Category Archives: Assyria

Šamaš-šuma-ukin Chronicle (ABC 15)

The translation on this webpage was adapted from A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975) and Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, 2004).

The Assyrian empire

The Chronicle Concerning the Reign of Šamaš-šuma-ukin (ABC 15) is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with the reign of Šamaš-šuma-ukin (667-648), brother of king Aššurbanipal of Assyria, and several other apparently unrelated events that appear to have something to do with Šamaš-šuma-ukin.

The text is inscribed on a small tablet, BM 96273 (1902-4-12, 385), which has the shape of a Neo-Babylonian business document (cf. Chronicles 2, 4, 6, and 9). It measures 57 mm wide and 43 mm long. The text is not well preserved. At one time it was broken into two pieces and there is a small gap where these pieces have been joined. The lower left-hand corner is missing and there is a deep gouge in the obverse.

Events related to different kings are indicated by different colors.

(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)

Translation

1 The sixth year of Aššur-nadin-šumi (694/693): On the first day of the month Šabatu Anu-rabu went from Der to Assyria.
2 The fourth year of Šamaš-šuma-ukin (664/663): On the twelfth day of the month Tašrîtu

3 the Elamite prince fled to Assyria.

——————————————
4 The fourteenth year (654/653): The ancient bed of Bêl went from Baltil (Aššur) to Babylon.

——————————————

5 The fifteenth year (653/652): The new chariot of Bêl (Marduk) […] he took to Babylon.

——————————————

6 The sixteenth year (652/651): On the eighth day of the month Šabatu the king withdrew before the enemy into Babylon.

——————————————
7 The seventeenth year (651/650): On the ninth day of the intercalary month Ulûlu, Šamaš-šuma-ukin mustered an army,

8 marched to Cuthah and took the city.

9 He defeated the army of Assyria and the Cutheans.

10 He captured the statue of Nergal and took it to Babylon.
11 On the twenty-seventh day of the month […] the officers of Assyria rebelled.[1]

12 […] He went on horseback to Ša-pî-Bêl?.

13 Nabû-bel-šumati, governor of the Sea-land

14 […]ed them and like […]

15 […] he caused him to enter with him.

16 He established their defeat and did not let anyone escape.

17 He captured the general? of the army of Assyria and

18 when he had finished his conquest he took him to the king of Babylon.

——————————————
19 The eighteenth year (650/649): On the eleventh day of the month Du’ûzu the enemy invested Babylon.

——————————————

20 For three months, Širikti-šuqamuna,
21 brother of Ninurta?-kudurri-usur, ruled Babylon.[2]

——————————————
22 The fifth year and the sixth year of Nabû-šuma-iškun [3]: Nabû did not come for the procession of Bêl.

——————————————

23 Non-integrated lines, extracted from a wax tablet for the sake of completeness.

24 One-column tablet of Nabû-kasir, descendant of Ea-iluta-ibni.

Note 1:
This appears to be a reference to the revolt of Nabû-bel-šumati, who, according to the Annals of Aššurbanipal, arrested and imprisoned several Assyrian officers.

Note 2:
A reference to Širikti-šuqamuna, king for three months in 985 BCE.

Note 3:
King for at least thirteen years, the last of which must have been 748 BCE.

Praise to Nabu From Ashurbanipal

Unknown web sourcems2180


(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)

             (Nabu, 3rd son to Marduk)

“TO NABÛ, EXALTED LORD, WHO DWELLS IN EZIDA,

WHICH IS IN NINEVEH, HIS LORD:

            (modern statue of giant King Ashurbanipal)

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

            (temple residence of Nabu in Assur, Assyria)

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,

              (Assyrian cities of the gods)

MAY MY FEET GROW OLD BY WALKING IN EZIDA (Nabu’s residence)

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.

Ashurbanipal Quotes From Texts, Sitchin Books, etc.

(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.

Sennacherib Quotes From Texts, Sitchin Books, The Bible, etc.

(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 …mixed-breed demigods in teal…)

 

II Kings, chapters 18 & 19:

        “in the fourteen year of the king Hezekiah

        Sennacherib, the king of Assyria,

        came upon all the walled cities of Judea and captured them …”

the question of whether the Assyrian invasion of Judea was authorized by the lord Yahweh:

        “Concerning the king of Assyria…

        the way that he came, he shall return;

        and unto this city he shall not come in…

        for I shall defend this city to save it …”

Quoting the Bible:

        “And it came to pass that night,

        that the angel of Yahweh went forth

        and smote in the camp of the Assyrians

        a hundred and eighty-five thousand;

        and at sunrise, lo and behold,

        they were all dead corpses.

        So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria,

        departed, and journey back and dwelt in Nineveh…”

Sennacherib failed to conquer Jerusalem…

According to the Old Testament, after Sennacherib returned to Nineveh,

        “it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch,

        that Adrammelech and Sharezzer his sons smote him with a sword;

        and they escaped unto the land of Ararat.

        And Esarhaddon, his son , reigned in his stead…”

 

The Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote his Histories ca. 450 BC, speaks of a divinely-appointed disaster destroying an army of Sennacherib (2:141):

“when Sanacharib, king of the Arabians and Assyrians,

marched his vast army into Egypt,

the warriors one and all refused to come to his (i.e., the Pharaoh Sethos) aid.

On this the monarch, greatly distressed,

entered into the inner sanctuary,

and, before the image of the god,

bewailed the fate which impended over him.

As he wept he fell asleep,

and dreamed that the god came and stood at his side,

bidding him be of good cheer,

and go boldly forth to meet the Arabian host,

which would do him no hurt,

as he himself would send those who should help him.

Sethos, then, relying on the dream,

collected such of the Egyptians as were willing to follow him,

who were none of them warriors,

but traders, artisans, and market people;

and with these marched to Pelusium,

which commands the entrance into Egypt,

and there pitched his camp.

As the two armies lay here opposite one another,

there came in the night, a multitude of field-mice,

which devoured all the quivers and bowstrings of the enemy,

and ate the thongs by which they managed their shields.

Next morning they commenced their fight, and great multitudes fell,

as they had no arms with which to defend themselves.

There stands to this day in the temple of Vulcan, a stone statue of Sethos,

with a mouse in his hand, and an inscription to this effect –

“Look on me, and learn to reverence the gods …”

 ”

Forty-six of Hezekiah’s cities (cities 1st millennium BC terms ranged in size from large modern-day towns to villages) were conquered by Sennacherib, but Jerusalem did not fall. His own account of this invasion, as given in the Taylor prism, is as follows:

 

“Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke,

I came up against him,

and by force of arms and by the might of my power

I took 46 of his strong fenced cities;

and of the smaller towns which were scattered about,

I took and plundered a countless number.

From these places I took and carried off 200,156 persons,

old and young, male and female,

together with horses and mules, asses and camels,

oxen and sheep, a countless multitude;

and Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem,

his capital city, like a bird in a cage,

building towers round the city to hem him in,

and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape…

Then upon Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms,

and he sent out to me the chiefs

and the elders of Jerusalem with 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver,

and diverse treasures, a rich and immense booty…

All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government …”

 ”

Royal Inscription of Sargon II of Assyria, describing his conquests generally, mentioning:

(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)

BIT-HABAN, PARSHUMASH, MANNAEA, URARTU;

THE HEROIC MAN WHO DEFEATED HUMBANIGASH, KING OF ELAM;

WHO MADE THE EXTENSIVE BIT-HUMRIYA (HOUSE OF OMRI) TOTTER,

              (semi-divine king with Ashur’s protection from above)

THE DEFEAT OF MUSRU IN RAPIHU; BOUND TO ASHUR,

WHO CONQUERED THE TAMUDI;

WHO CAUGHT THE IONIANS IN THE SEA LIKE A BIRD-CATCHER;

ALSO BIT-BURTASHA, KIAKKI AND AMRISH, THEIR RULERS;

WHO DROVE AWAY MITÂ (MIDAS), KING OF MUSHKU;

WHO PLUNDERED HAMATH AND CARCHEMISH;

GREAT HAND CONQUERED, THE DEVASTATOR OF URARTU, MUSASIR;

THE URARTIANS BY THE TERROR OF HIS WEAPONS,

KILLED BY HIS OWN HANDS;

WHO DESTROYED THE PEOPLES OF HARHAR,

WHO GATHERED THE MANNAEANS, ELLIPI;

WHO CHANGED THE ABODE OF PÂPA, LALLUKNU;

WHO FLAYED THE SKIN OF ASHUR-LÊ’I, THEIR GOVERNOR;

            (Ashur)

WHO IMPOSED THE YOKE OF ASHUR ON SHURDÂ;

FROM MELIDU, HIS ROYAL CITY;

THE FEARSOME ONSLAUGHT, WHO HAD NO FEAR OF BATTLE.

Neo Babylonian on clay, Nimrod, Assyria, 722-705 BC, 1 partial 8-facetted prism, 6,2×12,0 cm remaining, 8 lines in cuneiform script.

Context: 1 fragment of a cylinder with the same inscription, also in Neo Babylonian, is known.

Commentary: The present MS is related to the clay cylinders from Khorsabad, but they are in Assyrian. These cylinders were written in Nimrud, Assyria, for being sent to Babylonian cities to be deposited in foundation deposits in buildings in Babylonia.

This was Sargon II, conqueror of the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.

2 Kings 17: 5-11

5– Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6 – In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 – For [so] it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8 – And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9 – And the children of Israel did secretly [those] things that [were] not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

10 – And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

11 – And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as [did] the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: – 2 Kings 17:5-11

The Antakya stela

(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 Antakya Stela. Archaeological Museum of Antakya (Turkey)

In the Archaeological Museum of Antakya (Turkey), one can see a stone stela that was discovered in what is now a suburb of the city. It was erected by the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III (810-783) as a boundary marker between two of his vassal kings, Ataršumki of Arpad and Zakkur of Hamath. It seems that the latter had to give up a piece of land surrounding a village named Nahlasi and a stretch of land in the fertile valley of the Orontes. It is remarkable that the Assyrian king and his general dictate the terms of the treaty and invoke Assyrian gods in what was a local dispute.

The stela consists of two parts. The upper half shows king Adad-Nirari, his general Šamši-ilu, and a column. This may be an asherah, a pole that signified the presence of a deity. The lower half contains a beautifully carved inscription, which consists of four sections:

  1. The king’s titles: the normal beginning of an inscription in the ancient Near East;

  2. The terms of the treaty: the village Nahlasi will be part of kingdom of Ataršumki of Arpad;

  3. A statement of fact: the king has released the village from its obligation;

  4. A statement that anyone who alters the terms, is cursed. This is, again, a common part in a Near Eastern text from Antiquity.

The date is not known. Adad-Nirari visited the region in 796, but the fact that his commander-in-chief Šamši-ilu is mentioned prominently, suggests that he was in fact responsible for dictating the terms. This makes any date between 810 and 783 possible.

The text was translated by K. Lawson Younger, Jr.

Adad-Nirari [III], great king, might king,

king of the universe, king of Assyria,

son of Šamši-Adad [V], might king, king of the universe,

king of Assyria, son of Shalmaneser [III], king of the four quarters.

The boundary which which Adad-Nirari, king of Assyria,

and Šamši-ilu, the commander-in-chief,

established between Zakkur, the Hamathite, and Ataršumki, son of Adrame:

the city of Nahlasi together with all its fields,

its orchards and its settlements is Ataršumki’s property.

They divided the Orontes river between them.

This is the border.

Adad-Nirari, king of Assyria, and Šamši-ilu, the commander-in-chief,

have released it from obligations free and clear to Ataršumki, son of Adrame,

to his sons, and his subsequent grandsons.

He established his city and its territories […] to the border of his land.

By the name of Aššur, Adad, and Ber, the Assyrian Enlil, the Assyrian Ninlil,

and the name Sin, who dwells in Harran, the great gods of Assyria:

whoever afterwords speaks ill of the terms of this stela,

and takes away by force this border from the possession of Ataršumki,

his sons, or his grandsons,

and destroys the written name and writes another name:

may Aššur, Adad, and Ber Sin who dwells in Harran,

the great gods of Assyria whose names are recorded on this stela,

not listen to his prayers.

 

Royal Inscription of Assurnasirpal II:

(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 …mixed-breed demigods in teal…)

‘CALAH I RESTORED.

A TEMPLE OF MY LADY I ESTABLISHED THERE.

THIS TEMPLE DEDICATED TO THE GODS AND SUBLIME,

WHICH WILL ENDURE FOREVER,

I WILL DECORATE SPLENDIDLY.’

ms711

PART OF THE ‘STANDARD INSCRIPTION’ FROM THE ROYAL PALACE IN CALAH, MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE

MS in Assyrian on basalt stone, Nimrod (Calah), Assyria, 883-859 BC, 1 plaque, 43×26 cm, single column, (43×23 cm), 10 lines in display cuneiform script. Complete standard inscription: ca. 50×225 cm (ca. 45×215), 21 long lines with friezes over and below (both ca. 70×225 cm).

Context: Most of the reliefs and inscriptions are in British Museum and Louvre. Further holdings in New York Historical Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University.

Commentary: From the East Wing of the Palace, room I. The site of the temple is mentioned in Genesis 10:11-12:

‘Out of that land went forth Assur,

and builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth,

and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah,

the same is a great city’.

Genesis 10:1-12 mentions that the builder of Calah was Nimrod, son of Cush, son of Ham, son of Noah. The ‘standard inscription’ is a 22-line text that records Assurnasirpal’s victories, his greatness and describes the building of his palace at Calah. The inscription exists in many variants, all of which come from the slabs lining the walls of the palace.

The version presented here is recorded by Y. Le Gac: Les incriptions d’Ashur-nasir-pal II, roi d’Assyrie. Paris 1908, p. 187. What makes the present inscription of interest, is that it includes a detailed description of the very palace that it adorned, and that Calah is directly referred to in Genesis 10:11-12.

Chronicle of Tiglath-Pileser I

http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/cm/enlil-nirari.html

 

(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 …mixed-breed demigods in teal…)

 

The Chronicle of Tiglath-Pileser I is a tablet from Aššur that contained an Assyrian chronicle; the Chronicle of Enlil-nirari may have been part of the same tablet. It describes the unfriendly relations between Assyria, the Aramaeans, and Babylonia during the last years of the reign of Tiglath-pileser I (1115-1076).

Translation

(….)
1′ […]-Nergal
——————————————
2′-9′ In the limmu-ship of […],

the people ate one another’s flesh to save their lives.

Like a flood’s ravaging water the Aramaean “houses” increased,

plundered the crops of Assyria, conquered and took many fortified cities of Assyria.

People fled toward the mountains of Habruri to save their lives.

The Aramaeans took their gold, their silver, and their possessions.

Marduk-nadin-ahhe, king of Karduniaš, died (1082).

Marduk-šapik-zeri entered upon his father’s throne.

Eighteen years of reign of Marduk-nadin-ahhe.
——————————————
10′-13′ In the limmu-ship of […], all the harvest of Assyria was ruined.

The Aramaean tribes increased and seized the bank of the Tigris.

They plundered […] Idu, the district of Nineveh, Kilizi.

In that year, Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria, marched to Katmuhu.
(…)

Chronicle of Tukulti-Ninurta I

http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/cm/enlil-nirari.html

 

(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!)

(mixed-breed demigods in teal…)

 

The Chronicle of Tukulti-Ninurta I is a very small fragment of an Assyrian chronicle; the tablet was found in Aššur. It describes the war between the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (1234-1197) and the Babylonian ruler Kaštiliašu IV (1233-1225), which culminated in the capture of Babylon.

Translation

(…)

1′ […]

2′ Tukulti-Ninurta, king of all, powerful king, king of Assyria,

3′ prince, lord of all […]
4′ […] took Karduniaš. […]

5′ brought into Libbi-ali […]

6′-7′ Kaštiliašu, king of Karduniaš, marched on […]

8′ for evil. Kaštiliašu […]

——————————————
9′ In the month of Ululu, the sixteenth day […]

Chronicle of Arik-den-ili

http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/cm/enlil-nirari.html

 

(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 Chronicle of Arik-denili is a fragment of an Assyrian chronicle; the tablet was found in Aššur. It describes the wars of king Arik-den-ili (1308-1296) against an enemy that cannot be identified.

Translation

(…)
1-8 […] from the city of […] to […], a hundred head of sheep and goats and a hundred heads of their cattle […] he brought to Aššur. At this time […] seven thousand baskets, by their order, before […]. He made a large battering ram. Arik-den-ili, […] his gift to Ištar (Inanna) […] he offered […].

——————————————

9-17 […] proud, Arik-den-ili […] the crop of Esini […] he carried away and Esini […] thirty-three chariots of […] he killed with […]. Arik-den-ili […] in […] he loaded on his chariots. The chariots […] he […] Arnuna of Nigimhi, the fortress of the country of […] He surrounded Esini in Arnuna, destroyed its gateway […]. Arik-den-ili scattered […] and all took an oath before Arik-den-ili.

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18 […] the price of grain was fixed at one mina. Arik-den-ili

19-26 […]turiha, Habaruha, which […] for […] Kutila, he turned away their troops […] he […] of Tarbisu, Kudina […] he gave them up. Kutila […]. At this time, with ninety of his chariots, he crossed the lower […]. He killed six hundred men of Hi[…] with […]. Remaku […] he killed as punishment against Nagabbilhi.

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27 […] famine; the price of grain was fixed at two minas […]

28-34 of Halahhu, forever […] he plundered. He killed 254,000 men. He inflicted a defeat on them. He led away their shackled prisoners and brought them to Aššur. At this time, one hundred […] he rose up. Asini […] to […]
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