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The statue of Idrimi at the British Museum (detail). ME 130738A. Photo by Steve Tinney.

Alalakh's most famous monument, the Statue of Idrimi, has provoked more discussion than any other find from the site since Sir Leonard Woolley discovered it in 1939. In 104 lines, the inscription narrates how the historical king Idrimi fled Aleppo, established a kingdom at Alalah, and solidified his rule there. The Idrimi inscription is an unparalleled source on the literature and history of Bronze Age Syria and the Levant – and #18 in the Cuneiform Digitial Library Initiative's list of the 100 Most Important Cuneiform Documents!

The Electronic Idrimi offers an up-to-date, searchable edition of the Idrimi inscription together with glossaries of the Akkadian words and proper nouns that occur in it. The inscription's notorious script has famously generated debate about the reading of almost every line. In order to contextualize the edition provided here, the Electronic Idrimi includes numerous annotations that illustrate Sidney Smith's reading of the text in the original publication together with the readings put forward in four more recent scholarly publications. Additional studies – textual as well as historical, archaeological, and art historical – can be found at the Bibliography link.

As our understanding of the Idrimi inscription continues to progress over time, the Electronic Idrimi will be updated. Similarly, the current Bibliography is a work in progress that is by no means exhaustive. Users of the Electronic Idrimi are encouraged to send new readings and references to me at the address below. Credit will, of course, be acknowledged.

Finally, many thanks to Eleanor Robson and Steve Tinney for their help in bringing Idrimi into the Information Age!

Content last modified: 15 Jul 2020.

Jacob Lauinger

Jacob Lauinger, 'The Electronic Idrimi', Idrimi, The Electronic Idrimi, 2020 [http://oracc.org/]