COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

THE STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF ASHURNASIRPAL II

SUBMITTED TO DR. BRENNAN W. BREED
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
BL699R: INTRODUCTION TO AKKADIAN









BY
MATTHEW A. LEE
MAY 8, 2014





1





INTRODUCTION
*


Ashurnasirpal II moved his capital and palace to the city of Kalhu, also known as Nimrud, once
he returned home from conquering various peoples in hopes to expand his empire. His palace
built in Kalhu contains large carvings and inscriptions telling of his campaign, and also the
Standard Inscription: the first half listing the kings credentials and the second half giving a
detailed report of the kings victories and accomplishments. Essentially, it is called the Standard
Inscription because it is repeated on multiple slabs in the royal palace. The palace of
Ashurnasirpal II stood chronologically at the beginning of the Late Assyrian period, that is,
towards the end of an almost three-thousand-year development in Mesopotamia.
1

Furthermore, the Standard Inscription became a way in which Ashurnasirpal IIs
achievements and glory were repeated a number of times, as the phrase Palace of
Ashurnasirpal has been discovered several times in the excavated palace. The text from the
Standard Inscription and its translation is given below, while similarities and dissimilarities
between others are noted.


*
For a translation project, we chose a royal/monumental tablet (museum no.: X.3.157; CDLI no.:
P433327) from the Carlos Museum at Emory University, Atlanta, GA, which has been identified as the Standard
Inscription of Ashurnasirpal II, Assyrian king from 883-859 B.C.E., and a number of these inscriptions have been
excavated at Kalhu (aka Nimrud; modern day Iraq), an ancient city located in northern Mesopotamia. From the
research done, it appears that the tablet in its current form may have been carved from an excavated wall or initially
broken, as the translation of the first line of the tablet does not match the first line of existing translations (or so we
think). Thus, the text gives the transliteration, normalization, and translation of the first several lines of the Standard
Inscription, while noting similarities in the tablet.
1
Susanna Hare, The Assyrian Phenomenon: An Introductory Essay, 10 in Metropolitan Museum of Art,
The Great KingKing of Assyria: Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1946).
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THE STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF ASHURNASIRPAL II

1) .GAL
m
a-ur-PAB-A-SANGU-a-ur ni-it
d
BAD u
d
MA na-re-am
d
a-nim u
d
da-gan
ka-u-u DINGIR
ME
GAL
ME
MAN dan-nu MAN MAN kur a-ur a
*
tukul.MA
MAN GAL MAN dan-ni MAN

ekal aur-nir-apli sangu aur niit Enlil u Ninurta narm Anu u Dagan ka-u-u il
rab arrum darrum ar kiatum ar mt aur mr Tukulti-Ninurta arrum rabbum
arrum darrum ar kiatum

(Property of) the palace of Assurnasirpal (II), vice-regent of Assur, chosen of the gods
Enlil and Ninurta, beloved of the gods Anu and Dagan, destructive weapon of the great
gods, strong king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta (II), great
king, strong king, king of the universe


The first line of the Standard Inscription, which is translated very similarly if not the same in
multiple sources, is the introduction to King Ashurnasirpal II but, however, does not seem to
match the first line in the tablet, as the first line contains only nine signs.
2
For one, the Carlos
translation reads chief priest of Ashur, the divine weapon of the great gods (sangu aur ka-u-
u il rab) immediately following the introduction, The palace of Ashurnasirpal, (ekal aur-
nir-apli), whereas several other translations on the Standard Inscription having the introduction
followed by the recognition of the gods Enlil and Ninurta, Anu and Dagan (niit Enlil u Ninurta
narm Anu u Dagan).
3

In the tablet, we are pretty certain that the name Ninurta or Tukulti-Ninurta is written
but it differs from the occurrence of the name in the Standard Inscription, since the names of the

*
DUMU: son of
2
Here is the translation of the first line of the inscription as per the Carlos Museum: The palace of
Ashurnirsipal, chief priest of Ashur, the divine weapon of the great gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the
king of Assyria; This difference is most likely due to the fact that the current form of the tablet is either broken (at
the top, left, or both) or was carved this way and is missing some of the text.
3
Cf. translations in ORACC (The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus), SAA (State Archives of
Assyria), CDLI (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative), and The Great KingKing of Assyria. It is also worth noting
that the first two lines in most other translations make up perhaps roughly the first four (or maybe five) lines of the
tablet.
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gods are missing from the tablet. Also, if the tablet is broken or missing lines from the beginning,
it may very be that the multiple occurrences of the phrase land of Assyria (mt aur) point to
the inscription having parts missing.

2) MAN kur a-ur a ERN-TH MAN GAL MAN dan-ni MAN S MAN UR a-ur-ma
e-lu qar-du ina
GE
TUKUL-ti a-ur EN [DU-DU ku-ma ina mal-ki-
ME
kib-rat
4(
m
) ta--nin- la-a TUU L.IPA]
*


ar mt aur mr Adad-nerari arrum rabbum arrum dannum ar kiatum ar mt aur
etlum qardum ina kakk aur bl [DU.DU ku-ma ina man-ki
ME
kib-rat 4(
m
) ta-
a nin-u la-a TUU L.IPA]

king of Assyria, son of Adad-nerari (II), great king, strong king, king of the universe,
king of Assyria, valiant man who acts with the support of Assur, his lord, and has no rival
among the princes of the four quarters, marvelous shepherd


The translation for the second line differs, too, in that the wording is different and the use of
words that are nowhere to be found in the tablet, suggesting a piece of it is missing.
4
In the
Carlos translation, the description of Adad-niari is followed by the powerful warrior who
always lived by [his trust] in Ashur, his lord, whereas the typical translation has something
different: valiant man who acts with the support of Ashur, his lord (etlum qardum ina kakk
aur bl). As we notice, another difference occurs at the end, where the Carlos translation has
[who is] the shepherd of his people and the common inscription translation has marvelous
shepherd.
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*
Text in brackets is in transliteration for both the transliteration and normalization paragraphs because of
the variants of the translation.
4
Here is the translation of the first line of the inscription as per the Carlos Museum: the son of Adad-niari,
the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the powerful warrior who always lived by [his trust] in Ashur, his lord;
who has no rival among the princes of the four quarters of the earth; [who is] the shepherd of his people.
5
Unsure, but the logogram DU.DU may refer to the people mentioned in the translation. DU.DU may also be
written SAG.DU, which could possibly refer to the black-headed ones (i.e. the people of Sumer and Akkad); see
John Huehnergard, A Grammar of Akkadian (3d ed. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 514.
4


CONCLUSION

From the research done, the Standard Inscription seems to differ in translation from source to
source: some include the introduction with the gods Enlil and Ninurta, Anu and Dagan, and some
dont. Some say destructive weapon while others read divine weapons. Either way, it
appears that the Standard Inscription was commonly written the same way (or very similarly) but
translated slightly different. Moreover, the tablet from the Carlos Museum appears to start
differently, as if a piece was broken off or it was carved out where the beginning is missing; both
of these options are very possible. However, no matter the condition of the tablet, what we have
is the Standard Inscription of Ashurnasirpal II, telling of his victories and glory and king of
Assyria .










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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hare, Susanna. The Assyrian Phenomenon: An Introductory Essay. Pages 9-15 in Metropolitan
Museum of Art. The Great KingKing of Assyria: Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1946.

Huehnergard, John. A Grammar of Akkadian. 3d. ed. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2011.