Registros del pasado, 2.ª serie, Vol. IV

65. their sheep, horses, colts, (and) calves to a countless number I carried away; to my city of Assur I brought (them). The defiles of the country of Enzite I entered; by the defiles of the country of Kirruri

66. which commands 2 the city of Arbela I came out.—As for Akhuni the son of Adini, who with the permission of the kings my fathers had acquired power and strength, in the beginning of my reign, in the eponymy

67. of the year called after my own name I departed from Nineveh, Til-Barsip his stronghold I besieged, I

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surrounded him with my soldiers, I fought a battle in the midst of it,

68. I cut down his plantations, I rained upon him arrows (and) javelins, before the splendour of my weapons (and) the glory of Assur he trembled and abandoned his city,

69. to save his life he crossed the Euphrates,—(again) in the second year in the eponymy of Assur-bunâya-utsur 1 I pursued after him; Shitamrat, a mountain peak on the bank of the Euphrates,

70. which hangs from the sky like a cloud, he made his stronghold. By the command of Assur the great lord, my lord, and Nergal who marches before me, I approached the mountain of Shitamrat,

71. within which none of the kings my fathers had penetrated. In three days a soldier scaled the mountain, a hero whose heart led (him) to the fray, (who) climbed up on his feet. The mountain

72. I stormed. Akhuni trusted to the multitude of his troops and came forth to meet me; he drew up (his) array. I launched among them the weapons of Assur my lord; I utterly

73. defeated them. I cut off the heads of his soldiers and dyed the mountains with the blood of his fighting-men. Many of his (people) flung themselves against the rocks of the mountains. A hard battle in the midst of his city

74. I fought. The terror of the glory of Assur my lord overwhelmed them; they descended (and) took my feet. Akhuni with his troops, chariots, his litters (?) and the many riches of his palace,

75. whose weight could not be estimated, I caused to be brought before me; I transported (them) across the Tigris; I carried (them) to my city of Assur. As men of my own country I counted the inhabitants.—In this same year I marched against the country of Mazamua. 2 Into the defiles

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76. of the country of Bunais (?) 1 I entered: the cities of Nikdime (and) Nigdera 2 I approached. They trembled before the splendour of my powerful weapons and violent onset, and

77. took refuge on the sea 3 in coracles of willow. In boats of seal-skin I followed after them. A hard battle I fought in the middle of the sea (and) utterly defeated them.

78. The sea with their blood I dyed like wool.—In the eponymy of Dayan-Assur, 4 on the 14th day of the month Iyyar, I departed from Nineveh; the Tigris I crossed; to the cities

79. of Giammu on the river Balikh I approached. (Before) the fear of my lordship (and) the splendour of my forceful weapons they trembled and with their own weapons Giammu their lord

80. they slew. Into the cities of Kitlala 5 and Til-sa-Turakhi 6 I entered. I introduced my gods into his palaces; I made a feast in his palaces.

81. I opened (his) treasury; I saw his stored-up wealth; his riches (and) his goods I carried away; to my city of Assur I brought (them). From Kitlala I departed; to the city of Kar-Shalmaneser

82. I approached. In boats of seal-skin for the second time I crossed the Euphrates at its flood. The tribute of the kings of the farther 7 bank of the Euphrates, of Sangar

83. of the city of Carchemish, of Kundashpi of the city of Kummukh, 8 of Arame the son of Gusi, of Lalli of the city of Melid, 9 of Khayanu the son of Gabaru,

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84. of Girparuda of the country of the Patinians, (and) of Girparuda of the country of the Gamgumians, silver, gold, lead, copper (and) vases of copper

85. in the city of Assur-utir-atsbat on the farther side of the Euphrates, which (is) upon the river Saguri, which the Hittites

86. call Pitru, I received. From the banks of the Euphrates I departed; to the city of Khalman 1 I approached. They were afraid to fight (and) took my feet.

87. Silver (and) gold as their tribute I received. I offered sacrifices before Dadda 2 the god of Khalman. From Khalman I departed. To the cities

88. of Irkhulêni the Hamathite I approached. The cities of Adennu, 3 Mashgâ 4 (and) Argana his royal city I captured. His spoil, his goods,

89. (and) the riches of his palaces I removed; his palaces I delivered to the flames. From the city of Argana I departed; to the city of Qarqara I approached.

90. Qarqara his royal city I threw down, dug up (and) burned with fire; 1200 chariots, 1200 litters (?) (and) 20,000 men from Dadda-idri

91. of the [country] of Damascus, 700 chariots, 700 litters (?) (and) 10,000 men from Irkhulêni the Hamathite, woo chariots (and) 10,000 men from Ahab

92. the Israelite; 5 500 men from the Guans; 6 1000 men from the Egyptians; 10 chariots (and) 10,000 men from the Irqanatians; 7

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93. 200 men from Matinu-ba’al the Arvadite; 200 men from the Usanatians; 1 30 chariots (and) 10,000 men

94. from Adunu-ba’al the Shianian; 2 1000 camels from Gindibu’i the Arabian; 3 (and) … 00 men

95. from Ba’asha, the son of Rukhubi 4 of the country of Ammon 5—these 12 kings 6 he took to his assistance; to [offer]

96. battle and combat they came against me. With the mighty forces which Assur the lord has given (me), with the powerful weapons which Nergal who goes before me

97. has granted (me), I fought with them; from the city of Qarqara to the city of Kirzau I utterly defeated them; 14,000

98. of their fighting-men I slew with weapons. Like Hadad I rained a deluge upon them (and) exterminated (?) them.

99. I filled the face of the plain with their wide-spread troops, with (my) weapons I covered with their blood the whole district;

100. (the soil) ceased to give food to its inhabitants; in the broad fields was no room for their graves; with (the bodies of) their men

101. as with a bridge I bound together (the banks of) the Orontes. In this battle their chariots, their litters(?)

102. (and) their horses bound to the yoke I took from them.

Footnotes

55:1 The spirits of heaven and earth.

55:2 [The identification of the king with the Sun-god is frequent in the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-Amarna, where it is an imitation of an Egyptian usage. It is probable that the application of the term to the Assyrian king was due to the early influence of Egypt.—Ed.]

55:3 [Literally "the pupil of the eyes."—Ed.]

56:1 Or Tiglath-Uras.

56:2 Literally "had called me as a prophet (nabium) to the shepherding."

56:3 B.C. 858.

57:1 [Literally, "I burned for a holocaust." There seems to be a reference to human sacrifice; cf. 2 Kings iii. 27.—Ed.]

57:2 [In the time of Shalmaneser the kingdom of Ararat, with its capital near Lake Van, was distinguished from Nairi, with its centre at Khubuskia. See Records of the Past, new series, i. p. 106, note 7.—Ed.]

58:1 Lake Van.

58:2 B.C. 857. The events of the year are summed up in the annals of the Black Obelisk, lines 26–31.

58:3 [Or "countries."—Ed.]

58:4 [Lahlahte.—Ed.]

58:5 [Perhaps an Aramaic name signifying "the son of our lord."—Ed.]

59:1 Called Khabini by Assur-natsir-pal and on the Black Obelisk.

59:2 ["The mound of stones."—Ed.]

59:3 [Or perhaps Ki-giri-Dadda: he is called Giri-Dadi by Assur-natsir-pal, Records of the Past, new series, ii. p. 173, note 1.—Ed.]

59:4 Komagênê.

59:5 Called Paqarkhubuna on the Black Obelisk, line 90.

59:6 [The name of Mutalli is the same as that of the Hittite king Mutal, formerly read Mautenar, who is mentioned in the Egyptian copy of the treaty concluded between Ramses II, the Egyptian monarch, and the Hittites of Kadesh.—Ed.]

59:7 [Or Sapa-lulve, the Saplil of the Egyptian texts.—Ed.]

59:8 Between the Afrin and the gulf of Antioch, extending southwards to the sources of the Orontes.

60:1 Rimmon.

60:2 That is, Akhuni.

60:3 Arantu.

60:4 Or Alizir.

60:5 Twenty-five years later the king of Que was Kate or Katî; see Black Obelisk, line 132.

60:6 Khilukâ.

61:1 The Mediterranean.

61:2 Literally, "the country of the west."

61:3 [The Assyrian king Assur-irbi is otherwise unknown, but he probably reigned in the interval between Samsi-Rimmon I, B.C. 1070, and Tiglath-pileser II, B.C. 950. For his identification with Assur-rab-buri, see note on line 37.—Ed.]

61:4 [The modern ’Azaz, about twenty-two miles north-west of Aleppo.—Ed.] .

61:5 [Called Agûsi in line 27, and on the Black Obelisk.—Ed.]

61:6 B.C. 856; Black Obelisk, lines 32–35.

61:7 Or countries.

61:8 [Probably meaning in Aramaic "Mound of the Son of ’Sip," a name which must be identified with that of Saph in 2 Sam. xxi. 18. Til-Bur´sip is also written Til-Bur´saip and Til-Bar´sip.—Ed.]

62:1 [Probably the modern Tel Basher; see Records of the Past, new series, i. p. 109, note 5, and ii. p. 166, note 3. The printed text of the inscription has to be corrected here.—Ed.]

62:2 [This king must have been the successor of Sapalulve mentioned in Column I, and the predecessor of Girparuda mentioned in Column n, line 84.—Ed.]

63:1 B.C. 856. Black Obelisk, lines 35 sq.

64:1 "The Fortress of Shalmaneser."

64:2 "The Glory of Assur."

64:3 "I have taken; (it is) not yours."

64:4 "The Command of Assur."

64:5 "To Assur I have restored, I have taken."

64:6 [The Pethor of the Old Testament, from which Balaam came. We learn from this and parallel passages that it stood on the eastern side of the Sagura, the modern Sajur, not far from the junction of this river with the Euphrates.—Ed.]

64:7 [Tiglath-pileser I, B.C. 1100. The name may be a modified form of that of Mitanni, for which see Records of the Past, new series, i. p. 113.—Ed.]

64:8 [The reading of the name is doubtful, the characters being partly obliterated. George Smith read Assur-rab-buri.—ED].

64:9 Arumu.

64:10 Or "country of Sumu."

64:11 Or "countries."

65:1 [For Enzite, the Anzitênê of classical geography, see Records of the Past, new series, i. p. 103, note 2.—Ed.]

65:2 [Or "belonging to the country of Isua." See the inscription of Tiglath-pileser I, Column III, line 91.—Ed.]

65:3 The Arsanias of classical geography, now called the Murad-Su.

65:4 [The Diyaveni or kingdom of the son "of Diaus" of the Vannic texts, which lay upon the Murad-Su in the neighbourhood of Melasgerd. One of its cities, Quais, is now represented by Yazlu-tash.—Ed.]

65:5 [Also called Arzaskun. The destruction of Arzasku and the defeat of Arrame seem to have led to the overthrow of his dynasty. Immediately afterwards Sarduris I, the son of Lutipris, built the citadel of Van, and founded a new kingdom on the shores of Lake Van.—Ed.]

66:1 Or Rimmon.

66:2 [Aramalis would be a Vannic adjective, formed by a suffix li, and signifying "belonging to Arama." It had evidently been built by King Aramas or Aramis.—Ed.]

67:1 Lake Van.

67:2 Literally "at the head of."

68:1 B.C. 856.

68:2 See Records of the Past, new series, p. 149, note 6.

69:1 [The reading of the last syllable is doubtful; we should perhaps read Bunae. See my "Memoir on the Vannic Inscriptions," Jrl. R.A.S., xiv. 3, p. 396.—Ed.]

69:2 Called Nigdiara on the Black Obelisk, line 51.

69:3 Lake Van.

69:4 [B.C. 854. According to the Black Obelisk (ll. 54 sq.), however, the events here recorded took place two years later in B.C. 852, during the eponymy of Samas-bela-utsur.—Ed.]

69:5 Or Lillala.

69:6 Or Til-sa-Balakhi, "The mound of the Balikh."

69:7 That is, western.

69:8 Komagene.

69:9 The modern Malatiyeh.

70:1 [Or Khalvan, Aleppo. Compare Helam in 2 Sam. x. 17.—Ed.]

70:2 [According to K 2100. i. 7, 16, 17, Addu and Dadu were the names given to Rimmon in Syria, Adad or Hadad being a further name by which the god was known in Assyria. Besides Dadu we also find the forms Dadda and Dadi. In Hadad-Rimmon (Zech. xii. II) the two names of the Air-god are united, while a comparison of 2 Sam. viii. to with 1 Chr. xviii. 9 (Jo-ram and Hado-ram) shows that at Hamath Hado or Addu was identified with the national god of Israel. In the Babylonian contract-tablets the name of the Syrian god Ben-Hadad appears as Bin-Addu.—Ed.]

70:3 [Probably the Eden of Amos i. 5.—Ed.]

70:4 Or Bargâ.

70:5 Akhabbu mat ’Sir’alâ.

70:6 Probably the same as the Que.

70:7 [The "Arkite" of Gen. x. 17. The city is called Irqatu in the tablets of Tel el-Amarna.—Ed.]

71:1 [Us’û is referred to, the Ushâ of the Talmud, which, as Delitzsch has shown, was not far from Acre.—Ed.]

71:2 [The printed text has Si-za-na-â in mistake for Si-a-na-a. Probably "the Sinite" of Gen. x. 17 is meant.—Ed.]

71:3 Arbâ.

71:4 Baasha the son of Rehob.

71:5 Amanâ.

71:6 Only eleven are mentioned. It seems probable that the scribe has omitted the name of one of the confederates.

THE INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II ON THE GATES OF BALAWÂT

[figure]

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THE INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II ON THE GATES OF BALAWÂT

Translated by the Rev. V. Scheil

In 1877 Mr. Hormuzd Rassam discovered the remains of some very interesting Assyrian buildings in a small mound called Balawât, about fifteen miles to the east of Mosul and nine miles from the mounds of Nimrûd. They consisted of the enclosure of a palace, within which was a chapel dedicated to Makhir, the god of dreams. The temple had been built and the palace restored by Assur-natsir-pal, who named the place Imgur-Bel. The palace was further embellished by Shalmaneser II, the son of Assur-natsir-pal. He furnished it with two folding gates of great size, each of which was ornamented with seven horizontal bands of bronze. The bronze bands not only ran across the faces of the wooden gates, but also round one side of the bronze posts to which the gates were attached. The bands are covered with repoussé work, representing the various countries and cities conquered by Shalmaneser in the course of his campaigns. Each band contains two lines of such representations; over each of the

p. 73

pictures is an explanatory inscription, and on either side of the band is a border of rosettes. The bronze plates were fastened to the gates by nails driven through the centre of the rosettes.

The inscriptions, so far as they are still legible, have been published and translated by Mr. Pinches in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vii. 1 (1880), and in The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of Balawât (1880–81). The translation which follows will be found to represent the progress that has been made in Assyrian decipherment since the publication of Mr. Pinches.

THE INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II ON THE GATES OF BALAWÂT

[figure]

p. 74

THE INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II ON THE GATES OF BALAWÂT

COLUMN I

1. Shalmaneser, the great king, the powerful king, the king of hosts, [the king of Assyria] …

2. the pitiless one, who subjugates the rebellious … [who a rival]

3. has not. The great, the incomparable, the heroic one, … [clothed]

4. with splendour, who fears not opposition; [who from the rising of the sun]

5. to the setting of the sun commands …

6. is powerful. In those days, through the great lord, Merodach …

COLUMN II

1. … [After that the gods] had placed in my hands the insignia of mankind, with the help of Assur, the great lord, my lord, and of the god who loves my priesthood, [I trod] the summits of all mountain-ranges

2. to the extremities of them all, [as far as] the sea of Nairi and the sea of Zamua-sa-Bittani 1 and the great sea of Syria. The country of the Hittites, to its very extremities, like a mound

3. swept by the wind, I ravaged … I spread over the country of the Hittites the [terror] of the glory of my sovereignty. In my passage from the sea 2 I

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erected a great image of my majesty, (and) set (it) up along with that of Assur-irbe. 1

4. … I marched [to] the great [sea]; I purified my weapons in the waters; I offered sacrifices to my gods; I received the tribute of all the kings of the shores of the sea.

5. … I erected [an image of my majesty beside] the sea; I wrote upon it; I set it up overlooking the sea. From the country of Enzite to the country of Dayaeni, from the country of Dayaeni to

6. [the country of] … I possessed myself [of Arzashkun, the royal city of Ara]me, of the land of Ararat, I threw (it) down, dug (it) up and burnt (it) with fire. While I was staying in Arzashkun, Arame, of the country of Ararat, to the multitude of his forces

COLUMN III

1. trusted and gathered all his troops; to give combat and battle he came against me. I utterly defeated him; I cut his fighting-men to pieces. I slew with weapons 3000 of his soldiers. With the bodies of his warriors

2. I filled the broad plain; I took from him his engines of war, his royal treasures (and) numerous war-material. To save his life he ascended an inaccessible mountain. Like Hadad 2 I overthrew the widespread land of Qute. 3 From the city of Arzashkun to the country of Guzan,

3. from the country of Guzan to the country of Khupushkia, like the stormy Air-god I roared upon them. I displayed over the country of Ararat the splendour of my sovereignty. Akhuni the son of Adini,

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who, with the permission of the kings my fathers, power and strength

4. had acquired, (whom) at the beginning of my reign I had shut up in his city, whose crops I had gathered, whose plantations I had cut down, to save (his) life had crossed the Euphrates (and) the city of Shitamrat, a mountain-peak which hangs from the sky like a cloud, for

5. his stronghold had taken. For the second time 1 I pursued after him; the mountain-peak I besieged. My soldiers swooped upon them like birds of prey. 2 I captured 17,500 of his troops. Akhuni with his troops, his gods, his chariots

6. (and) his horses, I caused to be brought before me; I carried (them) to my city of Assur [and settled them among the people of my own land.]

COLUMN IV

1. In the eponymy of Samas-bel-utsur, 3 in the time of Merodach-sum-iddin the king of Babylonia, 4 Merodach-bel-usâte his brother revolted against him. They divided the country into (two) factions. Merodach-sum-iddin to ask help to Shalmaneser sent

2. his ambassador. Shalmaneser, the impetuous chief, whose trust is Adar, 5 took the road; he gave the order to march against Akkad. 6 I approached the city of Zaban; 7 victims before Hadad 8 my lord

3. I sacrificed. I departed from Zaban; to the city of Mê-Turnat I approached; 9 the city I besieged,

I captured; his fighting-men I slew; his spoil I

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carried away. From the city of Mê-Turnat I departed; to the city of Gannanate 1

4. I approached. Merodach-bel-usâte, the lame king, ignorant how to conduct himself, came forth against me to offer combat and battle. I utterly defeated him; his fighting-men I slew; in his city I shut him up. His crops

5. I gathered in; his plantations I cut; his river I dammed up. In a second expedition, in the eponymy of Bel-bunâya, 2 on the 10th day of the month Nisan, I departed from Nineveh. The Upper Zab

6. and the Lower (Zab) I crossed. To the city of Lakhiru I approached. The city I besieged, I captured. Its fighting-men I slew, its spoil I carried away. From the city of Lakhiru

COLUMN V

1. I departed. To the city of Gan[na]nate I approached. Merodach-bel-usâte came forth like a fox from his hole; towards the mountains of Yasubi he set his face. The city of Arman

2. he took for his stronghold. The city of Gannanate I captured; its fighting-men I slew, its spoil I carried away. I ascended the mountains after him. In the city of Arman I shut him up; the city I besieged, I took. His fighting-men

3. I slew, his spoil I carried away. I put Merodach-bel-usâte to death with weapons. Of the miserable soldiers who (were) with him not one did I leave. When Merodach-sum-iddin had conquered his enemies, [and] Shalmaneser

4. the powerful king had fulfilled the desire of his heart, he exalted thee, O great lord Merodach! Shalmaneser the king of Assyria ordered the march to Babylon; he arrived at Kutha, 3 the city of the warrior of the gods 4

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5. the exalted ones, (the city) of the Sun-god of the south. At the gate of the temple he prostrated himself humbly, and presented his sacrifice; he made offerings. He entered also into Babylon, the bond of heaven to earth, the seat of life; 1

6. he ascended also to Ê-Sagil, the palace 2 of his gods as many as there are; before Bel and Beltis he was seen to pass and he directed their path. Their propitiatory sacrifices (and) pure offerings on Ê-Sagil

COLUMN VI

I. he lavished. He visited all the shrines 3 in Ê-Sagil and Babylon: he presented his pure sacrifice. He took also the road to

2. Borsippa, 4 the city of the warrior of the [god]s, 5 the angel (?) supreme. He entered also into Ê-Zida 6 … he prostrated himself before the temple of his immutable oracle, and in the presence of Nebo and Nana

3. the gods his lords he directed reverently his path. Strong oxen (and) fat sheep he gave in abundance. He visited all the shrines 3 in Borsippa and Ê-Zida; each time

4. he offered libations (?). For the men of Babylon and Borsippa, the vassals of the great gods, he made a feast, and gave them food (and) wine; with embroidered robes he clothed (them); with presents

5. he endowed them. After that the great gods had favourably regarded Shalmaneser, the powerful king,

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the king of Assyria, had directed his face, had granted the desire (?) of his heart and strength, (and) had heard his prayers, I departed from Babylon; [to] the country of Chaldæa 1

6. I descended. To the city of Baqâni, a fortress of Adini the son of Dakuri I approached. The city I besieged, I captured. His numerous soldiers I slew; their rich spoil, their oxen (and) their sheep, I carried away. The city I threw down, dug up (and) burned with fire. From the city of Baqani I departed; the Euphrates hard by it I crossed. The city of Enzudi,

7. the royal city of the aforesaid Adini, I approached. As for Adini the son of Dakuri, the terror of the glory of Merodach the great lord overwhelmed him, and I received from him … silver, gold, copper, lead, iron, muskanna wood, ivory, (and) elephants' skin. While I was staying [on the shores] of the sea, 2 the tribute of Yakin the king of the maritime country

8. and of Musallim-Merodach the son of Amukkani, silver, gold, lead, copper, [iron], muskanna wood, [ivory, and] elephants’ skin, I received.

Footnotes

74:1 See Records of the Past, new series, p. 149, note 6.

74:2 Lake Van.

75:1 See Monolith Inscription, II. 10 (above, p. 61).

75:2 [Rather Nerra the demon of pestilence. See my Lectures on the Religion of the Babylonians, pp. 195, 311–314.—Ed.]

75:3 [Also called Gutium. It was the district which lay to the east of Assyria, and in early Chaldean geography included Assyria itself. Here, however, the term is extended so as to include not only Kurdistan, but also the district between Assyria and Lake Van.—Ed.]

76:1 Literally, "year."

76:2 [More exactly "vultures." The zu or "vulture" was the symbol of the god of "the storm-cloud" who was believed to have stolen the laws and attributes of Bel for the benefit of mankind, and to have been punished for the theft by transformation into a vulture. See my Lectures on the Religion of the Babylonians, pp. 293–299.—Ed.]

76:3 B.C. 852.

76:4 Kar-Dunias.

76:5 Uras.

76:6 Northern Babylonia.

76:7 On the southern bank of the Lower Zab.

76:8 Rimmon.

76:9 "The waters of the Turnat" or Tornadotos, the modern Diyaleh.

77:1 "The garden of Anat."

77:2 B.C. 851.

77:3 Fow Tel Ibrahim. Men from Kutha were brought to Samaria by Sargon, 2 Kings xvii. 24, 30.

77:4 [Nergal.—Ed.]

78:1 [This is a play on the Accadian names of the two cities which constituted the later Babylon, Ka-Dimirra, "the gate of God," sometimes misinterpreted "the gate of the gods," and Din-Tir, which by a false etymology was mistranslated "seat of life."—Ed.]

78:2 Compare Is. vi. 1, where the heavens are called a "palace" filled by the train of the Lord.

78:3 Bit-ili or "Beth-els."

78:4 Here written Dur-’Siabba "the fort of ’Siabba."

78:5 Nebo.

78:6 [Ê-Zida, "the immutable house," was the name of the sanctuary of Nebo at Borsippa, as E-Sagil, "the house of the high head," was that of the sanctuary of Merodach at Babylon. Both names had come down from the pre-Semitic age.—Ed.]

79:1 Kaldi, in the south of Babylonia.

79:2 The Persian Gulf.

A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION OF ASSUR-NATSIR-PAL

[figure]

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A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION OF ASSUR-NATSIR-PAL

Translated by S. Arthur Strong

The following inscription is on a tablet of alabaster, which, with a duplicate copy, was found in a marble coffer by Mr. Rassam in the course of his excavations at Balawât in 1878, and is now in the British Museum. It begins with the genealogy of Assur-natsir-pal and a short account of his conquering advance from east to west, from beyond the Tigris to the Mediterranean, which is repeated almost word for word from his great inscription. (Col. ii. lines 123–131. See Records of the Past, new series, vol. ii. p. 161.) The king then records how he recaptured and brought once more within the sphere of his dominion a town or fortress, to which he gave the name Imgur-Bel or "Bel's Delight." The position of this place, which was not far east of the ancient Kalah, is now marked by the mound of Balawât. Here he built a temple to Makhir, whom we know only as the god of dreams, but who doubtless possessed other and more important attributes and functions. It was among the ruins of this temple

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that the coffer containing the tablets was discovered. The inscription closes with the usual appeal to the future king to respect the pious memory of his predecessor, and to restore the building and replace the tablet in the event of their removal or decay. To him who shall thus act the blessing of Assur is promised; while, on the other hand, the curse of Ishtar is invoked upon him who, with the tablet in view, should insult the memory of Assur-natsir-pal. This work of construction and restoration at Imgur-Bel, left unfinished by the great king at his death in 858 B.C., was taken up and completed by his son and successor, a ruler of kindred spirit, Shalmaneser II.

The tablets are in a state of good preservation, and the writing is regular and clear. They are remarkable for the use made throughout by the scribe of vertical lines of division between words or groups of words, thus:—

Assur-natsir-pal | sarru rab-u | sarru dan-nu |
sar kissati sar Assur |

Instances of such a use of dividing-lines are extremely rare in Assyrian inscriptions, whereas on the Persian cuneiform monuments the words are invariably separated, but by a wedge placed diagonally.

The lid of the coffer in which this text was found bears a somewhat defaced inscription of the same character, which, however, ends with the words of line 40 of the present translation.

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The text has been published (with an introduction, transliteration, and translation) by Mr. Budge in the seventh volume of the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, p. 59, and in the fifth volume of The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, plates 69 and 70.

A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION OF ASSUR-NATSIR-PAL

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A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION OF ASSUR-NATSIR-PAL

1. Assur-natsir-pal, the great king, the mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria,

2. son of Tukulti-Uras, the great king, the mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Rimmon-nirari,

3. the great king, the mighty king, king of the world, king of the same Assyria,

4. the warrior chief, who with the help of Assur his lord

5. has marched, and among the princes of the four regions 1

6. his rival has not had; the king who from

7. beyond the Tigris to Lebanon and the great sea,

8. Laqi throughout its circuit,

9. ’Sukhi 2 as far as the city of Rapiqu to his feet

10. subdued; from the source 3

11. of the ’Supnat 4 to the passes of

12. Kirruri, to Gilzani, 5

13. from the other side of the lower Zab

14. to the city of Til-bari, which (is) above

15. Zaban, from the city of Til-sabtani

16. to the city of Til-sa-zabdani,

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17. the city of Khirimu, the city of Kharutu, the fortresses

18. of Kar-Dunias 1 to the territory

19. of my country I restored, and the broad

20. lands of Nairi throughout its whole extent

21. I conquered. That city I took anew;

22. Imgur-Bel its name I called;

23. this temple with the brick of my palace

24. verily I built; an image of Makhir 2 my lord

25. in the midst verily I set up; to Lebanon

26. verily I went; beams of cedar,

27. of cypress, of juniper I cut;

28. beams of cedar upon this temple

29. I fastened; doors of cedar

30. I made; with a rim of copper I overlaid (them);

31. at its gates I fixed (them); this temple

32. I furnished, I made great; Makhir the great lord

33. in the midst I seated; an inscribed tablet in his temple

34. I placed. O later prince of the kings

35. my sons, whom Assur shall call,

36. (if) this temple decay, (and) the tablet thou see, and

37. read, its ruins do thou restore; thy name with my name write; 3

38. to its place do thou bring (it) back! Assur the lord, the great one, Makhir,

39. who dwells in this temple by their favourite 4 rightly

40. shall triumph; his tablet, his name, his seed in their land may they establish!

41. He who the tablet shall see, and offence in plenty

42. speak, may Ishtar, lady of fight and battle,

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43. his weapons break in pieces, his throne

44. take from him! 1 He who the tablet shall see, and

45. read, (and) anointing the pavement-stones, sacrificing a lamb,

46. to its place shall restore (it), Assur the great lord his prayers

47. shall hear, (and) in the battle of kings, the field

48. of engagement, his heart's desire 2

49. shall cause him to attain.

Footnotes

83:1 The translator in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, p. 71, reads ina sar sa kiprat arbata, having evidently mistaken the wedges of the plural-sign for the character for "king."

83:2 The Shuhites of the Old Testament (Job ii. 11), on the west bank of the Euphrates between the Balikh and the Khabour.

83:3 Ris ini, the source: not riseni, as one word, which would be, if anything, an anomalous plural from risu.

83:4 The Sebbeneh Su, which forms one of the sources of the Tigris north of Diarbekir.

83:5 [Or Guzan (Gozan).]

84:1 Babylonia.

84:2 In W. A. I., ii. 58, 12, Makhir is called "the daughter of Samas"; but the same deity is invoked as a male in one of the penitential psalms (W. A. I., iv. 66, 2) translated by Zimmern (Busspsalmen, p. 100), and Sayce (Hibbert Lectures, p. 355), "May Makhir, god of dreams, rest upon my head!"

84:3 There is no need here for an amendment of the text, which is plainly as follows: sumi-ka itti sumi-ya sudhur.

84:4 The phrase nisi ini, literally "the raising of the eyes," means "grace" or "favour," hence the object of such grace or favour, a favourite or darling (Liebling, Delitzsch).

85:1 By separating lu from the verb and giving it a temporal meaning the translator in T. S. B. A. (p. 78) has missed the force of this passage, which is clearly precative. See Delitzsch, Assyrian Grammar, p. 260.

85:2 Ammar libbi = mâla libbi, literally "the fulness of the heart;" cp. Esarhaddon, Hexagonal Prism, Col. iv. 41, amtsu mâla libbi, "I attained my heart's desire."

INSCRIPTION OF RIMMON-NIRARI III

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INSCRIPTION OF RIMMON-NIRARI III

Translated by S. Arthur Strong

The following inscription is on a pavement slab found at Nimrud, the ancient Calah, and now in the British Museum. It has been published in the first volume of The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, p. 35, No. 3, as well as (from an incomplete duplicate) by Layard on p. 70 of his volume of Cuneiform Inscriptions, and Bonomi in his work on Nineveh, p. 339. It has been translated by Sayce in the first volume of the former series of Records of the Past, and (into German) by Abel in the first volume of Schrader's Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek.

It contains the genealogy of Rimmon-nirari III, whose reign lasted from 811 to 783 B.C., during which time he was ceaselessly occupied in consolidating and extending the conquests of his predecessors. In fact, on the eponym list for this period there is not a single year not marked by a campaign. Among other exploits he subdued Damascus, and forced its king to pay tribute. His empire extended from the borders of Elam on the south-east to the Mediterranean on the west, and included as vassal-states

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[paragraph continues] Tyre, Sidon, Edom, Philistia, and Israel. After his death the Assyrian power of the first epoch, having reached its furthest limits, began to decline.

One of the most striking events of his reign was the revival in Assyria of the worship of Nebo. The latter had not been unknown to the Assyrians, but his cult was not so important with them as with the Babylonians, as is shown by the fact that up to the time of Rimmon-nirari his name rarely enters into the composition of proper names. Rimmon-nirari built a new temple for him at Calah, which, as we learn from the eponym list, he entered in the year 787.

From the concluding words of the inscription on the statue of Nebo in the British Museum (W. A. I., 35, 2) it might even appear as if it had been intended that the worship of Nebo should dominate, or actually supersede, that of all other gods: "Put thy trust in Nebo; trust in no other god!" But if this was the project, it was not successful.

The inscription here translated is remarkable from the fact that Rimmon-nirari, after tracing his descent back to his great-grandfather, Assur-natsir-pal, begins again, as it were, at a point still more remote, and boasts himself the descendant of Tiglath-adar, son of Shalmaneser I., behind whom again there stand the mysterious forms of the otherwise unknown Belkap-kapi and ’Sulili.

But the rendering of the latter part of the inscription is put forward only provisionally, to be contradicted or confirmed by future researches.

GENEALOGY OF RIMMON-NIRARI III

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GENEALOGY OF RIMMON-NIRARI III

1. The palace of Ramman-nirari, the great king, the mighty king,

2. The universal king, 1 King of Assyria, the king whom, as his child, Assur,

3. King of the spirits of heaven (?), 2 appointed, and (with) a kingdom

4. without rival has filled

5. his hand. From the great sea

6. of the rising of the sun to the great

7. sea of the setting of the sun

8. his hand conquered, and has subdued

9. in all entirety. The son of Samsi-Ramman,

10. the great king, the mighty king, the universal king, King of Assyria,

11. the king without rival, the son of Sulman-asarid, 3

12. the king of the four regions, who upon the land of his foes

13. has laid (his) yoke, and has overpowered (them) like a flood.

14. Grandson of Assur-natsir-pal, 4 the manly warrior, is. who made wide the dwellings of the troops.

16. Ramman-nirari, the exalted prince, to whom Assur, Samas,

17. Ramman 5 and Merodach as his helpers

18. have gone, and have extended his country,

19. descendant of Tukulti-Adar (?), 6 King of Assyria,

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20. King of Sumir and Accad,

21. descendant of Sulman-asarid, the mighty king,

22. who enlarged E-kharsak-Kurkurra, 1

23. the mountain of the lands; descendant

24. of Bel-kap-kapi, a former king,

25. who went before me, belonging to the ancient time of the kingdom

26. of ’Sulili (?), of which from

2 7. old time Assur has proclaimed the report.

Footnotes

88:1 Literally "king of totality."

88:2 Igigi, perhaps literally "the strong ones," from agâgu.

88:3 Shalmaneser II, B.C. 859–824.

88:4 B.C. 884–859.

88:5 Or Rimmon, the Air-god.

88:6 Or Tiglath-Urns, B.C. 890–884.

89:1 E-kharsak-Kurkurra is here the name of a temple, but it had also, and originally, a cosmical meaning as applied to the world-mountain—that is, to the world conceived as a mountain. And the idea of a world-mountain seems to have passed into that of a mountain in the world, or on the earth, which, as the abode of the gods, recalls the Indian Meru. See Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, pp. 201–205.

VOTIVE INSCRIPTIONS

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VOTIVE INSCRIPTIONS

Translated by S. Arthur Strong

I

The following inscription is on a stone lion found at the entrance of a temple at the foot of the pyramid at Nimrud, and now in the British Museum. It is an invocation to Beltis, the female counterpart or shadow of Bel, and forms an introduction to one of the frequent versions of the standard inscription of Assur-natsir-pal. In line 7 Ishtar, though she appears to be invoked as a separate goddess, is probably to be regarded as an equivalent or personification of Beltis. However, the process by which she assumed the titles, and eventually absorbed the personality of the latter, was a gradual one, and its final stage becomes visible only in inscriptions of the second Assyrian period, particularly in those of Assurbanipal. 1

The inscription has been published in the second volume of "The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," plate 66, No. I. Lines 7 to 9 have been translated by Zimmern in Babylonische Busspsalmen,

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p. 22, and notes on two other isolated passages will be found on pp. 197 and 256 of Jensen's Kosmologie der Babylonier; but it seems that no complete translation has hitherto been published.

The lines as they are given in W. A. I., ii. do not represent the arrangement of the original, but I follow them for convenience of reference.

Footnotes

90:1 See Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 273.

INVOCATION TO THE GODDESS BELTIS

[figure]

1. To Beltis, the great lady, chief of heaven and earth, queen of all the gods, the mighty one

2. of all lands, whose festival is honoured among the Ishtars, who surpasses in power her offspring, a shining form,

3. who, like the sun her brother, the ends of heaven and earth together enlightens, the strong one of the Anunnaki, 1

4. first-born of Anu, great one of the gods, queen over her enemies, who goes before, troubler of the seas,

5. who tramples the wooded mountains under foot, 2 the mighty one of the Igigi, lady of fight and battle, 3 without whom in E-sarra the sceptre

6. they would not obey, who causes to receive strength,

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who causes to find the fulness of the heart 1 of him who loves truth,

7. hearer of prayers, receiver of supplication, who accepts entreaty, Ishtar, the perfect light,

8. all-powerful, who enlightens heaven and earth, whose name is proclaimed in the regions of all countries,

9. who bestows life, the merciful goddess, to whom it is good to pray, who dwells

10. in Calah, my lady.

II

In the following inscription Assur-bani-pal commemorates the revolt of Elam and its final suppression (after 648 B.C.), as well as certain repairs or alterations which he carried out in the temple of Ishtar of Nineveh, to whom are gratefully ascribed both the inspiration and the merit of his victorious campaigns.

The reference to the fate of Teumman's successors is not altogether clear, though Tiele (Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte, ii. 399) is probably right in explaining it as an allusion to the triumphal progress of Assur-bani-pal to the gate of the temple of Ishtar in a chariot drawn by the four conquered kings. See W. A. I., v. 10, 29. But in that case the introduction of Ummanigas must be due to an error, for he was killed by his son, Tammaritu, long before the end of the Elamite war, which this barbaric triumph of Assur-bani-pal was intended to celebrate (Smith, History of Assurbanipal, p. 202).

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[paragraph continues] And, as we learn from W. A. I., v. 10, it was the Arabian King Vaiteh, who, together with the three Elamite princes mentioned in our inscription, was compelled to draw the car of Assur-bani-pal.

The inscription appears to have been frequently copied and widely circulated. Four versions are preserved in the British Museum (Nos. 62, 63, 64, 65), and a fifth was discovered at Tartûs (the ancient Antarados) in 1885, of which the text, with a translation, was communicated by Professor Sayce to the Society of Biblical Archæology, and published in their Proceedings (vii. 142). It has further been published and translated by George Smith (History of Assurbp., p. 303), and S. A. Smith (Keilschriftexte Asurbanipals, ii. 10), while a German version by Jensen will be found on p. 264 of the second volume of Schrader's Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek. 1

1. To Beltis, lady of the lands, who dwells in E-barbar, 2

2. Assur-bani-pal, King of Assyria, the great one, her worshipper,

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3. the governor, the work of her hands, who by her great command

4. in the onset of battle had cut off

5. the head of Teumman, King of Elam;