Steles

Only four round-topped steles are currently known from the reign of Ashurbanipal, but more of these monuments certainly existed in antiquity.[64] Three of the monuments come from Babylonia (Babylon and Borsippa) and these are inscribed with building inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, specifically recording the restoration of Ekarzagina ("House, Quay of Lapis Lazuli" or "House, Pure Quay"), the temple of the god Ea in the Esagil complex at Babylon,[65] and the rebuilding of the enclosure wall of Ezida ("True House"), the temple of Nabû at Borsippa.[66] The fronts of the steles, which are made from pink marble, have frontal depictions of Ashurbanipal holding a work-basket on his head, indicating his (symbolic) role in the restorations. The inscriptions are generally written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script[67] and were commissioned by Ashurbanipal before 652 since they all mention Šamaš-šuma-ukīn in a favorable manner. The other monument comes from Aššur, from the so-called "row of steles," and it is inscribed with a five-line (proprietary) Akkadian inscription of Ashurbanipal's wife Libbāli-šarrat.[68] The Assyrian queen, shown with a mural crown representing a city wall and its towers, is depicted on the face of the monument and her inscription is engraved on the back.

Notes

[64] Asb. 246, 254, and 2001. It is certain from the concluding formula of K 2694 + K 3050 (Asb. 220 [L⁴] iv 1´–5´); Jeffers and Novotny, RINAP 5/2 pp. 319–328) that the text written on that multi-column clay tablet was a draft of an inscription that was to be engraved on a stele erected in Babylon, presumably in Marduk's temple Esagil. That monument is not presently known.

[65] Asb. 246 ex. 1 (lines 65b–67a). The building report of Asb. 246 ex. 2 is not preserved and, thus, it is quite possible that that stele did not describe the restoration of Ea's shrine Ekarzagina.

[66] Asb. 254 (lines 33–36). A similar stele of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn (BM 90866) was found at Borsippa in 1880, in the room southwest of Room C2 of Ezida, together with this stele of Ashurbanipal (BM 90865). For an edition of that text, see Frame, RIMB 2 pp. 252–253 B.6.33.3.

[67] Asb. 254 has some Neo-Assyrian sign forms.

[68] Asb. 2001.

Jamie Novotny

Jamie Novotny, 'Steles', 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/steles/]

 
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