115 154 155 156 186 197 200 207 225
Two fragments originating from separate clay tablets contain the beginning of an inscription. The extant text preserves only the first fourteen lines of the inscription's prologue, which consists of the king's titles and genealogy, a short statement concerning his nomination as king by the gods, and brief descriptions about him completing and decorating Eḫursaggalkurkurra ("House of the Great Mountain of the Lands"), the temple of the god Aššur at Aššur, and refurbishing a divine emblem of the goddess Šarrat-Kidmuri (presumably at Nineveh).
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This inscription of Ashurbanipal is known from two poorly-preserved clay tablets. The originals were to be inscribed upon objects, including an emblem (simtu) of the god Nusku, that were to be displayed in the Sîn-Šamaš temple at Nineveh. The text was composed after 646 since its historical narrative commemorates Ashurbanipal's fifth Elamite campaign and the return of the goddess Nanāya's statue to Eḫiliana at Uruk.
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Three clay tablet fragments bear an archival copy or draft of a dedicatory inscription of Ashurbanipal to the goddess Dilbat (the planet Venus). This deity is a manifestation of the goddess Ištar (see the god list AN: da-nu-um Tablet IV line 181 [Litke, God-Lists p. 161]) who is invoked alongside Ištar in the introduction of another Ashurbanipal inscription dedicated to that goddess (see text no. 200 obv. 1–6) and who appears in the list of gods in the prologue of a third Ashurbanipal inscription where the other manifestations of Ištar are typically named (see text no. 113 obv. 12 and the on-page note). The historical portion of the present text reports on Assyria's campaigns against the Arabs, not just for Ashurbanipal's reign, but also for the reigns of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. The inscription appears to have been composed for the restoration of a gold-plated star that Esarhaddon had created after his dealings with the Arabs. Given that the date of Ashurbanipal's conflict with the Arabs (ca. 645–643) coincides with his work on Ištar's temple Emašmaš (ca. 645–638), as well as the rebuilding of her akītu-house (ca. 645) and the celebration of a New Year's festival in Nineveh, it is possible that this object was to be displayed in one of these two locations.
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The so-called "Large Hunting Inscription" ("die grosse Jagdinschrift") is known from four tablet copies, all of which come from Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh. The text is unique in the corpus of this king's inscriptions. It opens with a short list of Ashurbanipal's titles (lines 1–3), followed by a passage that names all of the gods who had selected Ashurbanipal for kingship and details how they raised and trained him in the ways of that office from his childhood (lines 4–14). The next section contains historical material (lines 15–23) that reports on the king's war with and subsequent defeat of the Elamite king Urtaku, concluding with an account of the latter's three sons and other members of the Elamite royal family fleeing to Assyria in order to escape Teumman's aggression after he seized the throne. At this point, the text turns to a description of a royal lion hunt (lines 24–36). Here, it narrates how overgrown vegetation in the forests and reed swamps led to a proliferation of lions and how these unchecked lions began to terrorize nearby settlements as they devoured all types of animals in the region, including even people. In response, the king went on a hunting expedition to enter their dens, disperse their packs, and restore order to the land. With the hunt concluded, the inscription then recounts an episode (lines 37–54) in which some of the aforementioned princes of Elam demonstrate to Ashurbanipal their skills with the bow, but ultimately their abilities paled in comparison to the those of the Assyrian king. Unfortunately, the conclusion of the inscription is not preserved.
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This summary inscription of Ashurbanipal is known from several poorly-preserved, one-column clay tablets. Although the building report is not preserved in the identified exemplars, internal evidence provided by two of the tablets suggests that the inscription was written on objects intended to be displayed in the Nergal temple at Tarbiṣu, Egallammes. The text records details about the king's Egyptian and Elamite campaigns, and was composed after Ashurbanipal's second war against the Elamite king Ummanaldašu and the return of the goddess Nanāya's statue from Susa to her temple in the Eanna complex at Uruk in 646.
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Fragments of four clay tablets preserve parts of archival copies or drafts of an inscription of Ashurbanipal that was written on a bow and possibly other objects dedicated to the goddess Ištar in her temple in Arbela, Egašankalama ("House of the Lady of the Land"). The historical portion of the text reports on Ashurbanipal's defeat of the Elamite king Teumman, in which Arbela's tutelary deity is said to have played a vital role. As a gift for her divine support, the Assyrian king commissioned several inscribed objects, including a bow, and had them prominently displayed near Ištar in Egašankalama (see also text no. 201 and compare text no. 202).
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This inscription, the so-called "Large Egyptian Tablets" (LET) or "Ḫarrān Tablets" (HT), is the earliest-known summary inscription of Ashurbanipal; it is presently known from five copies. The text reports on the king's first and second Egyptian campaigns, the conquest of the city Qirbit, Gyges' dream and subsequent payment of tribute, and the submission of Mugallu of Tabal and Yakīn-Lû of Arwad. The building report contains a detailed account of the rebuilding of Eḫulḫul ("House which Gives Joy"), the temple of the god Sîn at Ḫarrān. Although the tablets that bear this inscription are not dated, and despite the occurrence of rēš šarrūtīya ("the beginning of my kingship," that is, "my accession year") at the start of the building report, the terminus post quem for the inscription can be established as ca. 664 since the death of Taharqa and the fall of Thebes are possibly the latest chronologically-datable events recorded and, thus, the LET might have been composed ca. 663–662.
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Four exemplars written in Neo-Assyrian script bear a dedicatory inscription to Babylon's patron deity, Marduk; a fifth exemplar containing a slightly different version of this text and written in Babylonian script is edited separately (see text no. 224). The present inscription opens with a longer list of Marduk's titles and epithets than in the "Babylonian" version. However, the historical section of the "Assyrian" version is not preserved, so it is unclear if this version contained the same historical material as in the latter or if separate exemplars recorded different events (Jiménez, Iraq 76 [2014] p. 114). Like the "Babylonian" version, the remainder of the inscription records the fashioning of cult objects to be dedicated to Marduk and the benefits that Ashurbanipal would receive from the tutelary deity of Babylon and his entourage (his wife Zarpanītu, and Nabû and Tašmētu, the patron deities of Borsippa) as a result of this gesture. The present version of the text was written on a gold censer (nignakku) (ex. 1) and a (reddish-)gold basket (masabbu) (ex. 3); at least one version of the text (ex. 3) contained fifty-five lines (see the commentary).
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Joshua Jeffers & Jamie Novotny
Joshua Jeffers & Jamie Novotny, 'Information on Ashurbanipal Scores, Part 3', RINAP Scores, The RINAP Scores sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/scores/ashurbanipalscores/part3/]