A two-line epigraph records the fate of the Elamite royal city Ḫamanu, which was captured and destroyed during Ashurbanipal's fourth Elamite campaign in 646. The text is written on the upper register of a sculpted slab that once lined a wall of Room F (slab 3) of the North Palace at Nineveh; it is inscribed on the depiction of the wall of that city, which is shown being besieged by Assyrian troops. A longer version of this text, one recording Ḫamanu's destruction after its capture, was inscribed on a slab adorning Room S¹ of Ashurbanipal's palace; that epigraph is edited as text no. 41.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003739/] of Ashurbanipal 40.
A second two-line epigraph, which is inscribed over a city engulfed in flames, records the destruction of the city Ḫamanu. The relief once decorated a wall of Room S¹ (battle scene slab A, middle register) of Ashurbanipal's palace (North Palace). Both the relief and epigraph record an event that took place during Ashurbanipal's first war against the Elamite king Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), in 647. A shorter version of this text was inscribed on a relief that once decorated Room F of the North Palace; that epigraph is edited as text no. 40.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003740/] of Ashurbanipal 41.
A badly damaged two-line epigraph is inscribed on a relief recording the siege and capture of the Elamite royal city Bīt-Bunakki in 647 or 646. The slab on which the text is written is now in the Vatican Museum in Rome; its original find spot is not known. The epigraph is written on the depiction of the city.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003741/] of Ashurbanipal 42.
An epigraph now known only from a mid-nineteenth century drawing records the conquest and plundering of the Elamite city Dīn-šarri during the year 646, when Ashurbanipal marched against Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III) a second time. The five-line text appears in the lower register of a relief that once decorated the wall of one of the rooms of Ashurbanipal's palace (North Palace, Room V¹/T¹, slab A); it is inscribed above the image of the Assyrian king's chariot.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003742/] of Ashurbanipal 43.
A damaged two-line epigraph records the capture of a royal city of Elam (name not preserved). The text — which is in the middle register of a relief that had once lined one of the walls of the North Palace (Room S¹, battle scenes slab A) — is engraved above an image of a city under siege. The relief and epigraph record an event that took place during one of Ashurbanipal's Elamite campaigns, possibly his fourth one against that recalcitrant foe of Assyria (647).
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003743/] of Ashurbanipal 44.
A damaged two-line epigraph records the capture of an Elamite city (name not preserved). This short text and relief probably record an event that took place during Ashurbanipal's first or second war against the Elamite king Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), in 647 or 646. The text is written on the depiction of the wall of the besieged city.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003744/] of Ashurbanipal 45.
A small portion of a seven-line epigraph that appears to mention the land Elam is preserved on the upper register of a relief that once lined a wall of Room S¹ (battle scenes slab A) of the North Palace at Nineveh. The text is inscribed in front of the depiction of the king, above his chariot. Although little of the inscription is preserved, the relief and epigraph presumably recorded events of Ashurbanipal's fourth (647) or fifth (646) campaign to Elam. For the style of the inscription, compare text nos. 43 and 47.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003745/] of Ashurbanipal 46.
A five-line epigraph written above an image of Ashurbanipal in his chariot records the defeat of one of his enemies. The text — which was written on the lower register of a sculpted wall slab that decorated one of the walls of Ashurbanipal's palace (North Palace, Room V¹/T¹, slab F) — possibly states that Ashurbanipal captured, plundered, and destroyed a specific Elamite city (name not preserved) during one of his wars against Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III) in 647 or 646; see the on-page notes for details. For the style of the inscription, compare text nos. 43 and 46.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003746/] of Ashurbanipal 47.
An illegible six-line epigraph appears above an image of Ashurbanipal standing in his chariot. The slab was found in the North Palace (Room F, slab 15, upper register) and presumably the relief and its text concern themselves with the receipt of booty from a conquered Elamite city, perhaps one of the many conquered in 646 or 647. For the style of the inscription, compare text nos. 43 and 46–47.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003747/] of Ashurbanipal 48.
A badly damaged epigraph on a relief from the North Palace at Nineveh (Room M, possibly slab 2, lower register) describes the capture of Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), who had on multiple occasions taken refuge in the mountains. The six-line text appears above a line of men leading the captured Elamite to Assyria. This Elamite king was apprehended sometime after the composition of text no. 9 (Prism F; 645) and before that of text no. 11 (Prism A; 644, 643, or 642).
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003748/] of Ashurbanipal 49.
BM 124793 was discovered by H. Rassam in 1886 and the general scholarly consensus is that this slab once lined one of the walls of Ashurbanipal's throne room in the North Palace (Room M), despite the absence of documented proof. See, for example, Barnett, Sculptures from the North Palace p. 46 (slab 1, 2, 3, or 5?); Gerardi, JCS 40 (1988) p. 23 (slab 2?); and J.M. Russell, Writing on the Wall p. 205 (slab 2?). The association of the fragment with Room M stems from R.D. Barnett's assumptions that the mountainous terrain depicted on slab 7 is the same as that shown on BM 124793 and that the Elamite king depicted on BM 124945–6 (Room M, slabs 12–13) is Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), who without question is depicted on BM 124793. His assumptions, however, may not be correct in either instance since the Elamite depicted on BM 124945–6 is probably Tammarītu (Novotny and Watanabe, Iraq 70 [2008] p. 119) and because the mountainous scene engraved on slab 7 (and the now-missing slab 6) most likely shows the siege of the city Birat-Adad-rēmanni, a fort on the Assyrian-Mannean border (see the commentary to text no. 24). Should this fragment actually belong to Room M, then it may have been part of slab 2 (or even slab 3) since those slabs were more or less intact when discovered (according to W. Boutcher's original plan); slab 5 is highly unlikely as it probably depicted the attack on Birat-Adad-rēmanni. The tentative, yet plausible, association of BM 124793 with slab 2, as P. Gerardi and J.M. Russell suggest, is not entirely unproblematic as that piece was to have been sent to the Louvre (Paris) along with Room M slabs 3, 7, 10–11, 15–16, and 18–20. Because the piece is now in the British Museum (London), one may question the degree of certainty for the proposed original position of the relief fragment. If BM 124793 does not come from Room M, then where might it have originated? One possibility is Room S¹. This tentative suggestion is based solely on the fact that Ummanaldašu almost certainly appears on BM 124794 (see text no. 50) together with at least one other deposed Elamite king (Tammarītu or Paʾê). Of course, depictions of the captured Ummanaldašu need not be confined to a single room. Until further, more concrete evidence becomes available, the exact provenance of this inscribed and sculpted fragment will remain uncertain.
Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers
Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers, 'Epigraphs, Part 3 (text nos. 40-49)', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/rinap51textintroductions/epigraphspart3texts4049/]