Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/assyria/inscra00.html

COLUMN I

(Ashur upon his ziggurat temple residence, & Assyrian mixed-breed semi-divine king before him)

1. Asur (Osiris) the great lord, the director of the hosts of the gods,

2. the giver of the scepter and the crown, the establisher of the kingdom;

3. Bel (__Enlil)__, the lord (bilu), the king of all the spirits of the earth,

4. the father of the gods, the lord of the world;

5. Sin (__Nannar) (the Moon-god), the sentient one, the lord of the crown,

6. the exalted one, the god of the storm;

(Utu seated, Sun God, god over the “wheel of justice”)

7. Samas (__Utu / Shamash, Nannar’s son__) (the Sun-god), the judge of heaven and earth, who beholds

8. the plots of the enemy, who feeds the flock;

(Adad, God of Thunder with alien weaponry)

9. Rimmon (__Adad) (the Air-god**)**, the prince, the inundator of hostile shores,

10. of countries (and) houses; (semi-divine high-priest, & Marduk, leader of Enki’s descendants)

11. Uras (Marduk), the hero, the destroyer of evil men and foes,

12. who discloses all that is in the heart;

(Inanna with no need for girdles)

13. Ishtar (__Inanna), the eldest of the gods, the lady of girdles,

14. the strengthener of battles.

________

15. Ye great gods, guiders of heaven (and) earth,

16. whose onset (is) opposition and combat,

17. who have magnified the kingdom

(Ashur & Assyrian mixed-breed king)

18. of Tiglath-Pileser, the prince, the chosen

19. of the desire of your hearts, the exalted shepherd,

20. whom you have conjured in the steadfastness of your hearts,

21. with a crown supreme you have clothed him; to rule (Enlil, Earth Colony Commander of the Anunnaki)

22. over the land of Bel (__Enlil) mightily you have established him;

23. priority of birth, supremacy (and) heroism

24. have you given him; the destiny of his lordship

25. for his increase and supremacy,

26. to inhabit Bit-kharsag-kurkurra

27. for ever have you summoned.

_________

28. Tiglath-Pileser, the powerful king,

29. the king of hosts who has no rival, the king of the four zones,

30. the king of all kinglets, the lord of lords, the shepherd-prince, the king of kings,

(mixed-breed king stands before Utu, the Sun God)

31. the exalted prophet, to whom by the proclamation of Samas (__Utu / Shamash)

32. the illustrious scepter has been given as a gift, so that the men

33. who are subject to Bel he has ruled

34. in (their) entirety; the faithful shepherd,

35. proclaimed (lord) over kinglets, (Ashur pendant, in his armed sky-disc)

36. the supreme governor whose weapons (alien technologies) Asur (__Osiris)

37. has predestined, and for the government of the four zones

38. has proclaimed his name for ever; the capturer

39. of the distant divisions of the frontiers

40. above and below; the illustrious prince

41. whose glory has overwhelmed (all) regions;

42. the mighty destroyer, who like the rush

43. of a flood is made strong against the hostile land;

44. by the proclamation of Bel he has no rival;

45. he has destroyed the foeman of Asur.

_________

46. May Asur (and) the great gods who have magnified my kingdom,

47. who have given increase and strength to my fetters,

48. (who) have ordered the boundary of their land

49. to be enlarged, cause my hand to hold

50. their mighty weapons (alien technology), even the deluge of battle.

51. Countries, mountains,

52. fortresses and kinglets, the enemies of Assur,

53. I have conquered, and their territories

54. I have made submit. With sixty kings,

55. I have contended furiously, and

56. power (and) rivalry over them

57. I displayed. A rival in the combat,

58. a confronter in the battle have I not.

59. To the land of Assyria I have added land, to its men

60. (I have added) men; the boundary of my own land

61. I have enlarged, and all their lands I have conquered.

_________

62. At the beginning of my reign twenty thousand men

63. of the Muskâya and their five kings,

64. who for fifty years from the lands of Alzi

65. and Purukuzzi had taken the tribute

66. and gifts owing to Asur my lord,—

67. no king at all in battle

68. had subdued their opposition—to their strength

69. trusted and came down; the land of Kummukh

70. they seized. Trusting in Asur my lord

71. I assembled my chariots and armies.

72. Thereupon I delayed not. The mountain of Kasi-yara,

73. a difficult region, I crossed,

74. with their twenty thousand fighting men

75. and their five kings in the land of Kummukh

76. I contended. A destruction of them

77. I made. The bodies of their warriors

(Adad / Ishkur/ Rimmon, Enlil’s son)

78. in destructive battle like the inundator (Rimmon) (Adad)

79. I overthrew; their corpses I spread

80. over the valleys and the high places of the mountains.

81. Their heads I cut off; at the sides

82. of their cities I heaped (them) like mounds.

83. Their spoil, their property, their goods,

84. to a countless number I brought forth. Six thousand (men),

85. the relics of their armies, which before

86. my weapons had fled, took

87. my feet. I laid hold upon them and

88. counted them among the men of my own country.

_________

89. In those days, against Kummukh, the disobedient,

90. which had withheld the tribute and gifts for Asur my lord,

91. I marched. The land of Kummukh

92. I conquered throughout its circuit.

93. Their spoil, their property, their goods

94. I brought forth; their cities with fire

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Footnotes

92:1 Identified with Ea in W.A.I., ii. 60, 21. 92:2 Or “hollows.” 93:1 “The Temple of the Mountain of the World,” the name of an old temple in the city of Assur, which had been restored by Shalmaneser I (B.C. 1300). In early Babylonian mythology “the Mountain of the World” was the Olympos on which the gods dwelt, and which was identified with Mount Rowandiz. It is referred to in Isaiah xiv. 13, where the Babylonian king is made to say: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim_: I will sit also on the mount of the assembly (of the gods) in the extremities of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”_ 93:2 Isippu, related to asipu, “a diviner,” which was borrowed by the Book of Daniel under the form ashshaph, and may have the same origin as the name of Joseph. 93:3 Pulugi, the Hebrew Peleg, in whose days the earth was “divided.” 94:1 Naplu, probably the same word as the Nephilim (Anunnaki from Nibiru) or “giants” of Gen. vi. 4 and Numb. xiii. 33. Sennacherib, in describing the construction of his palace, says: “A railing of three bronze cords and the divine Napallu I erected above it,” where “the divine Napallu” probably refers to the image of a protecting deity. 94:2 Literally, “in drunken fashion” (sutkuris). 94:3 The Meshech of the Old Testament, the Moschi of the classical writers, who in Assyrian times occupied the country to the north of Malatiyeh. In the later Assyrian inscriptions they are associated with the Tubal or Tibareni, as in the Old Testament. 94:4 Alzi lay on the southern bank of the Euphrates, between Palu and Khini, and included Enzite, the Anzitênê of classical geography (at the p. 95 sources of the Sebbeneh Su). Alzi was invaded by the Vannic king Menuas, who says that it formed part of the territory of the Khate or Hittites. 95:1 Kummukh, the classical Komagêne, extended in the Assyrian age on either side of the Euphrates, from Malatiyeh in the north to Birejik in the south, Merash probably being one of its cities. 95:2 Literally, “I awaited not the future.” 95:3 Mons Masius, the modern Tur Abdin.

COLUMN II

1. I burned, I threw down, I dug up. The rest

2. of (the men of) Kummukh, who before my weapons

3. had fled, to the city of Seress

4. on the further bank of the Tigris

5. passed over; the city for their stronghold

6. they made. My chariots and warriors

7. I took. The difficult mountains and their inaccessible

8. paths with picks of bronze

9. I split. A pontoon for the passage

10. of my chariots and army I contrived.

11. The Tigris I crossed. The city of Serise,

12. their strong city, I captured.

13. Their fighting men, in the midst of the mountains,

14. I flung to the ground like sling-stones (?).

15. Their corpses over the Tigris and the high places of the mountains

16. I spread. In those days the armies

17. of the land of Qurkhê, which for the preservation

18. and help of the land of Kummukh

19. had come, along with the armies

20. of Kummukh, like a moon-stone I laid low.

21. The corpses of their fighting men into heaps

22. in the ravines of the mountains I heaped up;

23. the bodies of their soldiers the river Name 24. carried away into the Tigris.

24. Kili-anteru the son of Kali-anteru,

25. (the descendant) of ’Saru-pin-’siusuni,

26. their king in the midst of battle my hand

27. captured; his wives (and) children

28. the offspring of his heart, his troops, 180

29. bronze plates, 5 bowls of copper,

30. along with their gods, gold (and) silver,

31. the choicest of their property, I removed.

32. Their spoil (and) their goods I carried away.

33. The city itself and its palace with fire

34. I burned, I pulled down, (and) dug up.

_________

36. As for the city of Urrakhinas, their stronghold,

37. which was situated on the mountain of Panari,

(Ashur traversing the airways above in his winged sky-disc)

38. fear that avoided the glory of Assur my lord

39. overwhelmed them. To save

40. their lives they removed their gods;

41. to the ravines of the lofty mountains

42. they fled like a bird. My chariots

43. and armies I took; I crossed the Tigris.

44. Sadi-anteru, the son of Khattukhi, the king

45. of Urrakhinas, that he might not be conquered,

46. in that country took my feet.

47. The children, the offspring of his heart, and his family

48. I took as hostages.

49. Sixty bronze plates, a bowl of copper,

50. and a tray of heavy copper,

51. along with 120 men, oxen,

52. (and) sheep, as tribute and offering

53. (which) he brought, I received. I had compassion on him;

54. I granted his life. The heavy yoke

55. of my lordship I laid upon him for future days.

56. The broad land of Kummukh throughout its circuit

57. I conquered; under my feet I subdued.

58. In those days a tray of copper (and) a bowl

59. of copper, from the spoil and tribute

60. of Kummukh I dedicated to Asur my lord.

61. The sixty bronze plates along with their gods

(Adad with weapons of thunder & lightning)

62. I presented to Rimmon who loves me.

_________

63. Through the violence of my powerful weapons, which Assur the lord

64. gave for strength and heroism,

65. in thirty of my chariots that go at my side

66. my fleet steeds (and) my soldiers,

67. who are strong in destructive fight,

68. I took; against the country of Mildis, the powerful,

69. the disobedient, I marched. Mighty mountains,

70. an inaccessible district,

71. (where it was) good in my chariots (where it was) bad on my feet,

72. I crossed. At the mountain of Aruma,

73. a difficult district, which for the passage of my chariots

74. was not suited, I left the chariots,

75. I took the lead of my soldiers.

76. Like a lion (?) the obstacles (?) in the ravines of the inaccessible mountains

77. victoriously I crossed.

78. The land of Mildis like the flood of the deluge I overwhelmed.

79. Their fighting men in the midst of battle

80. like a moon-stone I laid low. Their spoil

81. their goods (and) their property I carried away.

82. All their cities I burned with fire.

83. Hostages, tribute and offering

84. I imposed upon them.

_________

(giant mixed-breed Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser I)

85. Tiglath-pileser, the hero, the warrior,

86. who opens the path of the mountains,

87. who subdues the disobedient, who sweeps away

88. all the overweening.

_________

89. The land of Subari, the powerful, the disobedient,

90. I subdued. As for the countries of Alzi

91. and Purukuzzi, which had withheld

92. their tribute and their offering,

93. the heavy yoke of my lordship upon them

94. I laid; (saying), each year tribute and offering

95. to my city of Asur, to my presence,

96. let them bring. In accordance with my valor,

97. since Asur the lord has caused my hand to hold

98. the mighty weapon (alien technologies) which subdues the disobedient, and

99. to enlarge the frontier of his country

100. has commanded (me), 4000 men of the Kaskâ

101. and of the Urumâ, soldiers of the Hittites (Khattî),

102. disobedient ones, who in their strength

---

Footnotes

96:1 This must have been in the neighborhood of Amid or Diarbekir. The Vannic king Menuas mentions a Hittite city, Surisidas, in the vicinity of Alzi. Delitzsch compares the Sareisa of Strabo. 96:2 Sutmasi. In R. 204. i. 22 sa sammasi is interpreted “a slinger,” and in W.A.I., iv. 13, 5, samsû is “a sling-stone.” 96:3 The land of Qurkhi extended eastward of Diarbekir, along the northern bank of the Tigris. The name is preserved in that of Kurkh, 20 miles S. E. of Diarbekir, where there are ruins, and where a stêlê of Shalmaneser II has been discovered. 97:1 Sarpina was the name of one of the Hittite cities, whose god was invoked in the treaty between Ramses II and the Hittite king. With the termination we may compare that of Abar-’siuni in iv. 82. 97:2 The first part of the name Sadi-anteru, which reminds us of the Lydian Sady-attês, may contain the name of the god Sanda or Sandon. A Hittite prince mentioned by the Vannic king Menuas was called Sada-hadas. Khattu-khi means “the Hittite,” the suffix -khi, as in Vannic, denoting a patronymic or gentilic adjective. Urra-khi-nas is similarly derived from Urra, the termination -khi-nas, in Vannic, denoting “the place of the people of.” 98:1 Literally ” complete horses.” 98:2 Liê. 98:3 Literally “mound” or “tel.” 99:1 Subari, called Subarti a few lines farther on, had been overrun by Rimmon-nirari I. (B.C. 1330), and was afterwards conquered by Assur-natsir-pal, who describes it as situated between Qurkhi and Nirib, or the plain of Diarbekir. As Qurkhi lay “opposite the land of the Hittites,” Subari would have adjoined the territory of the latter people, in the immediate vicinity of Alzi and Purukuzzi. 99:2 This seems to be the same word as the Kolkhians of classical geography, though the seat of the Kolkhians was far to the north of that of the Kaskâ. In the classical period, however, we find that the Moschi and Tibareni (Meshech and Tubal) had also shifted far to the north of their habitat in Assyrian times, and like the Kolkhians had settled on the shores of the Black Sea. A town of Kolkhis, now represented by the name of Lake Goldshik, lay to the S. W. of Palu. 99:3 Uruma may be the Urima of classical geography, the modern Urum. It is called Urume of Bitanu by Assur-natsir-pal, Bitanu being the district south of Lake Van.

COLUMN III

1. had seized the cities of Subarti which looked to

(Ashur, patron god over Assyria, powerful son to Marduk)

2. the face of Asur my lord,

3. heard of my march against the land of Subarti;

4. the glory of my valor overwhelmed them;

5. they avoided battle; my feet

6. they took.

7. Together with their property and 120

8. chariots (and the horses) harnessed to their yokes

9. I took them; as the men

10. of my own country I counted them.

_________

11. In the fierceness of my valor for the second time

12. to the country of Kummukh I marched. All

13. their cities I captured. Their spoil

14. their goods and their property I carried away.

15. Their cities with fire I burned,

16. I threw down (and) dug up, and the relics

17. of their armies, who before my powerful weapons (alien technology)

18. were terror-stricken and the onset of my mighty battle

19. avoided, to save

20. their lives sought the mighty summits

21. of the mountains, an inaccessible region.

22. To the fastnesses of the lofty ranges

23. and the ravines of the inaccessible mountains

24. which were unsuited for the tread of men

25. I ascended after them. Trial of weapons, combat

26. and battle they essayed with me.

27. A destruction of them I made. The bodies

28. of their warriors in the ravines of the mountains

(Adad traversing the skies in his sky-chariot)

29. like the inundator (Rimmon) I overthrew. Their corpses

30. over the valleys and high places of the mountains

31. I spread. Their spoil, their goods

32. and their property from the mighty

33. summits of the mountains I brought down.

34. The land of Kummukh to its whole extent I subjugated, and

35. added to the territory of my country.

_________

36. Tiglath-pileser the powerful king,

37. the mighty overwhelmer of the disobedient, he who sweeps away

38. the opposition of the wicked.

(Ashur, son to Marduk & Sarpanit, brother to Nabu)

39. In the supreme power of Asur my lord

40. against the land of Kharia and the widespread armies

41. of the land of Qurkhi,—lofty mountain-ranges

42. whose site no king at all

43. had sought out—Asur the lord commanded (me)

44**. to march. My chariots and armies**

45. I assembled. The neighborhood of the mountains of Idni

46. and Aya, an inaccessible district, I reached,

47. lofty mountains, which like the point of a sword

48. were formed, which for the passage of my chariots

49. were unsuited. The chariots in idleness

50. I left there. The precipitous mountains

51. I crossed. All the land of Qurkhi

52. had collected its widespread armies, and

53. to make trial of arms, combat and battle

54. in the mountain of Azutabgis was stationed, and

55. in the mountain, an inaccessible spot, with them

56. I fought, a destruction of them I made.

57. The bodies of their warriors on the high places of the mountains

58. into heaps I heaped.

59. The corpses of their warriors over the valleys and high places

60. of the mountains I spread. Against the cities

61. which were situated in the ravines of the mountains fiercely

62. I pierced (my way). Twenty-five cities of the land of Kharia

63. which lie at the foot of the mountains of Aya, Suira, Idni,

64. Sizu, Selgu, Arzanibiu, Uru’su, and Anitku,

65. I captured. Their spoil,

66. their goods and their property I carried off.

67. Their cities with fire I burned,

68. I threw down (and) dug up.

_________

69. The country of Adaus feared the onset of my mighty battle,

70. and their dwelling-place (the inhabitants) abandoned.

71. To the ravines of the lofty mountains

72. like birds they fled. The glory (alien technology) of Assur my lord

73**. overwhelmed them**, and

74. they descended and took my feet.

75. Tribute and offering I imposed upon them.

_________

76. The lands of ’Saraus and Ammaus

77. which from days immemorial had not known

78. subjection, like the flood of the deluge

79. I overwhelmed. With their armies

80. on the mountain of Aruma I fought, and

81. a destruction of them I made. The bodies

82. of their fighting-men like sling-stones (?)

83. I flung to the ground. Their cities I captured.

84. Their gods I removed. Their spoil,

85. their goods (and) their property I carried away.

86. Their cities with fire I burned,

87. I threw down (and) dug up; to mounds and ruins

88. I reduced. The heavy yoke of my lordship

(Ashur with bow in his winged sky-disc)

89. I laid upon them. The face of Assur my lord

90. I made them behold.

_________

91. The powerful countries of I’sua and Daria

92. which were disobedient I conquered. Tribute

93. and offering I imposed upon them.

94. The face of Assur my lord I caused them to behold.

_________

95. In my supremacy when my enemies

96. I had conquered, my chariots and armies

97. I took. The lower Zab

98. I crossed. The countries of Murattas and Saradaus

99. which are in the midst of the mountains of A’saniu and Adhuma

100. an inaccessible region, I conquered.

101. Their armies like lambs

102. I cut down. The city of Murattas,

103. their stronghold, in the third part of a day

104. from sunrise I captured.

105. Their gods, their goods, (and) their property,

106. 60 plates of bronze,

---

Footnotes

100:1 That is, were subject to. 101:1 It is clear that Kharia was a district of Qurkhi which lay eastward of Diarbekir and the Supnat or Sebeneh Su, in the direction of Bitlis. It is perhaps the Arua of Assur-natsir-pal which adjoined the western frontier of Ararat, a kingdom at that time confined to Lake Van and the district south of the Lake. The name reminds us of the classical Korra, now Karia, a little to the south-east of Kolkhis (on Lake Goldshik), and to the north-west of Diarbekir. 101:2 Birti, from baru “to see.” 101:3 Perhaps to be read Azues. 102:1 Aznig, not a’snig. 102:2 As, according to ii. 78, Aruma lay on the frontier of Mildis, Adaus, ’Saraus, and Ammaus must have been Kurdish districts to the eastward of Kummukh. The country of Adaus is mentioned by Assur-natsir-pal in connection with Kirruri, which lay between Nimme and Qurkhi. 103:1 That is, “I reduced them to subjection to Assur.” 103:2 I’sua, according to Shalmaneser II, adjoined Enzite or Anzitênê (on the Sebbeneh Su) and lay on the southern bank of the Arsanias between Palu and Mush. It is probably the U’su of Assur-natsir-pal, on the western frontier of Arua (see note on iii. 40). 103:3 The lower Zab falls into the Tigris a little below Kalah Sherghat (Assur). It rises in the Kurdish mountains, flowing past Arbela, and was called Kapros by the classical geographers in contradistinction to the Lykos or Upper Zab.

COLUMN IV

1. 30 talents of bronze in fragments, (and) the smaller furniture

2. of their palace, their spoil

3. I carried away. The city itself with fire

4. I burned, I threw down (and) dug up.

5. In those days that bronze

(Adad stele, atop his zodiac Taurus the Bull symbol)

6. I dedicated to Rimmon (Adaad) the great lord who loves me.

_________

7. In the mightiness of the power of Asur my lord

8. against the lands of ’Sugi and Qurkhi**, which had not submitted**

9. to Asur my lord, I marched. With 6000

10. of their troops from the lands of Khime, Lukhi,

11. Arirgi, Alamun,

12. Nimni and all the land of Qurkhi

13. far-extending, on the mountain of Khirikhi,

14. an inaccessible district, which like the point of a sword

15. was formed, with all those countries

16. on my feet I fought.

17. A destruction of them I made.

18. Their fighting-men in the ravines of the mountains

19. into heaps I heaped.

20. With the blood of their warriors the mountain of Khirikhi

21. like wool (?) I dyed.

22. The land of ’Sugi throughout its circuit I conquered

23. Their 25 gods, their spoil,

24. their goods (and) their property I carried away.

25. All their cities with fire

26. I burnt, I threw down (and) dug up.

27. Those who were left of their armies took my feet;

28. I showed favor towards them.

29. Tribute and offering upon them

30. I imposed; along with those who behold the face

(Ahura-Mazda / Ashur in his winged sky-disc)

31. of Asur my lord I counted them.

32. In those days the 25 gods of those lands,

_________

33. the acquisitions of my hands,

(Ninlil / Beltis)

34. which I had taken, to gratify (?) the temple of Beltis (Enlil’s spouse Ninlil)

35. the great wife, the favorite of Asur my lord,

36. Anu, Rimmon (and) Ishtar (__Inanna) of Assur,

37. as well as the palaces of my city Assur

38. and the goddesses of my country

39. I gave.

_________

40. Tiglath-pileser the powerful king,

41. the conqueror of hostile regions, the rival

42. of the company of all kings.

_________

43. In those days through the supreme power (alien technologies)

44**. of** Asur my lord, through the everlasting grace

45. of Samas (Shamash / Utu) the warrior, through the ministry

46. of the great gods, who in the four zones

47. rule in righteousness, and have no vanquisher

48. in the combat, no rival in the battle,

49. to the lands of distant kings

50. on the shore of the upper sea,

51. who knew not subjection,

    (Ashur, Assyrian mixed-breed king with Inanna crowning him)

52. Asur the lord urged me and I went.

53. Difficult paths and trackless passes

54. whose interior in former days

55. no king at all had known,

56. steep roads, ways

57. unopened, I traversed.

58. The mountains of Elama, Amadana, Elkhis,

59. Sirabeli, Tarkhuna,

60. Tirka-khuli, Kizra,

61. Tarkha-nabe, Elula,

62. Khastarae, Sakhisara,

63. Ubera, Mili-adruni,

64. Sulianzi, Nubanâsi,

65. and Sesi, 16 mighty mountains,

66. where the ground was good in my chariots, where it was difficult

67. with picks of bronze, I penetrated.

68. I cut down the urum-trees which grow in the mountains.

69. Bridges for the passage

70. of my troops I constructed well.

71. I crossed the Euphrates. The king of the land of Nimme,

72. the king of Tunubu, the king of Tuali,

73. the king of Qidari, the king of Uzula,

74. the king of Unzamuni, the king of Andiabe,

75. the king of Pilaqini, the king of Adhurgini,

76. the king of Kuli-barzini, the king of Sinibirni,

77. the king of Khimua, the king of Paiteri,

78. the king of Uiram, the king of Sururia,

79. the king of Abaeni, the king of Adaeni,

80. the king of Kirini, the king of Albaya,

81. the king of Ugina, the king of Nazabia,

82. the king of Abar-’siuni, (and) the king of Dayaeni,

83. all the 23 kings of the countries of Nairi,

84. in the midst of their lands assembled

85. their chariots and their armies, and

86. to make conflict and battle

87. came on. With the violence of my powerful

88**. weapons** (alien technologies) I pierced them.

89. An overthrow of their widespread armies

90. like the inundation of Rimmon

91. I made. The bodies of their warriors

92. in the plains, the high places of the mountain, and the walls

93. of their cities like sling-stones (?)

94. I flung to the ground. One hundred and twenty of their yoke-chariots

95. in the midst of the combat

96. I acquired. Sixty kings

97. of the lands of Nairi in addition to those who

98. had gone to their assistance

99. with my mace I pursued

100. as far as the Upper Sea.

101. Their great fortresses I captured.

---

Footnotes

103:4 This seems to be the meaning of sabartum in K 1999, i. 15. 105:1 That is, Lake Van. 105:2 Amadana was the district about Amida or Diarbekir**. Assur-natsir-pal** reached Amadana after leaving Adana, a district of Qurkhi. 105:3 Compare the names of the Gamgumian and Melitenian princes Tarkhu-lara and Tarkhu-nazi, and of the Hittite city Tarkhi-gamas mentioned by the Vannic king Menuas. 106:1 Nimme, according to Assur-natsir-pal, adjoined Alzi and Dayaeni in the neighbourhood of Mush. 106:2 This must be the Dhunibun of Shalmaneser II, eastward of the sources of the Tigris, on the river of Mush (the modern Kara Su). 106:3 In the Vannic language the termination ni(s) denoted “belonging to,” and barzini or barzani signified “a chapel.” 106:4 The Vannic king calls the district in which Palu stands “the land of Puterias.” 106:5 Perhaps the Abunis of the Vannic inscriptions. 106:6 Dayaeni was on the northern bank of the Arsanias, to the north of Mush. It is called the kingdom of “the son of Diaus” in the Vannic texts, which define it more closely as situated on the Murad Chai, near Melazgherd. 106:7 The land of Nairi or “the rivers” denoted in the age of Tiglath-Pileser I****. the districts at the sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates. In the time of Assur-natsir-pal and his successors, on the other hand, it was the country between Lake Van and the northern frontier of Assyria, and consequently lay to the south-west of the Nairi of the time of Tiglath-Pileser I****. It will be noticed that there was as yet no kingdom of Ararat or Van.

COLUMN V

1. Their spoil, their goods (and) their property

2. I carried away. Their cities with fire

3. I burned, I threw down (and) dug up,

4. I reduced to mounds and ruins.

5. Large troops of horses,

6. mules, calves, and the possessions

7. of their homesteads to a countless number

8. I brought back. All the kings

9. of the countries of Nairi alive my hand

10. captured. To those kings

11. I extended mercy, and

12. spared their lives. Their captivity

    (Shamash / Utu)

13. and their bondage in the presence of Samas my lord

14. I liberated, and an oath by my great

15. gods unto future days for ever

16. and ever that they should be (my) servants I made them swear.

17. The children, the offspring of their kingdom,

18. as hostages I took.

19. Twelve hundred horses (and) 2000 oxen

20. I imposed upon them as tribute.

21. In their countries I left them.

_________

22. ’Siena king of Dayaeni,

(Ashur hovering above, protecting the king)

23. who did not submit to Asur my lord,

24. captive and bound to my city

25. of Asur I brought; mercy

26. I extended to him, and from my city of Asur,

27. as the exalter of the great gods

28. unto exaltation, alive

29. I let him depart. The lands of Nairi,

30. far-extending, I subdued throughout their whole extent,

31. and all their kings

32. I reduced beneath my feet.

_________

33. In the course of the same campaign

34. against the city of Milidia, of the country of Khani the great,

35. violent (and) unsubmissive, I marched.

36. The mighty onset of my battle they feared.

37. My feet they took; I had mercy on them.

38. The city itself I did not capture; their hostages

39. I accepted. A homer by way of tax of lead

40. as an annual tribute

41. not to be intermitted I imposed upon them.

_________

42. Tiglath-pileser, the destroyer, the quick-moving,

43. the implacable, the deluge of battle.

(Ashur, ancient king’s air-force)

44. In the service of Asur my lord, my chariots

45. and warriors I took. In the desert

46. I made (my way). To the bank of the waters

47. of the land of the Armayans, the enemies of Asur my lord,

48. I marched. From opposite to the land of ’Sukhi,

49. as far as the city of Gargamis, of the land of the Hittites (Khatti),

50. in one day I plundered.

51. Their soldiers I slew. Their spoil,

52. their goods and their possessions

53. to a countless number I carried back.

54. The remains of their armies,

55. who before the powerful (weapons) of Asur (alien technologies) my lord

56. had fled and had crossed the Euphrates,

57. after them in vessels of inflated (?) skins

58. I crossed the Euphrates;

59. six of their cities which (were) at the foot of Mount Bisri

60. I captured; with fire I burned,

61. I threw down (and) dug up. Their spoil, their goods

62. and their possessions to my city of Asur

63. I brought.

_________

64. Tiglath-pileser, the trampler upon the mighty,

65. the slaughterer of the unsubmissive, who weakens

66. utterly the strong.

(winged god Ashur in his sky-disc)

67. To conquer the land of Mu’sr i Asur the lord

68. urged me, and between the mountains of Elamuni

69. Tala and Kharu’sa I made (my way).

70. I conquered the land of Mu’sri throughout its circuit,

71. I massacred their warriors.

72. The cities I burned with fire, I threw down,

73. I dug up. The armies of the land of Qumanî

74. to the help of the land of Mu’sri

75. had gone. On a mountain with them

76. I fought. A destruction of them I made.

77. To a single city, Arini, at the foot of mount Ai’sa,

78. I drove and shut them up. My feet

79. they took. The city itself I spared.

80. Hostages, tribute and offering

81. I laid upon them.

_________

82. In those days all the land of Qumanî,

83. which had prepared to help Mu’sri,

84. gathered together all those countries, and

85. to make conflict and battle

86. were determined. With the violence of my powerful weapons (alien technologies),

87. with 20,000 of their numerous troops

88. on mount Tala I fought.

89. A destruction of them I made.

90. Their strong forces I broke through.

91. As far as mount Kharu’sa, which (is) in front of the land of Mu’sri,

92. I pursued their fugitives. The bodies

93. of their warriors in the ravines of the mountain

94. like a moon-stone I flung to the ground

95. Their corpses over the valleys and the high places of the mountains

96. I spread. Their great fortresses

97. I captured, with fire I burned,

98. I threw down (and) dug up, so that they became mounds and ruins.

99. Khunu’sa their fortified city

100. like the flood of the deluge I overwhelmed.

---

Footnotes

107:1 Literally “the bann (mamit) of my great gods.” 108:1 The classical Melitênê, now Malatiyeh, on the Euphrates. 108:2 This district of Kappadokia is called “Khani the Great,” to distinguish it from another Khani near Babylon, whose king Tukulti-mer, son of Ilu-saba, dedicated a bronze ram’s head, now in the British Museum, to the temple of the Sun-god (Utu) at Sippara (Sippar, Utu’s city). 109:1 The Arameans. 109:2 The Shuhites of the Old Testament, who extended along the western banks of the Euphrates from the mouth of the Khabour to above that of the Belikh. “Bildad the Shuhite” (Job ii. II) would be Bel-Dadda, Dadda, as we learn from the cuneiform inscriptions, being a form of Hadad (__Adad), the Syrian name of the god of heaven. 109:3 Carchemish, the Hittite capital on the Euphrates, between the mouth of the Sajur and Birejik, now represented by the mounds of Jerablûs. 109:4 Sugase, borrowed from the Accadian (Akkadian) ’su, “skin,” and gavsia (whence the Semitic gubsu). 109:5 Now Tel-Basher. 109:6 Musarbibu, “subduer,” according to M. Amiaud, who regards the word as an example of a parel conjugation (Revue d’Assyriologie, ii. 1, p. 12). 109:7 Mu’sri or Muzri lay to the north-east of Khorsabad, in the mountainous district now inhabited by the Missouri Kurds. The tribute of a p. 110 rhinoceros, yak, elephant, and apes, brought by its inhabitants to Shalmaneser II, must be explained on the supposition that the caravan road from the east passed through it.

COLUMN VI

1. With their mighty armies

2. in the city and the mountains I contended furiously.

3. A destruction of them I made.

4. Their fighting men in the midst of the mountains

5. like a moon-stone I flung down. Their heads

6. like (that) of a sheep I cut off.

7. Their corpses over the valleys and high places of the mountains

8. I spread. The city itself I captured.

9. Their gods I carried away. Their goods (and) their property

10. I brought out. The city with fire I burned.

11. Three of their great fortresses, which of brickwork

12. were constructed, and the circuit of the city itself

13. I threw down (and) dug up; to mounds and ruins

14. I reduced (them), and salt (?) on the top of them

15. I sowed. A plate of bronze I made;

16. the conquest of the lands, which through Asur my god (and) my lord

17. I had conquered, that the site of this city should not (again) be taken,

18. nor its wall be constructed, upon (it)

19. I wrote. A house of brick on the top of it

20. I built: these plates of bronze

21. in the midst (of it) I placed.

_________

22. In the service of Asur my lord my chariots

23. and soldiers I took. The city of Kipsuna

24. their royal city I besieged. The Qumanians

25. feared the mighty, onset of my battle;

26. my feet they took; their lives I spared.

27. Its great wall and its gate-posts

28. of bricks I ordered to be destroyed, and

29. from their foundations to their coping

30. they were thrown down and turned into a mound;

31. and 300 families of evil-doers

(Ashur protecting his king below)

32. who (were) within it, who were not submissive to Asur my lord,

33. were removed (out of it). I received them. Their hostages

34. I took. Tribute and offering

35. above what was previously paid upon them

36. I imposed, and the widespread land of Qumanî

37. throughout its circuit under my feet

38. I subdued.

_________

39. In all, 42 countries and their kings

40. from the fords of the lower Zab

41. (and) the border of the distant mountains

42. to the fords of the Euphrates,

43. the land of the Hittites (Khattê) and the Upper Sea

44. of the setting sun, from the beginning of my sovereignty

45. until my fifth year my hand has conquered.

46. One word in unison have I made them utter.

47. Their hostages have I taken. Tribute

48. and offering have I imposed upon them.

_________

49. I left the numerous roads of foreign peoples

50. which were not attached to my empire:

51. where the ground was favorable in my chariots, and where it was difficult

52. on my feet, after them

53. I marched. The feet of the enemy

54. I kept from my land.

_________

55. Tiglath-pileser the valiant hero,

56. the holder of the scepter unrivaled

57. who completes the mission of the supreme (gods).

58. Uras (__Marduk) and Nergal have given their forceful

(giant gods with alien high-tech weaponry)

59. weapons and their supreme bow (alien technologies)

60. to the hands of my lordship.

(Marduk, patron god over Babylon)

61. Under the protection of Uras who loves me

62. from young wild bulls, powerful (and) large,

63. in the desert in the land of Mitâni

64. and in the city of Arazigi, which (is) in front

65. of the land of the Hittites, with my mighty bow,

66. a lasso of iron and my pointed

67. spear, their lives I ended:

68. their hides (and) their horns

69. to my city of Asur I brought.

_________

70. Ten powerful male-elephants

71. in the land of Harran (Kharrani) and (on) the bank of the Khabur

72. I slew. Four elephants alive

73. I captured. Their hides

74. (and) their teeth along with the live

75. elephants I brought to my city Asur.

_________

(Marduk, son Nabu, & mixed-breed king with dinner)

76. Under the protection of Uras who loves me

77. 120 lions, with my stout heart,

78. in the conflict of my heroism

79. on my feet I slew;

80. and 800 lions in my chariot

81. with javelins (?) I slaughtered.

82. All the cattle of the field and the birds of heaven

83. that fly, among my rarities

84. I placed.

_________

85. After that the enemies of Asur throughout their territories

86. I had conquered, the temple of Istar of (the city) Assur

87. my lady, the temple of Rimmon, (and) the temple of the Older Bel (Enlil),

(ziggurat houses of alien gods stood for thousands of years)

88. the temple of the Divinities, the temples of the gods

89. of my city Asur, which were decayed, I built,

90. I completed. The entrances of their temples

91. I constructed. The great gods, my lords,

92. I introduced within;

93. I rejoiced the heart of their great divinity.

94. The palaces, the seat of sovereignty

95. belonging to the great fortresses

96. on the borders of my country, which from

97. the time of my fathers through long

98. years had been deserted and ruined and

99. were destroyed, I built (and) completed.

100. The castles of my country that were overthrown

101. I enclosed. The conduits throughout all the land of Assyria

102. I fastened together wholly, and an accumulation

103. of grain in addition to that (collected) by my fathers

104. I brought back (and) heaped up.

105. Troops of horses, oxen (and) asses

---

Footnotes

112:1 That is, Lake Van. 113:1 Arazig is the Eragiza of Ptolemy, on the Euphrates, to the north of Balis and the south of Carchemish. Mitâni seems to be the Matenau of the Egyptians mentioned by Ramses III immediately before Carchemish. 113:2 I follow Lotz in this rendering. 113:3 Ni’siggi, borrowed from the Sumerian nin-’sig, “secret.” 114:1 Here called Mâtu**, “the god of the tempest.”** 114:2 Bel of Nipur, called Mul-lil (Enlil), “the lord of the ghost-world,” by the Accadians, and distinguished from Bel****Merodach, the younger Bel (Marduk, Enki’s eldest son, patron god__) of Babylon. 114:3 This apparently means that the images of several deities were collected together in the temple of the Older Bel (__Enlil). 114:4 Literally “sewers.”

COLUMN VII

1. which in the service of Asur my lord

2. in the countries which I had conquered,

3. as the acquisition of my hands

4. which I took, I collected together, and troops .

5. of goats, fallow-deer, wild sheep,

6. (and) antelopes which Asur and (his father) Uras (Marduk)

7. the gods who love me have given

8. for hunting, in the midst of the lofty

9. mountains I have taken;

10. their herds I enclosed,

11. their number like that of a flock

12. of sheep I counted:

13. young lambs, the offspring

14. of their heart, according to the desire of my heart,

15. along with my pure sacrifices

16. annually I sacrificed to Asur my lord.

_________

17. The cedar, the likkarin tree

18. (and) the allakan tree from the countries

19. which I had conquered, these trees

20. which among the kings

21. my fathers who (were) before (me) none

22. had planted, I took and

23. in the plantations of my country

24. I planted, and the costly fruit

25. of the plantation, which did not exist in my country,

26. I took. The plantations of Assyria

27. I established.

_________

28. Chariots (and horses) bound to the yoke,

29. for the mightiness of my country, more than before

30. I introduced (and) harnessed.

31. To the land of Asur (I added) land,

32. to its people I added people.

33. The health of my people I improved.

34. A peaceable habitation

35. I caused them to inhabit.

_________

36. Tiglath-pileser, the great, the supreme,

37. whom Asur and Uras according to the desire

38. of his heart conduct, so that

39. after the enemies of Asur

40. he has overrun all their territories, and

41. has utterly slaughtered the overweening.

42. The son of Asur-ris-ilim, the powerful king, the conqueror

43. of hostile lands, the subjugator

44. of all the mighty.

(Ahura-Mazda / Ashur & king)

45. The grandson of Mutaggil-Nu’sku, whom Asur the great lord

46. in the conjuration of his steadfast heart

47. had required, and to the shepherding

48. of the land of Asur had raised securely.

_________

49. The true son of Asur-da’an,

50. the upraiser of the illustrious scepter, who ruled

(Earth Colony Commander Enlil, father King Anu, & brother Enki in winged sky-disc)

51. the people of Bel (__Enlil), who the work of his hands

52. and the gift of his sacrifice

53. commended to the great gods, so that

54. he arrived at gray hairs and old age.

_________

55. The descendant of Uras-pileser,

56. the guardian (?) king, the favorite of Asur,

57. whose might like a sling

58. was spread over his country, and

59. the armies of Asur he shepherded faithfully.

_________

60. In those days the temple of Anu and Rimmon

61. the great gods, my lords,

62. which in former times Samas-Rimmon, the high-priest 1 of Asur,

63. the son of Isme-Dagon, the high-priest also of Asur,

64. built, for 641 years

65. went on decaying,—

66. Asur-da’an the king of Asur,

67. the son of Uras-pileser, the king also of Asur,

68. pulled down this temple (but) did not rebuild (it);

69. for 60 years its foundations

70. were not laid.

(Anu in his winged sky-disc)

71. At the beginning of my reign, Anu

(Ashur in his winged sky-disc)

72. and Rimmon the great gods, my lords,

73. who love my priesthood (’sanguti),

74. commanded the rebuilding

75. of their habitation. I made bricks;

76. I purified its site;

77. I undertook its reconstruction; its foundations

78. I laid upon the mass of a huge mound.

79. This place throughout its circuit

80. I piled up with bricks like a double fold (?).

81. Fifty tibki below

82. I sunk (it); upon it

83. the foundations of the temple of Anu and Rimmon

84. I laid with pulu-stone.

85. From its foundations to its roof

86. I built (the temple); greater than (it was) before I reared (it).

87. Two great towers

88. which for the glorification of their great divinities

89. were adapted, I constructed.

90. The illustrious temple, a building with cornices,

91. the seat of their rejoicing,

92. the habitation of their pleasure,

93. which has been beautified like the star(s) of heaven,

94. and by the art of the workmen

95. has been richly carved,

96. I have worked at, have toiled over, have built

97. (and) have completed. Its interior

98. I compacted together like the heart of heaven;

99. its walls like the resplendence

100. of the rising of the stars I adorned.

101. I strengthened its buttresses,

102. and its towers to heaven

103. I lifted; and its roof

104. I fastened together with brickwork.

105. The divining rod,

106. the oracle of their great

107. divinities within it

108. I placed.

109. Anu and Rimmon, the great gods

110. I introduced within (it);

111. on their thrones supreme

112. I seated them;

113. and the heart of their great divinities

114. I gladdened.

---

Footnotes

116:1 Sir H. Rawlinson has suggested that Asur-ris-ilim is the Chushan-rish-athaim of Judges iii. 8, a name which certainly seems to be corrupt. Chushan-rish-athaim is called king of Aram Naharaim or “Aram of the two rivers,” which represents Mesopotamia in the Old Testament, though the Naharaina of the Egyptian monuments was the region about the Orontes, while the Assyrian Nahri or Nairi was primarily the district to the northwest of Lake Van, and afterwards the country to the south of it. Assur-ris-ilim claims to have “subdued Lullumi and all Quti (or Kurdistan) with the entrance to its mountain-ranges” (W.A.I., iii. 3, 18); but these districts lay to the east of Assyria, and no allusion is made to any campaign in the west. 116:2 That is, the Babylonians. 116:3 Literally “fulness” (nubalu, akin to nabli, in the Cuthean Legend of the Creation, iv. 20). 117:1 Pate’si. 117:2 Literally “I took its strength” (read dannat-su, not libnat-su). 117:3 The tibku was a measure of length which is explained in the Talmud as the longer cubit of 7 palms mentioned in 2 Chr. iii. 3. 117:4 Prof. D. H. Müller believes the pulu-stone to have been brought from Armenia, and to have derived its name from the Vannic pulu-’si, “engraved.” It is also called pili-stone. It was a species of white marble. 118:1 Qusuda. In W.A.I., V. 28, 4, gasdu is the synonym of allum, the Aramaic êlâ. 118:2 Elallâ. It seems to have been a stem of papyrus covered with writing.

COLUMN VIII

(ancient king with alien air-force protection)

1. Bit-Khamri (the temple) of Rimmon,

2. which Samas-Rimmon the high-priest of Assur

3. the son of Isme-Dagon the high-priest of Asur

4. had built, had fallen into decay and was ruined.

5. I purified its site; from its foundations

6. to its roof with brick

7. I bonded (it) together. More than before

8. I adorned, I established (it).

9. In its midst pure victims

10. to Rimmon my lord I sacrificed.

_________

11. In those days the ivory (?) stone, the khalta stone

12. and the mountain stone from the mountains

13. of Nairi, which through Asur my lord

14. I had conquered, I carried away;

15. in Bit-Khamri, (the temple) of Rimmon my lord

16. for days to come I set (them).

_________

17. As I the illustrious temple, the building supreme,

18. for the habitation of Anu and Rimmon the great gods

19. my lords, have labored at and have not desisted

20. (and) have not rested from the work,

21. (but) have quickly completed (it), and

22. have gladdened the heart of their great

23. divinity, (so) may Anu and Rimmon

24. turn (to me) for ever and

25. love the lifting up of my hands;

26. may they hearken to the earnestness of my prayer;

27. abundant rains, years

28. of fertility and fatness to my reign

29. may they give; in battle and conflict

30. may they conduct (me) in safety;

31. all the countries of my enemies, countries

32. that are powerful, and kings that are hostile to me,

33. may they subdue beneath my feet;

34. to myself and my supremacy

35. may they approach in goodness, and

36. my priesthood in the presence of Asur and their great

37. divinities unto future days

38. may they establish like a mountain for ever.

_________

39. The power of my heroism, the might

40. of my battle, the subjection of enemies,

41. even the foes of Asur, whom Anu and Rimmon

42. have given for a spoil,

43. on my monuments and my cylinder

44. have I described; in the temple of Anu and Rimmon

45. the great gods my lords

46. I have deposited (them) for days to come;

47. the monumental-stones of Samas-Rimmon,

48. my (fore)father I have anointed with oil; a victim

49. I have sacrificed: to their place I have restored (them).

_________

50. In future days, in the days to come,

51. at any time whatever, may a future prince,

52. when the temple of Anu and Rimmon the great

53. gods, my lords, and these towers

54. shall grow old and

55. shall decay, renew their ruins;

56. my monumental-stones and my cylinder

57. may he anoint with oil; a victim may he sacrifice;

58. to their place may he restore (them),

59. and may he write his name along with mine.

60. Like myself may Anu and Rimmon

61. the great gods in goodness of heart

62. and the acquisition of power kindly conduct him!

_________

63. Whoever my monumental-stones and my cylinder

64. shall shatter, shall sweep away,

65. shall throw into the water,

66. shall burn with fire,

67. shall conceal in the dust; in the holy house of the god

68. (in) a place invisible shall store (them) up in fragments;

69. shall obliterate the name that is written, and

70. shall write his own name, and something

71. evil shall devise, and

72. against my monumental-stones

73. shall work injury;

_________

74. may Anu and Rimmon the great gods, my lords,

75. fiercely regard him and

76. may they curse him with a withering curse.

77. May they overthrow his kingdom;

78. may they remove the foundation of the throne of his majesty;

79. may they annihilate the fruit of his lordship;

80. may they break his weapons;

81. may they cause destruction to his army;

82. in the presence of his enemies in chains

83. may they seat him. May Rimmon with lightning

84. destructive smite his land;

85. want, hunger, famine

86. (and) corpses may he lay upon his country;

87. may he not bid him live for one day;

88. may he root out his name (and) his seed in the land!

_________

89. (Written) in the month Kuzallu, the 29th day, in the eponymy

90. of Ina-ili-ya-allak the chief of the body-guard.

---

Footnotes

118:3 The Pate’sis, or high-priests of Assur, preceded the kings of Assyria, of whom the first is stated to have been Bel-kapkapu. As Samas-Rimmon**, the high-priest, flourished 701 years before** Tiglath-Pileser****, his date would be about B.C. 1830. In Babylonia the high-priests were subject to a suzerain king; it is therefore probable that the high-priests of Assur also admitted the supremacy of a supreme monarch who may have ruled in Babylonia. Bricks have been found on the site of Ur in Babylonia bearing the name of Isme-Dagon**, “king of Sumer and Accad,” but he must** p. 119 have lived at a much earlier period than Samas-Rimmon**, whose Babylonian contemporary was Gul-kisar.** 119:1 Another mode of spelling Nahri. 119:2 Literally “have not laid down my side at the work.” 120:1 Thereby turning them into Beth-els or consecrated stones. Cf. Gen. xxviii. 18. 121:1 “Of sheep-breeding,” a name of Sivan or May, according to W.A.I., v 43, 14. 121:2 Literally ” the mighty men,” like the Gibborim of the Old Testament; cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8. Assyrian chronology was reckoned according to the eponyms, officers who gave their name to each year of the king’s reign. As the inscription of Rimmon-nirari I, who preceded Tiglath-Pileser I by about two hundred years, is dated in the eponymy of Shalman-garradu (“the god Solomon is a hero”), accurate chronology in Assyria went back to an early period.

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