Numerous clay tablets and tablet fragments with inscriptions of late Neo-Assyrian rulers are known, especially from the reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal. These objects principally come from Nineveh, but also from other important cities in the Assyrian heartland, namely Aššur, Dūr-Šarrukīn (modern Khorsabad), Kalḫu, and Uruk.[35] In addition to the 140 inscriptions of Ashurbanipal written on tablets edited in Part 2, 3 additional Akkadian texts known only from tablets date with certainty to Ashurbanipal's reign.[36] The first is an archival copy of an inscription of a wife of Ashurbanipal (possibly Libbāli-šarrat) that she had written on the reddish gold plating of an object that she had had made and dedicated to the goddess Tašmētu, the wife of the god Nabû.[37] The second is an archival copy of an inscription that had been written on the metal plating of a ceremonial cart (attaru) dedicated to a deity at Uruk, possibly that city's tutelary goddess Ištar.[38] The third might record the dedication of a lamp to the god Marduk at Babylon or the god Nabû at Borsippa, but, since virtually nothing of that inscription survives, that interpretation is far from certain.[39]
Six tablets bearing three Akkadian inscriptions of Aššur-etel-ilāni and five Akkadian inscriptions of Sîn-šarra-iškun are known.[40] These texts of the former ruler come from Babylonia and, thus, are generally written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script, [41] while those of the latter king originate from Aššur and Nineveh and are written in Neo-Assyrian script. Six of the eight texts are archival copies or drafts of short dedicatory inscriptions that had been written on the metal plating of an object dedicated to one of the king's patron deities. Aššur-etel-ilāni's dedicatory texts record the creation of a musukkannu-wood offering table (paššuru) and a gold scepter (haṭṭu) for Marduk at Babylon and Sippar-Aruru (Dūr-Šarrukku).[42] The dedicatory inscriptions of Sîn-šarra-iškun from Aššur record the fashioning of a kallu-bowl and a šulpu-bowl for the god Nabû, a silver spoon (itqūru) for the goddess Tašmētu, and musukkannu-wood offering tables (paššuru) for the goddesses Antu and Šala. As for the other two inscriptions on tablets, one records that Aššur-etel-ilāni returned the body of the Chaldean sheikh Šamaš-ibni to its proper burial place, while the other gives an account of Sîn-šarra-iškun's work on the city wall of Nineveh.[44] The latter tablet is an archival copy of an inscription that was written on clay cylinders deposited in the mud-brick structure of Nineveh's wall Badnigalbilukurašušu ("Wall Whose Brilliance Overwhelms Enemies").[45] Unusually, the tablet is dated. It was inscribed in the month Ulūlu (VI), in the eponymy of the palace overseer Bēl-aḫu-uṣur.[46]
A number of fragmentarily-preserved clay tablets bearing Akkadian inscriptions are arbitrarily edited in this volume.[47] Given their heavily-damaged state of preservation, their attribution to Ashurbanipal or to another late Neo-Assyrian king (for example, Sennacherib or Esarhaddon) is uncertain. These fragments merit no further comment, especially since it is not possible to determine these texts' subgenre (for example, dedicatory inscription or annalistic text).
[35] For discussions of these, see Tadmor and Yamada, RINAP 1 pp. 9–10; Frame, RINAP 2 p. 7; Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/2 pp. 5–8; Leichty, RINAP 4 pp. 3–4; and Jeffers and Novotny, RINAP 5/2 pp. 3–9.
[36] Asb. 255, 264, and 2002.
[37] Libbāli-šarrat is the only known-by-name wife of Ashurbanipal and, therefore, it is possible that this inscription was also written in her name.
[38] The text is not sufficiently preserved to be certain to whom the ceremonial cart had been dedicated. The attribution of the inscription to Ashurbanipal is based solely on the fact that the tablet (W 22669/3) was discovered at Uruk.
[39] CBS 733 + CBS 1757 contains a second, longer inscription, very likely written in the name of Ashurbanipal's older brother, Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, the king of Babylon. See Frame, RIMB 2 pp. 256–257 B.6.33.5 for an edition of and further information about that text.
[40] Aei 2–3 and 6 (ex. 2); and Ssi 6 and 15–18.
[41] Aei 3 (VAT 13142), which was found at Babylon, is written in Neo-Assyrian script.
[42] Aei 2–3. PTS 2253 (Aei 2) includes a private two-line note at the end which mentions food offerings of a certain Nādin, son of Bēl-aḫḫē-iqīša, that were delivered in the 3rd year of the reign of the Achaemenid king Cambyses II (527). Thus, PTS 2253 is a much later copy of that Akkadian inscription of Aššur-etel-ilāni. The tablet might originate from Uruk, rather than Babylon, since Nādin, son of Bēl-aḫḫē-iqīša (line 22), is probably to be identified with a scribe by that name who is known at Uruk from the reign of Neriglissar into the reign of Cambyses. See the commentary of Aei 2 for further details.
[43] Ssi 15–18.
[44] Aei 6 (ex. 2) and Ssi 6.
[45] The Sumerian ceremonial name of Nineveh's wall (dūru) is known from Sennacherib's inscriptions. See Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/1 pp. 17–19. No clay cylinders bearing this inscription have yet been positively identified.
[46] On the date, see the section Eponym Dates below.
[47] Asb. 1001–1029.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Clay Tablets', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/rinap53introduction/surveyofinscribedobjects/claytablets/]