Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology

Transcription

1 Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology Volume

2 Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology Volume An annual publication of The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Archaeology Wing, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem This volume was made possible by The Montgomery Securities and Friends Endowment Fund of the Israel Museum Additional support was provided by Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn, Zurich Editor: Silvia Rozenberg Associate editors: Shirly Ben-Dor Evian, Debby Hershman English editor: Miriam Feinberg Vamosh Advisory Board: Tallay Ornan, Rina Talgam, Haim Goldfus Design adaptation: Batya Segal Original design concept: Masha Pozina Printed by Elinir Digital Print, Petah Tikva All correspondence and papers for publication should be addressed to: The Editor Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology The Israel Museum, Jerusalem P.O.B , Jerusalem Israel address: shirlybde@imj.org.il ISSN The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2017 All rights reserved Front cover: Bronze candelabra and lamps from a Byzantine hoard, 6th century CE Back cover: Bezel design of a bronze signet ring from a Byzantine hoard, 6th century CE (drawn from the positive)

3 Contents Yigal Bloch and Laura A. Peri 2 I Placed My Name There: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I, King of Assyria, from the Collection of David and Cindy Sofer, London Rachel Caine Kreinin Orit Peleg-Barkat, Hillel Geva and Ronny Reich 57 Divine Reflexivity : a Case Study of Greco-Roman Egyptian Terracotta Figurines from the Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem 74 A Monumental Herodian Ionic Capital from the Upper City of Jerusalem Ronny Reich 89 Addendum 1: Where was the Capital Incorporated? Orit Peleg-Barkat, Hillel Geva 91 Addendum 2: A Monumental Herodian Ionic Capital from the Royal Stoa? a Reply to Ronny Reich Tali Sharvit Moshe Fischer, Arie Nissenbaum and Yannis Maniatis 97 A Marble Sphinx Statue from Horvat Omrit 116 Appendix: Marble Analysis of the Omrit Sphinx Karni Golan, Haim Goldfus and 117 Why Hide? Hoarding in Late David Mevorah Antiquity in View of a Byzantine Hoard from Israel Bruno Callegher 162 A Hoard of Byzantine Folles (ca. 610 CE) within a Hoard of Bronze Objects: Some Hypotheses 170 Information for Contributors 171 Abbreviations

4 Fig. 1 The Great Inscription of King Tukulti-Ninurta I, obverse (above) and reverse (below). Courtesy of David and Cindy Sofer, London. Photo Christie s Images Limited (2014)

5 I Placed My Name There: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I, King of Assyria, from the Collection of David and Cindy Sofer, London Yigal Bloch University of Haifa Laura A. Peri The Israel Museum, Jerusalem The inscription discussed here (fig. 1) is the only version to have survived intact of the earliest and longest inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I (c BCE), a fascinating Assyrian monarch whose figure and name, My trust is (in the god) Ninurta, may have been the inspiration for the biblical Nimrod (Genesis 10:8 12). 1 Carved on both sides of an alabaster slab in the shape of a large horizontal tablet inscribed in Akkadian in cuneiform script, the inscription was probably placed in a wall or floor of the building the construction of which it commemorates the new palace that the king built in Assur, Assyria s capital at the time. Generously on loan to the Israel Museum from the Collection of David and Cindy Sofer, London, on the occasion of the Museum s 50th anniversary, celebrated in 2015, the inscription has been on display since then in the Ancient Near East section of the Neighboring Cultures Gallery in the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Archaeology Wing. It was purchased at Christie s, London, in the auction on October 1st, The inscription, comprising eight columns of text, constitutes the most complete exemplar of what is known as the Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I. It was first published in German in 1989 by the late biblical scholar and Egyptologist Manfred Görg. 3 This publication was intended to supplement what was at the time the most complete edition of the inscription, published by Albert K. Grayson in Grayson s edition reconstructed a composite text of only six columns, with some lacunae, based on 17 exemplars. 4 Reviews of Grayson s edition by several scholars included corrections to Görg s readings of the additional exemplar. 5 A new German translation of this exemplar, along with an analysis of its grammatical, lexical and stylistic features, was published IMSA :

6 in 2007 by Michael P. Streck. 6 Finally, another study of the inscription, including a new transliteration, a transcription and a new German translation, has been recently published by Claus Wilcke. 7 This article presents an updated transliteration of the inscription from the Akkadian, accompanied by an English translation and a commentary, prepared by Yigal Bloch. 8 These are preceded by a succinct survey of Mesopotamian royal building inscriptions exemplified by artifacts from the Israel Museum cuneiform collection, some of which were previously unpublished and by an appraisal of King Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria and his legacy. In addition, several brief excursuses focus on the main topics of the inscription s content. These amply illustrated supplements, prepared by Laura A. Peri, are intended to place the inscription in its cultural context and to shed light on the great importance of Mesopotamian royal inscriptions as invaluable sources of information on the ancient culture from which the world revealed in the Bible emerged. Mesopotamian Building Inscriptions [ša-k]in i-na na 4narê (na4.rú.a) ka-lu ma-na-ah-ti [He] set all his labors on a tablet of stone The Epic of Gilgamesh I:10 (after George 1999, 1) Tukulti-Ninurta s Great Inscription carved on a stone tablet designated in the text as narû (see below) follows a long Mesopotamian tradition of texts that marked property and commemorated building enterprises. These were written in cuneiform script on a variety of artifacts and architectural elements. The inscriptions were produced on behalf of the rulers responsible for building or repairing the respective structures, which were mainly public in nature: either religious edifices, such as temples and ziggurats (stepped temple towers), or secular construction projects, such as palaces, storehouses, fortifications, and waterworks. 9 The earliest Mesopotamian building inscriptions are in Sumerian the language of southern Mesopotamia and date to the mid-3rd millennium BCE. 10 When the Akkadians, and subsequently the Babylonians and the Assyrians, began to write in their own languages in the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE and the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE, respectively they too produced building inscriptions, initially following the Sumerian tradition but eventually developing their own. 11 This Mesopotamian custom also influenced other literate Ancient Near Eastern cultures, which similarly developed distinct traditions, producing building inscriptions in their native languages. 12 Building inscriptions make up the largest part of the Mesopotamian royal epigraphic corpus, which also includes texts commemorating military victories (triumphal inscriptions usually carved on figurative steles and rock-reliefs) and cultic offerings (dedicatory formulas inscribed on artifacts offered by the king to a deity). 13 However, it was not uncommon for triumphal inscriptions to include references to the king s building enterprises, and for building inscriptions to mention royal achievements other than construction operations. 14 The main purpose of royal inscriptions was to commemorate the king s name and deeds. This ancient custom of immortalizing royal names and exploits through written vehicles gave birth to the first historical records. 15 Mesopotamian royal inscriptions often included the king s statement that he placed (g ar in Sumerian, šakānu in Akkadian) 16 his written name, or simply his 4 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

7 name (Sumerian mu, Akkadian šumu), on a victory monument erected in a conquered land, a statue installed in a temple, or a building record set in an edifice. This Mesopotamian idiom to place one s name, namely, to proclaim dominion or ownership by means of an inscription is echoed in the Bible, for example in Deuteronomy 12:11: the site where the Lord your God will chose to establish (literally, to place) His name. 17 The building inscriptions are of three main types, though at times the distinctions are not quite rigid: 18 ownership markers, usually short labels mentioning the builder s and the building s name (for example, Palace of [ ] ; figs. 2, and n. 76); dedications to the deities for whom the structures were built (fig. 3); 20 and lengthy commemorations of a king s name and achievements. The latter type is exemplified by the Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I. Building inscriptions were intended mostly for deposition, buried in foundations or other structural parts of a building. Others, as the Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I, were intended for display, embedded in walls and floors. Numerous duplicates of a single building inscription were inscribed on as many objects and placed throughout the building. Copies were also kept in archives to be further used as models. 21 The texts were perhaps also recited in public ceremonies. Accordingly, their audience comprised, officially, the gods invoked in the inscriptions, and future kings who were expected to preserve the inscriptions and the buildings they commemorated. Nonofficially, the audience also comprised a wider range of literate and illiterate people, among them members of the royal court, including scribes, foreign dignitaries, local populace and even enemies and conquered subjects. 22 Fig. 2 Brick fragment from the palace of Tukulti- Ninurta I stamped with the label Palace of Tukulti-Ninurta, king of the universe, son of Shalmaneser, king of the universe Fig. 3 Elamite brick with a dedicatory inscription IMSA :

8 Fig. 4 Sumerian brick inscribed with a commemorative dedication of a well Fig. 5 Assyrian brick of a ziggurat built by Shalmaneser III, the first monarch to mention the Kingdom of Israel in his annals Significantly, some of the earliest architectural elements that would eventually bear building inscriptions were originally not inscribed, but they presumably had symbolic meaning nonetheless. The use of writing added to the symbolic function of those elements, turning them into vehicles for transmitting specific ideas and beliefs and, eventually, immortalizing the king s persona through literary means. 23 Inscribed building elements took various forms, sizes, and materials. Examples include: 1. Mud bricks (šeg 12 in Sumerian and libittu in Akkadian), manufactured in molds and then sun-dried or baked. These served as the basic construction material and were commonly inscribed by hand or, from the Akkadian period onward, impressed with inscribed stamps with either marks of ownership or dedicatory texts. The earlier exemplars, however, were more commemorative in character (figs. 4, 5) Wall decorations, such as huge stone slabs carved with figural reliefs and large clay or vitreous knobbed tiles and large nails, originally painted or glazed. The wall reliefs bore inscriptions of various types, not always commemorating the building itself (figs. 6, 7). 25 The knobbed tiles and nails (fig. 8) had inscriptions of all three types Small clay nails, designed, perhaps, to line the upper parts of walls. These did not have a structural or ornamental function but were rather symbolic, their purpose being to mark royal and divine property. They usually bore short dedicatory inscriptions and were referred to in Sumerian as kak (fig. 9). 27 The Akkadian equivalent, sikkatu, denoted the abovementioned large nails, which were in use after the former ceased to be used Small pegs made of metal and occasionally of stone, usually in the shape of figurines of deities (fig. 10) or kings as basket carriers (fig. 11). 29 These served as foundation deposits. Buried beneath the ground, they presumably had an apotropaic function. They were designated by the same terms as the abovementioned large clay nails and also bore short dedicatory inscriptions Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

9 Fig. 6 Assyrian wall relief with a building inscription Fig. 7 Detail of the Assyrian Lachish relief with a caption explaining the depicted scene IMSA :

10 Fig. 8 Elamite glazed-clay knobbed tile and nail with a king s name: I, Untash-Napirisha Fig. 9 Sumerian clay nail with a dedicatory inscription 5. Clay objects in geometrical shapes: small cones (fig. 12) 31 and cylinders of various sizes and forms (barrel-shaped, conical and polygonal) inscribed with lines parallel to their axis (fig. 13), 32 as well as large prisms of variable numbers of faces inscribed perpendicularly (fig. 14). 33 These served as foundation deposits after metal pegs went out of use. Cylinders were used almost exclusively for building records and may have been derived from the cones; by contrast, prisms also had other purposes, and for building inscriptions they were used only in Assyria. Both the cylinders and the prisms bear long commemorative inscriptions and are usually referred to in Akkadian as musarû (from the Sumerian mu.sar, translated also as šumu šat. ru, literally, written name ) or temennu (from Sumerian temen, foundation, which indicates their depository function) Tablets, which had a long history, albeit neither linear nor homogeneous (figs. 1, 10, 12 above). Small, large, and even huge tablets made of stone, clay, and various metals, such as copper, lead, silver and gold, were used at times as foundation deposits buried beneath the ground or as monuments meant for display and embedded in walls or pavements. They bore various kinds of inscriptions, though the large tablets commonly carried lengthy dedicatory or commemorative texts praising the king. While small tablets were called.tuppu in Akkadian (from the Sumerian dub) the common word for the ordinary clay tablets used in Ancient Near East for writing in general large tablets were frequently referred to in Akkadian as narû, derived from the Sumerian na 4 -rú-a, erected stone. The latter term, however, designated not only large tablets bearing building inscriptions but also rock-reliefs and upright monuments, such as the famous stela inscribed with the Law 8 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

11 Code of Hammurabi, and even much smaller artifacts like cones with purposes other than vehicles for building inscriptions. 35 Some of the objects surveyed above served as vehicles for building inscriptions throughout Mesopotamian history, while others were limited to specific periods and cultural areas. 36 Large stone tablets like the one engraved with the Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I were commonly used in the Middle Assyrian Period (15th 11th centuries BCE), and subsequently their use decreased (fig. 15). 37 Although references to military victories can be occasionally found in the earliest Sumerian building inscriptions (fig. 4 above), the practice of including such records was primarily an Assyrian one. This characteristic Assyrian feature, rooted in the northern Mesopotamian predilection for the genre of victory texts, 38 developed concomitantly with Assyria s rise to prominence as a powerful empire in the 13th century BCE during the reigns of Adad-Nirari I, Shalmaneser I, and Tukulti-Ninurta I, in whose time detailed sections of military narrative are first attested. Fig. 10 Sumerian stone tablet and copper peg figurine bearing dedicatory inscriptions; such objects have been found together as foundation deposits Fig. 11 (above, right) King Assurbanipal of Assyria portrayed as a temple builder carrying a basket, carved on an inscribed stele commemorating him as rebuilder of Esagila, the god Marduk s temple in Babylon Fig. 12 (below) Babylonian clay tablet and cone commemorating, in Sumerian, the building of a palace; such objects have been found together as foundation deposits IMSA :

12 Fig. 13 Assyrian prismoid cylinder commemorating the foundation of a new city (above); Babylonian barrel (center) and conical (below) cylinders commemorating the building of city walls and restoration of temples, respectively Fig. 14 (far right) Assyrian hexagonal prism inscribed with royal annals Fig. 15 Assyrian stone tablet recording the restoration of a temple in commemoration of a military victory 10 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

13 King Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria and His Legacy Tukulti-Ninurta I was the last but foremost of the great kings during whose reigns, in the 13th century BCE, Assyria became a prominent political entity in northern Mesopotamia and reached a hitherto unprecedented peak, both territorially and culturally. His reign was also a formative moment in the development of Assyrian royal ideology, as revealed by written sources as well as by material evidence (artifacts and architectural remains). 39 Assyria, the Latin designation for the Land of Assur (māt Aššur in Akkadian), is best known from the Bible, especially as the imperialistic power that conquered the Kingdom of Israel, deported its population, and subjugated the Kingdom of Judah. 40 Over the course of the late 10th through the 7th centuries BCE it became the largest empire the world had ever seen: in its heyday it encompassed a territory stretching from Egypt to the Persian Gulf and from western Iran (Elam) to central Turkey (Anatolia). However, its beginnings, dating to the 3rd millennium BCE, were much more modest. Originally a city-state situated some 260 km north of Baghdad, ancient Assur (modern Qal at Sherqat) consisted of a core settlement on the west bank of the Tigris and its nearby surroundings to the east and the north. 41 Its native population was Semitic. Early in the 2nd millennium BCE, like many other Mesopotamian urban centers, it was fortified with walls and housed sanctuaries for several deities, the most important of whom was Assur, the city s tutelary god. By that time the city of Assur controlled a flourishing commercial network that operated in central Anatolia, where Assyrian merchants had established trade colonies. 42 Assur s prosperity and profitable location on trading routes made it a target for the Amorites, who in the 18th century BCE seized the city and ruled it as part of a large kingdom that comprised much of Upper Mesopotamia. For the next several centuries, the Assyrians remained mainly under foreign domination. According to the Egyptian diplomatic correspondence, however, by the 14th century BCE, Assyria had already begun taking steps to establish itself as a great Western Asiatic power, on a par with Mittanni, Hatti, and Kassite Babylonia. 43 When Tukulti-Ninurta I ascended the throne in c BCE, Assyria was already a territorial state whose borders extended to the mountainous regions east and north of its capital and to the Euphrates (or only to its eastern tributary, the Balikh) in the west. 44 This area was formerly part of the hegemony of Mittanni, the suzerains of which had previously plundered Assur and controlled Assyria for several decades. 45 Mittanni s decline began shortly after the mid-14th century BCE under the pressure of the Hittites in the west and the Assyrians in the east. 46 As a result, its easternmost part, including Nineveh, 47 soon became Assyrian territory. Struggle for control over Hanigalbat the Assyrian word for what remained of Mittanni, more precisely its core part resulted in hostilities between the Assyrians and the Hittites, which ended, perhaps at the beginning of Tukulti- Ninurta s reign, in an Assyrian victory. 48 Subsequently, relations between the two powers became peaceable. 49 In his 37 years of rule, Tukulti-Ninurta I continued the expansionist policy of his predecessors and succeeded in enlarging the territory under Assyrian control to Lake Van in the north and to the Persian Gulf in the south, as reflected in one of his titles, King of the Upper and Lower Seas. 50 His first three campaigns are recorded in IMSA :

14 his Great Inscription. But the crowning glory of his military career was the subsequent conquest of Babylonia, whose king, Kashtiliash IV, was captured and brought to Assur along with booty and captives, in particular, learned Babylonian scribes and their libraries. 51 Tukulti-Ninurta commemorated his spectacular triumph not only in building inscriptions but also in an epic poem the longest and most complex literary composition ever produced in Assyria. 52 Fragments of the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic were unearthed in contexts dated to both the 2nd and the 1st millennia BCE: in Assur, in the famed library of King Assurbanipal in Nineveh (7th century BCE), and in the Levantine coastal city of Ugarit (13th century BCE). This wide chronological and geographical distribution points to the epic s importance for the ruling elites, eager to disseminate and preserve Tukulti-Ninurta s memory. Several modern scholars have suggested that Tukulti-Ninurta s figure and name may have been the inspiration for two legendary Assyrian heroes the biblical Nimrod (Genesis 10:8 12) and the Hellenistic Ninus (Diodorus Siculus [1st century BCE], Bibliotheca historica, II. 1 3). These two literary figures share etymologically similar names, and later ancient sources connected them directly (Pseudo- Clementine Recognitions [4th 5th centuries CE], IV.29). 53 The Bible describes Nimrod (fig. 16) 54 as the first man of might on earth, as a mighty hunter, and builder of the Assyrian cities of Nineveh and Calah, 55 whose kingdom began in Babylon and embraced the lands of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria. Likewise, the ancient Greek historians reputed Ninus to be the first of the kings of Asia handed down by tradition to history and memory for us as one who achieved great deeds, warlike in temperament and eager for renown, the ruler who first campaigned against the Babylonians and captured their king, and who subsequently subdued all of Western Asia s nations and became master of them all. It is also written that Ninus: founded [ ] a city [ ]. And to the city he gave his own name. 56 Although there is no unanimous agreement on the identification of Nimrod and Ninus solely with Tukulti-Ninurta, 57 these three figures certainly share some prominent traits. Tukulti-Ninurta was a great Assyrian king, whose titles included king of the universe, king of the four quarters, and king of all the lands (see the inscription below). After the takeover of Babylon and the capture of its king, he proclaimed himself king of Sumer and Akkad, in line with the age-old southern Mesopotamian tradition. He was a fierce warrior like the god whose name he bore Ninurta, perceived in Assyria not only as victor par excellence but also as a mighty hunter. 58 Finally, between his military campaigns Tukulti-Ninurta was also an assiduous builder, 59 who reconstructed a large part of Assur (fig. 17), operated in Nineveh as well, and eventually founded a brand new city that he named after himself, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (fig. 18), literally, The Harbor of Tukulti-Ninurta, an enterprise never attested in Assyria before. Tukulti-Ninurta s accomplishments were documented in the king s own inscriptions 60 such as his Great Inscription presented here and were doubtless remembered for decades. Coincidentally or not, Tukulti-Ninurta I is the earliest Assyrian king whose portrait has come down to us so far, sculpted in relief on two masterpieces of Ancient Near Eastern art. These two similarly shaped artifacts were found in the goddess Ishtar s 12 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

15 Fig. 16 Nimrod, by the Israeli artist Itzhak Danziger ( ), 1939 IMSA :

16 Fig. 17 Plan of Assur 1. Site of the Palace of Tukulti-Ninurta I 2. Ishtar temple 3. Anu and Adad temple and ziggurats 4. Sin and Shamash temple 5. Old Palace and Palace of Adad-nirari I 6. Ashur ziggurat 7. Ashur temple Fig. 18 Plan of the cities Assur and Kār-Tukulti-Ninurta sanctuary in Assur restored by Tukulti- Ninurta I, and served as cult supports (literally, seats) for divine symbols (figs. 19, 20) 61. On them, the king is depicted in the Mesopotamian tradition as both a worshiper and a conqueror. However, the imagery is rather innovative for its time, featuring elements that would later become conventional means of depicting Assyrian royalty: the king s garb, accessories, insignia, gesture and physiognomy; the avoidance of the depiction of deities in human form (the inspiration for the biblical image ban); the elevation of the king to a godlike status; and the emphasis on pictorial narrative and reality-based scenery. 62 Additional significant finds from the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I have been unearthed at Assur, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (modern Tulul al- Aqar), 63 Nineveh, and other provincial sites. These include luxury 14 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

17 Fig. 19 Tukulti-Ninurta I as a godlike worshiper (above) and a conqueror (below) Fig. 20 Tukulti-Ninurta I, represented twice, worshiping a divine symbol IMSA :

18 Fig. 21 Reconstructed wall painting from Kar Tukulti-Ninurta Fig. 22 Furniture inlays with pornographic scenes from the palace of Tukulti-Ninurta in Assur 16 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

19 wares, elaborate frescos (fig. 21), 64 distinct cylinder seal impressions on documents (fig. 23) 65 and unique lead inlays for furniture with explicit pornographic scenes unparalleled in Ancient Near Eastern imagery (fig. 22). 66 Through stylistic comparison, some unprovenanced artifacts can also be dated to his time (fig. 24). 67 All attest to a highly artistic style and thematic repertoire partly recalling the features mentioned above: a strong interest in realism, imparted by a naturalistic depiction of landscape and by a movement-oriented modeling of figures, which had returned to the stage a millennium after the Akkadians had first introduced it in Mesopotamian art. 68 They also attest to removal of anthropomorphic divine images from the pictorial field, which, as an Assyrian royal ideological tendency, may have crystallized in the time of Tukulti- Ninurta I. Tukulti-Ninurta I is remembered not only for his many military and cultural achievements, but also for his tragic death at the hands of his own son. 69 On the Inscription The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I is the earliest epigraphic composition attrib- uted to this king, from whose reign at least 45 building inscriptions are known. 70 Composed in the first person, the Great Inscription commemorates Tukulti-Ninurta s first large-scale building project: the new palace that he constructed in Assur, Assyria s old and sacred capital, at the beginning of his reign. However, despite its primary purpose as a building record, but in line with the new Assyrian custom introduced by Adad- Nirari I, Tukulti-Ninurta s grandfather, 71 much of the text narrates the king s first three military campaigns. The inscription is written in the Middle Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language, making the customary use of Sumerian logograms (Sumerograms). Nineteen exemplars on stone and clay are currently known, most of these fragmentary; at least one seems to be dated to the third regnal year of the king. 72 Most of these exemplars were excavated in Assur in the early 20th century by German archaeologists. Although none was found in their primary setting, 73 our text mentions that after the palace s completion the king placed there his narûs, namely, the tablets bearing the palace s foundation inscription, which were meant for display. These tablets Fig. 23 Cylinder seal impression on a tablet dating to Tukulti-Ninurta I s 4th regnal year, depicting a pastoral scene unique in the art of the Ancient Near East: a woman baking bread upon a fire while watched by a dog inside a hut, in front of which stands a goat beside a shepherd carrying a kid Fig. 24 Cylinder seal dating to Tukulti-Ninurta I s reign and its modern impression, depicting a contest scene IMSA :

20 may have originally been embedded in the palace s walls, floors, or both. The text concludes with blessings on the future kings expected to maintain the building and the narûs, followed by a long and elaborate series of curses against any ruler who might erase the builder s inscribed name (the inscription) or move the narûs to another location where they would not be seen. This epilogue, which follows an age-old custom, 74 underscores the importance of the practice of laying foundation inscriptions to the Mesopotamian rulers. The large, intact tablet presented here, actually a smoothed alabaster (gypsum) slab carved on both sides, preserves the full text of the inscription. The text is arranged in eight vertical columns (four per side) separated by double vertical lines. The columns are ordered from left to right on the obverse, and, as is customary in the writing of cuneiform tablet, from right to left on the reverse. Within each column, the lines run from top to bottom, and the signs read from left to right. All in all, the inscription has a total of 280 lines. Although the columnar division is fairly arbitrary, the text follows a linear progression that opens with the king s name, titles, genealogy and legitimacy to rule and conquer (I 1 36). This section is followed by a short summary of his first successful war (I 37 II 13) and a long narrative of all his three military campaigns (II 14 V 17), which ends with a summary of the overall extent of his conquests (V 18 34). Thereafter follows an interlude of additional titles (V 35 37), a record of the building enterprise (VI 1 33), blessings (VI 34 VII 3) and curses (VII 4 VIII 21). 75 The blank lines at the end may have been intended to contain the inscription s date. What kind of historical information can be obtained from this inscription? Obviously, we learn much about the way the king wished to be perceived and remembered, which also provides insight into Ancient Near Eastern concepts of royalty in general. Similarly, we gain access to the king s surrounding world, mainly through references to deities, peoples, lands, cities, geographic elements, natural phenomena and quarters and structures inside Assur. Finally, the text sheds light on customs and beliefs related to both the royal and the non-royal realms. 18 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

21 Fig. 25 Bricks from the palaces of Adad-Nirari I (above) and Shalmaneser I (below), inscribed with the labels: Palace of Adad-nirari, king of the universe, son of Arik-den-ili, king of Assyria, son of Enlil-nirari (who was) also king of Assyria and Palace of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, son of Adad-nirari (who was) also king of Assyria. IMSA :

22 King Of The Universe, Strong King, King of Assyria, King Without Rival, Am I: Royal Titulary Titles and epithets were an intrinsic part of Mesopotamian royal inscriptions, along with the king s name and genealogy (fig ). Several royal titles that over time became customary formulas in Assyrian inscriptions were already established in the 3rd and the early 2nd millennia BCE. Among these is king of the four quarters (of the world), first used in Assyria by Tukulti-Ninurta himself. In this inscription it appears indirectly: the one to whom they (the gods) gave the four quarters to administer, the one who shepherds the four quarters at the heels of the god Shamash, and in the four quarters of the world I had no rival. The royal titulary employed in this inscription falls into four main categories: 1. Epithets emphasizing the king s aptitudes, especially his prowess as a warrior. 2. Titles denoting land ownership. One of these is king of the universe (šar kiššate in Akkadian, but usually written with the Sumerograms LUGAL KIŠ, or MAN KIŠ as attested here in typical Assyrian orthography), which originally meant king of (the city) Kish. This expression may have been the inspiration for the paternal attribution of biblical Nimrod (Genesis 10:8) to Kush, which may be a misspelling of Kish. 3. Designations indicating the royaldivine connection either the king s piety or his appointment by the gods. 4. Expressions of the king s role as the shepherd (sipa in Sumerian, rē û in Akkadian) of his people (fig ) a common, originally Sumerian metaphor for the royal office which also served as a divine epithet. Both aspects find expression in the Bible, in the images of Moses and Joshua (Numbers 27:11), David (2 Samuel 5:2), and God (Ezekiel 34:1 16; Psalms 23:1); ultimately they unite in the figure of Jesus as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). The aspects of royalty reflected in the king s titulary and the ideological message it conveyed are evoked throughout the text: attentive shepherd, mighty conqueror, pious worshiper, earthly representative of the gods, capable of appearing in a godlike, terrifying radiance (pulu htu in Akkadian, see IV 33 35). These concepts of kingship were characteristic of the Mesopotamian culture in general and were also highlighted in pictorial representations, as exemplified by Tukulti-Ninurta s depictions (see above figs. 19, 20). Fig. 26 Mesopotamian king as a shepherd carrying a goat-kid in front of Shamash, the sun god 20 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

23 Transliteration I 1. mgiš TUKUL-ti- d Nin-urta MAN KIŠ 2. MAN dan-nu MAN KUR Aš-šur ni-šit 3. Aš-šur ŠID Aš-šur SIPA na-a-du 4. mi-gir d A-nim ù d BAD 5. šá Aš-šur ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL. MEŠ 6. MU-šú ki-níš ib-bu-ú 7. kib-rat 4 ana šá-pa-ri i-di-nu-šú 8. na-a-du šá-kan!-ki DINGIR.MEŠ 9. mu-t. í-ib ŠÀ Aš-šur 10. šá al-ka-ka-tu-šú UGU DINGIR. MEŠ 11. šá AN KI i-t. í-ba-ma 12. me-tel-lu-tu na-ad-na-tu-šú 13. mu-šá-ter ana ŠU.NÍGIN DINGIR. MEŠ zi-bi 14. ka-ia-na mu-ul-tas-hír 15. KUR.KUR KÚR.MEŠ e-liš KI.TA 16. MAN dan-nu le-ú MURUB šá kib-rat 4 ar-ki d Šá-maš 18. ir-te-ú ana-ku 19. A d SILIM.MA-MAŠ MAN KUR Aš-šur 20. A d 10-ÉRIN.TÁH MAN KUR Aš-šur-ma 21. e-nu-ma Aš-šur EN ana pa-la-hi-šú 22. ki-níš ú-ta-ni-ma 23. ana SIPA-ti-ia giš GIDRU i-di-na 24. ana NA.GAD-ti-ia ši-pi-ra ú-s.i-pa 25. ana ša-ga-šú gi-ri-ia 26. šuk-nu-uš la-di-ri-ia 27. me-tel-lu-te iš-ru-ka 28. a-ge be-lu-ti e-pír-a-ni Translation I Royal name, titulary, and genealogy 1. Tukulti-Ninurta, king of the universe, 2. strong king, king of Assyria, chosen 3. of Assur, vice-regent of Assur, attentive shepherd, 4. favorite of the gods Anu and Enlil, 6. whose name 5. Assur and the great gods 6. faithfully called, 7. to whom they gave the four quarters (of the world) to administer, 8. the attentive one, appointee of the gods, 9. the one who gladdens the heart of Assur, 10. whose conduct 11. is pleasing 10. to the gods 11. of heaven (and) earth, 12. who is endowed with excellence, 13. the one who makes abundant the offerings for all the gods, 14. all the time, the one who encircled 15. enemy lands above (and) below, 16. strong king, capable in battle, 18. the one who shepherds 17. the four quarters at the heels of (literally, after) the god Shamash, 18. am I; 19. son of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 20. son of Adad-Nirari (who was) also king of Assyria. The king s commission by the god and legitimacy to rule and conquer 21. When Assur, (my) lord, 22. faithfully chose me 21. to worship him, 23. gave me the staff for my office of shepherd, 24. (presented) me in addition the crook for my office of herdsman, 27. granted me excellence 25. so that I might slay my enemies 26. (and) subdue those who do not fear me, 28. (and) placed upon me the lordly crown; IMSA :

24 The Staff, The Crook, And The Lordly Crown: Regalia In the section dealing with Tukulti-Ninurta s legitimacy to rule over all the conquered lands and peoples, the royal insignia scepters and crown are granted to the king directly by the god Assur. This recalls the coronation ceremony performed by a priest, which is known from contemporary and later Assyrian literary texts; the motif is also echoed in the Bible in the story of the coronation of the seven-year-old Jehoash as King of Judah (2 Kings 11:12; 2 Chronicles 23:11). The royal scepters which may have in reality had the shape of a staff ( ha.t.tu in Akkadian, here written with the Sumerogram g i š GIDRU) and, probably, a crook (šibirru in Akkadian), signifying the offices of shepherd and herdsman, respectively were actually intended to serve the king as weapons with which he could enlarge the land. Pictorially, they were traditionally represented in Assyria by a mace. Another regal emblem, the throne (fig ) namely chair, gu.za in Sumerian and kussû in Akkadian is mentioned indirectly in the epilogue in a curse on potential usurpers. In addition, the bridle (fig ), with which the Assyrian monarch declares his control of the conquered lands and their kings, is also to be seen as a royal attribute. Another noteworthy symbol is the king s foot (fig ), which he set upon the neck of the lands. The king s foot, also mentioned in the text of the coronation ritual, metaphorically rendered the king as a conqueror, an almighty earthly ruler, and, consequently, accepted by the gods. Fig. 27 Achaemenid king crowned, enthroned, and holding a staff Fig. 28 Middle Assyrian king holding a mace and a bridle, facing conquered kings and receiving a bow from the god Assur, who is represented as a pair of hands emerging from a sun-disk Fig. 29 Akkadian king, equipped with weapons, trampling corpses of enemies 22 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

25 29. ina GÚ KUR.KUR GÌR ú-kín 30. rap-šá-ti s.a-al-mat qa-qa-di 31. ki-ma bu-li lu ar-te- i 32. de-en me-šá-ri ú-šá-hi-za-ni 33. ki-ma ana ŠU.NÍGIN d A-nun-na-ki 34. šá-ah-ta!-ku!-ma! DINGIR.MEŠ i-du-ú 35. kúl-la-<at> gi-ri-ia! 36. ana GÌR-ia ú-še-ek-niš 37. e-nu-ma ÉRIN.MEŠ Ú-qu-ma-naiu-ú II 1. šá iš-tu ul-la-a MAN.MEŠ mah-ru-ti 2. ab-be-ia kúl-la-at gi-mir-ti KUR.KUR 3. la ik-nu-šú-ma 4. mi-še-e -ti kib-rat 4 5. ú-ka-mu ina u 4 -me-šú-ma 6. ina e-mu-qe dan-na-ti 7. ša Aš-šur EN-ia 8. ina giš TUKUL-ti šá DINGIR.MEŠ GAL.MEŠ 9. pe-tu-ú giš TUKUL.MEŠ-ia 10. a-li-ku-ut im-ni-ia 11. ar-hi pa-áš-qu-ti ki-s.ir hur-šá-ni 12. dan-nu-ti at-tal-la-ku-ma 13. ina kib-rat 4 ma-hi-ra 14. la i-šu-ú ina šur-<ru> MAN-ti-ia 15. ana KUR Ú-qu-me-ni a-lik 16. si-hír-ti KUR Qu-ti-i DAGAL-ti 17. ki-ma DU 6 a-bu-bi ás-hu-up 29. (at that time) I set my foot upon the neck of the lands 31. (and) shepherded like a herd 30. the extensive black-headed people (namely, the local population). 32. He (Assur) taught me just decisions. 33. Since 34. I feared 33. all the Anunnaku-gods 34. and cared (literally, knew) about the gods, 35. all my enemies 36. he (Assur) subdued under my feet. Summary of the first military campaign 37. When the troops of the Uqumanu, II 2. all of (whose) countries, 1. since the days of old, 3. did not submit 1. (to) the previous kings, 2. my fathers, 5. were carrying off 4. the plunder of the four quarters (of the world) 5. at that time, 6. with the strong might 7. of Assur, my lord, 8. with trust in the great gods, 9. who open up my weapons 10. (and) go by my right side, 12. I marched in one direction after another, 11. through the narrow passages (and) 12. the difficult 11. rocky mountains. 13. In the four quarters (of the world) 14. I had 13. no rival. Detailed account of the first military campaign against Uqumanu 14. At the begi<nning> of my sovereignty 15. I marched to the land Uqumenu. 16. The entire extensive land of Qutu 17. I overwhelmed (making it look) like a ruin hill (created by) the deluge. IMSA :

26 My Lord And The Great Gods Who Go By My Side: Deities Deities, mostly male, are mentioned throughout the inscription. At the head of the Assyrian pantheon was Assur, the Assyrian national god. He was perceived as the actual king, while Tukulti-Ninurta was only his vice-regent, namely, his earthly representative. the gods in general, and, in particular, for the primordial deities whose king was Anu; Shamash, the sun god, who was usually responsible for justice (although here this role is played by Assur; fig ) and to whom, later in his reign, Tukulti-Ninurta would compare himself; Adad, the storm god, whose ziggurat was located near Tukulti-Ninurta s new palace and who appears along with Assur in the blessing and curse formulas at the end. The only female deity mentioned in the inscription, not named explicitly but described, as noted, as the lady of the battle fray, is Ishtar, the great goddess of war (and love) and patroness of kings, to whose destructive capabilities Tukulti-Ninurta appeals in the epilogue. Fig. 30 The god Ninurta pursuing a monster Assur was often identified with Enlil, the lord of the gods in the Sumero- Babylonian cult. Enlil was the father of Ninurta, the war god, whose name Tukulti- Ninurta bore (fig ). Here, however, Enlil appears together with Anu (fig ) the sky god, father of all the gods, the highest Mesopotamian deity and along with Assur the three constitute the great gods of the pantheon. They chose, called by name, and appointed Tukulti-Ninurta as their chief worshiper and administrator, shepherd of their dominion (the four quarters of the world), assisting him especially during his military campaigns. Additional Sumero-Babylonian deities are also mentioned: Anunnaku, a term for Fig. 31 The gods Anu and Enlil represented by their symbols horned crowns upon cult pedestals Fig. 32 Syncretized image of the gods Assur, Shamash and Sin as a winged sun and crescent held by bull-men 24 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

27 18. ÉRIN.MEŠ-šú-nu si-hír a-šàm-šá-ti 19. lu ú-šal-me 20. ina u 4 -me-šu-ma i-na áš-ri 21. nam-ra-s.i pu-šuq hur-šá-ni 22. ana IGI ÉRIN.MEŠ-ia in-ne-ni-ma 23. ana MURUB 4 ù ta-ha-zi 24. dáp-níš iz-zi-zu-ni 25. ana Aš-šur ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL. MEŠ 26. EN.MEŠ-ia at-kal-ma 27. it-ti-šu-nu am-da-has. 28. a-bi-ik-ta-šu-nu aš-kun 29. šal-ma-ti-šu-nu hur-ri muš-pa-li 30. šá KUR-i lu-mel-li 31. i-ta-at KÁ.GAL-šu-nu 32. šal-ma-su-nu ana gu-ru-na-ti 33. lu ú-še-pi-ik 34. URU.URU-šu-nu a-pu-ul 35. aq-qur a-na DU 6 ù kar-me ú-ter 36. KUR Qu-ti-i DAGAL-ti a-bél III 1. i-na hu-ud ŠÀ ù me-tel-lu-ti 2. UGU-šu-nu lu at-ta-zi-iz 3. m A-bu-le-e MAN KUR Ú-qu-me-ni 4. gu-ni ma-li-ki-šú 5. qa-ti ik-šud 6. šal-la-su-nu nam-kur-šu-nu aš-lu-la 7. a-na URU-ia Aš-šur lu-bi-la 8. ni-iš Aš-šur ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL. MEŠ 9. šá AN KI lu-tam-me-šu-nu-ti 10. ni-ir be-lu-ti-ia dan-na 11. ina GÚ-šu-nu ú-kín 12. a-na KUR-šu-nu ú-me-šìr-šu-nu-ti 13. šap-s.u-ti-šu-nu ana GÌR-ia 14. ú-šék-níš 15. ù tup-ši-ka e-mì-id 16. MU-šàm-ma GÚ.UN-su-nu DUGUD 19. I surrounded 18. their army (like) with a circle of sandstorms. 20. At that time, 22. they banded together(?) against my army 20. in a place 21. (that was) difficult, in a mountain defile. 24. They fiercely took up position 23. for a fight and a battle. 26. I put my trust 25. in Assur and the great gods, 26. my lords, and 27. fought with them. 28. I brought about their defeat. 30. I filled 29. with their corpses the caves and the ravines 30. of the mountains. 33. I made heaps 32. of their corpses like (grain) piles 31. beside their gates. 34. Their cities I destroyed, 35. ravaged and turned into ruin hills. 36. (Thus) I became lord of the extensive land of Qutu. III 1. With joy and excellence 2. I stood over them. 5. I captured 3. Abu-le e, the king of the land Uqumenu, 4. and the hordes of his princes. 6. I carried off their captives (and) their property 7. (and) brought them to my city, Assur. 9. I made them swear 8. an oath by Assur and the great gods 9. of heaven (and) earth. 11. I imposed upon their necks 10. the heavy yoke of my lordship 12. (and) sent them (back) to their lands. 13. The resistant ones among them 14. I subdued 13. at my feet 15. and imposed (upon them) corvée. 16. Annually IMSA :

28 At That Time I Set My Foot Upon The Neck Of The Lands: The Military Account ul iššakan salīmu balu mithus.e Peace will not be made without conflict. The Epic of Tukulti-Ninurta, III (= A obv.) 15 (Machinist 1978, 90 91) The military account occupies about half the inscription, pointing out the importance given by the Assyrian king(s) to military success and territorial expansion. Through both summaries and detailed narratives, the text describes three fruitful campaigns that Tukulti-Ninurta undertook from the northeast to the northwest of the Assyrian core territory at the beginning of his reign. Although temporal statements give the impression as common in Assyrian royal inscriptions that all these campaigns fell in a single year (namely, the king s accession year), the internal chronology of the events and the distance encompassed by the lands under control indicate that they most likely took place in three successive years. The first campaign was directed against the land of Uqumanu, located in the vicinity of modern Zakho (northern Iraq), which also resulted in subjugation of the lands of Qutu (Gutians) located farther east in the Zagros Mountains. The second campaign focused on the lands of Mehru, Sharnida and Katmuhu, and the third campaign engaged the land of Shubaru, Mount Kashiyari and the land of Alzu. These mountainous areas were located on the eastern and the western banks of the Tigris in southeastern Turkey of today, up to the eastern Taurus Mountains. Shubaru, which generally denoted the Hurrian-populated region of northern Mesopotamia, here most likely refers to the former territory of Hanigalbat (fig. 34). The text presents various aspects of warfare while delineating the multiple stages of a military campaign, the success of which was always contingent on divine support. The motives that justified an armed operation were either protection from foreign assaults on Assyrian land and people or suppression of revolts in Assyrian-dominated regions. The text points out the difficulty of mountain warfare and poetically evokes combat strategies, emphasizing the king s ability and experience in battle as well as the cruelty of his vengeance (fig. 33). A special emphasis was put on the destruction of foreign cult places. A successful campaign ended with the dethronement but not always the capture of the enemy kings, the triumphal return to Assur with booty and prisoners, the imposition of a loyalty oath sworn to Assur and the great gods on the inhabitants of the conquered lands, and the levying of tribute to be received annually in Assur. Fig. 33 Tukulti-Ninurta I as a conqueror of a mountainous land, flanked by two horsemen leading bound prisoners (detail of fig. 19) 26 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

29 17. ina URU Aš-šur ina tàk-né-e 18. lu am-da-har 19. KUR Qu-ti-i né-su-ti 20. šà ar-ha-tu-šu-nu šu-up-šu-qa-ma 21. a-na me-te-eq ÉRIN.MEŠ-ia 22. ul na-t. u-ú 23. a-na uz-zi MURUB 4 -ia 24. iš-hu-tu-ma 25. a-na GÌR-ia ik-nu-šú 26. GÚ.UN ù ma-da-ta 27. a-na u 4 -um s.a-ti UGU-šu-nu aš-kun 28. ina u 4 -me-šu-ma a-na KUR Šar-ni-da 29. KUR Me-eh-ri lu a-lik 30. ina Á-at ÉRIN.MEŠ-at Qu-ti-i 31. šá Aš-šur ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL. MEŠ 32. a-na is-qi-ia iš-ru-ku 33. GU.ŠUR KUR Me-eh-ri dan-nu-ti 34. lu ak-ki-is ana URU-ia Aš-šur 35. lu-bi-la É.GAL be-lu-ti-ia 36. šá <a>-ra-mu ina GU.ŠUR Me-eh-ri 37. šá-tu-nu lu ú-kín IV 1. i-na MU-ma ši-a-ti 4 URU.DIDLI šap-ṣu-ti 2. šá KUR Kat-mu-hi 3. ma-haz be-lu-ti-šú dan-nu-ti 4. šá i-na su-lu-me-e ù sa-ra-ar-te 5. UN.MEŠ-ia ú-ka-mu 6. mi-še-e -ta ana KUR-ia na-du-ú 7. i-na ma-lu-ti u 4 -me lu ak-šud 8. eš-re-su-nu ki-ma ri-be lu-ri-ib 9. šal-la-su-nu nam-<kur>-šú-nu aš-lu-la 10. ana URU-ia Aš-šur ub-la 18. I received 16. their heavy tribute 17. with ceremony in my city, Assur. 19. The land of the distant Qutu, 20. the paths to which are very narrow and 22. (the terrain of) which is not suitable 21. for the movement of my army, 24. took fright 23. at the ferocity of my warfare 25. and submitted themselves at my feet. 27. I levied 26. tribute and impost 27. upon them forever. Second military campaign against Sharnida, Mehru, and Katmuhu 28. At that time 29. I marched 28. to the land Sharnida (and) 29. the land Mehru. 30. By means of the army of Qutu, 31. which Assur and the great gods 32. had allotted to me, 34. I cut down 33. mighty beams of the land Mehru (and) 35. brought (them) 34. to my city, Assur. 37. I buttressed 35. my lordly palace, 36. which I love, with those beams from Mehru. IV 1. In that same year, four resistant cities 2. of the land Katmuhu, 3. its strong capitals, 4. which during a deceitful peace 5. dragged off my people (and) 6. plundered my land, 7. I conquered in the fullness of time. 8. Like an earthquake I shook their shrines. 9. I carried off their captives (and) their prop<erty> (and) 10. brought (them) to my city, Assur. IMSA :

30 Fig. 34 Map of Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas 11. KUR Šu-ba-rí-i ka-la-šá 12. si-hír-ti Ka-ši-ia-ri 13. a-di KUR Al-zi šá i-na IGI ana tar-s.i 14. BALA md SILIM.MA-MAŠ MAN. KIŠ a-bi-ia 15. ib-bal-ki-tu-ma ta-mar-ta-šú 16. ik-lu-ú pa-a 1-en Third military campaign against Alzu, Mount Kashiyari, and the surroundings 11. All the land of the Shubaru, 12. the entirety of Kashiyari 13. as far as the land Alzu, which previously, during 14. the reign of Shalmaneser, king of the universe, my father, 15. had rebelled (and) 16. withheld 15. its tribute, 28 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

31 17. mi-it-ha-ri-iš iš-šá-ak-nu 18. ana Aš-šur ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL. MEŠ 19. EN.MEŠ-ia qa-ti aš-ši 20. ana KUR Ka-ši-ia-ri e-li KUR Šu-ba-ri-i 21. KUR Al-zi MAN.MEŠ re-s.i-šú-nu 22. i-na rap-pi lu-la-it. ma-ha-za GAL-a 23. šá KUR Pu-ru-lúm-zi ak-šud 24. bal-t. u-su-nu i-na IZI aq-lu 25. ši-ta-at ÉRIN.MEŠ-šu-nu 26. ana šal-la-ti lu am-nu URU be-lu-ti-šú dan-nu-ti 28. šá m Eh-li-Te-šub MAN KUR Al-zi URU.DIDLI šap-s.u-ti 30. šá KUR A-ma-da-ni aq-lu 31. šal-la-su-nu nam-kur-šú-nu aš-lu-la 32. ana URU-ia Aš-šur ub-la 33. m Eh-li- d Te-šub MAN KUR Al-zi 34. ana i-di pu-luh-ti-ia 35. iš 6 -hu-ut-ma ÉRIN.MEŠ É.GALlì-šú 36. ù DUMU.MEŠ il-qe 37. si-hír-ti KUR-šú ú-me-šìr V 1. ana pa-at.t Na-i-ri ana KUR la i-du-ú 2. šá-la-liš lu i-ba- a 3. ši-ta-at ÉRIN.MEŠ-šú 4. šá i-na ŠÀ tam-ha-ri i-pár-ši-du 5. šu-mur ta-ha-zi-ia 6. e-tar-ma ana KUR-i e-be-ru-ti 7. ana e-t.té-er nap-šá-ti-šu-nu 8. lu i-nu-qu 3 šu-ši URU.DIDLI-šú 9. a-pu-ul aq-qur ina IZI aq-lu 10. ana DU 6 ù kar-me ú-ter 17. had united itself 16. under one command. 19. I raised my hands (in prayer) 18. to Assur and the great gods, 19. my lords, (and) 20. marched up to Mount Kashiyari. 22. (As) with a bridle I controlled 20. the land of the Shubaru, 21. the land Alzu and their allied kings. 23. I conquered 22. the great cult center 23. of the land Purulumzu. 24. I burnt them (the inhabitants) alive (and) 25. the remnants of their army 26. I took as captives. 30. I burned down 27. four strong capitals 28. of Ehli-Teshub, king of the land Alzu, (and) 29. six resistant cities 30. of the land Amadanu. 31. Captives (and) property I carried off from them (and) 32. brought to my city, Assur. 33. Ehli-Teshub, king of the land Alzu, 35. took fright 34. in the face of my terrifying radiance. 36. He took 35. his courtiers 36. and his sons, 37. abandoned his entire land, (and) V 2. went secretly 1. to the border of Nairi, to an unknown land. 3. The remnant of his army, 4. which had fled in the midst of the battle, 6. fearing 5. the violence of my warfare, 8. ran 6. to the mountains standing out (at the horizon) 7. to save their lives of their towns 9. I destroyed, ravaged, burnt, (and) 10. turned into ruin hills. IMSA :

32 A New Palace Erected Upon Brick And Limestone And Buttressed With Beams: The Building Enterprise The new palace that Tukulti-Ninurta built in Assur s northwestern corner (fig. 35) was perceived as both a secular and a sacred place. The text explicitly describes the building process. First, the location was chosen: on the northern side of the city, near Adad s ziggurat and the Craftsman s (Tabira) Gate, on a large plot that was a residential quarter. Next, the terrain was prepared. This included its purification, presumably in some type of building rite; the removal and deposition elsewhere of stelae of former kings and of intramural graves from the dwellings; the demarcation of the size of the plot; and the digging of the palace s foundation. Finally, the palace literally a large house (named) House of the King of (All) the Lands, the festive house of all the gods, the dwelling-place of kingship, the palace of my (the king s) enjoyment was built (and) erected completely from its foundations to its crenellations. From later inscriptions it is clear that the construction of the palace was a long-term project. However, while most of Tukulti-Ninurta s inscriptions commemorate aspects of the palace s construction, it is likely that the structure as a whole was never completed. The king s other enterprises in the city of Assur focused on the renovation of older temples (those of the Ishtar, Assur, and the double shrine of Shamash and Sin, the moon god). In addition, he repaired the city s wall and dug a moat. Fig. 35 Reconstruction of northern Assur (from left to right): a corner of the New Palace of Tukulti-Ninurta I, Ishtar temple, Anu and Adad temple and ziggurats, Sin and Shamash twin temple, the Old Palace, Assur ziggurat, a corner of the Great Temple of Assur 30 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

33 11. KUR Al-zi KUR A-ma-da-ni 12. KUR Ni-ha-ni KUR A-la-ia 13. KUR Te-pur 13 -zi KUR Pu-ru-lúm-zi 14. mi-is.-ra-te-šu-nu 15. ana ŠÀ KUR-ia lu ú-te-ra 16. li-t.tí-šú-nu ás.-bat ana GÌR-ia ú-šék-[niš] 17. ù tup-ši-ka e-mì-id 18. ina be-ri-it URU Šá-si-lam 19. ù URU Maš-haz-MAN 20. e-bir Za-be šu-pa-li-i 21. iš-tu KUR-i Zu-qu-uš-ki 22. ù KUR-i La-la-ar 23. ši-di KUR Qu-ti-i DAGAL-ti 24. si-hír-ti Lu-lu-mi-i Pap-hi-i 25. a-di Kat-mu-hi KUR Šu-ba-ri-i ka-la-šá 26. si-hír KUR Ka-ši-ia-ri 27. a-di ZAG Na-i-ri ù Má-kan 28. ši-di Pu-rat-te 29. mi-is.-ru 30. ù ku-du-ur-ru 31. šá Aš-šur ù DINGIR.MEŠ GAL. MEŠ 32. ana is-qi-ia iš-ru-ku 33. pa-a 1-en kúl-la-at 34. na-ki-<ri>-ia aš-ku-un 35. NUN ma-hír ta-ti-šu-nu 36. SIPA pa-qi-su-nu 37. UTUL mul-te-šìr-šu-nu a-na-ku VI 1. i-na u 4 -me-šú-ma i-na qa-ab-la-at 2. URU-ia Aš-šur i-ta-at 3. si-qur-ra-te šá 10 EN-ia 4. a-di KÁ.GAL ta-bi-ra 5. mu-hur-ti il-ta-ni 6. É.HI.A šu-pa-te 7. ši-di ru-qu-ti 8. qa-qa-ra-te ma-da-ti 15. I added to my land 14. the regions of 11. the lands Alzu, Amadanu, 12. Nihanu, Alaya, 13. Tepurzu, and Purulumzu. 16. I took from them hostages, subd[ue]d (them) at my feet, 17. and imposed corvée (upon them). Summary of the overall extent of the conquests 18. (From the region) between the cities of Shasilam 19. and Mashhaz-sharri 20. on the opposite bank of the Lower Zab, 21. from Mount Zuqushki 22. and Mount Lallar, 23. the district of the extensive land of Qutu, 24. the entire land of Lullumu (and) Paphu 25. to the land of Katmuhu, the whole land of Shubaru, 26. the entirety of Mt. Kashiyari, 27. to the border of Nairi and Makan, 28. the bank of the Euphrates 29. (in those) regions 30. and their borders, 31. which Assur and the great gods 32. allotted to me, 34. I brought 33. all 34. my ene<mi>es 33. under one command. Interlude: additional royal titles 35. The prince who accepts their gifts, 36. the shepherd who has charge over them, 37. the herdsman who properly administers them, am I. VI The building enterprise 1. At that time, inside 2. my city, Assur, in the vicinity 3. of the ziggurat of Adad, my lord, 4. up to the Craftsman s (Tabira) Gate, 5. on the north side, 6. (at the location of) houses and dwellings, 7. extensive spaces, (and) 8. large plots of land, IMSA :

34 The Gods Will Listen To His Prayers: Blessing On A Future King In line with the Mesopotamian tradition, the remainder of the text concentrates on the future of the palace and on the preservation of its builder s memory. The maintenance of both the palace and its foundation inscriptions were perceived as a religious duty, the ritual of which included anointing the inscriptions with oil and making sacrifices. Fulfillment of this duty would be rewarded with divine favor, here attributed to the gods Assur and Adad (fig ). Fig. 36 The gods Assur (left) and Adad (right) on a cylinder seal possibly dating to Tukulti-Ninurta I s reign 9. eš-re-et URU-ia Aš-šur 10. lu ú-me-si 11. i-di a-sa-ma-ti 12. šá MAN.MEŠ mah-ru-ti 13. it-ti-ši-na-ma 14. ú-né-kir KI.MAH.MEŠ šá ni-še pa-na-ti 16. ina šu-bat É.HI.A ši-na-ti-ma 17. ú-né-kir 6 50 SAR.MEŠ 18. zi-iq-pa mu-la-a 19. ana šu-pa-lu dan-na-su 20. ki-s.ir KUR-i lu ak-šud 21. zí-za-a-tì? šá ana URU-ia Aš-šur 22. lu ú-te-ra 23. eš-re-su ina pi-li ù SIG lu ú-bé-li-i.t 25. na-re-e šá MAN.MEŠ mah-ru-ti 26. šá ina i-di a-sa-ma-te šá-ak-nu 27. ina áš-ri 1-en lu aš-kun 28. É ra-ba-a É MAN KUR.KUR É EZEN-at 29. pu-uh-ri DINGIR.MEŠ šu-bat MAN-ti 30. É.GAL hi-da-ti-ia ab-ni 10. I purified 9. a sacred terrace of my city, Assur. 11. (The place?) at the side of the steles(?) 12. of the former kings, 13. including them (the steles), 14. I cleared away. 15. The graves of the ancient people (that were) 16. in the dwelling places of those houses, 17. I cleared away. In the area of 50 sar (mušāru, ca m 2 ) 18. straight down the (earthen) fill 19. of that building plot, 20. I reached bedrock. 21. The plots (of land) that (belonged) to my city, Assur, 22. I enlarged. 23. Its (sacred) terraces 24. I strengthened 23. with limestone and brick. 25. The narûs (inscribed monuments) of the former kings, 26. which lay beside the steles, 27. I placed at one location. 28. A large house, the House of the King of (All) the Lands, the festive house 29. of all the gods, the dwelling-place of kingship, 30. the palace of my enjoyment I built (and) 32 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I

35 31. e-pu-uš-ma iš-tu uš-še-šá 32. a-di gaba-dib-bi-šá ú-šek-lil 33. ù na-ri-ia aš-kun 34. ana ar-kat U 4.MEŠ NUN EGIR 35. <e-nu-ma> É.GAL ši-i ú-šal-ba-ru-ma 36. e-na-hu an-hu-sa lu-diš 37. na-ri-ia Ì li-ip-šu-uš VII 1. ni-qa-a li-iq-qi 2. ana aš-ri-šú lu-te-er 3. Aš-šur d 10 ik-ri-be-šú i-še-mu-ú 4. šá MU ša.t-ra i-pa-ši-.tu-ma 5. MU-šú i-ša.t-.ta-ru 6. na-ri-ia ú-šàm-sa-ku 7. ina aš-ri šá-ni-ma 8. a-šar la a-ma-ri 9. ú-še-ra-bu-ma i-ša-ka-nu 10. ù mìm-ma a-mat le-mu-te 11. e-ha-sa-sa-ma e-pu-šu 12. ù DINGIR.MEŠ a-ši-bu-ut 13. URU Aš-šur ina EZEN-te 14. ana ŠÀ É.GAL-lì-ia 15. ana e-re-be i-kal-lu-ú 16. ana É.GAL-lì šá-ni-ti-ma 17. i-šá-su-ú 18. É.GAL-lì ši-a-ti 19. ú-ma-šá-ru-ma i-na-du-ú 20. áš-šúm iz-zi-re-ti ši-na-ti-na 21. É.GAL šá-a-tu i-a-ba-tu-ma 22. ú-šal-pa-tu 23. ina eš-re-et É.GAL-lì-ia 24. É.GAL-la ki-ma šu-a-te-ma i-ba-nu-u 31. erected 32. completely 31. from its foundations 32. to its crenellations, 33. and I placed (there) my narûs. Blessing 34. In the future, may a later prince, 35. <when> that palace becomes old and 36. dilapidated, restore it. 37. May he anoint with oil my narûs, VII 1. make sacrifices, 2. (and) return (them) to their place. 3. (Then) the gods Assur and Adad will listen to his prayers. Crimes 4. He who erases (my) inscription (literally, inscribed name) and 5. inscribes his (own) inscription (literally, name), 6. (who) removes my narûs, 9. brings (them) 7. to another place, 8. where there is no visibility, 9. and puts (them there), 11. or conceives of and does 10. anything injurious; 15. or (who) prevents 12. the gods dwelling 13. in the city Assur 15. from entering 14. my palace 13. during the festivals (and) 17. summons (them) 16. to another palace; 19. (who) abandons and neglects 18. that palace of mine; 20. (who), because of these curses, 21. tears down and 22. destroys 21. that palace (and) 23. on the sacred place of my palace IMSA :

36 May The Lady Of The Battle Fray Change Him From A Man To A Woman: Crime and Punishment Neglect or destruction of the palace and the inscription literally, the king s written name were regarded as crimes of a no less religious character, destined to be punished by the gods. Indeed, one of the crimes is explicitly described as preventing the gods dwelling in the city of Assur from entering my (the king s) palace during festivals. Such potential crimes deserved potent punishment, presented in the form of curses. Some of the curses listed are directed at the wicked future ruler s name, heir, royal office, family, people, and land elements related to social stability and status, for which the male deities were responsible. Others threaten his personal self his masculinity, virility, mental health, martial capability and success, and even his existence as a free man. These were the responsibility of the goddess (Ishtar) (fig ). Fig. 37 The goddess Ishtar in her belligerent aspect 25. na!-ri-ia i-na áš-ri 1-en i-ka-ma-ru 26. ana aš-ri-šu-nu la ú-ta-ru 27. šá ana Á le-mu-te 28. ma-am-ma-na-ma u-ša-ha-zu 29. lu ana É.GAL ši-a-ti lem-né-ti 30. il-te-ne- u Aš-šur d 10 DINGIR.MEŠ šá AN KI 31. iš-de-šu li-su-hu 32. MAN-su liš-gi-šú 33. MU-šú NUMUN-šú ina KUR lu-hal-li-qu 24. constructs a(nother) palace like it; 25. (who) heaps up my narûs in a single place 26. without returning (them) to their (proper) location; 27. who maliciously 28. instructs anyone 29. or (otherwise) 30. seeks evil 29. for that palace Curses 30. may Assur, Adad, (and) the gods of heaven (and) earth 31. rip out the foundations of his (throne), 32. annihilate his kingship, 33. wipe out his name (and) his offspring from the land, 34 Y. Bloch and L. A. Peri: The Great Inscription of Tukulti-Ninurta I