A stone threshold slab with floral decoration from one of the doorways of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh (Room I, Door e) is inscribed with a two-line text stating that Sennacherib had the "Palace Without a Rival" built at Nineveh.
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The inscribed floral slab is still in situ in Room I, Door e and, therefore, the text could not be collated from the original; furthermore, no dimensions can be given. The text was, however, collated from a legible photograph published by J.M. Russell (Final Sack p. 75 pl. 28).
A stone threshold slab with floral decoration found in one of the doorways of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh (Room I, Door a) is inscribed with a two-line text stating that Sennacherib had the "Palace Without a Rival" built in Nineveh. The text is similar to text no. 78.
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The inscribed slab is still in situ in Room I, Door a. It is covered with earth and, therefore, the text could not be collated from the original; furthermore, no dimensions can be given. The text could only be edited from W. Boutcher's unpublished copy (Copies of Inscriptions Discovered at Kouyunjik and Nimrud in 1854–5 by Wm. Kenneth Loftus), which is now housed in the British Museum. When he re-excavated the throne room suite in the late 1960s, T. Madhloom revealed that Room I, Door a and Room V, Door a were decorated with thresholds with floral decoration, but he did not report that they were inscribed. However, the label in Boutcher's notebook, "From centre of pavement slab between the large bulls at the Grand Entrance.—Palace of Sennacherib.—Kouyunjik," indicates that the threshold in Room I, Door a was in fact inscribed.
This text appears on the backs (wall-facing surfaces) of numerous stone slabs and at least one bull colossus (ex. 13) found at several locations within Nineveh: in the "Palace Without a Rival," the so-called Eastern Building, and the armory (Nebi Yunus). This inscription is sometimes called the "Palace Inscription."
Access Sennacherib 80 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003554/]
Sources [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466694,P466696,P466697,P466698,P466699,P466700,P466701,P466702,P466703,P466704,P466705,P466706,P466707,P466708,P466709,P466710,P466695]:
| (1) BM 124818 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466694/] (old Kuyunjik Gallery *48) | (2) old Kuyunjik Gallery *39 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466696/] | (3) AOC 038 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466697/] |
| (4) Ist EŞEM 09526 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466698/] | (5) 1 R pl. 6 no. VIII A [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466699/] | (6) Thompson, AAA 18 no. 17 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466700/] |
| (7) Thompson, AAA 19 no. 261 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466701/] | (8) Thompson, AAA 19 no. 262 (= no. 271) [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466702/] | (9) Gadd, Stones p. 94 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466703/] |
| (10) Madhloom, Sumer 25 p. 48 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466704/] | (11) J.M. Russell, Senn.'s Palace fig. 132 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466705/] | (12) J.M. Russell, Writing on the Wall p. 127 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466706/] |
| (13) Layard, ICC pl. 75 D [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466707/] | (14) Layard, MS C fol. 79v no. 3 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466708/] | (15) Institut de France, Archives MS 2976 sheet 353 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466709/] |
| (16) RAH - [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466710/] |
Uncertain Attribution
J.M. Russell (Writing on the Wall p. 127) suggests that this text was inscribed on the backs of most of the wall slabs and colossi decorating Sennacherib's palace; it was also inscribed on the backs of slabs lining the armory (Nebi Yunus) and the so-called Eastern Building (which probably marks the eastern end of Sennacherib's palace). A.H. Layard copied a duplicate text from the backs of the bull colossi stationed in Room I, Door e and the inscription on these bulls has been edited here as ex. 13; for the inscription written on the visible surface of the bull, see text no. 42.
The precise number of stone slabs with this inscription discovered over the years is unknown. In particular, with regard to exs. 5 and 10, H.C. Rawlinson and T.A. Madhloom do not record the number of slabs bearing this inscription; both exemplars comprise at least two slabs.
Russell (Writing on the Wall p. 127) regards the text inscribed on the back of the slabs discovered by Layard in Room XXXIII (Discoveries p. 459), which are described as containing Sennacherib's "name and usual titles," as the inscription published in 1 R pl. 7 no. VIII E and not as exemplars of this text. Following Russell's careful assessment of Sennacherib's inscribed material from Nineveh, the Room XXXIII slabs are not edited here, but as text no. 51 exs. 1 and 2.
The text on all of the known exemplars is identical, with the exception of ex. 5. According to 1 R pl. 6 no. VIII A, that exemplar has ŠÚ for kiš-šá-ti in line 2. It is not known if the original slabs actually contained this orthographic variant or if it is an error on the part of the modern copyist. Because there is only one known variant on just one exemplar, no score is provided on the CD-ROM.
Sennacherib's standard "Palace Inscription" is shorter than those of Ashurnasirpal II and Sargon II that are written on the backs of slabs lining the rooms of those two kings' palaces. Those inscriptions provide information about the king, his deeds, and the appearance of his magnificent royal residences, while this text is a mere label that names its builder and owner.
Several stone wall slabs in the Šamaš Gate at Nineveh are inscribed with a text recording the construction of the inner and outer walls of that city. The inscription, which is known only from F. el-Wailly's published translation and which is reported to be a duplicate of a text inscribed on bricks (text no. 94), reads: "Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, had the (inner) wall and outer wall of Nineveh built anew and raised as high as mountain(s)."
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Several bricks from Nineveh are reported to be inscribed with an identical text (text no. 94). Because no copy, transliteration, or photo of the text written on the stone slabs discovered by el-Wailly has been published, we are unable to confirm the contents of the inscription and can offer no transliteration of the text here. It is not impossible that this text is an exemplar of text no. 82.
Several stone wall slabs from Nineveh are inscribed with a text recording the construction of the inner and outer walls of that city. This inscription is a shorter version of text no. 81.
Access Sennacherib 82 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003556/]
Sources [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466712,P466713,P466714]:
Uncertain Attribution
Since no copy, transliteration, or photo of ex. 1* has been published and since the original could not be located, we are unable to confirm E. Nassouhi's claim that the inscription on that slab is a duplicate of ex. 1. The master text is ex. 1 and no score is provided on the CD-ROM. Ex. 1 deviates from the previous text (text no. 81) in that it omits Sennacherib's titles "great king" (šarru rabû) and "mighty king" (šarru dannu); cf. the following text (text no. 83), which omits the title "king of the world" (šar kiššati). The number of slabs having this the text of ex. 1 is not known; in 1 R, the text is described as "on slabs," suggesting that more than one slab bore this text. R.C. Thompson discovered an inscribed fragment of limestone at Nineveh (ex. 2*) and it may be a duplicate of one of the better preserved texts on stone slabs. The present location of that object is not known, so it could not be collated. Since only parts of the first two lines are preserved, its attribution to this text is not certain.
Two inscribed stone wall slabs from Nineveh record the construction of the inner and outer walls of that city. This inscription is a near duplicate of text no. 82; the title šar kiššati ("king of the world") is omitted on these two slabs. The master text is a conflation of exs. 1 and 2; the former has a scribal error in line 1 (see the on-page note below) and the left third of each line on the latter is broken away. No score is provided on the CD-ROM.
Access Sennacherib 83 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003557/]
Sources [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466715,P466716]:
A still in situ stone wall slab from the Ḫalzi Gate at Nineveh is inscribed with a text recording the construction of the wall of that city.
Access Sennacherib 84 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003558/]
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A fragment of a stone wall slab in the British Museum is inscribed with a short, three-line text of Sennacherib. This text is published here with the kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.
Access Sennacherib 85 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003559/]
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Three stone door sockets found at Nineveh are inscribed with a text recording their installation in doorways of Sennacherib's palace.
Access Sennacherib 86 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003560/]
Sources [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466719,P466720,P466721]:
All three exemplars have the complete text. There are only a few minor variants, which are noted at the back of the book, and, therefore, no score is provided on the CD-ROM. Ex. 2 could not be collated because it is now installed in a reconstruction of a doorway of the Ištar Temple in the British Museum, with its inscription not visible. Note that the registration numbers are in fact 81-2-4, and not 82-2-4 as given in Meissner and Rost, BiS pl. 11.
Three stone door sockets are inscribed with a short, two-line label of Sennacherib. The provenances of the pieces are not known, but they may have come from one of the many cities in which this king commissioned large-scale building projects, including Nineveh and Aššur. No score is provided on the CD-ROM, but the few known orthographic variants are listed at the back of the book.
Access Sennacherib 87 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap3/Q003561/]
Sources [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P466722,P466723,P404751]:
A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny
A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny, 'Nineveh, Part 7', RINAP 3: Sennacherib, The RINAP 3 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap3/rinap32textintroductions/nineveh/part7/]