The volumes in the RINAP series are modeled upon the publications of the now-defunct Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia (RIM), with a few modifications, in particular the addition of indices of proper names and a few photographs. Like the RIM volumes, the volumes in this series are not intended to provide analytical or synthetic studies, but rather to provide basic text editions that can serve as the foundations for such studies. Thus, extensive discussions of the contents of the texts are not presented, and the core of each volume is the edition of the relevant texts.
In this volume, the order of the texts is based for the most part upon the following two criteria:
The system of numbering the text throughout the series is more straightforward than that of the RIM series, as the numbering comprises only the name of the ruler and the text number; for example, RINAP 1 Tiglath-pileser III text no. 1 is "Tiglath-pileser III 1" and RINAP 1 Shalmaneser V text no. 1 is "Shalmaneser V 1." Should one be inclined, one could apply the RIM system of numbering inscriptions in its Assyrian Periods sub-series. Therefore, RINAP 1 Tiglath-pileser III text no. 1 and RINAP 1 Shalmaneser V text no. 1 could be referred to as "A.0.108.1" and "A.0.109.1" respectively. These are to be interpreted as follows: A = Assyrian Periods; 0 = Inapplicable Dynasty; 108 = Tiglath-pileser III and 109 = Shalmaneser V; and 1 = Text 1.
Following the practice of the RIM series, inscriptions that cannot be assigned definitely to a particular ruler are given text numbers beginning at 1001. Certain other inscriptions that provide information relevant for establishing royal names and titles (e.g. "servant seals") and any composed in the name of another member of the royal family (e.g., royal wives) have been given numbers that begin at 2001.
In the volumes of the RINAP series, the term "exemplar" is employed to designate a single inscription found on one object. The term "text" is employed to refer to an inscription that existed in antiquity and that may be represented by a number of more or less duplicate exemplars. In these editions exemplars of one text are edited together as a "master text," with a single transliteration and translation. The numbering of the "exemplars" of some of the units of Tiglath-pileser III's Kalḫu Annals (text nos. 1–34) and a few of that king's summary inscriptions (text nos. 39–45) requires explanation because of the unusual nature of the source material. In numerous instances in this volume, a "text" (or more accurately, part of an inscription in the case of the Kalḫu Annals) is known only from one or more nineteenth-century (draft and/or published) copies. In such cases, the actual inscriptions are no longer available for firsthand study since the original slabs were left in the field. Each hand-drawn facsimile of a single "text" is regarded as a different version of the same "exemplar" because the copies all stem from the same inscribed object. For these texts, each copy is assigned the same "exemplar" number, but with a different lowercase letter appended to it to differentiate the various sources of information about what is on the exemplar. Text no. 13, for example, was on a single exemplar, but is now known only from several nineteenth-century copies. Because all of the hand-drawn facsimiles stem from the same ancient source, an inscribed and sculpted orthostat that lined a wall of Tiglath-pileser III's palace, the various copies are regarded as one exemplar. Thus, exs. 1a and 1b are A.H. Layard's draft and published copies, ex. 1c is a draft copy by H. Rawlinson, and exs. 1d and 1e are G. Smith's in situ collation notes and draft copy (which was made from a cast then in the British Museum). This system of numbering introduced in RINAP 1 is also used for (1) texts that are known from casts once in the British Museum (but now destroyed or lost) and from modern hand-drawn facsimiles (see text no. 43); and (2) texts known from a now-damaged original and from one or more nineteenth-century copies that preserve text now lost (see text no. 30). With regard to the latter scenario, fragments of the same slab housed in different museum collections are each given their own "sub-exemplar" number; this is to present the information in the "Dimensions" column of the catalogue more clearly and to provide more accurate information in the "cpn" column when some fragments were collated from the original while others were collated from photographs. For example, text no. 15 is preserved in a single exemplar, but the extant text of this unit of the Kalḫu Annals is now known from a fragment of a slab in the British Museum (ex. 1a = BM 124961, which was collated from the original), from another fragment of the same orthostat in the Detroit Institute of Arts (ex. 1b = inventory no. 50, 32, which was collated from a photograph), and from A.H. Layard's draft copy (ex. 1c = Layard, MS A fols. 66–67 and 111), which he made in the field and which includes text not preserved on either of the two fragments. Objects whose attribution to a particular text is not entirely certain are given exemplar numbers that are followed by an asterisk (*); for example, AO 11500 is regarded as text no. 53 ex. 1*, rather than as text no. 53 ex. 2, since it is uncertain that it is a duplicate of AO 115001 (text no. 53 ex. 1). Moreover, these exemplars are listed in separately catalogues (Catalogue of Uncertain Exemplars), beneath the main catalogue.
Each text edition is normally supplied with a brief introduction containing general information. This is followed by a catalogue containing basic information about all exemplars. This includes museum and excavation numbers (the symbol + is added between fragments that belong to one and the same object), provenance, dimensions of the object, lines preserved, and indication of whether or not the inscription has been collated (c = collated with the original, p = collated by means of a photograph, (p) = partially collated from a photograph, and n = not collated). The next section is normally a commentary containing further technical information and notes. The bibliography then follows. Items are arranged chronologically, earliest to latest, with notes in parentheses after each item. These notes indicate the exemplars with which the item is concerned and the nature of the publication, using the following key words: provenance, photo, copy, edition, translation, catalogue, and study. Certain standard reference works (e.g., the various volumes of "Keilschriftbibliographie" and "Register Assyriologie" published in Orientalia and Archiv für Orientforschung respectively; Borger, HKL 1–3; AHw; CAD; and Seux, ERAS) are not normally cited, although they were essential in the collecting and editing of these texts. While the bibliographies should contain all major relevant items, they are not necessarily exhaustive; a vast amount of scattered literature exists on many of the inscriptions edited in this volume and much of this literature is of only limited historical interest.
As noted earlier, a distinction is made between major and minor variants to a "master text"; the major variants are placed at the bottom of the page and the minor variants at the back of the book. In brief, major variants are essentially non-orthographic in nature, while minor variants are orthographic variations. Orthographic variants of proper names may at times be significant and thus on occasion these will also appear on the page as major variants. Complete transliterations of all exemplars in the style of musical scores are found on the CD-ROMs accompanying the volumes and thus any reader who finds the notes on variants insufficient for his/her needs may check the full reading of any exemplar. Such scores, however, are not normally given for bricks and seal inscriptions.
Most of the inscriptions are written in Neo-Assyrian script; a few texts are written using a mixture of Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sign forms. Unless otherwise indicated, the script of a given text is Neo-Assyrian.
As is the normal practice for transliterating cuneiform inscriptions, lower case Roman is used for Sumerian and lower case italics for Akkadian; logograms in Akkadian texts appear in capitals. The system of sign values in Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon, is generally followed. Italics in the English translation indicate either an uncertain translation or a word in the original language. In general, the rendering of personal names follows the PNA, however, the names of Babylonian rulers follow the spelling used in RIMB 2.
There are several differences between the RIM and RINAP styles. Among these, the most notable is that all partially preserved or damaged signs, regardless of how they are broken, now appear between half brackets (⌜ and ⌝). Thus, no partially preserved sign has square brackets ([ and ]) inserted in its transliteration; for example, [DINGI]R and LUGA[L KU]R appear in the transliteration as ˹DINGIR˺ and ˹LUGAL KUR˺ respectively. This change was made to ensure compatibility of the online RINAP editions with the standards of the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (Oracc), the parent site and project where RINAP Online is housed. This change was implemented in the print version in order to present identical editions in RINAP 1 and RINAP Online. Note, however, that the translations may appear more damaged than their corresponding transliterations indicate, as the translations were prepared according to standard Assyriological practices; for example, ˹DINGIR˺ (= [DINGI]R) and ˹LUGAL KUR˺ (= LUGA[L KU]R) are translated as "[the go]d" and "king [of the lan]d," and not "the god" and "king of the land."
In addition to the indices of museum and excavation numbers and selected publications found in RIM volumes, the RINAP volumes also contain indices of proper names (Personal Names; Geographic, Ethnic, and Tribal Names; Divine, Planet, and Star Names; Gate, Palace, Temple, and Wall Names; and Object Names). Online versions of the manuscripts are maintained by Oracc and are fully searchable; moreover, the Oracc transliterations will be automatically supplied to the CDLI (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative) repository.
Philadelphia, September 2011
G. Frame, Editor-in-Chief
Grant Frame
Grant Frame, 'Editorial Notes', RINAP 1: Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V, The RINAP 1 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap1/rinap1frontmatter/editorialnotes/]