2001 2002 2003–2018 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Numerous inscriptions of members of Ashurbanipal's family are known, including two texts ascribed to his wife/wives. The first (Asb. 2001), which is written in the name of Libbāli-šarrat, is engraved on a round-topped stele that was discovered in the so-called "row of steles," in the religious capital Aššur. The second (Asb. 2002), which might also be attributed to Libbāli-šarrat, is known from an archival copy inscribed on a single-column clay tablet. The inscriptions of his sons and successors Aššur-etel-ilāni and Sîn-šarra-iškun are edited in the present volume (see pp. 156–166 and 168–208), while those of his older brother, Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, who was king of Babylon from 667–648, are not. For editions of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn's inscriptions, see Frame, RIMB 2 pp. 248–259 B.6.33.1–2001.
The reverse of a fragmentarily-preserved, round-topped stele from Aššur is engraved with a five-line Akkadian inscription of Ashurbanipal's wife Libbāli-šarrat. The face of monument, which was found in the "row of steles" ("Stelenreihe"), depicts this Assyrian queen with a mural crown.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003840/] of Ashurbanipal 2001.
The inscription, as one expects from a stone stele discovered at Aššur, is written in Neo-Assyrian script. Each line of text is separated by a horizontal ruling. The inscription was collated by J. Novotny from the original in January 2019.
The obverse of a horizontal clay tablet (an uʾiltu-tablet) has a draft or archival copy of an inscription of Ashurbanipal's wife (possibly Libbāli-šarrat) written on it. This short, eight-line Akkadian text records that a woman close to Ashurbanipal, almost certainly his wife based on the occurrence of narāmiša ("her beloved") in line 4 and hāʾeriša ("her husband") in line 7, dedicated a reddish-gold-plated object to a goddess (possibly Tašmētu, the consort of the god Nabû). Because Libbāli-šarrat is the only known-by-name wife of Ashurbanipal, this dedicatory inscription might have been written in her name, although this cannot be proven.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003841/] of Ashurbanipal 2002.
For details about uʾiltu-tablets, horizontal tablets with a 1:2 ratio, see, for example, Radner, Nineveh 612 BC pp. 72–73 (with fig. 8); Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/2 pp. 5–6; and Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 81. The script is Neo-Assyrian. Based on the concluding formula of the text, especially line 7, K. Deller has suggested that the tablet originated from Kalḫu, rather than Nineveh. See Deller, OrAnt 22 (1983) pp. 23–24 for details.
With regard to the identity of the royal lady in whose name the inscription is written, M. Streck (Asb. pp. CCXXVI–CCXXIX) wrongly suggested that it was Ešarra-ḫammat, Esarhaddon's queen who is presumed to have been Ashurbanipal's birth-mother. Because the inscription refers explicitly to the royal lady's husband in line 7 (hāʾeriša, "her husband"), Streck's proposal cannot be correct, as Deller (OrAnt 22 [1983] p. 23) and E. Weissert (PNA 1/1 p. 161 sub Aššur-bāni-apli I.1.-b.-2´.-b´) have already pointed out. Since the only known-by-name wife of Ashurbanipal is Libbāli-šarrat, Deller tentatively proposed restoring the beginning of line 2 as [fURU.ŠÀ.URU-šar-rat MUNUS.KUR ša maš-šur-D]Ù-A "[Libbāli-šarrat, queen of Ashurba]nipal." Although this restoration is very likely correct, it cannot be proven with absolute certainty. Therefore, it is best to leave the name of Ashurbanipal's queen at the beginning of line 2 unrestored, as it might have been a hitherto unknown wife of that king who commissioned this text and inscribed object.
For at least part of the reigns of Ashurbanipal in Assyria and Šamaš-šuma-ukīn in Babylonia, Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, son of Ningal-iddin, was governor of the southern Babylonian city of Ur. He has left several Sumerian and Akkadian inscriptions that record the restoration or construction of various structures there. While none of these mention the king of Babylon, Šamaš-šuma-ukīn, three specifically refer to Ashurbanipal, the king of Assyria (Asb. 2006 and 2008–2009). Thus, the inscriptions of this important governor have been edited with those of Ashurbanipal instead of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn (Frame, RIMB 2 pp. 248–259 B.6.33.1–2001). Sîn-balāssu-iqbi was preceded in office by his father Ningal-iddin, who held that position in the reign of Esarhaddon, Ashurbanipal's father, and, quite likely, already in the time of Sennacherib, his grandfather. Two Babylonian economic texts composed in 658 and 657 refer to Sîn-balāssu-iqbi as governor, but he may have already taken office in the reign of Esarhaddon (680–669). He was succeeded by two of his brothers, Sîn-šarra-uṣur (see Frame, RIMB 2 pp. 258–259 B.6.33.2001) and Sîn-tabni-uṣur, the latter of whom is known to have held the governorship of Ur in at least 650 and 649. For details, see Frame, Babylonia pp. 278–279; and Baker, PNA 3/2 pp, 1129–1130 sub Sīn-balāssu-iqbi no. 3. With regard to Sîn-balāssu-iqbi's building activities at Ur, see Hätinen, dubsar 20 pp. 337–359.
This Sumerian inscription of Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, which is dedicated to the moon-god Nanna (Sîn), the tutelary deity of the city of Ur, is written on a stone door socket excavated at Ur. The text records that governor's renovation of Etemennigurru ("House, Foundation Clad in Awe-Inspiring Radiance"), in particular, the construction of a new door.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003842/] of Ashurbanipal 2003.
The door socket was found in 1924–25, during C.L. Woolley's excavations at Ur. The piece was assigned the excavation number U 2674 and it is shown on British Museum negative U 342. The door socket was made from (the upper) half of a kudurru. The inscription is written in archaizing Babylonian script. The text is inscribed in two columns: col i = lines 1–19 and col. ii = 20–38.
This Sumerian inscription of Sîn-balāssu-iqbi is written on a clay nail and records the restoration of Etemennigurru, the same structure mentioned in the previous text.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003843/] of Ashurbanipal 2004.
The nail was found by the British expedition to Ur and was given the excavation number U 1262. The inscription — whose sign forms are Babylonian and display some archaizing features — is found running along the side of the object.
This Sumerian inscription of Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, which is known from clay nails that were discovered at Ur, states that that pro-Assyrian governor rebuilt the Gipāru and constructed a statue of the goddess Ningal, the consort of the god Nanna (Sîn) and that building's principal divine occupant.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003844/] of Ashurbanipal 2005.
Sir L. Woolley found thirteen nails bearing this text "set upright, bedded in a little bitumen, in holes below the walls and pavement of the sanctuary" (AJ 5 [1925] p. 368). In addition to the three in the British Museum and the two in the Penn Museum listed above, six further exemplars are reported to be in the Iraq Museum (Baghdad) and to bear the museum number IM 1081 (see Edzard, Sumer 13 [1957] p. 178). The present locations of the remaining two exemplars are not known. Ex. 4 bears a faint museum number, CBS 1590x, where x stands for an illegible numeral, and ex. 5 has no museum number written on it; however, the Penn Museum registration book records that the number 15905 was given to "Clay cones of Sin-balatsu-iqbi" that bore the Ur number 3249. The identification of the letter at the end of the excavation number marked on ex. 5 is not certain. The text is written in archaizing Babylonian script. Ex 1 is the master exemplar in the edition presented here. A score of the text is presented on Oracc.
The inscription literally states that Sîn-balāssu-iqbi rebuilt "the Gipāru, the house of the goddess Ninlil, beloved wife of the god Sîn" for the goddess Ningal. As J.A. Brinkman has argued (Orientalia NS 38 [1969] pp. 337–338 n. 2), it is likely that dnin-líl should be taken "as an epithet referring to Ningal and connoting 'supreme goddess' or something similar." His suggestion has been adopted here. It is likely that one should regard the inscription as indicating a syncretism between Ningal and Ninlil, just as previous texts appear to reflect a syncretism between Ningal's spouse Nanna (Sîn) and Ninlil's spouse Enlil (see introduction to Asb. 2010).
An Akkadian text stating that Sîn-balāssu-iqbi, "governor of Ur, Eridu, and the Gurasimmu (tribe)," rebuilt a well named Puḫilituma ("Well That Brings Luxuriance") for the goddess Ningal, the consort of the moon-god Nanna (Sîn), is inscribed on eight clay disks discovered at Ur. His (good) deeds are recorded to have been "in order to ensure the good health of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria."
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003845/] of Ashurbanipal 2006.
Sir Leonard Woolley discovered the disks during the eleventh season of excavations at Ur. Ex. 2 has U 18529b written on it, but as noted by J.A. Brinkman, the "b" is probably an error for "g" (Orientalia NS 38 [1969] p. 340, n. 4 from p. 339). The disks are inscribed on both sides and the text is written in contemporary Babylonian script. The arrangement of lines varies in the exemplars; however, the master line follows ex. 1. Exs. 2 and 6 have the inscription on 18 lines. For exs. 4–6, the score on Oracc presents only the variants given by Brinkman (ibid. p. 340 n. 2) and nothing is given for ex. 3 since that exemplar was not available to him for examination and could not be collated by the authors. The minor (orthographic) variants are listed at the back of the book.
Because the reverse of ex. 7 has been cleaned since it was studied by Brinkman (ibid. p. 348), it is now clear that it is not the disk whose reverse is shown on the right side of UE 5 pl. 22b. The disk on the photograph must be identified with one of exs. 3–5.
Sîn-balāssu-iqbi's workmen discovered a brick with a Sumerian inscription of the Ur III king Amar-Suen (2046–2038) while looking for the (original) ground plan of the Ekišnugal temple complex at Ur. Sîn-balāssu-iqbi had one of his scribes, Nabû-šuma-iddin (a lamentation priest), make a copy of that Sumerian text on a clay drum-shaped object which, in view of the poorly-preserved notation written on the top of the object, might have been a model for an altar or dais. Only the colophon, which is written in Akkadian, and the inscription on the top of the object are edited here; the inscription of Amar-Suen is edited in Frayne, RIME 3/2 (pp. 256–257 E3/2.1.3.11).
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003846/] of Ashurbanipal 2007.
This clay object was found in the Giparu, in the so-called "museum" of En-nigaldi-nanna, a daughter of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus (555–539). Sir Leonard Woolley indicates that the piece was found in room ES 2 of the building in AJ 5 [1925] p. 383 and in "room 5" (= ES 5?) in UE 9 p. 17; for a plan of the Giparu at Ur, see UE 9 pl. 65.
The colophon (col. iv) is written in contemporary Babylonian script, while the remainder of the text is written in an archaizing script. Since the passage on the top of the object is written in an archaizing script, it may well be a copy of an older inscription just like cols. i–iii. However, since it is not specifically a part of the Amar-Suen inscription, the Sîn-balāssu-iqbi colophon is edited here.
Amar-Suen's inscription seems to be based upon "Amar-Suen 3" (Steible, NSBW 2 pp. 221–225 = Frayne, RIME 3/2 pp. 255–256 E3/2.1.3.10). However, if so, the lamentation-priest Nabû-šuma-iddin, the person who copied the text on Sîn-balāssu-iqbi's behalf, either did a bad job of copying the original text or made the copy from a different or damaged version of that inscription. Nabû-šuma-iddin's copy includes several errors and differs significantly from the so-called "Amar-Suen 3" inscription, as already pointed out by D.R. Frayne.
This Sumerian inscription of Sîn-balāssu-iqbi records that he renovated Elugalgalgasisa ("House, King of Righteous Counsel"). This text is found on several bricks from Ur and mentions Ashurbanipal. The same temple is also mentioned in the next text.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003847/] of Ashurbanipal 2008.
H.R. Hall's excavations produced exs. 1–2, while exs. 3–4 and 7–10 come from Sir Leonard Woolley's work at Ur, as probably do exs. 5–6. C.J. Gadd states that U 3161 was found "loose in Nin-gal temple" and is in the Iraq Museum (ex. 11; see UET 1 p. xviii); Woolley says that it was "from the temple of Nin-gal" and also indicates that it is in the Iraq Museum (UE 8 p. 103). According to C.B.F. Walker (CBI p. 68), BM 137349 (ex. 4) is U 3161. The Ur registry in the British Museum does not indicate that more than one brick was given this number and simply says it was found "loose on top." Ex. 7 has the Ur excavation number 152 crossed out on it; according to the Ur registry U 152 is a "string of beads." Ex. 7 also has the notation T.T.B. 17 written upon it.
U 3136 and 7824 (present locations not known) may also bear this inscription; see UE 6 pp. 50 and 99. The Ur registry states that U 3136 is a molded brick fragment from the front of the Dublal. U 7824 was found loose in room 6 of the Enunmaḫ; the Ur registry indicates that it has the same inscription as U 3161, except for za-nam-til-la-šu in line 2.
While exs. 1–2 and 4–10 are stamped, ex. 3 is inscribed. It is not clear if ex. 11 was stamped or inscribed. The area stamped on exs. 1–2 and 4–6 measures 16.2/16.8×9.5/10.0 cm. Information for exs. 1–6 comes from Walker. No score for this brick inscription is presented on Oracc.
This eight-line Sumerian inscription, which is stamped on the edge of a fragmentary brick found at Ur, states that Sîn-balāssu-iqbi had the shrine Elugalgalgasisa (the same structure mentioned in the previous text) rebuilt. Ashurbanipal, the king of Assyria, is mentioned by name in the inscription.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003848/] of Ashurbanipal 2009.
During Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur, the brick was discovered and assigned the excavation number U 6341. The text is inscribed in two columns: col i = lines 1–4 and col. ii = 5–8. Walker, CBI no. 81, provides collation notes for lines 2 (⸢A⸣, not IB[I]LA of UET 1 copy) and 5 (úri, not uri₅ of UET 1 copy). C.J. Gadd has suggested that a word for "god" or "protector" should be restored at the beginning of line 2 (that is, "[god of As]hurbanipal" or "[protector of As]hurbanipal").
The construction of Eušumgalana ("House, Dragon of Heaven"), the dwelling of the deity Ninkasi, is recorded in this Sumerian text inscribed twice on a brick from Ur. The work is dedicated to the moon-god Nanna (Sîn). This inscription is the first of nine similar inscriptions from Ur that deal with shrines at that Babylonian city (Asb. 2010–2018). Two of these inscriptions mention only the god Nanna (Asb. 2016–2017) and one assigns a shrine to the god Enlil (Asb. 2018). The remaining six inscriptions, however, for the most part, ascribe shrines to relatively minor deities: Ninkasi, Šuzianna, Kusu, Nusku, Ninimma, and Ennugi (Asb. 2010–2015). Each of these six deities was one of the "sons of Enmešarra," a god who was connected with the netherworld and viewed as an ancestor of Enlil (see Gadd, UET 1 p. 56; and Hibbert, OrAnt 21 [1982] pp. 256–257). Each is also known to have had a shrine in Nippur, Enlil's principal cult center (see Bernhardt and Kramer, Orientalia NS 44 [1975] p. 98; and George, House Most High pp. 12–13). All except Ninkasi are known to have been specifically associated with Enlil in some way (see An = Anum i 184, 252, 306, 318, and 324). Thus, it appears that in carrying out his renovations at Ur, Sîn-balāssu-iqbi was modelling his work upon the cultic topography at Nippur. Since several of this governor's texts refer to Nanna/Sîn as "king of the Enlil (circle of) gods" (Asb. 2003–2004 and 2010–2018) and since one refers to Nanna's Enlilship (nam-den-líl-lá-a-ni; Asb. 2017 line 7), it seems that Sîn-balāssu-iqbi was attempting to promote a syncretism between the gods Nanna (Sîn) and Enlil.
Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap5/Q003849/] of Ashurbanipal 2010.
The brick was discovered in 1925–26, during the fourth season of Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur. The inscriptions on it are inscribed, not stamped. Contrary to a statement in the Ur registry in the British Museum that U 3301 has the same inscription as U 3250 and one in JCS 37 that CBS 16490 (U 3301) and CBS 16483 (U 3250) both have this text, CBS 16490 has Asb. 2014, as previously noted by C.J. Gadd (UET 1 p. xviii) and L. Woolley (UE 8 p. 103).
Ex. 2, the inscription on the edge of CBS 16483, omits line 7. Gadd (UET 1 p. 55 sub no. 174) states that eight further brick inscriptions (UET 1 nos. 175–182 = Asb. 2011–2018) show the same feature: the complete text on the brick's face and a shorter version, omitting line 7, on the brick's edge. None of the exemplars of Asb. 2011–2018 that were examined firsthand has a text on the edge that omits line 7. In every case in which the inscription was collated, however, the edge inscription of Asb. 2010–2018 had d50-e-ne in line 1, not den-líl-e-ne, as found on the brick's face. Following RINAP editorial practice, no score for this brick inscription is presented on Oracc.
The deity Ninkasi, who is named in line 7, is sometimes described as the goddess of beer; see Civil, Studies Oppenheim pp. 67–89.
Grant Frame & Jamie Novotny
Grant Frame & Jamie Novotny, 'High Officials and Royal Women, Part 1 (text nos. 2001-2010)', 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/rinap53textintroductions/ashurbanipal/highofficialsandroyalwomenpart1texts20012010/]