Numerous limestone slabs discovered in and around the courtyard of the Ezida ("True House") temple at Nineveh bear an inscription stating that Ashurbanipal enlarged the courtyard of Nabû's temple. R. Campbell Thompson reports that he found more than eighty complete exemplars, as well as countless fragmentary exemplars. The king also boasts that he had former Elamite kings (Ummanigaš, Tammarītu, Paʾê, and Ummanaldašu) hitched to his processional carriage; in text nos. 11 (Prism A) and 23 (IIT), these kings, along with a captured Arabian leader, pulled Ashurbanipal up to the main gate of Emašmaš, the temple of Ištar/Mullissu, during an akītu-festival. The slabs are not dated. However, the terminus post quem for the text's composition is the capture of Ummanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), which took place between the composition of text nos. 9 (Prism F; 645) and 11 (Prism A; 644, 643, or 642). Scholars often refer to this text as the "Nabû Inscription."
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003758/] or the score [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/scores/Q003758/] of Ashurbanipal 59.
S.A. Smith utilized three exemplars in his 1887 edition of this inscription; these are Nineveh Gallery nos. 61 and 66–67. According to the British Museum Collection online, BM 124814 (ex. 5) is Nineveh Gallery no. 67. As for Nineveh Gallery nos. 61 and 66, M. Streck (Asb. p. XLVII) suggested that BM 22467 (ex. 1) may have been one of those two pieces. This identification, however, seems unlikely since other pieces in that gallery bear BM numbers starting with 1248; for example, BM 124812 = text no. 60 ex. 4. Thus, BM 124811 (ex. 4), BM 124817 (ex. 6), and BM 124819 (ex. 7) are the most likely candidates. Since BM 124811 (ex. 4) was the one used by A.H. Layard for his Neo-Assyrian typeset copy in his ICC, R. Borger (BIWA pp. 353–354) proposes that that slab was one of the pieces displayed in the former Nineveh Gallery. The present whereabouts of the exemplar published by Botta (ex. 14) is not known; Streck suggested that it might be in Paris. Ex. 16 (Thompson, Arch. 79 pl. XLIII no. 44 variants) actually comprises numerous slabs. The exact number is unknown, but R. Campbell Thompson mentions that he discovered approximately eighty complete limestone slabs; from the fragmentary and complete exemplars, Campbell Thompson calculated that there could have been as many as four hundred slabs paving the courtyard of Ezida. Many of these are now in the Mosul Museum (A. al-Juboori [personal communication]). An additional four slabs are reported to have been discovered by Iraqi archaeologists in the early 1990s in a secondary context; see Ahmad, Sumer 49 (1997–98) pp. 104–106.
In all instances, the inscribed surfaces were laid face down, with their uninscribed surfaces exposed. The distribution of the inscription varies from slab to slab. In many exemplars, the text is written in eighteen lines (exs. 1–9, 13–14, and 20–21), while in a few others it is inscribed in seventeen (ex. 19) or nineteen lines (exs. 15 and 18). Furthermore, exs. 1, 3, 5–9, 14, and 18–19 have a horizontal ruling between each line of text, including a horizontal ruling before the first line and after the last line of the inscription, while exs. 2, 4, and 15 have no horizontal rulings. The master text is based on ex. 1 with help from the other exemplars, though the lineation of lines 12 and 13 is based on exs. 2–4, 8–9, 13, and 20–21, which have EN-ía at the beginning of line 13 rather than at the end of line 12. A score of the text is presented on Oracc and the minor (orthographic) variants are listed at the back of the book. Exs. 10–12 and 16–17 are not included in the score since these unpublished slabs were not available for study; however, the known variants in exs. 11–12 and 16 are noted both in the score and with the minor variants.
More inscribed limestone slabs were found in and around the ruins of the Ištar/Mullissu temple at Nineveh. These paving stones, however, record the enlargement of the courtyard of Emašmaš. Just like the previous inscription, this text also mentions that Ashurbanipal used deposed Elamite kings in lieu of horses to pull his processional carriage. Although the slabs do not bear a date, their terminus post quem can be established: The latest dateable event is the capture of the Elamite king Ummmanaldašu (Ḫumban-ḫaltaš III), which took place some time between 645 and ca. 642. This inscription is generally referred to as the "Mullissu Inscription" in scholarly publications.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q003759/] or the score [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/scores/Q003759/] of Ashurbanipal 60.
S.A. Smith utilized four exemplars in his 1887 edition of this inscription; these are Nineveh Gallery nos. 62–65. Smith's main text was no. 64. According to the British Museum Collection online, BM 124812 (ex. 4) is no. 62, BM 124813 (ex. 5) is no. 63, and BM 124815 (ex. 6) is no. 64. Presumably, BM 124816 (ex. 7) is no. 65. VA 8997, according to C.F. Lehmann-Haupt, originates from Nimrud (Kalḫu) and is dedicated to Ninurta. Only the upper-left hand corner of the slab is preserved. The DN in line 1 is only partially preserved (dNI[N.x ...]). Is this fragmentary slab a duplicate of the Mullissu inscription or is it a similar text dedicated to Ninurta at Kalḫu by Assurbanipal? The former seems more likely.
In all instances, the inscribed surfaces were laid face down, with their uninscribed surfaces exposed. The distribution of the inscription varies from slab to slab. In most exemplars, the text is written in eighteen lines (exs. 1–2, 6, 11, and 13–14) or nineteen lines (exs. 3, 7–8, 10, and 12), while in one case each it is inscribed in seventeen lines (ex. 5) and twenty lines (ex. 4). Furthermore, exs. 1–9 and 13–14 have a horizontal ruling between each line of text, including a horizontal ruling before the first line and after the last line of the inscription, while ex. 11 has no horizontal rulings. The master text is based on ex. 1. A score of the text is presented on Oracc and the minor (orthographic) variants are listed at the back of the book.
Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers
Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers, 'Inscriptions on Paving Stones (text nos. 59-60)', 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/pavingstonestexts5960/]