(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)
(gods in blue)
The Babylonians destroyed Nineveh in 612 B.C.
Ashurbanipal: He was king of Nineveh. He compiled a huge library of 25,000 tablets in Nineveh. A section of the library, comprising of 23 tablets, ended with the statement, “23rd tablet: language of Shumer not changed.”
Many of the tablets claim to be copies of “olden texts”. One text contains a statement by Anshurbanipal:
“The god of scribes has bestowed on me the gift of the knowledge of his art.
I have been initiated into the secrets of writing.
I can even read the intricate tablets in Shumerian;
I understand the enigmatic words in the stone carvings
from the days before the Flood …”
Ashurbanipal wrote
“The terror-inspiring Brilliance of Ashur,”
“blinded the Pharaoh so that he became a madman …”
“TO NABÛ, EXALTED LORD, WHO DWELLS IN EZIDA,
WHICH IS IN NINEVEH, HIS LORD:
I ASHURBANIPAL, KING OF ASSYRIA,
THE ONE LONGED FOR AND DESTINED BY HIS GREAT DIVINITY,
WHO, AT THE ISSUING OF HIS ORDER
AND THE GIVING OF HIS SOLEMN DECREE,
CUT OFF THE HEAD OF TE’UMMAN, KING OF ELAM,
AFTER DEFEATING HIM IN BATTLE,
AND WHOSE GREAT COMMAND MY HAND CONQUERED UMMAN- IGASH,
TANMARIT, PA’E AND UMMAN-ALTASH,
WHO RULED OF ELAM AFTER TE’UMMAN.
I YOKED THEM TO MY SEDAN CHAIR,
MY ROYAL CONVEYANCE.
WITH HIS GREAT HELP I ESTABLISHED DECENT ORDER
IN ALL THE LANDS WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
AT THAT TIME I ENLARGED THE STRUCTURE OF THE COURT
OF THE TEMPLE OF NABÛ, MY LORD,
USING MASSIVE LIMESTONE.
MAY NABÛ LOOK WITH JOY ON THIS,
MAY HE FIND IT ACCEPTABLE.
BY THE RELIABLE IMPRESS OF YOUR WEDGES
MAY THE ORDER FOR A LIFE OF LONG DAYS
COME FORTH FROM YOUR LIPS,
MAY MY FEET GROW OLD BY WALKING IN EZIDA
IN YOUR DIVINE PRESENCE”
MS in Neo Assyrian on limestone, Nineveh, Assyria, ca. 646 BC, 1 limestone slab, 47x42x4 cm, single column, 19 lines in Neo Assyrian cuneiform script.
Commentary: King Ashurbanipal (669-631 BC) rebuilt Ezida, the temple of Nabû, the god of writing.
BANQUETS
Bas-reliefs show kings and queens banqueting in lush gardens, attended by servants, and entertained by musicians. In a relief from Khorsabad, the nobles sat at tables of four. In front of them was placed a dish of food as they toasted the king, raising a rhythm cornucopia-shaped drinking cup) with a base in the shape of a lion´s head.
When king Assurnasirpal II built his new capital at Nimrud, he hosted a huge banquet to celebrate opening ceremonies. A historical summary of the event provides us with a detailed menu, the number of guests and their country of origin:
“When Assurnasirpal, king of Assyria, inaugurated the palace in Calah,
a palace of joy, built with great ingenuity,
he invited into it Assur (the Assyrian national god),
the great lord and the gods of the entire country.
He prepared a banquet of 1,000 fattened head of cattle,
1000 calves, 10,000 stable sheep, 15,000 lamb –
for my lady Ishtar alone 200 heads of cattle and
And … 1,000 spring lambs, 500 stags, 500 gazelles,
1,000 ducks, 500 geese… 10,000 doves… 10,000 skins with wine …
1,000 wooden crates with vegetables, 300 containers with oil,
300 containers with salted seeds… 100 containers of fine mixed beer,
100 pomegranates, 100 bunches of grapes, 100 pistachio cones….
100 with garlic, 100 with onions… 100 with honey, 100 with rendered butter,
100 with roasted … barley, 10 homer of shelled peanuts… 10 homer of dates…
10 homer of cumin… 10 homer of thyme, 10 homer of perfumed oil,
10 homer of sweet smelling matters…
10 homer of zinzimu-onions, 10 homer of olives.
When I inaugurated the palace at Calah,
I hosted for 10 days with food and drink
47,074 persons, men and women,
who were bid to com from across my entire country,
also 5,000 important persons, delegates from the country Sukhu,
from Khindana, Khatina, Hatti, Tyre, Sidon,
Gurguma, Malida, Khubushka, Gilzana,
Kuma and Musasir (capital of Urartu),
also 16,000 inhabitants of Calah from all ways of life,
1500 officials of all my palace,
altogether 69,574 invited guests…
furthermore, I provided them with the means to cean and anoint themselves.
I did them due honors an sent them back,
healthy and happy to their own countries. …”
The menu despite difficulties in translation has furnished us with an outline of the banquet: 1) meat dishes, such as sheet, cattle, and some game; fowl, mostly small and aquatic birds; fish and jerboa, and a large variety of eggs; 2) bread; 3) beer and wine in identical amounts, 4) side dishes (mostly pickled and spiced fruit and a large variety of seeds and onion); 5) dessert (sweet fruits, nuts, honey, cheese) and savories, most are still not identifiable. Finally perfumed oil and sweet smelling substances were listed.