ii as v, iii as vi, iv as iii, v as ii, and vi as i.
A second tablet of Ashurbanipal also contains a so-called "Gottesbrief an Assur" or "Letter to the God Aššur" (see text no. 194). Unlike the previous text, however, the present inscription is significantly shorter and less well preserved. The letter opens with a list of Aššur's titles and epithets. After celebrating the greatness of his tutelary deity, Ashurbanipal reports on the defeat of a number of his enemies: Dunānu, Aplāya, Teumman, the Manneans, and the Urarṭians. Unlike the larger letter to the god Aššur, the historical material of this text is not drawn from the accounts of the king's prism inscriptions. The letter then concludes with additional praises of the god Aššur and a plea for continued divine support.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q007603/] of Ashurbanipal 195.
K 3408 is a fragment that only preserves the left side of a clay tablet; the entire left edge of the tablet, as well as a portion of its top and bottom edges, are preserved. Based on the curvature of the surviving fragment, at least half the tablet is missing. Obv. 26–28 are written on the bottom edge of the tablet, and the lines of the subscript are indented by about four or five signs.
An inscription on a clay tablet preserves a draft or archival copy of a dedicatory inscription of Ashurbanipal to the Assyrian national god Aššur. The text was originally to be inscribed on a processional carriage (ša šadādi) that was probably put on display in the cella Eḫursaggalkurkurra ("House of the Great Mountain of the Lands") of Aššur's temple at Aššur. The contents of the text record the details of a campaign against Taharqa of Egypt.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q007604/] of Ashurbanipal 196.
Sm 2124 is the upper left section of a broad clay tablet, along with its top and left edges. The passage concerning the Egyptian campaign on the tablet's obverse is similar to the contents of text no. 207 (LET), and the reconstructions to the text are based on that inscription. The width of the tablet also roughly corresponds to that of the exemplars of text no. 207 (LET) given that the lineation of the duplicate material in these two inscriptions is the same.
For obv. 10–21, see text no. 207 (LET) obv. 6´, 10´, 12´–16´, and 18´–21´ and text no. 72 ii 10´, 14´, and 16´–20´.
Joshua Jeffers & Jamie Novotny
Joshua Jeffers & Jamie Novotny, 'Tablets Related to Aššur (text nos. 194-196)', 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/RINAP52TextIntroductions/TabletsPart6texts194-218/TabletsrelatedtoAssurtexts194-196/]