A Votive Inscription of Assur-natsir-pal II

Records of the Past, 2nd series, Vol. I, ed. by A. H. Sayce, [1888], at sacred-texts.com

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in bluemixed-breed demigods in teal…)

1. Assur-natsir-pal (II), 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,

         3c - god Ashur, flying disc, weapons (Ashur protects his king from above)

         4. the warrior chief, who with the help of Assur (Orien / Osiris) 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,

         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 (unknown, Marduk ?)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

2 - Ashur  (AshurAshur directs his Assyrian mixed-breed king)

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 favorite 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 offense in plenty

1 - Ishtar & her divine weapons  (Inanna, Goddess of War upon her zodiac symbol Leo)

42. speak, may Ishtar (Inanna), lady of fight and battle,

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(Utu); 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 “favor,” 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 fullness of the heart;” cp. Esarhaddon, Hexagonal Prism, Col. iv. 41, amtsu mâla libbi, “I attained my heart’s desire.