Detail map of The Left Coast, Mosul, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq Overview map of The Left Coast, Mosul, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq

A: The Left Coast, Mosul, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq

Ashurbanipal's Prayer to Nabu, the God of Writing

Circa 646 BCE
Neo Assyrian inscription on limestone, Nineveh, Assyria, ca. 646 BCE, 1 limestone slab, 47x42x4 cm, single column, 19 lines in Neo Assyrian cuneiform script. Schøyen Collection MS 2180.
Neo Assyrian inscription on limestone, Nineveh, Assyria, ca. 646 BCE, 1 limestone slab, 47x42x4 cm, single column, 19 lines in Neo Assyrian cuneiform script. Schøyen Collection MS 2180.

About 646 BCE King Ashurbanipal recorded his rebuilding of Ezida, the temple of Nabû, the god of writing in Nineveh, on a limestone slab in Neo Assyrian cuneiform script, translated as follows:

"TO NABÛ, EXALTED LORD, WHO DWELLS IN EZIDA, WHICH IS IN NINEVEH, HIS LORD: I ASHURBANIPAL, KING OF ASSYRIA, THE ONE LONGED FOR AND DESTINED BY HIS GREAT DIVINITY, WHO, AT THE ISSUING OF HIS ORDER AND THE GIVING OF HIS SOLEMN DECREE, CUT OFF THE HEAD OF TE'UMMAN, KING OF ELAM, AFTER DEFEATING HIM IN BATTLE, AND WHOSE GREAT COMMAND MY HAND CONQUERED UMMAN-IGASH, TANMARIT, PA'E AND UMMAN-ALTASH, WHO RULED OF ELAM AFTER TE'UMMAN. I YOKED THEM TO MY SEDAN CHAIR, MY ROYAL CONVEYANCE. WITH HIS GREAT HELP I ESTABLISHED DECENT ORDER IN ALL THE LANDS WITHOUT EXCEPTION. AT THAT TIME I ENLARGED THE STRUCTURE OF THE COURT OF THE TEMPLE OF NABÛ, MY LORD, USING MASSIVE LIMESTONE. MAY NABÛ LOOK WITH JOY ON THIS, MAY HE FIND IT ACCEPTABLE. BY THE RELIABLE IMPRESS OF YOUR WEDGES MAY THE ORDER FOR A LIFE OF LONG DAYS COME FORTH FROM YOUR LIPS, MAY MY FEET GROW OLD BY WALKING IN EZIDA IN YOUR DIVINE PRESENCE"

(Schøyen Collection MS 2180, accessed 9-2020).

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