RECORDS OF THE PAST

BEING
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
OF THE
ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS

PUBLISHED UNDER THE SANCTION
OF
THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

THE present volume, which in accordance with the plan of the "RECORDS OF THE PAST" is dedicated to translations from the Assyrian and Babylonian, will be found to contain several texts rendered from these languages by additional translators. As the work attracted European notice, it was at once perceived to be available for bringing into notice the most important texts and the translations of foreign scholars, and a considerable portion of the present volume will be found due to them. Dr. Oppert, whose early and successful researches place him in the first rank of Assyrian scholars, has contributed no less than three long translations, one in conjunction with M. Menant, who was formerly associated with him in his labours. Amongst the English translators may be cited Mr. Boscawen, and Mr. Pinches, of the young and rising school of Assyriology in this country, who has each contributed translations; and there is in the present volume one from the late Mr. George Smith, which he unfortunately did not live long enough to revise. The principal historical texts will be found comprised in the "RECORDS OF THE PAST," and the materials supplied for those who desire to use them, either for the purposes of general history or a comparison with the contemporary events of sacred or profane history. In fact they offer a new {p.ii} account of the events which took place in Western Asia, and must be considered as the authentic narrative of the annals of Babylonia and Assyria, compiled by contemporary writers under official supervision, and not traditions collected by foreigners imperfectly acquainted with the language of the countries whose history they narrated. Besides the historical texts, the mythological inscriptions reveal the subjective portion of these early religions hitherto not known, except by the names of a few gods who played an important part in them. The strange and weird tales, revealed for the first time to the modern mind, come upon it with all the attractions of a romance and the interest of early folklore; for although novels or works of imagination have not been found, the legends recently discovered, whatever interpretation may be assigned to their object, have the greatest analogy with oriental epic, and that golden thread of traditional beginning which runs through the circle of mankind. In this volume will be found a translation of the Phoenician inscription on the sarcophagus of Esmunazar by Dr. Oppert. There are amongst the extant inscriptions a few which ought to enter into the Records, and this is one of them, but there has always been a difficulty about obtaining translations, partly owing, in some instances, to the imperfections of texts. It is to be hoped, however, that the inscription of Dhiban will enter into the series before the work closes.

S. BIRCH
2nd July, 1877.

GREAT INSCRIPTION IN THE PALACE OF KHORSABAD
TRANSLATED BY
PROF. DR. JULIUS OPPERT.

THE document of which I publish a translation has been copied with admirable precision by M. Botta in his Monuments de Ninive. There are four specimens of this same text in the Assyrian palace, which bear the title of Inscriptions of the Halls, nos. iv, vii, viii, and x.

There is another historical document in the palace of Khorsabad containing more minute particulars, and classed in a chronological order, which I translated in my Dur-Sarkayan, 1870, and in the Records of the Past, vol. VII.

The several copies of this document have been united in one sole text in a work which I published in common with M. Menant in the Journal Asiatique, 1863.

I published my translation of the "Great Inscriptions of Khorsabad," in the Annales de Philosophic Chretienne, July and August, 1862, tom. V. (New Series), p. 62; then in my Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 20, 1862. The same text was inserted in the work which I edited in communion with my friend M. Joachim Menant, entitled La Grande Inscription des Salles de Khorsabad, Journal Asiatique, 1863. Some passages have been since corrected by me in my Dur-Sarkayan, Paris, 1870, in the great work of M. Victor Place, and these corrections have been totally admitted by M. Menant in a translation which he has given in his book, Annales des Rois l'Assyrie, Paris, 1874, p. 180. As the reader may easily convince himself in collating it with my previous attempts, this present translation is now amended according to the exigencies of the progressing science of Assyriology, as it is now understood.

1 PALACE of SARGON, the great King, the powerful King, King of the legions, King of Assyria, Viceroy of the gods at Babylon, King of the Sumers and of the Accads, favourite of the great gods.
2 The gods ASSUR, NEBO, and MERODACH have conferred on me the royalty of the nations, and they have propagated the memory of my fortunate name to the ends of the earth. I have followed the reformed precepts of Sippara, Nipur, Babylon, and Borsippa; I have amended the imperfections which the men of all laws had admitted.
3 I have reunited the dominions of Kalu, Ur, Orchoe,¹ Erikhi, Larsa,² Kullab, Kisik, the dwelling-place of the god LAGUDA; I have subdued their inhabitants. As to the laws of Sumer² and of the town of Harran, which had fallen into desuetude from the most ancient times, I have restored to fresh vigour their forgotten customs.
4 The great gods have made me happy by the constancy
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1 Orchoe, the Erech of the Bible, is certainly the Warka of the present day; Sippara, Sofeira; Nipur, Niffar; Larsam, Senkereh. Ur (the Ur of the Bible) is Mug-heir; Kullab and Erikhi are unknown. (See Exped. en Mesopot. I. p. 255, et. seq.)
2 The old empire Bal-bat-ki. The syllabaries explain this ideogram by "Assur," but it is very awkward that in these texts, the identification with Assur occurs nowhere. I therefore transcribe Sumer, which was the true name of the people and the language named wrongly Accadian. The term of Sumerian is supported by MM. Menant, Eneberg, Gelzer, Praetorius, Delitzsch, Olshausen, and other scholars.

{p.4} of their affection, they have granted me the exercise of my sovereignty over all Kings; they have re-established obedience upon them all. From the day of my accession there existed no princes who were my masters; I have not, in combats or battles, seen my victor. I have crushed the territories of the rebels like straws, and I have struck them with the plagues of the four elements. I have opened innumerable deep and very extensive forests, I have levelled their inequalities. I have traversed winding and thick valleys, which were impenetrable, like a needle, and I passed in digging tanks dug on my way.
5 By the grace and power of the great gods, my Masters, I have flung my arms; by my force I have defeated my enemies. I have ruled from Iatnan,¹ which is in the middle of the sea of the setting sun, to the frontiers of Egypt and of the country of the Moschians, over vast Phoenicia, the whole of Syria, the whole of gutimuski² of distant Media, near the country of Bikni, to the country of Ellip, from Ras which borders upon Elam, to the banks of the Tigris, to the tribes of Itu, Rubu, Haril, Kaldud, Hauran, Ubul, Ruhua, of the Litai who dwell on the borders of the Surappi and the Ukne, Gambul, Khindar, and Pukud.³ I have reigned over the suti hunters who are in the territory of latbur, in whatever it was as far as the towns of Samhun, Bab-Dur, Dur-Tilit, Khilikh, Pillat, Dunni-Samas, Bubi, Tell-Khumba, which are in the dependency of Elam,⁴ and
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1 Itanus, or Yatnan, in the Island of Crete, became afterwards the name of the Island of Cyprus.
2 For the words in italics no satisfactory translation has as yet been found.
3 The Pekod of the Bible (Jer. i. 21; Ezek. xxiii. 23).
4 Which belongs to Elam.

{p.5} Kar-duniyas¹ Upper and Lower, of the countries of Bit-Amukkan, Bit-Dakkur, Bit-Silan, Bit-Sa'alla, which together form Chaldea in its totality, over the country of Bit-Iakin, which is on the sea shore, as far as the frontier of Dilmun. I have received their tributes, I have established my Lieutenants over them as Governors, and I have reduced them under my suzerainty.
6 This is what I did from the beginning of my reign to my fifteenth year of reign: I defeated KHUMBANIGAS, King of Elam, in the plains of Kalu.
7 I besieged and occupied the town of Samaria, and took 27,280 of its inhabitants captive. I took from them 50 chariots, but left them the rest of their belongings. I placed my Lieutenants over them; I renewed the obligation imposed upon them by one of the Kings who preceded me.²
8 HANUN, King of Gaza, and SEBECH, Sultan³ of Egypt, allied themselves at Rapih⁴ to oppose me, and fight against me; they came before me, I put them to flight. SEBECH yielded before my cohorts, he fled, and no one has ever seen any trace of him since. I took with my own hand HANUN, King of Gaza.
9 I imposed a tribute on PHARAOH, King of Egypt, SAMSIE, Queen of Arabia, IT-AMAR, the Sabean, of gold, sweet smelling herbs of the land, horses, and camels.
10 KIAKKU of Sinukhta had despised the god ASSUR, and refused submission to him. I took him prisoner, and seized his 30 chariots and 7350 of his soldiers. I gave
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1 Lower Chaldea. Nearly all the names of the Elamite towns are Semitic (see Gen. x. 22), but the Susian ones are not.
2 Tiglatpileser, whom Sargon would not acknowledge.
3 This is the word siltan, the Hebrew shilton, "power," the Arabic sultan.
4 Raphia, near the frontiers of Egypt.

{p.6} Sinuhta, the town of his royalty, to MATTI from the country of Tuna, I added some horses and asses to the former tribute and appointed MATTI as Governor.
11 AMRIS of Tabal, had been placed upon the throne of KHULLI his father; I gave to him a daughter and I gave him Cilicia¹ which had never submitted to his ancestors. But he did not keep the treaty and sent his ambassador to URZAHA, King of Armenia, and to MITA, King of the Moschians, who had seized my provinces. I transported AMRIS to Assyria, with his belongings, the members of his ancestors' families, and the magnates of the country, as well as 100 chariots; I established some Assyrians, devoted to my government, in their places. I appointed my Lieutenant Governor over them, and commanded tributes to be levied upon them.
12 JAUBID of Hamath, a smith,² was not the legitimate master of the throne, he was an infidel and an impious man, and he had coveted the royalty of Hamath. He incited the towns of Arpad, Simyra, Damascus, and Samaria to rise against me, took his precautions with each of them, and prepared for battle. I counted all the troops of the god ASSUR; in the town of Karkar which had declared itself for the rebel, I besieged him and his warriors, I occupied Karkar and reduced it to ashes. I took him, himself, and had him flayed, and I killed the chief of the rioters in each town, and reduced them to a heap of ruins. I recruited my forces with 200 chariots and 600 horsemen from among the inhabitants of the country of Hamath and added them to my empire.
13 Whilst IRANZU of Van³ lived, he was subservient and devoted to my rule, but fate removed him. His subjects
________
1 Khilakku. It seems to be identical with the Sparda of Persian, the Sepharad of Obadiah.
2 The condition of Jaubid before his accession.
3 Or Minni.

{p.7} placed his son AZA on the throne. URZAHA the Armenian intrigued with the people of Mount Mildis, Zikirta, Misiandi, with the nobles of Van, and enticed them to rebellion; they threw the body of their Master AZA on the top of the mountains. ULLUSUN of Van, his brother, whom they had placed on his father's throne, did homage to URZAHA, and gave him 22 fortresses with their garrisons. In the anger of my heart I counted all the armies of the god ASSUR, I watched like a lion in ambush and advanced to attack these countries. ULLUSUN of Van saw my expedition approaching, he set out with his troops and took up a strong position in the ravines of the high mountains. I occupied Izirti the town of his royalty, and the towns of Izibia and Armit, his formidable fortresses, I reduced them to ashes. I killed all that belonged to URZAHA the Armenian, in these high mountains. I took with my own hand 250 royal members of his family. I occupied 55 royal towns of which 8 were ordinary towns and 11 impregnable fortresses. I reduced them to ashes. I incorporated the 22 strong towns, that ULLUSUN of Van had delivered to him with Assyria. I occupied 8 strong cities of the country of Tuaya and the districts of Tilusina of Andia; 4,200 men, with their belongings were carried away into slavery.
14 MITATTI, of Zikirta, had secured himself against my arms; he and the men of his country had fled into the forests; no trace of them was to be seen. I reduced Parda, the town of his royalty to ashes; I occupied twenty-three great towns in the environs, and I spoiled them. The cities of Suandakhul and Zurzukka, of the country of Van, took the part of MITATTI; I occupied and pillaged them. Then I took BAGADATTI of the Mount Mildis, and I had him flayed. I banished DAYAUKKU and his suite to Hamath, and I made them dwell there.

15 Then ULLUSUN heard in his high mountains of my glorious exploits; he departed in haste like a bird, and kissed my feet; I pardoned his innumerable misdeeds, and I blotted out his iniquities. I granted pardon to him; I replaced him upon the throne of his royalty. I gave him the two fortresses and the 22 great towns that I had taken away from URZAHA and MITATTI. I endeavoured to restore peace to his country. I made the image of my Majesty: I wrote on it the glory of the god ASSUR, my Master, I erected many fac-similes of it in Izirti, the town of his royalty.
16 I imposed a tribute of horses, oxen and lambs upon IANZU, King of the river country, in Hupuskia, the town of his power.
17 ASSURLIH, of Kar-Alla, ITTI, of Allapur, had sinned against ASSUR and despised his power. I had ASSURLIH flayed. I banished the men of Kar-Alla, whoever they were, and ITTI, with his suite, I placed them in Hamath.
18 I took the inhabitants of the towns of Sukkia, Bala, Ahitikna, Pappa,¹ Lallukni away from their homes; I made them dwell at Damascus in Syria.
19 I occupied the 6 towns of the country of Niksamma, I took with my own hand NIRISAR, Governor of the town of Surgadia; I added these towns to the satrapy of Parsuas.²
20 BEL-SAR-USUR³ was King of the town of Kisisim; I had him transported to Assyria with all that he possessed, his treasure, the contents of his palace; I put my Lieutenant in as Governor of the town, to which I gave the name of Kar-Marduk. I had an image made of my Majesty and erected it in the middle of the town.
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1 It seems not to be Paphos.
2 Parthia.(?)
3 The same name as Belshazzar.

{p.9} I occupied 6 towns in the neighbourhood and I added them to his government.
21 I attacked and conquered KIBABA, Prefect of the town of Kharkhar, I took him and the inhabitants of his country captive, I rebuilt this city and made the inhabitants of the provinces, that my arm had conquered, live there. I placed my Lieutenant as Governor over them. I named the town Kar-Sarkin; I established the worship of the god ASSUR, my Master, there. I erected an image of my Royal self. I occupied 6 towns in the environs, and added them to his government.
22 I besieged and took the towns of Tel-Akhi-tub, Khindau, Bagai, and Anzaria; I transported the inhabitants of them to Assyria. I rebuilt them; I gave them the names of Kar-Nabu, Kar-Sin, Kar-Ben, Kar-Istar.
23 To maintain my position in Media, I have erected fortifications in the neighbourhood of Kar-Sarkin. I occupied 34 towns in Media and annexed them to Assyria and I levied annual tributes of horses upon them.
24 I besieged and took the town of Eristana, and the surrounding towns in the country of Bait-Ili; I carried away the spoil.
25 The countries of Agag¹ and Ambanda,² in Media, opposite the Arabs of the East, had refused their tributes, I destroyed them, laid them waste, and burnt them by fire.
26 DALTA of Ellip, was subject to me, and devoted to the worship of ASSUR; 5 of his towns revolted and no longer recognized his dominion. I came to his aid, I besieged and occupied these towns, I carried the men and their goods away into Assyria with numberless horses.
27 URZANA, of the town of Musasir, had attached himself to URZAHA the Armenian, and had refused me his allegiance.
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1 This Agag is very possibly the country of Haman the Agagite, if we must not read Agaz.
2 Ambanda is perhaps the Median Kampanda.

With the multitude of my army, I covered the city of Musasir as if it were with ravens, and he to save his life, fled alone into the mountains.
28 I entered as a Ruler into Musasir. I seized as spoil URZANA'S wife, sons and daughters, his money, his treasures, all the stores of his palace whatever they were, with 20,100 men and all that they possessed, the gods HALDIA and BAGABARTA, his gods, and their holy vessels in great numbers.
29 URZAHA, King of Armenia, heard of the defeat of Musasir and the carrying away of the god HALDIA¹ his god, he cut off his life by his own hands with a dagger of his girdle. I held a severe judgment over the whole of Armenia. I spread over the men, who inhabit this country, mourning and lamentation.
30 TARHUNAZI, of the town of Melid, sought for revenge. He sinned against the laws of the great gods, and refused his submission. In the anger of my heart, I crushed like briars Melid, which was the town of his kingdom, and the neighbouring towns. I made him, his wife, sons and daughters, the slaves of his palace whoever they were, with 5000 warriors, leave Tel-Garimmi; I treated them all as booty. I rebuilt Tel-Garimmi; I had it entirely occupied by some archers from the country of Khammanua, which my hand had conquered, and I added it to the boundaries of this country. I put it in the hands of my Lieutenant, and I restituted the surface of the dominion, as it had been in the time of GUNZINAN, the preceding King.
31 TARHULAR, of Gamgum, had a son MUTTALLU, who had murdered his father by the arms, and sat on the
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1 We find in the inscriptions of Van, the god Haldi as god of the Armenians, which proves more forcibly than ever that the syllabary of the Armenian inscriptions is the same as the Assyrian syllabary.

{p.11} throne against my will, and to whom they had entrusted their country. In the anger of my heart, I hastily marched against the town of Markasi, with my chariots and horsemen, who followed on my steps. I treated MUTTALLU, his son and the families of the country of Bit-Pa'alla in its totality, as captives, and seized as booty the gold and silver and the numberless treasures of his palace. I reinstated the men of Gamgum and the neighbouring tribes, and placed my Lieutenant as Governor over them; I treated them like the Assyrians.
32 AZURI, King of Ashdod,¹ determined within himself to render no more tributes; he sent hostile messages against Assyria to the neighbouring Kings. I meditated vengeance for this, and I withdrew from him the government over his country. I put his brother AKHIMIT on his throne. But the people of Syria, eager for revolt, got tired of AKHIMIT'S rule, and installed IAMAN. who like the former, was not the legitimate master of the throne. In the anger of my heart, I did not assemble the bulk of my army nor divide my baggage, but I marched against Ashdod with my warriors, who did not leave the trace of my feet.
33 IAMAN learnt from afar of the approach of my expedition; he fled beyond Egypt towards Libya (Meluhhi),² and no one ever saw any further trace of him. I besieged and took Ashdod and the town of Gimtu-Asdudim;³ I carried away captive IAMAN'S gods, his wife, his sons, his daughters, his money and the contents of his palace, together with the inhabitants of his country. I built these towns anew and placed in them the men that my arm had conquered.
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1 See Isaiah xx. i.
2 Meluhhi is not Meroe, but Libya, and especially the Marmarica. The name seems to be the Milyes of Herodotus.
3 Asdudim seems to be an Hebraic plural.

34 I placed my Lieutenant as Governor over them, and I treated them as Assyrians. They never again became guilty of impiety.
35 The King of Libya¹ lives in the middle of the desert, in an inaccessible place, at (a month's) journey. From the most remote times until the renewal of the lunar period² his fathers had sent no ambassadors to the Kings, my ancestors, to ask for peace and friendship and to acknowledge the power of MERODACH. But the immense terror inspired by my Majesty roused him, and fear changed his intentions. In fetters of iron he threw him (IAMAN), directed his steps towards Assyria and kissed my feet.
36 MUTTALLU, of Commagene, a fraudulent and hostile man, did not honour the memory of the gods, he plotted a conspiracy, and meditated defection. He trusted upon ARGISTI,³ King of Armenia, an helper who did not assist him, took upon himself the collection of the tributes and his part of the spoil, and refused me his submission. In the anger of my heart, I took the road to his country with the chariots of my power, and the horsemen who never left the traces of my feet. MUTTALLU saw the approach of my expedition, he withdrew his troops, and no one saw any further trace of him. I besieged and occupied his
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1 Meluhhi. This is the only passage, where small gaps occur.
2 This is one of the most important passages of the text; the period is the Chaldean eclipse period of 1805 years, and ended in 712 BC. Instead of this passage, the Stele of Larnaca, now in Berlin, has: "from the remotest times, the beginning of Assyria, until now." The commencement of the period, 2517 BC, coincided very nearly with the capture of Babylon by the Medes. This date commences the real history ; previous to this time reigned the 86 princes during twelve lunar periods of 1805, and twelve solar periods of 1460 years, viz., 39,180 years. The very event may have happened 11 years afterward, 2506 BC. The deluge happened, according to the Chaldeans, in 41,697 BC.
3 This royal name is still found in the Armenian texts of Van.

{p.13} capital and 62 large towns all together. I carried away his wife, his sons, his daughters, his money, his treasure, all precious things from his palace, together with the inhabitants of his country as spoil, I left none of them. I inaugurated this town afresh; I placed in it men from the country of Bit-Iakin, that my arm had conquered. I instituted my Lieutenant as Governor, and subdued them under my rule. I previously took from them 150 chariots, 1500 horsemen, 20,000 archers, 1000 men armed with shields and lances, and I confided the country to my Satrap.
37 Whilst DALTA, King of Ellip lived, he was submissive and devoted to my rule, the infirmities of age however came and he walked on the path of death. NIBIE and ISPABARA, the sons of his wives, claimed both the vacant throne of his royalty, the country and the taxes, and they fought a battle. NIBIE applied to SUTRUK-NAKHUNTI¹ King of Elam to support his claims, giving to him pledges for his alliance, and the other came as a helper. ISPA-BARA, on his side, implored me to maintain his cause, and to encourage him, at the same time bowing down, and humbling himself, and asking my alliance. I sent seven of my Lieutenants with their armies to support his claims, they put NIBIE and the army of the four rivers,² which had helped him, to flight, at the town of Mareobisti. I reinstated ISPABARA on the throne; I re-established peace in his country, and confided it to his care.
38 MERODACH-BALADAN, son of IAKIN,³ King of Chaldaea, the fallacious, the persistent in enmity, did not respect the memory of the gods, he trusted in the sea, and in the retreat of the marshes; he eluded the precepts of the
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1 The inscriptions of this prince are translated in the VIIth volume.
2 Elam. We are now certain of this identification.
3 The same who occurs in the Ptolemaic canon (721-709)

{p.14} great gods, and refused to send his tributes. He had supported as an ally KHUMBANIGAS, King of Elam. He had excited all the nomadic tribes of the desert against me. He prepared himself for battle, and advanced. During twelve years,¹ against the will of the gods of Babylon, the town of BEL which judges the gods, he had excited the country of the Sumers and Accads, and had sent ambassadors to them. In honour of the god ASSUR, the father of the gods, and of the great and august Lord MERODACH, I roused my courage I prepared my ranks for battle. I decreed an expedition against the Chaldeans, an impious and riotous people. MERODACH-BALADAN heard of the approach of my expedition, dreading the terror of his own warriors, he fled before it, and flew in the night time like an owl, falling back from Babylon, to the town of Ikbibel. He assembled together the towns possessing oracles, and the gods living in these towns he brought to save them to Dur-Iakin, fortifying its walls. He summoned the tribes of Gambul, Pukud, Tamun, Ruhua, and Khindar, put them in this place, and prepared for battle. He calculated the extent of a plethrum² in front of the great wall. He constructed a ditch 200 spans³ wide, and deep one fathom and a half.⁴ The conduits of water, coming from the Euphrates, flowed out into this ditch; he had cut off the course of the river, and divided it into canals, he had surrounded the town, the place of his revolt, with a dam, he had filled it with water, and cut off the conduits. MERODACH-BALADAN, with his allies and his soldiers had the insignia of his royalty kept as in an island on the banks of the river; he arranged his plan of battle. I stretched my combatants all along the river dividing them into bands; they con-
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1 From 721 to 709 BC.
2 32 m 91,39 yards.
3 54 m 85,65 yards.
4 4 m 94,17½ feet.

{p.15} quered the enemies. By the blood of the rebels the waters of these canals reddened like dyed wool. The nomadic tribes were terrified by this disaster which surprised him and fled; I completely separated his allies and the men of Marsan from him; I filled the ranks of the insurgents with mortal terror. He left in his tent the insignia of his royalty, the golden¹ the golden throne, the golden parasol, the golden sceptre, the silver chariot, the golden ornaments, and other effects of considerable weight; he fled alone, and disappeared like the ruined battlements of his fortress, and I entered into his retreat. I besieged and occupied the town of Dur-Iakin, I took as spoil and made captive, him, his wife, his sons, his daughters, the gold and silver and all that he possessed, the contents of his palace, whatever it was, with considerable booty from the town. I made each family and every man who had withdrawn himself from my arms, accountable for this sin. I reduced Durlakin the town of his power to ashes. I undermined and destroyed its ancient forts. I dug up the foundation stone;² I made it like a thunder-stricken ruin. I allowed the people of Sippara, Nipur, Babylon, and Borsippa, who live in the middle of the towns to exercise their profession, to enjoy their belongings in peace, and I have watched upon them. I took away the possession of the fields which from remote times had been in the hand of the Sufi Nomad, and restored them to their rightful owners. I placed the nomadic tribes of the desert again under my yoke, and I restored the forgotten land delimitations which had existed during the tranquillity of the land. I gave to each of the towns of Ur, Orchoe, Erikhi, Larsa, Kullab, and Kisik, the dwelling of the god LAGUDA, the god that resides in each, and I restored the
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1 Unexplained.
2 Timin, not "cylinder."

{p.16} gods who had been taken away, to their sanctuaries. I re-established the altered laws in full force.
39 I imposed tributes on the countries of Bet-Iakin, the high and low part, and on the towns of Samhun, Bab-Dur, Dur-Tilit, Bubi, Tell-Khumba, which are the resort of Elam. I transplanted into Elam the inhabitants of the Commagene, in Syria, that I had attacked with my own hand, obeying the commands of the great gods my Masters, and I placed them on the territory of Elam, in the town of Sakbat. NABU-PAKID-ILAN was authorised to collect the taxes from the Elamites in order to govern them; I claimed as a pledge the town of Birtu. I placed all this country in the hands of my Lieutenant at Babylon and my Lieutenant in the country of Gambul.¹
40 I returned alone to Babylon, to the sanctuaries of BEL, the judge of the gods, in the excitement of my heart and the splendour of my appearance; I took the hands of the great Lord, the august god MERODACH, and I traversed the way to the chamber of the spoil.
41 I transported into it 154 talents, 26 mines, 10 drams of gold russù;² 1804 talents, 20 mines of silver;³ ivory, a great deal of copper, iron in an innumerable quantity, some of the stone ka, alabaster, the minerals pi, digili, flattened pi, sirru for witness seals, blue and purple stuffs, cloth of berom and cotton, ebony; cedar, and cypress wood, freshly cut from the fine forests on Mount Amanus, in honour of BEL, ZARPANIT, NEBO, and TASMIT, and the gods who inhabit the sanctuaries of the
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1 Only two years after the commencement of the war.
2 12544, pd. troy 68.
3 152,227, pd. troy, 75. A royal silver drachm is nearly 3s., a royal mina £9, the state drachm and mina is the half of it. A silver talent is always very close £270 st.

{p.17} Sumers and Accads; all that from my accession to the third year of my reign.¹
42 UPIR, King of Dilmun who dwells at the distance of 30 parasanges,² in the midst of the sea of the rising sun and who is established as a fish, heard of the favour that the gods ASSUR, NEBO, and MERODACH had accorded me; he sent therefore his expiatory gift.
43 And the seven Kings of the country of Iahnagi, of the country of Iatnan (who have established and extended their dwellings, at a distance of seven days navigation in the midst of the sea of the setting sun, and whose name from the most ancient ages until the renewal of the lunar period,³ none of the Kings my fathers in Assyria and Chaldea⁴ had heard, had been told of my lofty achievements in Chaldea and Syria, and my glory, which had spread from afar to the midst of the sea. They subdued their pride and humbled themselves; they presented themselves before me at Babylon, bearing metals, gold, silver, vases, ebony wood, and the manufactures of their country; they kissed my feet.
44 Whilst I endeavoured to exterminate Bet-Iakin and reduce Aram, and render my rule more efficacious in the country of Iatbur, which is beyond Elam, my Lieutenant, the Governor of the country of Kue, attacked MITA, the Moschian, and 3000 of his towns; he demolished these towns, destroyed them, burnt them with fire, and led away many captives. And this MITA the Moschian, who had never submitted to the Kings my predecessors and had never changed his will, sent his envoy to me to
_________
1 Sargon speaks of his third year and not of his third campaign, in order to mark what he had already accomplished before the year 717.
2 110 English miles.
3 This is the second passage where Sargon alludes to this period ending under his reign.
4 Karduniyas.

{p.18} the very borders of the sea of the rising sun, bearing professions of allegiance and tributes.
45 In these days, these nations and these countries that my hand has conquered, and that the gods ASSUR, NEBO, and MERODACH have made bow to my feet, followed the ways of piety. With their help I built at the feet of the musri, following the divine will and the wish of my heart, a town that I called Dur-Sarkin¹ to replace Nineveh.² NISROCH,³ SIN, SAMAS, NEBO, BIN, NINIP, and their great spouses, who procreate eternally in the lofty temple of the upper and the nether world (Aralli), blessed the splendid wonders, the superb streets in the town of Dur-Sarkin. I reformed the institutions which were not agreeable to their ideas. The priests, the nisi ramki, the surmahhi supar disputed at their learned discussions about the pre-eminence of their divinities, and the efficacy of their sacrifices.
46 I built in the town some palaces covered with the skin of the sea-calf,⁴ and of sandal wood, ebony, the wood of mastic tree, cedar, cypress, wild pistachio nut tree, a palace of incomparable splendour, as the seat of my royalty. I placed their dunu upon tablets of gold, silver, alabaster, tilpe stones, parut stones, copper, lead, iron, tin, and khibisti made of earth. I wrote thereupon the glory of the gods. Above, I built a platform of cedar beams.
_________
1 Or Dur-Sarkayan. The king passes rapidly over some other peculiarities which he inserts in other texts, namely, the measures of the town, and the ceremonies of its edification. The circuit is given as containing 31 ners (miles), 1 stadium, 3 canes, 2 spans, or 24,740 spans, and Botta's measurings afford 6790 metres, 7427 yards. This statement gives for the span, with a slight correction in the fourth decimal, 0m27425, 10,797 inches, and for the cubit 0m 5485, 21,594 inches.
2 At this time the palace of Nineveh was still in ruins. It was rebuilt by Sennacherib.
3 This is my former transcription of the divine name which is now pronounced Hea. But I think sincerely that the latter is not better than the former one.
4 This assimilation is not quite certain.

I bordered the doors of pine and mastic wood with bronze garnitures, and I calculated their distance. I made a spiral staircase similar to the one in the great temple of Syria, that is called in the Phoenician language, Bethilanni. Between the doors I placed 8 double lions whose weight is 1 ner, 6 soss, 50 talents,¹ of first-rate copper, made in honour of MYLITTA .......² and their four kubur in materials from Mount Amanus; I placed them on nirgalli.³ Over them I sculptured artistically a crown of beast of the fields, a bird in stone of the mountains. Towards the four celestial regions, I turned their front. The lintels and the uprights I made in large gypsum stone that I had taken away with my own hand, I placed them above. I walled them in and I drew upon me the admiration of the people of the countries.
47 From the beginning to the end, I walked worshipping the god ASSUR, and following the custom of wise men, I built palaces, I amassed treasures.
48 In the month of blessing, on the happy day, I invoked, in the midst of them, ASSUR, the father of the gods, the greatest sovereign of the gods and the Istarat,⁴ who inhabit Assyria. I presented vessels of glass, things in chased silver, ivory, valuable jewels and immense presents, in great quantities, and I rejoiced their heart. I exhibited sculptured idols, double and winged, some .... winged, some .... winged, serpents, fishes, and birds, from unknown regions and abysses, the .... in high mountains, summits of the lands that I have conquered with my own hand, for the glory of my royalty. As a worshipper of the gods and the god ASSUR, I sacrificed
________
1 1,010 talents, 602 hundredweights English.
2 Obscure.
3 A very difficult passage; the name of the god Nergal does not interfere with the object.
4 The Hebrew Astaroth, which signifies "goddesses." Compare Judges x. 6.

{p.20} in their presence, with the sacrifice of white lambs, holy holocausts of expiation, in order to withdraw the gifts that had not been agreeable to the gods.
49 He has granted me, in his august power, a happy existence, long life, and I obtained a constantly lucky reign. I have entrusted myself to his favour.
50 The great Lord BEL-EL, the Master of the lands, inhabits the lofty tracts; the gods and Istarat inhabit Assyria; their legions remain there in pargiti, and martakni.
51 With the Chiefs of provinces, the Satraps, wise men, Astronomers, Magnates, the Lieutenants and Governors of Assyria, I have ruled in my palace, and administered justice.
52 I have bid them take gold, silver, gold and silver vessels, precious stones, copper, iron, considerable products of mountains the mines of which are rich, cloth of berom and cotton, blue and purple cloth, amber, skins of sea-calves, pearls, sandal-wood, ebony, horses from higher Egypt,¹ asses, mules, camels, oxen. With all these numerous tributes I have rejoiced the heart of the gods.
53 May ASSUR, the father of the gods, bless these palaces, by giving to his images a spontaneous splendour. May he watch over the issue even to the remote future. May the sculptured bull, the protector and god who imparts perfection, dwell in day and in night time in his presence, and never stir from this threshold!
54 With the help of ASSUR, may the King who has built these palaces, attain an old age, and may his offspring multiply greatly! May these battlements last to the most remote future! May he who dwells there come forth surrounded with the greatest splendour; may he rejoice in his corporal health, in the satisfaction of his heart accomplish his wishes, attain his end, and may he render his magnificence seven times more imposing!
________
1 It is not clear what animals are meant.

THE BAVIAN INSCRIPTION OF SENNACHERIB
TRANSLATED BY
THEOPHILUS GOLDRIDGE PINCHES.

THIS Inscription, a translation of which is now published in full for the first time, is engraved upon a rock at Bavian, a district to the North-east of Mosul. There are three tablets, more or less injured, all bearing the same legend. It is of great chronological value on account of the notice it contains (line 50) of the period of 418 years intervening between the reign of Sennacherib and that of Tiglath-Pileser I, who reigned from BC 1120 to BC 1100. The text itself is printed in the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. III, pl. xiv.

Sennacherib, the son of Sargon, and father of Esarhaddon, began to reign "on the twelfth day of the month Abu, in the eponymy of Pakhir-Bel, prefect of Amida; that is, according to our reckoning, about the sixteenth of July, BC 705; and was assassinated {p.22} about the month Dhabitu, in the eponymy of Nabu-akhi-eris, prefect of Samalla (December, BC 681), having reigned about twenty-four years and four months."¹

The records of Sennacherib's reign are numerous and very perfect. Translations of the Inscriptions on the Bellino and Taylor cylinders, as well as the Bull Inscription, have already appeared in these volumes.² The Bavian Inscription gives an account of his turning the course of the Khosr for the purpose of irrigating the arable land around Nineveh. It then narrates the events of his first campaign against Merodach-Baladan, King of Babylon, Ummanminanu, King of Elam, and many petty kings of the mountainous country West of Elam, and of the islands of the Persian Gulf. The second expedition to Babylon mentioned in this text, is identical with the fourth of the Taylor Cylinder, which describes how Sennacherib defeated the Babylonians under Suzub, who, after the flight of Merodach-Baladan, had proclaimed himself king, and become so powerful that Sennacherib was obliged to go against him in person.
___________
1 Smith's History of Assyria.
2 Records of the Past, vols. I, VII.

1 ASSUR, ANU, BEL, HEA, SIN, SAMAS, RIMMON, MARDUK, NEBO, (NERGAL,) ISTAR, the 7 spirits, and the great gods
2 who among all the Rulers to the supremacy of the Dark Races, lo, they raise, they proclaim the Majesty of
3 SENNACHERIB, the great King, the powerful King, the King of multitudes, the King of Assyria, King of the four regions. The Prince the establisher of them at this time. Fixing the laws
4 from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea. To the countries I went and the Kings of the regions I made submissive to my yoke, and
5 they performed my pleasure. In those days when Nineveh, that great seat (I caused to extend), its fortress and its outer wall which in former (days)
6 (were) not made, I caused to make anew, and I remembered the woody places surrounding it, which (were) without water. Murmurings ascended on high
7 from the assemblies (of) the (Princes) and its people: Drinking water they know not, and to the rains from the vault of heaven their eyes are directed.
8 I had drunk; and from the midst of the cities of Masiti, Kimbagabna, Sapparisu, Kar-Samsi-zakir, Kar-nuri, Rimusa,
9 Khata, 'Dalain, Res-eni, Sulu, Duran,¹ Sibaniba, Izparirra,
________
1 Duran or Deri, the seat of a governor whose business it was to watch the Elamites who held the fortress of Bit-imbi, was capital of Yamutbal, a district on the south-eastern border of Assyria, near the frontier of Elam.

10 Gingilinis, Nampagate, Tulu and Alumtsusi, waters which (were) against Khadabiti, sixteen rivers, I excavated; to the midst of
11 the river Khusur¹ I fixed their course. From the coast of the city Kisiri to (the midst of) Nineveh I excavated, their waters
12 I let flow within it: "The opening of Sennacherib," I proclaimed its name. (I brought?) the strength of those waters from the midst of the country of Taz,
13 a difficult mountain of the frontier of Akkad, within my country. Formerly that river the river .....² was called. The boundary lines again I, by command of
14 ASSUR, Lord of the great, my Lord, right and left of the mountains of the wall and foundations (fixed.) The city Me ..... Kuqqut, Bit-Urra,³
15 the cities surrounding it, to it I added. With stones of the river ...... Sennacherib,.... I recorded
16 its name. Above the waters the beautiful country and the waters before it I ex(cavated, to the midst of the river Khusur I) fixed their course,
17 to Nineveh, the mighty stronghold, the seat of My Majesty. From .... its seat he had not extended
18 he had not turned them; below, completely .... it I (made.) I, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, first of the Kings, who from the rising of the sun
19 to the setting of the sun the nations rule); the flowing
_______
1 Still called Khosr or Khausser, it passes through the mound of Koyounjik, and after rain becomes an impetuous torrent, capable of doing great mischief.
2 Lacunae.
3 It was the custom of the Assyrians to give their cities' very fanciful names, thus Kar-Samsi-zakir means: "The fortress of Shamas renowned;" Kar-nuri, "The fortress of Light;" Res-eni, "The raising of the Eyes;" Sulu and Tulu, "Mound" or "Ascent;" Bit-Urra, "House of Light" The exact positions of the cities mentioned in the text are unknown, but they were probably not far from Duran.

{p.25} waters which I had excavated, (to) Nineveh, for its surroundings, enclosures, vines,
20 hedges, (I fixed their course) .....¹ the inhabitants of the forest-land, all of them, to choose the rulers
21 all .... and ..... the waters which were not channelled, to the arid lands I abandoned (them) and I (settled)
22 the boundaries .... of all in the coasts in the entrances of the delightful places above and below. From the midst of the city of Tarbitsi
23 to the city of the Assurites, a seat for the measuring-out of corn and barley, (which) I caused to be exchanged yearly ...... to the Kings
24 my sons who with my heart were perfect and to disobedience turn not ..... those hosts going forth
25 that river I caused to excavate. The worship of ASSUR, my great god .... thus in the midst of those hosts, I did not excavate that river
26 and in that year, the third month, I did not cut out its writing ..... they were completed, I cut out its ditch
27 to the openings of that river. The Masmasu (and) the Usku I (urged) and I .... blue stone, white stone, marble, zadhu stone, diamonds
28 (and other) choice precious stones, brass, (pleasant) odours, .... the sum of the measure of a beautiful altar for HEA, Lord of fountains,
29 and gifts for BEL, the Lord, the great-overlooker of rivers, the god of Lords, were poured forth, rich things to the great gods I (offered) and
30 my (prayer) they heard and they caused to bless the work of my hands. The gate of the river .... and an enclosure of corn for himself. It was opened and
31 I let flow in the waters of the great canal. By an
_______
1 Lacunae.

{p.26} inscription from the hands of the (builder) of its gate .....¹ the hearts of the gods, I excavated (and) the waters from
32 the river I gathered and I directed. The inscription which to the great gods going by my side and establishing .... oxen ...
33 sheep, gazelles, sacrifices I killed, I sacrificed. Those men who had excavated that river, (with) costly linen clothing I covered them,
34 .... rings of gold, necklaces of gold I placed upon them. In that year the sum was (paid) for that river which I had excavated. Against UMMAN-MINANU,
35 King of Elam, and the King of Babylon, with the many Kings of the mountains and the sea, who were their helpers, in sight of the city of Khalule
36 I placed my line of battle. By command of ASSUR, Lord of the great, my Lord, cutting through (their) ranks I drove. Into their midst I went and an overthrow of their armies
37 I made: their army I did destroy, and I marched against their country. The great men of the King of Elam, with NABU-ZIKIR-ISKUN, son of MERODACH-BALA-DAN,
38 King of Gan-Dunyas, alive within the battle my hands captured. The King of Elam and the King of Babylon, the overwhelming number of my strong army
39 destroyed them and in their chariots they abandoned their people; to save their lives (to) their country they fled and
40 they returned not. Afterwards the King peace to Sennacherib, King of Assyria, speedily sent and to Elam fixed the return.
41 Terrible fear against the country of Elam (over) all of
________
1 Lacunae.

{p.27} them was poured, and their country they forsook, to save their lives, like an eagle
42 a difficult mountain they (ascended), and like to a susudi bird I turned, and their hearts for battle failing them, the mountain pass
43 they opened not, and they did not make battle. In my second expedition to Babylon, which I went forth to capture, I saw the destruction of its power.
44 I went and like the coming of storms I poured out (my men); like a rushing wind I swept it. The city of Niti I besieged and by
45 fire and rebellion the hands ....¹ (one) of its people, small and great, I did not leave, and their corpses the streets of the city
46 filled. To save the life of the King of Babylon, himself, his family ...... alive to the midst of my country I took him.
47 The valuables of that city I destroyed. Gold, precious stones, furniture, valuables, to the hands (of my men) I distributed and to the place of their army they returned.
48 The gods dwelling within it, the hands of my men captured them and broke (them) and (their furniture) and valuables they brought out. RIMMON and SALA² the gods
49 of the temples; which MARDUK-NADIN-AKHI, King of Akkad, in the time of TIGLATH-PILESER, King of Assyria, had brought out and to Babylon had taken
50 for 418 years; from Babylon I caused to come forth and
________
1 Lacunae.
2 In a list containing the names and titles of the gods, W. A. I., vol. III, pl. 67, after naming Rimmon with the usual titles of god of lightning, storms, deluge of rain, etc., Rimmon and Sala are mentioned together, with the title of gods sa sadi, "of the mountains," showing that the Assyrian deities often changed their attributes when mentioned in conjunction with other gods.

{p.28} to the temples to their places I restored them. The city and houses
51 from its foundation to its upper chambers I destroyed, dug up, in the fire I burnt. The fortress and outer wall, the temples of the gods, the tower of brickwork, the houses;¹ all there was
52 I captured it and in the river Arakhti I placed. In the stronghold of that city that multitude I shut up; and its ashes into the water I swept away; the fixing
53 of its foundations I destroyed and over it like a heap of corn its (ruins) I caused to turn. In after days the ground of that city and the houses of the gods
54 (which were) unrequired into the waters I swept it and I made an end with power. At the mouth of the river which I had excavated in the midst of the country of Taz,
55 6 stone tablets .....² an image of the great gods my Lords I made upon them, and an image of My Majesty. Brickwork
56 I built before them; not attending to the works of my hands, which within Nineveh I had done: upon them I caused to write and
57 to the Kings my (sons) ruling the country and the Prince afterwards who among the Kings my sons the ruling does:
58 he shall extend the streams beyond it, he shall open those opened waters from the environs of Nineveh (fixing) their course.
59 The great gods all (who) on these tablets (their) name (is) proclaimed by (the words) proceeding from its mouth,
60 turning upon (him) who (these things does) not, may they curse him and to the lower region remove his life.
________
1 Ishkhi, hollow places, evidently the houses of the poorer classes.
2 Lacuna.

THE stone upon which the following inscription is traced was found on the Western side of the Tigris opposite the town of Baghdad, by the late lamented George Smith. Its date was considered by him to be about BC 1340, and to have been written during, or shortly after, the reign of Merodach Baladan, king of Babylon, and grandson of Kuri-galzu, who ascended the throne about BC 1370.

This inscription records a grant of 90 acres of land made by the king to his officer Maraduk-zakir-iskur, in return for certain services rendered by him; and upon the back of the stone is a rudely carved picture {p.30} of the deities invoked to protect the property, and to punish any one who should remove the boundary stone or wall.

The strong language of the curses at the end of the third column at once remind us of the curse pronounced against those who remove their neighbour's landmark, Deut. xxvii. 1 7, as well as of those in Psalm cix, of which verses 16 and 17 should be compared with lines 32-34; verse 12 with line 36, where the words are almost the same in each.

It is curious and suggestive, that similar precatory curses for the protection of individuals and property are of common occurrence in the Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions.

40 enclosures of land, 90 acres,¹ on the required surface, in great cubits, a plot by the town of Dur-zizi, along-side the river Tigris, in the territory of Dur-Istar; the upper end towards the West of the river Tigris, the lower end toward the East, adjoining the house of NAZI-MARDUK, within the town of Dur-Istar; the headland towards the North, adjoining the city Ilu-Zaqari, and the house of TUNA-ISPATE the honourable; the lower end on the South, adjoining close upon the site of the city Dur-Istar, and of the city Dur-Ziki, which MERODACH BALADAN, Lord of thrones, Lord of Sumir and Accad, Son of MILI-SIHU King of the goodly land of Babylon,
_____________
1 Lit. sekal, said to contain about 40,000 square yards, i.e. an acre.

{p.32} grandson of KURI-GALZU,¹ a King to whom is no like, to MERODACH-ZAKIR-IZKUR, as the proprietor of the territory, this temple and land, of the city of Idbi-mut, the perfection of heaven and earth, son of NABU-NADIN-AHI, whose grandfather RlMINI-MERODACH, ...
_________
1 Mili-Sihu, and Merodach-Baladan the first, are names of Babylonian kings not elsewhere recorded.

.... the direct descendant of UBALLITSU-MERODACH, the descendant of ZICARU-SALMAN, in accordance with the tablets of the kingdom, of a family in the city of Adusu, a vassal who praises the god NEBO and the god SARU, and praises the god of corn, the god who begat him, ...¹ of heaven and earth, (in) the temple of the Sun at Borsippa, and the upholder of the temple of Zida in the day of dwelling therein, and in the day of service, in company with his Lord MERODACH BALADAN. (This land) is appointed for settled days, and months following months, and for years unbroken, to that man without interruption. For good have I given it like the treasure of heaven; as a land of acquisition have I settled it,
_______
1 Lacuna.

{p.34} as the result of his labours; causing to come forward as a witness NlNIP-TUR-IDINA, Governor of the territory of Dur-Istar; (also) NABU-NAZIR, son of NAZI-MARDUK, a man of service, and NABU-SANISMU, son of ARDU-HEA, a man of Dugab.¹
________
1 Dugab was a king of Sape who was routed by Tiglath-Pileser the first. It is possible, however, that the name may be that of some office.

If a leader, not of low degree, if a citizen shall this plot of land injure or destroy, the boundary stone so that it shall not be conspicuous, shall remove this stone (here) placed; whether an injurious person or a brother, whether as one who would take it all away, whether as an evil person, whether as an enemy or any other person, or the son of the owner of the land, shall act falsely, shall tamper with it, into water into fire shall cast it, with a stone shall break it, from the hand of MARADUK-ZAKIR-ISKUR and from his seed shall remove it, whether above or below shall break it in pieces, may the gods ANU, BEL, HEA, NINIP and GULA, the Lords of this land, {p.36} and all the gods whose memorials are made known on this tablet, violently make his name desolate; with unspeakable curse may they curse him; with utter desolation may they desolate him; may they gather his posterity together for evil and not for good; until the day of the departure of his life may he come to ruin, while the gods SHAMAS and MARDUK rend him asunder; and may his name be trodden down.

ANNALS OF ASSURBANIPAL
Continued from vol. I
(TEXT OF CYLINDER B)
TRANSLATED BY
THE LATE GEORGE SMITH.

IN the texts now before the reader, the chief points of interest are the details of the reduction of the Phoenician monarchs and the close of the Elamite war. As is usual in these historical texts, the various copies repeat one another and only incidentally vary in their statements; when, however, these variations occur, they are frequently of importance. The annals of all the Assyrian monarchs have very much in common; border raids and internecine revolts, treachery and cruelty, make up the chief portions of them all. The conduct of Assurbanipal towards his brother Saulmugina, and the captives taken in battle, may be compared with that of Assurnazirpal in his chief campaigns, and not suffer by the comparison. It is {p.38} considerably to be regretted that the late learned translator was unable to revise his present text before his last fatal mission to Assyria; but, on the other hand, the Annals of Assurbanipal are perhaps the most complete of any of those of the Assyrian kings; and as they have been longest before the world of scholars are the least in need of revision.

W. R. C.

1 I am ASSURBANIPAL the great King, the powerful King,
2 King of nations, King of Assyria, King of the four regions;
3 proceeding from the body of ESARHADDON, King of nations, King of Assyria,
4 High Priest of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad;
5 grandson of SENNACHERIB King of nations, King of Assyria.
6 The great gods in their assembly a good account have heard,
7 and attentive ears have given;
8 and to all the inscribed tablets they caused my mind to attend.
9 In the assembly of the mighty, the renown of my name they magnified,
10 and enlarged (my) empire,
11 strength, renown, and powerful forces
12 they increased to me and countries disobedient
13 into my hand they gave. They strengthened me and
14 the Priests ......¹
15 the gifts of my fingers, the gods over .....
16 the temples of the great gods my lords .....
17 ....bi of gold ....
18 winged figures columns ....
_______
1 Lacunae.

19 in their gates I set up, Bit....¹
20 Bit-mas-masu, Bit-bilat-matati, Bit.....
21 like a great ....
22 lady of life ....
23 over ....

a my heart was bitter, and much afflicted,
b I gathered my powerful forces,
c which ASSUR and ISTAR had placed in my hands.
d For the restoration of, etc.

54 I restored and favoured him. The towers
55 which over against BABEL King of Tyre
56 I had raised, I pulled down ; on sea and land
57 all his roads which I had taken I opened;
58 his abundant tribute I received;
59-60 peacefully I returned to Nineveh the city of my dominion.
61 Kings in the midst of sea, and Kings dwelling in the lofty mountains
62 these my mighty deeds
63 saw, and feared my power.
64 YAKINLU King of Arvad,
65 MUGALLU King of Tubal,
66 who to the Kings my fathers were not submissive,
67 submitted to my yoke.
________
1 Lacunae.

68 The daughters proceeding from their bodies
69 and their great dowries,
70 for concubines to Nineveh
71 they brought, and kissed my feet.¹
72 Over MUGALLU great horses
73 the tribute of the country the sum I fixed upon him.
74 From YAKINLU King of Arvad
75 I took away his county, AZIBAHAL
76 ABIBAHAL, and ADONIBAHAL,
77 sons of YAKINLU, dwelling in the midst of the sea,
78 from the midst of the sea arose, and
79 with their numerous presents came and
80 kissed my feet.
81 AZIBAHAL gladly I received,
82 and to the kingdom of Arvad I appointed
83 ABIBAHAL and ADONIBAHAL²
84 costly clothing .....³ rings .......
85 in my presence .....
86 GYGES, King of Lydia,⁴
87 a district which is across the sea, a remote place
88 of which the Kings my fathers had not heard speak of its name
________
1 Sandasarmi, king of Cilicia, a confederate of Mugallus, paid tribute and rendered submission at the same time. This action terminated the long border war between Assyria and Asia Minor.
2 The Baalite influence of the Phenician religion is indicated by the names of the ten sons of Yakinlu, viz., Azibaal, Abibaal, Adonibaal, Sapadiiaa, Budibaal, .Baalyashub, Saaihanan, Baalmelek, Abimelek, and Ahimelek.
3 Lacunae.
4 All these events are narrated in Cylinder A, which was written later than either of the other texts. From these facts, and the statement that Miluhha (Ethiopia) revolted with Saulmugina (Cylinder A, col. IV, 1. 35), I judge that the revolt of Gyges and Psammitichus took place at the time of the general rising against Assyria, in which Saulmugina, the king's brother, was concerned. Smith's Assurbanipal, p. 78.

89 the account of my grand kingdom in a dream was related to him by ASSUR, the god my creator,
90 thus: The yoke ........¹
91 In remembrance (of that dream) the yoke of my kingdom he had taken. The day he
92 saw the dream his messenger he sent
93 to pray for my friendship, the Cimmerians, extreme rebels,
94 who feared not my fathers and me, and took not the yoke of my kingdom.

1 In the service of ASSUR and MERODACH my lords,
2 he took, and in fetters and chains he bound and
3 (with) his numerous presents he sent
4 to my presence (I saw the power of ASSUR his god).
5 (In my fourth) expedition to Karbat²
6 in Halehastu I went.
7 (TANDIA)³ their chief to the Kings my fathers
8 (had not been submissive to) the yoke, and the men dwelling in Karbat
9 (constantly) were carrying off the plunder of my country.
10 (In the service) of ASSUR, BEL, NEBO,
11 (Karbat I beseiged), I captured, I carried off its spoil.⁴
12 (TANDIA) their chief
13 (alive in hand I took, and) brought to Assyria;
________
1 Lacuna.
2 These events probably took place in the Dodecad, BC 660-648.
3 Variant Tandia.
4 This was one of the least of Assurbanipal's expeditions. Some copies claim the expedition as that of the kings, but there is no doubt, from the statement of K 2675, and Cylinder E, that an Assyrian general commanded. Karbat appears to have been situated on the mountains east of the Tigris, and between Assyria and Elam.

14 (the people) whom I had not carried off
15 (into the midst of) Egypt I caused to be taken.
16 (In my fifth expedition against) AHSERI
17 (King of Minni) I went.
18 ......¹ submit
19 ..... ti
20 .... Minni
21 ...... ASSUR
22 ..... and I had made ......
23 AHSERI, of the progress of (my) expedition (heard, and)
24 sent forth (his army)
25 in the middle of the night, secretly
26 to make war, they came
27 to fight my army.
28 My men of war, with them fought, and
29 accomplished their overthrow.
30 For a space of three kaspu of ground their slain filled the wide desert.²
31 By command of ASSUR, SIN, and SHAMAS, the great gods my lords
32 who protected me, into Minni I entered and
33 marched victoriously. In the progress of my expedition, Aiusias
34 the fortress, Pasa ..... su Pusut,
35 Asdias, Urkiyamun, Uppis, Sikhua,
36 and Naziniri, eight strong cities,
37 and smaller ones which were without number,
38 to the midst of Izirtu I captured,
39 I threw down, destroyed, and in the fire I burned.
40 People, horses, asses, oxen, and sheep,
________
1 Lacunae.
2 "In a space of twenty miles the battle-field was cumbered with the wrecks of the army of Ahsera, and the king fled to Izirtu, the capital of Minni." Smith, Hist. Assyria, p. 151.

41 from the midst of those cities
42 I brought out, and as a spoil I counted.
43 AHSERI of the progress of my expedition heard, and
44 abandoned Izirtu his royal city.
45 To Adrana, his castle, he fled,
46 and took refuge. Izirtu Urmiyate and
47 Uzbia his fortified cities, I surrounded,
48 the people dwelling in those cities
49 I beseiged, and their spirits I humbled, and caused to melt away.
50 That district I took, I threw down, destroyed, and in the fire I burned.
51 For 15 days' journey I laid waste, and the highlands
52 I conquered. In the progress of my expedition, the cities which were near Paddiri
53 which in the time of the Kings my fathers the Mannians had taken
54 and to their own (hands) had restored;
55 I captured. In the fire I burned and carried off their spoil.
56 Those cities to the boundaries of Assyria I restored.
57 The district of Arsiyanis
58 which bounded Azaqanani
59 of Harsi the mountain
60 which is at the top of Kumurda in the midst of Minni
61 I destroyed, and in the fire I burned, Raidisadi, commander of their fortresses I killed,
62 I carried off his spoil.
63 The district of Eristeyana
64 I captured, its cities I destroyed,
65 and in the fire I burned; I carried off its spoil.
66 By the shock of my army, that district I laid waste
67 I reduced the whole of his country.
68 With much plunder,

69 and numerous gifts, peacefully I returned,
70 and marched across the borders of Assyria.
71 Birua, Saruigbi,
72 Gusune, and Biruti,
73 cities near Assyria,
74 which in the time of the Kings my fathers
75 were captured by the Mannians,
76 those districts I took.
77 The Mannians from the midst I removed,
78 the horses and their instruments of war
79 I carried off to Assyria.
80 Those cities a second time I took,
81 and restored to the boundaries of Assyria.
82 AHSERI not fearing my power,
83 (the will) of ISHTAR delivered him into the hands of his servants.
84 The people of his country a revolt against him made, and
85 in front of his city his attendants threw his corpse.
86 Afterwards VAALLI¹ his son
87 sat on his throne.
88 The power of ASSUR, SIN, SHAMAS, BEL, NEBO,
89 ISTAR of Nineveh, ISTAR of Arbela, NINIP, NUSKU, NERGAL,
90 the great gods my lords, he saw; and
91 submitted to my yoke.
92 To preserve his life he offered his hand,
93 and submitted to my dominion.
94 ERISINNI his eldest son,
95 to Nineveh he sent, and kissed my feet.
96 Favour I granted him, and
97 my messenger for an alliance I sent to him.
98 The daughter proceeding from his body, he sent for a concubine.
________
1 Or Baali.

99 The former tribute, which in the time of the Kings my fathers
100 they had broken off; he sent to my presence.
101 Thirty horses beside the former tribute, I added and
102 fixed on him. In those days also, BIRIZ-HADRI a chief of Media

1 SARITI and PARIZA sons of Gog¹
2 a Chief of the Saka² who had thrown off the yoke of my dominion,
3 seventy-five of their strong cities I took, I carried off their spoil:
4 themselves alive, in hand I took,
5 and brought to Nineveh the city of my dominion
6 ILUDARIA Tartan³ of Lubdu,⁴
7 who to capture Ubbummi and Kullimmir,
8 descended and went in the night.
9 The people dwelling in Kullimmir,
10 tributaries, dependent on me;
11 in the middle of the night his numerous army slew,
12 and there was not left anyone.
13 The head of ILUDARIA they cut off, and
14 to Nineveh before me, they brought.
15 In my sixth expedition, against URTAKI, King of Elam
16 I went; who the benefits of the father my begetter disregarded,
17 and had not heeded the famine. When in Elam
________
1 Gog (Ga-a-gi) resembles the גלג of Ezekiel.
2 The Scythians.
3 Prefect.
4 The city of Lubdu, of which Iludaria was governor, revolted once before in the reign of Shalmaneser II, BC 820.

18 a drought took place, there was a famine.
19 Corn to preserve the lives of the people I sent him, and
20 took his hand. His people, who from the face of the drought
21 fled, and dwelt in Assyria,
22 until the rain in his country rained, and there were crops:
23 those people, who in my country were preserved, I sent to him and
24 the Elamite; who his invasion, with heart ....¹
25 (did not) regard his good. BELBASU the (Gambulian) ....
26 (NEBO)ZIKIRESSES the Tigenna tributaries (dependent on me)
27 (MERODACH-ZIKIR)-IBNI General of URTAKI (King of Elam)
28 (with them) had set his face; to make war on Akkad I
29 .... and had gathered .... Elam
30 ........
31 ... gathered
32 within it .... he set about fighting
33 .... I was alarmed
34 ...... he came and
35 .....
36 concerning the men of the desert and .....
37 he sent ...
38 to see the King of .....
39 my envoy I commanded, I sent, and
40 he went. He returned, and ....
41 this was confirmed, and
42 he repeated to me,
43 thus: The Elamites like a flight of locusts,
44 overspreading Akkad cover over against Babylon
_______
1 Lacunae.
2 King of the Gambuli.

45 the camp is fixed and fortifications are raised. To the end of
46 BEL and NEBO, my gods whom, I worshipped their divinity
47 my men of war I gathered, and I took the march.
48 The progress of my expedition he heard, and fear overwhelmed him, and
49 he returned to his country. After him I took (the road), his overthrow I accomplished,
50 and drove him to the frontier of his country.
51 URTAKI King of Elam, who had not heeded the famine;
52 in the day of his misfortune, death (desired)
53 In lamentation he beat ....¹
54 on the level ground, his feet .....¹
55 In that year, his life he destroyed ....¹
56 BELBASA the Gambulian
57 who had thrown off the yoke of my dominion,
58 hiding in concealment, he passed his life.
59 NEBOZIKIRESSES the Tigenna, not keeping the covenant,
60 was overthrown by the lords strong and mighty
61 MARUDUK-ZIKIR-IBNI his General, his adviser,
62 who, evil caused to happen to URTAKI:²
63 MERODACH King of the gods fixed on him his great fear.
64 For one year in presence of each other,
65 they passed their lives.
66 The heart of ASSUR vengeful, let them not rest and
67 did not spare them.
68 The mighty goddess who protected me,
69 the time of his kingdom ended, and
70 the dominion of Elam passed to another.
71 Afterwards TEUMMAN like an evil spirit
72 sat on the throne of URTAKI;
__________
1 Lacunae.
2 Urtakt disgusted with his utter defeat committed suicide.

73 to slay the sons of URTAKI,
74 and the sons of UMMANALDUS
75 the brother of URTAKI, he devised evil.
76 UMMANIGAS, UMMANAPPA and TAMMARIT,
77 sons of URTAKI King of Elam
78 KUDURRU and PARU, sons of UMMANALDAS,
79 the King preceding URTAKI,
80 and sixty of the seed royal, innumerable bowmen
81 and children begotten in Elam;
82 who from the face of the massacre of TEUMMAN their uncle
83 fled, and took the yoke of my kingdom.
84 In my seventh expedition against TEUMMAN
85 King of Elam I went;
86 who against UMMANIGAS, UMMANAPPA, and TAMMARITU,
87 sons of URTAKI, King of Elam,
88 KUDURRU and PARU, sons of
89 UMMANALDASI, brother of URTAKI,
90 King of Elam;
91 his great men sent for the surrender of
92 these men, who had fled and
93 taken my yoke. Their surrender I did not grant him.
94 Concerning the demands, by the hand of UMBADARA
95 and NEBODANIK he sent a month.

1 In the midst of Elam he set himself to work in gathering his army.
2 I trusted to ISTAR¹ who protects me.
__________
1 Istar was the favourite goddess of Assurbanipal. She appeared in a dream to a priest, as a winged figure, with a halo and a bow, which bow Assurbanipal mentions as having been given to him.

3 The demand of his vile mouth I did not accede to, I did not give him
4 those fugitives. TEUMMAN devised
5 evil; SIN devised against him
6 omens of evil; in the month Tammuz,¹ the darkness of the morning watch
7 he caused to retard the rising sun ; and like this also
8 three days he caused to retard; to the end that
9 the (King) of Elam shall be destroyed, his country
10 .....² this she selected in her power, which changeth not.³
11 In those days, before she received him,
12 her lips cursed, and her eyes flamed and
13 vengeance was fixed in her heart.
14 About these things which ASSUR and ISTAR
15 did to him, he knew not; he gathered his army.
16 In the month Ab,⁴ the month of the luminous Sagittarius,
17 in the festival of the mighty Queen the daughter of BEL;
18 to worship her greatly I sacrificed
19 in Arbela, the city the delight of her heart.
20 Of the invasion of the Elamite, who against the gods came;
21 they repeated word
22 thus: TEUMMAN even saith
23 Of ISTAR, they repeated the tenor of his words,
24 thus: I will not cease until I go
25 with him (to) make war.
26 Over this threat which TEUMMAN
27 had spoken; I prayed to the lofty ISTAR.
______
1 Tammuz (תמזן), June. Month of the warrior Ninip.
2 Lacuna.
3 Cf. Malachi iii. 6, "For I am the Lord, I change not."
4 Ab (אב), July.

28 I approached to her presence, I bowed under her,
29 her divinity I supplicated, and she came to save me.
30 Thus: Goddess of Arbela, I am ASSURBANIPAL King of Assyria
31 the work of thy hands ....¹ the father thy begetter,
32 to restore the temples of Assyria and adorn the cities of Akkad ....¹
33 I thy courts desire,² I go to worship ........
34 and he, TEUMMAN King of Elam, hater of the gods ...... to ......
35 O thou goddess of goddesses, terrible in battle, goddess in war, Queen of the gods ......
36 who in the presence of ASSUR the father thy begetter, speakest good in!
37 loved me ...........
38 to make glad the heart of ASSUR, and rejoice greatly MERODACH..... they ......
39 Of TEUMMAN King of Elam
40 who to ASSUR (King of the gods)
41 the father thy begetter ..........
a and to MERODACH thy good brother, his divinity .....
b and of me ASSURBANIPAL, who to rejoice the heart of ASSUR and .....
42 he gathered his army, and prepared for war,
43 he urges his fighting men to go to Assyria.
44 O thou archer of the gods like a weight
45 in the midst of battle throw him down and crush him; tear
46 .... My acceptable prayer ISTAR heard, and
47 Fear not, she said, she caused my heart to rejoice;
48 at the lifting up of thy hand which thou liftest, thine eyes shall be satisfied with the judgment
_______
1 Lacunae.
2 Cf. Psalm lxxxiv. 10, "a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.''

49 I will grant favour. In the midst of the night when I invoked her,
50 then a seer slept, and dreamed a
51 remarkable dream and during the night ISTAR spoke to him, and he
52 repeated it to me. Thus: ISTAR dwelling in Arbela,
53 entered, and right and left she was surrounded with glory
54 holding a bow in her hand,
55 projecting a powerful arrow on making war,
56-57 her countenance was set. She like a mother bearing, was in pain with thee
58 she brought thee forth. ISTAR exalted of the gods, appointeth thee a decree.
59 Thus: Carry off to make spoil,
60 the place before thee set, I will come to.
61 Thou shalt say to her thus: The place thou goest to
62 with thee I will go. The goddess of goddesses
63 she repeateth to thee thus: Thee I will guard.
64 Then I will rest in the place of the temple of NEBO,
65 eat food, drink wine,
66 music appoint, glorify my divinity,
67 until I go, and this message shall be accomplished.
68 I will cause thee to take the desire of thy heart¹
69 before thee he shall not stand, he shall not oppose thy feet.²
70 Do not regard thy skin. In the midst of battle,
71 in her beneficent generosity, she guards thee, and
72 overthrows all the unsubmissive.
73 Before her, a fire is blown (strongly);
74 to capture (thy) enemies .....³ to each other.
_________
1 Cf. Psalm xxxvii. 4.
2 See another translation of this text by Fox Talbot, in Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., vol. I, p. 2.
3 Lacuna.

75 Against TEUMMAN King of Elam
76 who was hateful before her, she appointed
77 in the month Elul,¹ the festival of ASSUR the great,
78 the month of SIN the luminary of heaven and earth, I trusted to the power of
79 HUR the bright, and the message of ISTAR my goddess who is unchanged;
80 I gathered my men of war, the fighting men who by command of ASSUR, SIN and ISTAR
81 were arranged in order of battle.
82 Against TEUMMAN King of Elam, the road I took, and
83 directed the march. In front of me, TEUMMAN King of Elam
84 ......² camp was placed. Of my royal entry,
85 in the midst of Duril he heard; and fear took hold of him. TEUMMAN feared, and
86 after him turned and entered into Shushan
87 ..... to save his life
88 ..... to the people of his country
89 .... his hand before him returned, and
90 ..... (he) sent to my presence.
91 The Ulai for himself he fortified
92 .... before my camp
93 .... MERODACH, the great gods my lords;
94-95 who protected me: in omens of a dream, had given a grand message.
96 In Tulliz his overthrow I accomplished;
97 with their corpses the Ulai I choked up
98 their wives, like bows and arrows,
99 filled the vicinity of Shushan.
100 The head of TEUMMAN King of Elam,
101 by command of ASSUR and MERODACH, the great gods
my lords before the assembly of (his) army (I cut off).
______
1 Elul (אלל), August. Month of Istar, mistress
2 Lacunae.

102 Terror of ASSUR and ISTAR, Elam
103 overwhelmed, and they submitted to my yoke.
104 UMMANIGAS who fled and
105 took my yoke, on his throne I seated.

1 TAMMARITU, his third brother,
2 in Hidalu to the kingdom, I appointed.
3 Chariots of war, horses and mules,
4 trained to the yoke instrument fashioned for war;
5 which in the service of ASSUR and ISHTAR, the great gods my lords,
6 near Shushan and the Ulai, my hands captured;
7 by command of ASSUR and the great gods my lords
8 from the midst of Elam, joyfully I brought out, and,
9 to all my army, for spoil they were given.
10 In my seventh expedition against DUNANU son of BELBASA
11 to Gambuli I went;
12 who to the King of Elam had trusted,
13 and did not submit to my yoke.
14 By my powerful attack Gambuli through its extent,
15 like a hailstorm I covered.
16 Sapibel its strong city;
17 which in the midst of the waters was situated, I captured.
18 DUNANU and his brothers from the midst of that city,
19 alive I brought out.
20 His wife, his sons, his daughters, his concubines
21 male musicians and female musicians, I brought out, and its spoil I counted.
22-23 Silver, gold, furniture, and musical instruments of his palace, I brought out, and as spoil I counted.

24 ...¹ standing before him ....
25 'I brought out, and as spoil I counted
26-27 .... all there was .... as spoil I counted.
28-29 MASSI the Officer of TEUMMAN (King of Elam);
30 who to aid (DANUNU)
31 dwelt within (Sapi)bel;
32 alive in (hand) I took,
33 with the Officers of DUNANU ....
34 That city I pulled down, destroyed (and into the waters I turned)
35 Until none were in the midst
36 that district I laid waste.
37 The passage of people, I cut off from over it
38 In the service of ASSUR, BEL, and NEBO, the great gods;
39 my enemies I rested from;
40 peacefully, I returned to Nineveh.
41 The head of TEUMMAN King of Elam,
42 round the neck of DUNANU I hung.
43-44 With the conquests of Elam and the spoil of Gambuli;
45 which by command of ASSUR, my hands had taken;
46 with musicians making music,
47 into Nineveh I entered with rejoicings.
48 UMBADARA and NEBODANIK,
49 great men of TEUMMAN King of Elam;
50 whom TEUMMAN by their hand sent
51 the threatening message, whom in my presence I confined,
52 and bound, until the fixing of my sentence:
53 the decapitated head of TEUMMAN their lord, in Nineveh
54 they saw, and another opinion took hold of them.
55 UMBADARA tore his beard,
______
1 Lacunae.

56 NEBODANIK with the steel sword of his girdle, pierced through his (own) body.
57 The decapitated head of TEUMMAN, in front of the great gate
58 situated in Nineveh; I raised on high.
59 By the power of ASSUR and ISTAR my lords the people reviled
60 the decapitated head of TEUMMAN King of Elam.
61 PALIA son of NEBOSAPAN, grandson of MERODACH BALADAN,
62 of whom from the face of the grandfather my begetter;
63 his father had fled to Elam;
64 from UMMANIGAS (whom) in Elam I had appointed to the kingdom;
65 PALIA son of NEBOSAPAN
66 he took, and sent to my presence.
67 DUNANU¹ and SAMGUNU
68 sons of BELBASA the Gambulian,
69 of whom their father against the Kings my fathers,
70 had made inroads; and they
71 opened the work of my kingdom;
72 within Assur and Arbela
73 to execute my judgment I brought them.
74 Of MANNUKIAHI ....... DUNANU
75 and NEBONZALLI, men who were over Gambuli
76 who against my gods uttered great curses
77 in Arbela their tongues I pulled out.
78 I flayed off their skin. DUNANU in Nineveh
79 over a furnace they placed him, and
80 consumed him entirely.
_________
1 Dunanu the Gambulian, captured in this war, was son of Belbasa, who assisted Urtaki, and grandson of a chief also named Dunanu. It is sometimes written Du-na-nu, and Bu-na-nu. Smith, Assurbanipal, p. 150.

81 The rest of the brothers of DUNANU
82 and PALIYA I threw down; his limbs I cut off,
83 and sent for the inspection, powerful country,
84 NABONIDAS and BELEDIR
85 sons of NABUZIKIRESSES Tigenna:
86 whose father their begetter, URTAKI brought
87 to fight with Akkad.
88 The attendants of NEBOZIKIRESSES who from the midst of Gambuli
89 I carried to Assyria:
90 those attendants in
91 front of the great gate in the midst of Nineveh;
92 I caused to crush his sons.
93 UMMANIGAS whom great benefits I had given him,
94 and appointed him the kingdom of Elam;
95 who the favour disregarded, and
96 did not keep the agreement and oath of the great gods.
97 From the hands of the messengers of SAULMUGINA¹

1 my younger brother, my enemy, he received a bribe:
2 His forces with them he sent
3 to fight my army,
4 my men of war, who in Ganduniyas
5 marched, and trampled on Chaldea.
6 Against my hand into UNDASI
7 son of TEUMMAN King of Elam,
8 and ZAZAZ Chief of Billate,
_________
1 Saulmugina was made viceroy king of Babylon by Esarhaddon, who however placed him in strict subordination to his brother Assurbanipal, whom he was directed to address not as "brother" but as "the king my lord."

9 PARU Chief of Hilmu,
10 ATTAMETU Commanders of the archers,
11 and NESU leader of the army of Elam,
12 to fight with the army of Assyria,
13 UMMANIGAS sent them and
14 appointed them a decree.
15 UMMANIGAS to UNDASI, even said,
16 thus: Go; against Assyria
17 revenge the slaying of the father thy begetter.
18 UNDASU, ZAZAZ, PARU
19 ATTAMITU and NESU
20 with the messengers of SAULMUGINA
21 my rebellious brother; took the road, and
22 directed the march.
23 My men of war, who in Ganduniyas
24 marched, and trampled (on Chaldea)
25 .......¹
26 ..... Elam
27 ....... ATTAMITU
28 ....... they cut off and
29 (brought to) my presence
30 ........... these
31 .... UMMANIGAS
32 .... he ceased and
33 ..... my will
34 ..... (ASSUR) BEL NEBO NERGAL
35 the (great) gods (my lords) a certain judgment
36 against UMMANIGAS, appointed me.
37 TAMMARITU against him revolted, and
38 him and part of his family, he destroyed with the sword.
39 TAMMARITU who over him triumphed
40 sat on the throne of Elam.
41 Like him also, a bribe he received;
_______
1 Lacunae.

42 he did not seek alliance with my kingdom.
43 To the help of SAULMUGINA
44 my younger brother he went, and
45 to fight my army he prepared his soldiers.
46 In prayer ASSUR and ISTAR I had prayed;
47 my supplication they received, and heard the words of my lips.
48 His servants against him revolted, and
49 each other they destroyed, to my evil
50 INDABIGAS his servant, who the revolt
51 against him made, sat on his throne.¹
52 TAMMARITU King of Elam,
53 who untruth had spoken,
54 concerning the decapitated head of TEUMMAN;
55 which he had cut off in sight of my army:
56 and his brothers his kin, the seed of his fathers house,
57 with 85 Princes of Elam, marching before him;
58 who from the face of the soldiers of ASSUR and ISTAR fled, and

69 .....²
70 TAMMARITU and part (of the seed of his father's house)
71 in my palace I placed (them).
72 INDABIGAS who after TAMMARITU,
73 sat on the throne of Elam;
74 the power of my servants saw.
75 Whom (from the first) I had caused to march over Elam.
76 The sons of ASSUR, whom I sent
77 to aid NEBOBELZIKRI
78 the son of MERODACH BALADAN who like an earth wall
79 guarding his country marched with him;
__________
1 Indabig-as was proclaimed king at Shushan, and defeated Tammaritu while his forces were preparing for war with Assurbanipal.
2 Lacuna.

80 whom NEBOBELZIKRI by treachery
81 had captured, and taken with him in a boat.
82 INDABIGAS King of Elam,
83 from the house of (his) fathers sent them.
84 When (their) capture I commanded, (he sent his) good messengers,
85 sorrowfully (from the) borders of his country.
86 By the hand of his envoy, (to make agreement) and alliance;
87 he sent to my presence.

88 About NEBOBELZIKRI¹ son of MERODACH BALADAN
89 tributary dependant on me;
90 who fled and went to Elam:
91 and the rest of the sons of ASSUR,
92 whom NEBOBELZIKRI by treachery,
93 had captured, and with him.
94 By the hand of his envoy to INDABIGAS
95 even I sent to him also,
96 If these men thou dost not send,
97 thus: I will march; thy cities I will destroy;
98 the people of Shushan, Madaktu and Hidalu I will earn-off;
99 from thy royal throne I will hurl thee; and
100 another on thy throne I will seat.
101 As, formerly TEUMMAN I crushed;
_______
1 Nebobelzikri is called in some copies the son, and in others the grandson of Merodach Baladan; the latter is probably the most correct relationship. He was probably the son of Nahid-maruduk, a younger son of Merodach Baladan, who was king of Chaldea in the time of Ksar-haddon. Smith, Assurbanipal, p. 203.

102 I will cause to destroy thee, (this is) to thee.
103 He, his envoy before him did not come,
104 did (not) repeat to him the fixing of my will.
105 (In) the service of ASSUR, SIN, SAMAS, BEL, NEBO,
106 (ISTAR of) Nineveh ISTAR of Arbela, NINIP, NUSKU, and NERGAL,
107 who march before me, and destroy my enemies;
108 (of the journey) of my envoy, whom to Diri I had sent;
109 (they) heard in Elam. The fear of my kingdom,
110 (which was) preserved to me by the great gods;
111 Elam overwhelmed, and
112 (and country against) INDABIGAS revolted,
113 and they destroyed him with the sword,
114 UMMANALDASI son of ATTAMITU,
115 sat on the throne.

88 YAUTAH son of HAZAEL
89 King of Kedar, made submission to me;
90 for his gods which the father my begetter had carried off, he prayed me, and
91 submitted to my kingdom.
92 The names of the great gods I made him swear by, and
93 Adarsamain I restored and gave him.
94 Afterwards against my agreement he sinned, and
95 benefits did not regard, and threw off the yoke of my dominion.
96 To seek my alliance his feet broke off, and
97 he discontinued the presents.

98 The people of Arabia with him he caused to revolt, and
99 carried away the plunder of Syria.
100 My army which on the border of his country was stationed,
101 I sent against him;

1 his overthrow they accomplished. The people of Arabia
2 all who came they destroyed with the sword,
3 the tents, the pavilions, their dwellings,
4 a fire they raised and gave to the flames.
5 Oxen, sheep, asses, camels,
6 and men they carried off without number.
7 The sweeping of all the country, through its extent
8 they collected through the whole of it.
9 Camels like sheep I distributed,
10 and caused to overflow to the people of Arabia
11 dwelling in my country. A camel for half a shekel in half shekels of
12 silver they valued in front of the gate
13 the spoil in the sale of captives among ....¹ the strong
14 gathered in droves, they bartered
15 camels and men
16 ..... the Arabians who from the face of my soldiers
17 fled; NINIP the warrior destroyed.
18 In want (and famine) their (life) was passed and
19 for their food they ate the flesh of their children
20 .....
21 ISTAR of Nineveh
_______
1 Lacunae.

22 YAUTAH misfortune happened to him, and
23 alone he fled to Nabatea,
24 ABIYATEH son of TEHERI,
25 to Nineveh came and kissed my feet.
26 An agreement to make submission to me with him I make;
27 instead of YAUTAH or any one, I appointed him to the kingdom.
28 Gold, eyes of Pi stone guhlu camels and
29 stallion asses, tribute for every year
30 I fixed upon him.
31 AMMULADIN King of Kedar, who like him also
32 revolted and carried away the plunder of the Kings of Syria;
33 in the service of ASSUR, SIN, SHAMAS, VUL, BEL, NEBO,
34 ISTAR of Nineveh the divine Queen of Kitmuri,
35 ISTAR of Arbela,¹ NINIP, NERGAL, NUSKU,
36 by the power of (my) name (which) ASSUR had magnified,
37 KAMAZHALTA King of Moab,
38 a tributary dependant on me,
39 in the battle-field accomplished his overthrow.
40 AMMULADIN and the rest of his people,
41 who from the face of ....²
42 he captured in hand.
43 His hands and feet in bonds of iron he placed, and
44 to Nineveh to my presence he sent.
45 NATHAN King of Nabatea,
46 whose place is remote,
47 heard of the power of ASSUR and MERODACH, who protect me
_______
1 Another "Istar" is sometimes met with in the inscriptions, viz., "Istar of Erech" (Uruk).
2 Lacuna.

48 who in times past to the Kings my fathers
49 his envoy did not send
50 and did not seek alliance with their kingdom.
51 Again to me his envoy for alliance
52 he sent; and kissed my feet.
53 To establish agreement and alliance, and make submission to me,
54 he submitted to my dominion.
55 I gladly received him, and
56 before me favours on him conferred
57 taxes and tribute for every year I fixed upon him.

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PERSIAN MONARCHS
(Corpus Inscriptionum Persicarum)
TRANSLATED BY
PROF. DR. JULIUS OPPERT.

THIS paper includes the translation of all the texts written by the Achaemenidae, except the most important of all, the Behistun Inscription, of which translations have already been given in the Records of the Past, vols. I. and VII.

The Persian texts have often been edited. Following the preparatory labours of Grotefend, Rask, Beer, Jacquet, the documents have been explained by MM. Burnouf, Lassen, Sir H. Rawlinson, Benfey, Spiegel, Kossowicz, and myself.

The Median versions appeared afterwards in the works of MM. Westergaard, De Saulcy, Holtzmann, Norris, and Mordtmann, and the present translator is preparing just now a new edition of the second kind of trilingual documents, together with a Grammar, Dictionary, and commentary.

The Assyrian translations have been examined by MM. De Saulcy, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Schrader, and by the author in the second volume of the Expedition en Mesopotamie.

A great many very useful remarks have been suggested, especially on the Persian texts, by Holtzmann, Hincks, Bollensen, de Lagarde, Kern, and others. Moreover, some popular works have been issued by several second hand writers, not from the original Persian documents, but from modern European translations.

Unfortunately, until the present time, a great many passages have been entirely misunderstood. I now present to the readers of the Records a completely amended edition, increased by some new texts of great importance. As my efforts have been directed not only to one single portion of the trilingual literature, but equally and simultaneously to, all parts of them, I have been enabled to decide with greater exactness the sense of very important passages. Dies diem docet: it has only been possible by uninterrupted research to recognise even many errors in our own former versions, although they were generally accepted, and to point out the true meanings which, by their very simplicity will impose themselves to the reader.

1. Text of Marrhasion,¹ near the tomb of Cassandane, the wife of Cyrus. Persian, Median, Assyrian. I am CYRUS, the King, the Achgemenian.
2. Legend on Babylonian bricks. Assyrian.² CYRUS, King of Babylon, Priest of the pyramid (E-saggatu), and of the tower (E-zida], son of CAMBYSES; the mighty Prince, I.
_________
1 Murghab. It is impossible that Murghab was Pasargada, which was situated on the river Cyrus, in the south-east of Persia. Persepolis is situated on the Araxes, and on the same river is Murghab. (See Journal Asiatique, 1872.) The monument, which some Europeans styled erroneously "Tomb of Cyrus," is reputed by the Eastern inhabitants to be that of the mother of Solomon. At any rate, it cannot possibly be any other than a female's sepulchre. I have already examined this point of view in Records of the Past, vol. VII., p. 89.
2 This brick is, I believe, the only one existing from a Persian monarch; nevertheless, it is highly important. It proves that Herodotus (1. 107, 122) is right in calling the name of Cyrus' father Cambyses, as thus was afterwards also the name of his successor. This document states equally that the former Cambyses was not a king, but merely a private person, as we are told by the Father of History.
The brick has been brought over to England by Loftus, and explained by Sir H. Rawlinson; it has been published in the Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., vol. II, p. 148.
The end of the first line is nil-it, not lanu as the late George Smith read it.

Says DARIUS the King: This is what I did since, until to my twelfth¹ year after I became King. There is a country named (Ah)vaza in Susiana, it became rebellious against me. A man named (UM)MAIMA, a Susian, they made him their Chief. Then I sent an army to Susiana; GOBRYAS, a Persian, my slave, I appointed him as their Commander. Then this GOBRYAS marched against Susiana, and fought a battle with those rebels. Then my army captured this UMMAIMA, and his property, and his .....² and he was led before me (and I held him prisoner in my palace); then the land (became mine). Afterwards in a city in Susiana, named .....³ there I hanged him on the cross.
Says DARIUS the King: Then the land was mine, and the other lands which ORMAZD has given into my hand. I conquered them by the grace of ORMAZD; what was my will thus I did to them.
Says DARIUS the King: Thou who wilt peruse this tablet, mayest thou (have a share of the faith) and of the life.
Says DARIUS the King: Afterwards the Sacians revolted against me; I marched against (the Amyrgian Sacians), and those who bear a pointed (helmet),⁴ and who (occupy the northern sea), and I marched on the sea. There is a land
_______
1 This is the only number which might be supported by the defaced text.
2 marda; unintelligible.
3 The name is defaced. The words within parentheses replace the lacunae of the mutilated document.
4 This very interesting passage is an explanation of the word Tigra-khauda of the funeral text. It is to be read [tyaiy khauduin] tigram barantiy.

named .....¹ there we crossed the sea with a ......² I fought a battle against the Sacians, I killed the one, I captured the other, by the grace of ORMAZD. They were led before me, and (kept fettered in my court). Afterwards I captured their Chief, who was named SKUNKHA, and I killed him. There is (a fortress, named .....³ there) I appointed another Chief, as was my will. Afterwards the land was mine.
Says DARIUS the King: ..... not ORMAZD ..... I made.
Says DARIUS the King: The man who adores ORMAZD, (will be participator) of the life, and of .....⁴

___________
1 The name is defaced. The words within parentheses replace the lacunae of the mutilated documents.
2 With a piça; unknown word, perhaps to be read thriça, three.
3 Lacunae.
4 This last part of the Behistun text was published by Sir Henry Rawlinson, and translated by him as by all his successors. The new version I propose to the readers of the Records is more complete than the previously made one. I believe to have succeeded in filling up the gaps which rendered every line almost unintelligible.
I suppose the mention of the "twelfth year " in the du which commences the third line; the word must be an ordinal number.
The city referred to in Susiana may be the modern Ahvaz, which has nothing to do with Uvaza, the modern Khuz; the name of the rebel is completed very doubtfully (Um)maima.
The expedition against the Sacians had for its object to subdue Skunkha, the portrait of whom is to be seen in the Behistun sculptures: he bears a pointed bonnet (khaudam tigram), he is a Sacian Tigrakhauda. (See below, at the Naksh-i-Rustam text.)
The sea in question seems to be the Caspian or the Aral Sea; it is crossed by Darius, but by the peculiar means of piça, an unknown kind of shipping, moreover, a very doubtful word.
The text is very mutilated; every victory was closed with a prayer; it is therefore possible that the end of the document mentioned some further expeditions of the Persian monarch.
The text exists neither in the Median nor in the Assyrian versions; it has therefore not been given at the end of the Median text of Behistun.

1. Door inscription of the palace. Persian, Median, Assyrian.
DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands, the son of HYSTASPES, the Achsemenian, he has built this palace (tacaram).¹
2. Text on the South-west corner. (I of Lassen²) Persian.
I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands which are numerous, the son of HYSTASPES, the Achsemenian.
DARIUS the King says: By the grace of ORMAZD, these are the lands which I possessed with the aid of the Persian people; they feared me and brought tribute to me.
Susiana³ (Uvazd), Media, Babylon, Arabia, Assyria,
_________
1 The word ta.ca.ram is translated by the word lit, "house," in Assyrian; it seems to signify a state-house, in opposition to the "dwelling-house," hadis.
2 I have united in one text the two Persian documents named I and H of Lassen. The Persian inscriptions have been resumed in the two versions in a different manner; the Median, notwithstanding, allows to suggest the opinion that there existed still a third Persian text, which may have been lost.
3 The list of provinces indicates a state of the Persian empire posterior to that of the Behistun inscriptions, but previous to the documents of Naksh-i-Rustam. In the first instance, we find the curious name Hwdus, India, and the name of Gandara, the Gandarians mentioned in the Assyrian text of Behistun, Paruparanisanna, the Paropamisus of the Greeks, it is the modern Kandahar. The Maka, already mentioned in the Behistun text, seem to be referred to the inhabitants of the Mekran, the Arabian Chersonesus, extending itself opposite to the strait of Ormus.

{p.71} Egypt, Armenia, Cappadocia, Lycia (Saparda), the Ionians, those of the continent, and those of the sea. And the Eastern lands: Sagartia, Parthia, Sarangia, Aria (Haraiva), Bactria, Sogdiana, Chorasmia, Sattagydia, Arachotis, India, Gandaria, the Sacians, Maka.
DARIUS the King says:¹ If thou say: It may be so, I shall not fear the Other (Ahriman). Protect the Persian people. If the Persian people is protected (by thee, ORMAZD), the Good Principle,² which has always destroyed the Daemon, will descend as Ruleress (ahura) on this house.
________
1 This clause has been entirely misunderstood, and nevertheless it may be one of the most startling interest. This text affords to us the only notion of Ahriman in the inscriptions. The name of the evil demon was known by the Persians; as it has been preserved in the Zend books. Aristotle, in his lost book on The Philosophers, stated, according to Diogenes Laertius (Prooem. 6), that the Zoroastrians knew two principles, the good and the evil daemon, the first was Zeus or Oromasdes, the second Hades or Areimanios. This must be the Persian Ahriyamaniyus, modern Persian Ahriman. This evil daemon is named in the Persian text Aniya, "the Other;" it is not the enemy generally spoken of, as all previous interpreters explained it.
The last clause of text I is a prayer to Ormazd, to whom applies the second person: hitherto it was believed to be an address to the reader. Ormazd is implored for protection against the Duvaisant, "the Hater," that is Ahriman, the Zend tbaesat, whom the good principle (Siyatis) has destroyed. This phrase,

has been cruelly misunderstood, as well by the author, as by all his collaborators.
2 The word siyatis is the Zend shaiti, the person shad, which signifies now "good, joy," but which refers also to events, that, although a blessing, are not rejoicing in the beginning. The siyatis is the emanation of Ormazd, who has given it to the man. The Assyrian version translates the word siyatis by dumqu, "joy, blessing," and the Median one does not render it at all, but transcribes it only, as an official religious term which had no equivalent in the Median language. As the ancient Medes were not Mazdaeans, the notion of the Good Principle was not represented in their tongue.

The great ORMAZD, who is the greatest of gods, has instated DARIUS as a King; he has given to him the royalty. By the grace of ORMAZD, DARIUS is King.
DARIUS the King says: This Persian land, which ORMAZD granted to me, is noble, rich in horses and men. By the grace of ORMAZD and of me, King DARIUS, it does not fear from the Other (Ahriman).
DARIUS the King says: May ORMAZD bring help to me, with all the gods. And may ORMAZD protect this land from devastation,¹ from scarcity, from lie. May the Other not invade this country, nor devastation, nor scarcity, nor lie.
This is the prayer² which I address to ORMAZD with all gods. This may ORMAZD grant to me with all gods.

The two texts, I and H, seem to form only one. The inscription H commences at the words, "The great Ormazd." The document is of the highest importance for the history of Mazdean religion, as this is the only inscription where Ahriman, the evil spirit, is alluded to; he is named the Hater (duvaisattt, Zend tbaesat], or with a euphemism, the Other (Aniya).
___________
1 Ormazd is applied to for protection against devastation (haina), scarcity (dusiyara), and impious lie (drauga). These three things are brought into the land by the "Other," and therefore the words are repeated in the clause. Formerly aniya has been interpreted by "enemy," and the passage was translated, "May an enemy not invade this country, neither devastation, nor scarcity, nor lie." But Ormazd is not requested to repel an enemy, as it ought to be if the word aniya, other, had here or even elsewhere in any Persian texts the sense of "enemy." Aniya never means "enemy."
2 The word "pray" is expressed by xandiyamiy, from whence is derived the word iandi "prayer," the origin of rend. Zoroaster brought the Avesta (Abasia) and the Zend (Zandi), the Law and the Prayer.

The two following documents which accompany this Persian text do not furnish the same prayer.

3. Text of the same place. Median.¹
I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands, the King of this wide earth, the son of HYSTASPES, the Achaemenian.
And DARIUS the King says: Over this spot I have founded a fortress; formerly a fortress has not been founded there. By the grace of ORMAZD, I founded this fortress. And thus was the will of ORMAZD, with all gods, that I founded this fortress. And I founded it, and I founded it strong, and beautiful, and complete, as it has been my will.
And DARIUS the King says: ORMAZD may protect me, with all the gods, me and also this fortress, and again all which is contained in this place. May I not see that which the wicked man would desire.
4. Text of the same place. Assyrian.²
__________
1 The Median text has been already translated by Westergaard, De Saulcy, and Norris, except some passages which have been made out but lately. As we have suggested, it is possible that a Persian text existed of this inscription, although the Median text is placed near the Persian H and I. May we be justified, on the contrary, to believe that the exclusive Mazdean character of the Persian was supposed not to be fit for non-Arian readers? The answer could be affirmative. The last clause hitherto unexplained, runs thus:

2 The Assyrian text which accompanies the Median has been translated formerly by De Saulcy and by myself. It does replace the enumeration of the geographical names by four general categories, "on this side and beyond the sea," "on this side and beyond the desert." The desert (sumamit) seems to be the great Persian, not the Arabian one. The style of the Assyrian text does not support the existence of a Persian equivalent document. The general sense of it is rather adapted to Semitic readers.

The great ORMAZD, who is the greatest among all the gods, is he who created the heaven and created the earth, who created the men, and who gave the Good Principle to the men among all the other living creatures, and who made DARIUS King, and gave to DARIUS the King the royalty over this wide earth, which contains many lands, Persia and Media, and other lands and other tongues, on the mountains and in the plains of this side of the sea, and on the side beyond the sea, of this side of the desert and on the side beyond the desert.
DARIUS the King says: These are the lands who did this and who were assembled here: Persia and Media and the other lands and the other tongues, of the mountains and of the plains, on this side of the sea and on the side beyond the sea, on this side of the desert and on the side beyond the desert. What I ordered they did. All I did, I did it by the grace of ORMAZD. May ORMAZD protect me, with all the gods, me and what I have made.
5. Inscription of the windows. Persian, Median, Assyrian. Vaulted hall made in the house of DARIUS, the King.¹
________
1 This little text, containing some architectonic terms, is very difficult, and the Median and Assyrian versions afford light only on some points; namely, the end must be translated, "in the house of King Darius." This first word, ardaftana, is transcribed in Median, and explained by the Assyrian kulur remu; kubur (occurring often in Sargon's inscription) signifies "hall," and remu is the column. The word ardaftana, literally "lofty space," is to be translated by "colonnade." The second word is in Assyrian, galala "vaulted," and rendered in Median by an ideogram, Har (Monogr.) inna, "of the Hars." The Persian athangaina, adjective of athaiiga, may be the modern dhang "vault," "arched edifice." This seems to me to be the most acceptable explanation of this difficult legend.

6. Funeral inscription of Darius at Naksh-i-Rustam. Persian, Median, Assyrian.¹
A great god is ORMAZD who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who made DARIUS King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor² of many Emperors.
I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where all languages are spoken, the King of this wide earth, afar and near, the son of HYSTASPES, the Achsemenian, Persian son of Persian, Arian³ of Arian offspring.
DARIUS the King says: By the grace of ORMAZD, I hold these lands, besides Persia. I ruled over them, they brought tribute to me, that which was ordered by me to them, that was executed: Media, Susiana (Uvaza), Parthia, Aria, Bactria, Sogdiana, Chorasmia, Sarangia, Arachotis, Sattagydia, Gandaria, India,
________
1 The inscriptions engraved at the tomb of Darius at Naksh-i-Rustam are of the greatest interest; unfortunately one of the large documents is hitherto entirely unknown to us. The Persian text, copied by Westergaard, as have been all the others, was first published by Hitzig, Benfey, Rawlinson, and, after an unsuccessful attempt made by me in 1852, entirely restored in 1856, in the Zeitschrift of the German Oriental Society, and in my Expedition en Mesopotamie, 1858. This my restoration has been adopted by Mr. Fox Talbot in 1862, and in his amended translation in the fifth volume of the Records of the Past. Since that time several corrections have been introduced by me, and I presently lay them before the reader. The Median text, published formerly by MM. Westergaard, De Saulcy, Holtzmann, Mordtmann, and Norris, requires many emendations, which will soon appear in a special work.
2 The word framataram, "emperor," is rendered in Median by another transcribed Persian word, denimdattira, Persian dainimdataram, "the river of law." The word daini, Zend daena, modern den, is only preserved in the Median transcriptions.
3 The words, "Arian offspring of Arian," are omitted in the Assyrian text, addressed exclusively to Semitic readers.

{p.76} the Amyrgian Sacians,¹ the pointed helmets bearing Sacians (Ttgrakhauda), Babylon, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, Cappadocia, Lycia (Saparda), Ionia, the Sacians beyond the (Black) Sea, the Scudra, the hair-tail bearing Ionians,² the Put, the Kus, the Maxyans, Karka (Carthage).
DARIUS the King says: When ORMAZD saw this earth, revolting and enemy each to another,³ then he entrusted it to me. He made me King: I am King. By the grace of ORMAZD, I re-instated it in its right place. That which was ordered by me, that was done as it was my will. If thou sayest: "How diverse are the people which DARIUS maintained," look on the images of those who bear my throne,⁴
_________
1 The list of the nations is of great importance; it was executed after the first expedition of Darius to the Greek nations, after BC 496, for many Hellenic nations are enumerated as subdued to the Persian power. The Amyrgian Sacians are mentioned by Herodotus (VII 64); they are named in Persian Haumavarga (perhaps, who drink the Haoma leaves), and the other Sacians are the Tigrakhauda, the pointed helmet bearing Sacians. The helmet, khauda, modern Persian khud, Zend khaoda, is expressed by the Greek κύρβασις (Her. 1. s.), and this very word is found again in the Assyrian version, karbalti for karlasti.
2 "The hair-tail bearing Ionians" (takabara) are the Eretrians, and the taka points out the Eubcean queue. The Skudra seems to be the mount Scodrus in Thracia, and the Putiya, Kusiya are clearly the Put and Cush
of the Bible. The Manya may be the Libyan Mashuash, and since 1847 I suggested that Karka may be translated by Carthage.
3 There is a line wanting in the Persian text; the gap is made evident by the versions. We must read thus:
1.32. Auramazda yatha avaina imam bumim yauda-
         Oromazes quando vidit istam terram, dimi-
1.32a. [namca vifpatasca aniyaisam hainain]
          catio (erat) undique alterorum excidium;
1.33. paçävadim manä fräbara
         postea earn mihi commisit.
4 All the difficult passages of this clause have been pointed out by me in 1856. The throne of Darius on the sculptured rock is supported by the representatives of all the nations. The word arstis, "lance," of which one letter is wanting, has given the clue to all the passage.

{p.77} and them wilt recognise them. Then it will be evident to thee, that the Persian man's spear reached afar, then it will be evident to thee, that the Persian man sought war far from his land Persia.
DARIUS the King says: All what I have done, I made it by the grace of ORMAZD. ORMAZD brought help to me, until I had performed the work. May ORMAZD protect me from evil, me and my house and my land. That is what I implore from ORMAZD, that is what ORMAZD may grant to me.
man,¹ the law which ORMAZD (has given), may it not seem contemptible to thee. Do not leave the right path, do not sin.
7. Testament of Darius at his tomb at Naksh-i-Rustam. Persian, Median, Assyrian. A great god is ORMAZD, who has created the great law of ORMAZD, who has created the Good Principle, which by the right and the customs has ruled over DARIUS the king.
DARIUS the King says; By the grace of ORMAZD, the work ....

________
1 This last address to the reader of the text is very interesting, but has been made out only lately. The great obstacle resulted from the three Persian forms thafaya (read erroneously thadaya), avarada, and qlrava. As the two last are clearly the second persons for averadas and atravas, the first was also supposed to be the same form, and from thence arose an inextricable difficulty to construct the phrase. The word thacaya is the third person for thacayat, and the phrase runs thus:

It is a great pity that this text, perhaps the most important of all in respect of religion, has never been sufficiently examined. The document is more extensive than the preceding one, under which it is engraved.
8. Detached texts over the figures at the tomb of Darius.¹
a. Over the image of Gobryas.² This is GOBRYAS, the Patischorian, the lance-bearer of King DARIUS.
b. Over the image of Aspathines. This is ASPATHINES, the guardian of arrows, the quiver-bearer.
c. Over the image of the Maxyans. These are the Maxyans.

9. Inscription of Darius.
________
1 These texts have been copied by Tasker; they are engraved over three images only, but it is very probable that all the sculptured figures had once or have still explanatory legends.
2 The portrait of Gobryas is that of one of the seven conjurers against the Magian; Aspathines is mentioned by Herodotus as having been another. In this point the Persian authority of Herodotus had misled him: but even this confusion of Ardymanes and Aspathines proves that the Father of History consulted authentical sources; for Aspathines must actually have been in great honour at Darius' court.
It is reported in the fragments of Ctesias, that the tomb of Darius was sculptured in the life-time of the father of Darius Hystaspes, and that this latter, and his wife, lost their lives in inspecting the sculptures of Naksh-i-Rustam.
3 This text was first explained by Burnouf, in one of the earliest works on Cuneiform inscriptions.

A great god is ORMAZD, who has created this earth, who has created this heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who has made DARIUS King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this great earth, afar and near, son of HYSTASPES, Achaemenian.

10. Text of a column. I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands, the King of this great earth, son of HYSTASPES, Achaemenian.
11. Text of the hall. I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands, the King of this great earth, son of HYSTASPES, Achaemenian.
DARIUS the King says : By the will of ORMAZD I have built this palace (apaddnain).¹

12. Persian, Median, Assyrian, Egyptian.
a. Cartouch: DARIUS.
________
1 The texts of Susa are very mutilated; they have been made known by Loftus. The term apadanam, the Hebrew appeden, seems to indicate a special kind of palace; we shall find it afterwards again in the Susian Artaxerxes documents.

b. At the image of Darius.
DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands, the King of this wide earth, son of HYSTASPES, Achaemenian.
c. Principal text.
A great god is ORMAZD, who has created that heaven, who has created this earth, who has created the man, who has given the Good Principle to the man, who has made DARIUS King, who has committed to King DARIUS this kingdom, great, rich in horses, rich in men.
I am DARIUS, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this great earth, afar and near, the son of HYSTASPES, the Achaemenian.
DARIUS the King says: I am Persian, with the aid of Persia I conquered Egypt. I ordered this canal to be dug, from the river named Pirava (Nile)¹ which flows in Egypt, until the sea which is in communication with Persia. Then this canal was dug here as I ordered it. But I said thus:²
_________
1 The river Pirava is the Nile, year in Hebrew, yauru in Assyrian, with the Egyptian article pi.
2 We know by the Greek authors that Darius was prevented from his purpose by the counsels of the Persian engineers, who were in great anxiety about the danger of inundating Egypt. They believed, and the modern engineers held that error also, that the level of the Mediterranean Sea was lower than that of the Arabian Gulf. Therefore Darius ordered to destroy the half of the canal already dug. The name of Bira is restored from the Egyptian fragments.
The text contains clearly the claim of Darius to a conquest of Egypt. Mudrayam agarlayam, and not daraydmiy, I hold. The expedition of Cambyses is mentioned in the very Behistun document, but there is also a hint of a revolt of Egypt happening after the accession of Darius. This defection was quite unknown to us, as the Greek writers do not mention it; Darius may possibly have considered the repression of this rebellion as a real conquest. See the remark to the Median text of Behistun, where the only notice of the Egyptian revolt has been preserved, Records of the Past, Vol. VII, p. 9.

Now go, and destroy the half of the canal, from the town of Bira until the sea, because thus is my will.

This curious monument, first edited by myself in the Rapports de l'Egypte et de l'Assyrie, p. 125, has been destroyed by the workmen of the Suez Canal. It contained on one side the three Cuneiform inscriptions, on the reverse a hieroglyphic text, of which some fragments remain. But the greatest part of the Median is lost, and the Assyrian is entirely annihilated, except three or four letters. The Persian text has been restored by me, according to the photographs of casts and bits, sent over to me by Mariette-Bey, after six months' labour.

1. Inscription D of the staircase.
A great god is ORMAZD, who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who has made XERXES King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am XERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this wide earth, afar and near, the son of King DARIUS, the Achaemenian.
XERXES, the great King, says: By the grace of ORMAZD I made this portal with the representations of all lands {p.82} (vifodakyu),¹ Many other beautiful things have been made in this Persepolis, which I made and which my father made. All these works which look beautiful, all this we have made it by the grace of ORMAZD.
XERXES, the great King, says: May ORMAZD protect me, and my empire, and my work, and my father's work, may ORMAZD protect it all.
2. Inscription of the columns (A).
A great god is ORMAZD, who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who has made XERXES King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am XERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this wide earth, the son of King DARIUS, the Achaemenian.
XERXES, the great King, says: What I made here, and what I made besides this, all that I made it by the grace of ORMAZD. May ORMAZD with the gods protect me. and my empire, and my work.
3. Inscription C.
XERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, son of King DARIUS, the Achaemenian.
4. Inscription E a. Persian, Median, Assyrian.
________
1 The staircase is a viçadahyus, transcribed in both versions. It may be a monumental entrance where all lands are represented, or merely an entrance for all the lands, that is, a public staircase.
The texts of Xerxes are very uniform, and not very important; the real resulting fact is the name of the king, Khsayārsa, which proves to be identical with the Ahasuerus of Holy Scripture. See the author's Commentaire sur le livre d'Esther, p. 4.

A great god is ORMAZD, who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who has made XERXES King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am XERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the land where many languages are spoken, the King of this wide earth, afar and near, the son of King DARIUS, Achsemenian.
XERXES, the great King, says: By the grace of ORMAZD I built this dwelling (hadis). May ORMAZD protect me with the gods, and my empire, and my work.
5. Text E b. Exactly the same words.
6 and 7. Texts of C a and C b.
A great god is ORMAZD, who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given the Good Principle to the man, who has made XERXES King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am XERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this wide earth, afar and near, the son of King DARIUS, the Achaemenian.
XERXES, the great King, says: By the grace of ORMAZD the King DARIUS, who was my father, built this dwelling. May ORMAZD, with the gods, protect me, and my work, and the work of my father, King DARIUS: may ORMAZD protect all that.
8. Legends of vases found in Egypt, at Susa and {p.84} Halicarnassus.¹ Inscription quadrilingual: Persian, Median, Assyrian, Egyptian.
XERXES, the great King.
9. Inscription of Elvend. (Repeating, in the three languages, the two first passages of the following texts.)
10. Inscription of Van. Persian, Median, Assyrian.
A great god is ORMAZD, who is the greatest of gods, who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who has made DARIUS King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am XERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this wide earth, afar and near, the son of King DARIUS, the Achaemenian.
XERXES the (great) King says: King DARIUS, my father, has accomplished many beautiful works; and he ordered this stele to be cut in the rock, but he did not write an inscription. Afterwards I ordered to write this inscription. May ORMAZD protect me and my empire and my work.

Of this monarch there is only existing a fragment of an Assyrian translation, found by Lottin de Laval.
___________
1 This vase is now in the gold room of the British Museum.

A great god is ORMAZD, who created this heaven, who created this earth, who created the man, who gave the Good Principle to the man, who made ARTAXERXES King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
I am ARTAXERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands where many languages are spoken, the King of this earth wide and near, son of King XERXES, grandson of King DARIUS, the Achsemenian.
ARTAXERXES the King says: By the grace of ORMAZD, I finished this palace which my father commenced. May ORMAZD protect me, and my work, and my empire, and my land.

I. Text of the bases of the columns, in two copies. Persian, Median, Assyrian.
Says ARTAXERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the land, the King of this wide earth, the son of
________
1 The texts of Artaxerxes Mnemon are much more important; they are all due to Loftus' excavations at Susa. The text of the columns in two copies is of a very high value; it affords the only new historical statement in all texts, except the Behistun document. We learn that the palace of Susa was burnt under the reign of Artaxerxes I, and restored only by his grandson. During this time, the Persian monarchs resided principally at Babylon, and Darius II died there.
The great importance of the Artaxerxes texts results from their giving the genealogy of the Achaemenida, and in confirming the statements transmitted to us by the Greeks, which are in direct contradiction with the traditions of the modern Persians.

{p.86} King DARIUS, of King DARIUS, the son of King ARTAXERXES, of King ARTAXERXES the son of King XERXES, of King XERXES the son of King DARIUS, of King DARIUS the son of HYSTASPES, the Achaemenian.
This palace (apaddnam), DARIUS, my grand-forefather, built it. In the time of ARTAXERXES, my grandfather, it was burnt by fire. By the grace of ORMAZD, ANAHITA and MITHRA, I made anew this palace. May ORMAZD, ANAHITA¹ and MITHRA protect me from all evil, and may they not attack nor destroy my work.
2. Legend round a column. Persian, Median, Assyrian.
I am ARTAXERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, son of King DARIUS.

1. Text of Persepolis. Persian.
A great god is ORMAZD, who has created this earth, who has created that heaven, who has created the man, who has given to the man the Good Principle, who has made ARTAXERXES King, sole King of many Kings, sole Emperor of many Emperors.
Says ARTAXERXES, the great King, the King of Kings, the King of the lands, the King of this earth: I am the son of King ARTAXERXES, of ARTAXERXES the son of King
_______
1 The cultus of the goddess Anahita was introduced by Artaxerxes II, as Agathias states, according to Ctesias. Here (and in his son's inscription) Mithra also is added for the first time.
The Persian surname of Oarses, Uvarsn, called afterwards as King Artaxerxes, Artakhsathra, was Abiyataka, "having a good memory," translated to Mnemon by the Greeks.

{p.87} DARIUS, of DARIUS the son of King ARTAXERXES, of ARTAXERXES the son of King XERXES, of XERXES the son of King DARIUS, of DARIUS the son of the named HYSTASPES, of HYSTASPES the son of the named ARSAMES.
ARTAXERXES the King says: This vaulted colonnade¹ has been built by me.
ARTAXERXES the King says: May ORMAZD and god MITHRA protect me, and my land, and my work.
2. Vase of Venice. Persian, Median, Assyrian, Egyptian.²
ARTAXERXES, great King.
Perhaps appertaining to Artaxerxes I, but not to Artaxerxes II., who never was king of Egypt.

1. Seal of Arsaces. In the British Museum. ARSACES, by name, son of ATHIYABUSANA.
_______
1 This text of Artaxerxes III, Ochus, is the most modern of ancient Persian documents. It contains the genealogy from the royal author upwards to the named Hystaspes and Arsames.
The vaulted colonnade, mentioned by this king, is expressed by ustasanam athanganam. In this text, likewise, as in his father's documents, the Persian language is dreadfully corrupted.
2 Now in the Treasury of San Marc.
3 Three cylinders only are existing with Persian texts, the Darius cylinder in the British Museum, the Arsaces cylinder published first by Grotefend, and the cylinder of the former Raife collection, which I have explained in the Melanges d'Archeologie egyptienne et assyrienne, vol. I. I ascribe it to Pharnuches, mentioned by Herodotus (VII. 88). This very curious text contains four Persian monograms.

2. Seal of Pharnuches.
PHARNUCHES, by name, a Persian, son of TITHUS.
3. Seal of King Darius (trilingual) in the British Museum.
DARIUS, great King.

BABYLONIAN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, CONCERNING PRIVATE PERSONS
EDITED BY
MM. OPPERT AND MENANT.

THESE translations are taken from a French work published by Dr. Oppert and M. Menant;¹ the versions have been revised, in some essential points, for the Records of the Past, by Dr. Oppert, who holds himself personally responsible for the exact representation of the sense of these documents; but on account of the
_______
1 The title of the work is, Documents juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la Chaldee, par J. Oppert and J. Menant, Paris, 1877.

{p.90} unusual difficulty of these texts, the reader may easily be convinced that for a long time yet, and particularly in details of minor importance, there will remain room enough for a conscientious improvement of all previous translations.

This document, engraved on a small broken slab of basalt, is dated from the first year of the reign of Marduk-idin-akhe. It was discovered long ago in the small mound of Za'aleh, on the left bank of the Euphrates, a few miles North-west of Babylon. The text forms two columns of cursive Babylonian characters; the first column is extremely damaged. Though defaced, this contract offers some interest by its differing from other documents of the aforesaid reign. It has been published in the first volume of the collection of the British Museum (W. A. I., pl. 66), and translated for the first time by Dr. Oppert, Expedition en Mesopotamie, tom. I. p. 253.

Covenant which in the town of Babylon, in the month Sebat, in the first year of MARDUK-IDIN-AKHE, the mighty King, the men of M .....¹ have agreed:
The waters of the river ..... and the waters of the canals did not go through......
________
1 Lacuna.

.....¹ and all the streams which exist at the mouth of the river Salmani. Therefore, ARADSU, son of ERISNUNAK, has agreed to (aforesaid things) for the times to come, in giving his signature to this tablet.
BlT-KARRA-BASA, Son of HEA-HABAL-IDIN, Governor of the town of Isin; BABILAYU, son of SIN-MUSTESIR, Chief; MALIK-AKH-IDINNA, son of NIGAZI, Chief of the ru-bar;² TAB-ASAP-MARDUK, son of INA-E-SAGGATU-IRBU, a Scribe; ZIKAR-NANA, son of .... BIN, sabil; NABU-MUMADDID-ZIR, a servant, son of ZIKAR-E A, a Governor; and NABU-IDIN-AKHE, son of NAMRI, have fixed it in the furnitures of the house.
In the town of Babylon, on the 30th of Sebat (January), in the first year of MARDUK-IDIN-AKHE, the mighty King.
The Masters of the Royal Seal, have granted approbation.

This monument is so called from the name of the traveller by whom it was brought over to France in 1800. It was discovered near the Tigris, not far from the ruins of the ancient city of Ctesiphon. It is an ovoid basalt stone of 17 inches in height, by 24 in circumference. The upper part is decorated with symbolical figures spread over nearly one third of the monument; one of the sides is divided in two parts. At the top the moon crescent and the sun are represented; in a somewhat lower place there are
_______
1 Lacuna.
2 Unknown dignity.

{p.93} four altars; two on the right support tiaras; the other, two are adorned with two symbolical figures. In the middle a winged goat kneeling; the lower part of the animal is hidden by the image of another altar. The second part contains two altars; one of them bears a sort of arrow-head which for a long time has been taken for the symbol of the Cuneiform writing, because it resembles the element of these characters. On the other part there is a triangular symbol, then, between both altars, two kneeling monsters; only the fore part of their body is visible. On the left behind the altar there is to be seen a symbolical figure preceding a downward pointed arrow. On the back side of the monument there is a scorpion, a bird roosting. On the ground there is a bird, on the head of which is to be seen an unknown symbol composed of two other monsters, one bears a bird's head, and the other has a hideous horned face; the rest of the body is wrapped up in a sort of sheath; opposite to which a dog kneeling. The top of the stone is bordered with an immense snake; its tail extends into the very inscriptions, its head touches the head of the dog. On each side of the monument in its lower part, there are two columns of cuneiform texts, which contain altogether 95 lines.
This monument is now kept since 1801 in the "Cabinet des Medailles" at Paris (No. 702). Since that epoch it has always attracted the attention of scholars; it was published by M. Millin in 1802, Monuments inédits, tom. I. pl. viii, ix. Munter first attempted to explain the symbolical figures (Religion der Babylonier, p. 102, pl. 11). Sir Henry Rawlinson has also {p.94} published the inscription again, in W, A. I., vol. I. p. 70. The sense of this text has been fixed for the first time, in 1856, by M. Oppert's translation in the Bulletin Archeologique de l'Atheneum Français. After this translation, Mr. Fox Talbot gave one in 1861, in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. XVIII, p. 54.

20 hin of corn is the quantity for seeding an arura.¹ The field is situated near the town of Kar-Nabu, on the bank of the river Mekaldan, depending of the property of KlLNAMANDU.
The field is measured as follows:² Three stades in length towards the East, in the direction of the town of Bagdad; three stades in length towards the West, adjoining the house of TUNAMISSAH; 1 stade 50 fathoms 3 in breadth towards the North, adjoining the property of KILNAMANDU; 1 stade 50 fathoms up in the South, adjoining the property of KILNAMANDU.
SIRUSUR, son of KILNAMANDU, gave it for all future days
_______
1 Or the great U, namely of the field in question.
2 Dr. Oppert's first translation of this passage, which is to be found in almost all documents of this kind, has been corrected in L'Etalon des mesures assyriennes, p. 42. The field of Kilnamandu was a rectangle of 1⅞ stades in breadth and 3 stades long, viz., 5½ square stades, amounting to 19,64 hectares or 48½ English acres. The Stone of Michaux is the only one which affords a valuation of the land.
The arura (great U) is valued at 88 hectares, 207 acres in the Babylonian system; a hin is almost 3 litres or 5 pints and a quarter, 20 hins, therefore, are somewhat more than 13 gallons. The fertility of the Babylonian soil was renowned in antiquity, see Herodotus I. 193.
3 A fathom, 10 feet, is the sixtieth part of a stade, 620 feet.

{p.95} to DUR-SARGINAITI, his daughter, the bride¹ of TAB-ASAP-MARDUK, son of INA-E-SAGGATU-IRBU (the pretended), who wrote this; and TAB-ASAP-MARDUK, son of INA-E-SAGGA-TU-IRBU, who wrote this in order to perpetuate without interruption the memory of this gift, and commemorated on this stone the will of the great gods and the god SERAH.

Whosoever in the process of time, among the brothers, the sons, the family, the men and women, the servants both male and female, of the house of KILNAMANDU, either a foreigner, or a guest, or whosoever he may be (or anyone else), who will destroy this field, who will venture to take away the boundary-stone, or will vindicate it: whether he consecrate this field to a god, or earn it for his superior, or claim it for himself, or change the extent, the surface, or the limits, that he reaps new harvests (crops); or who will say of the field with its measures, "There is no granter;" whether he call forth malediction and hostility on the tablets; or establish on it anyone other who change these curses, in swearing: "The head is not the head;" and in asserting: There is no evil eye;² whosoever will carry elsewhere those tablets; or will throw them into the waters; will bury them in the earth; will hide them under stones; will burn them with fire, will alter what is written on them, will confine them into a place where they might not be seen; that man shall be cursed: May the gods ANU, EL, HEA, the Great Goddess, the great gods, inflict upon him the utmost contumely, extirpate his name, annihilate his family.
_______
1 This word is explained in a syllabary copied by Dr. Oppert in 1855, but which has never been published. The three signs of the ideogram (Bit-gigunu-a) are rendered by kallatu, "a bride," and this very important statement put the translator on the track of the right interpretation.
2 This seems to be a usual formula.

May MARDUK, the great Lord of eternity without end, bind him in fetters which cannot be broken. May SAMAS, the great Judge of heaven and earth, judge his unpunished misdeeds, and surprise him in flagrant deeds.
May SIN, the brilliant (Nannar), who dwells in the sacred heavens, clothe him in leprosy as in a garment, and give him up to the wild beasts that wander in the outsides of the town.
May ISTAR, the Queen of heaven and earth, carry him off, and deliver him for avenge to the god and the king.
May NINIP, son of the zenith, son of EL the sublime, take away his lands, funds, and limits.
May GULA, the great Queen, the wife of NINIP, infiltre into his bowels a poison which cannot be pushed out, and may he void blood and pus like water.¹
May BIN, the great Guardian of heaven and earth, the son of the warrior ANU, inundate his field.
May SERAH destroy his firstborn; may he torture his flesh, and load his feet with chains.
May NABU, the supreme Watcher, strike him with misfortune and ruin, and blast his happiness that he not obtain it, in the wrath of his face.
May all the great gods whose names are recorded on this tablet, curse him with irrevocable malediction, and scatter his race even to the last days.

This monument is equally engraved on a black basalt stone; it offers the same arrangement as the stone of
________
1 Literally, "micturate."

{p.97} Michaux. The analogous documents show that numerous inaccuracies have been committed.
In the upper part there occur the same altars, tiaras, birds, as well as the above-mentioned goat, dog, scorpion, and snake. The surface of the basso-relievo is also covered with Cuneiform writing.
The inscriptions are arranged in four columns, and take both sides of the monument. The first column originally finished at the 30th line; it seems to have been completed by four lines, which contain one of the essential articles of the contract, but which evidently are not in their right place, and had been actually forgotten in the original engraving.
On the margins and the basso-relievo many additions and repetitions are to be read, which also prove the engraver's carelessness or precipitation.
20 hins¹ of corn are sufficient to seed an arura² a field in the land of Zunire,³ on the bank of the river Zirzirri, belonging to the house of ADA.
MARDUK-IDIN-AKHE, King of Babylon, has thus sentenced according to the laws of the country of Assur. BIN-ZIR-BASA, his Minister, has favoured MARDUK-ILUSU, son of INA-E-SAGGATU-IRBU,⁴ who has written this to the King of Babylon: I say, He has loaded me with favours, and I proclaim that
_________
1 Twenty hins are equal to 60 litres, 13¼ gallons.
2 Great U, the standard agrarian measure.
3 The country is unknown, the river Zirzirri is also mentioned elsewhere.
4 This name signifies: "In the Pyramid he will increase."

{p.98} this rating has been made according to the epha¹ of the King of Babylon.
20 hin of corn are sufficient to seed an arura. BIN-ZIR-BASA, the Lieutenant (of the King), has invested him with it, and (the measurer of lands) has thus measured it for the time to come.
In the length² above towards the North, turned to the river Zirzirri, adjoining the house of ADA, and the field of the house of the Satraps. In the length below, towards the South of the river Atab-du-Istar, adjoining the house of ADA. In breadth above towards the East, adjoining the limits of Bit-ulbar. In breadth below towards the West, adjoining the house of ADA.
According to the law of MARDUK-IDIN-AKHE, King of Babylon, servant of the gods of the City of the eternal fire,³ it was so measured by BEL-ZIR-KINI, son of ZIKAR-ISTAR, the measurer of the field.
In the town of Dindu, in the month of Tebet, on the 28th day (December) in the 10th year of MARDUK-IDIN-AKHE, King of Babylon.
In the presence of BET-ULBAR-SAKIMU, son of BAZI, Chief of the ruler of the countries;
in the presence of BABILAI, son of SIN-MUSTESIR,⁴ Chief of the head Rulers of the country;
in the presence of HEA-KUDURRI-IBNI, son of ZIKAR-A, Governor of the provinces;
________
1 The valuations of the estates are made by the quantity of corn required to seed them, as it is the case in Rabbinical literature, where the unity is a Beth-sea, or the surface seeded by a sea. Therefore the Epha of the king (royal Epha) is quite in its place: the epha is varying from 32 to 36 pints. The text itself states the royal endowment of a perhaps conquered land.
2 There is no valuation of the field. An error crept into the French transliteration; us is not "a stade," but the word "length."
3 This is the city generally read Agade.
4 Person already mentioned in the Za'aleh Stone.

{p.99} in the presence of BEL-NASIR-HABAL, son of the Chief of the rubar of the orders in the provinces; in the presence of TAKISA-BELIT, son of RIU-SIMTI; in the presence of UBALLITSU, son of KARISTIYA-NAPASTI; in the presence of BEL-IDIN-AKH, son of SUTI; in the presence of SUKAMUNA¹-IDIN, son of MILI-HARBAT; in the presence of ISU-IL, son of HABLIYA; in the presence of BEL-AKHESU, son of MELIHARBAT; in the presence of NIS-BET-ULBAR, son of ULAMHALA; in the presence of SUMIDU, son of MARDUK-KABUYA, Prefect of the house of ADA; in the presence of E-SAGGATU-BUNUYA, hazan² of the house of ADA; in the presence of BABRABTATUTAI, son of SAR-BABIL-AS-SUR-ISSI; in the presence of SADU-RABU-KABUYA, Judge; in the presence of MARDUK-NASIR, son of GAMILU.

Whoever in the process of time, among the brothers, the sons, among the near relations, the allies of the family of the house of ADA, would claim this land, would nourish against it bad designs, or would suggest them; whoever would utter these words: "There is no giver;" who would say: "There is no sealer;" or whosoever will say: "I deny that there is a master of the house of ADA, that there is a Chief in the house of ADA; that there is a hazan of the house of ADA; or that there is either a speculator for the house of ADA;
________
1 The god Sukamanu occurs elsewhere.
2 The hazan seems to be a superintendent.

{p.100} or a gitta¹ of the house of ADA; or a sumtalu; or a lubattu; or an aklu; or a kisirtu in the house of ADA; or he will say, The confiscation has been pronounced; whether he say: "This field has no measurer;" or say: "This seal is not of a sealer" (who has the right to); or whoever will take possession of this field; or consecrate it to the gods; or claim it for himself; or alter its surface, circumference and limits; or construct buildings on this land, and in the middle of this field (that man will be cursed):
The gods who are inscribed on this tablet, all those whose name is commemorated herein, will curse him with irrevocable curses.
May the gods ANU,² BEL, HEA, these great gods, torment him and overwhelm him; that ....³
May MARDUK, the great Lord of eternity without limits, fetter him with inextricable bonds.
May NEBO, the supreme minister, overthrow the surface, circumference, and limits of his properties.
May BIN, the great Lord of heaven and earth, cause the streams of his river to overflow⁴ have his progeny circumcised, and load his feet with a heavy chain. May SIN, who turns around heaven, envelop his body with leprosy as in a garment.
May SAMAS, the bright Judge of heaven and earth, judge his lawsuit, and have him seized in deed doing.
May ISTAR, the goddess of heaven and earth, deliver him to the vengeance of the gods and of the King.
May GULA, the Sovereign Lady, the great wife of NINIP,
________
1 By an error, this line is omitted in the French work; the Assyrian words are not yet understood.
2 In the text is mi.
2 Lacuna.
4 The passage is very obscure; if Dr. Oppert's idea is correct, there is an allusion to the detested custom of circumcision, the performance of which was regarded as an affliction.

{p.101} infiltre into his bowels with a poison that will not leave him, and may he void pus and blood like water.
May NINIP, the god of boundaries, filium camelas inire cogat¹
May NERGAL, the god of arms and bows, break his arrows.
May ZAMAL, the King of battles, prevent him in the midst of the fray from taking a prisoner.
May TURDA, the Keeper of the images of the great gods, walking in the right ways of the gods, besiege his door during the night.
May ISKHARA, the goddess of the ancient customs, not hear him in the battles.
May MALIK, the great Master of Heaven,² whilst he sins cause him to be slain in the act.
May all the gods that are on this stone, whose name is commemorated, curse him with irrevocable curses.
The lines at the end of the first column read as follows:
If anybody swears thus: This head is not a head ......³ or institutes here an outlaw or a causer of mischief, immerse them in the waters, bury them in the earth, hide them under a heap of stones, destroy them by fire. On the edge of the second column: May the gods whose image is on this table, and whose name is invoked, curse him with irrevocable curses.
On the edge of the fourth column: The horses ....⁴ the Master of the house of ADA may dispose of them after him. 30 horses, 25 buffaloes, 3 mares
_______
1 See Lev. xx. 15.
2 Gara anna.
3 In the French work, this passage has been left untranslated.
4 Lacunae.

{p.102} in the fields are not inclosed in the decree of the King of Babylon; BIN-ZIR-BASA has ascribed it for the benefit of MAHANITU, after MARDUK-ILUSU, son of INA-E-SAGGATU-IRBU.
The Chief of the rubar of the house of ADA has said it (named and pronounced) to MARDUK-ILUSU, son of the Scribe of MARDUK-IDIN-AKHE, King of Babylon, and INA-E-SAGGATU-IRBU, the Scribe, the field, this one has¹ owner of the house of ADA, has given it for the days to come, and has yielded it up. A great many short inscriptions are placed over the basso-relievos.
1. The smallest of them is placed over a kind of lyre. It reads: In sum, an epha and a half.
2. Entangled between the branches of an object difficult to design and the horns of a goat, occurs a sentence which has not been translated.
3. The word nose is written between and the altar supporting a triangular object.
4. A legend of three lines is engraved between the mentioned altar, and a horned animal.
So that he may not devastate the land of Zunire, nor the dwellings which are belonging to the Governor of Zunire.
5. Under an undetermined object, opposite to the nose of the abovementioned fantastical animal is written a sentence composed of a perpendicular line and four lines parallel to the circumference. That he will not acknowledge either the kisirtu or the
________
1 Here are two very obscure words.

{p.103} tribute of this house, or the Prefect, or the hazan of the house of ADA.
6. Below the preceding one. Either the author of the treaty, or the hazan of the land of Zunirie.
7. Included between the roost and the back of the dog occurs another sentence which has not been translated.
8. Across the symbolical figures.

That he might not watch upon the streets of Bit-Ada.
9. Between the scorpion and the back of the snake. That he may pay the rent of the land.
10. Over the head of the snake. That in his abode, there may not be any power, any judge, any implorer.

The fourth monument of the reign of Marduk-idin-akhe is a black basalt stone of nearly the same size and arrangement as the preceding. At the top we also see analogous symbols disposed in a similar way. The inscription has but two columns, and occupies but one {p.104} side of the monument; on the other, the image of the king is engraved, and near the garment of the king, represented by the basso-relievo, the three lines of the beginning are repeated at the end of the document.
By this table, the author of the everlasting limits has for ever perpetuated his name.¹
25 hins² of corn are sufficient to seed an arura³ in a field lying on the bank of the river Besim, belonging to HANKAS.
In length⁴ above towards the North, adjoining the property of HANKAS; in length below towards the South, adjoining the property of IMBIYATI; in breadth above towards the West, adjoining the property of HANKAS; in breadth below towards the East, limited by the river Besim.
Such is what MARDUK-NASIR, Captain of the King, has received from the hands of Nis-BEL, son of HANKAS. He has paid the price for it. SAPIKU son of ITTI-MARDUK-BALAT, son of ZIKAR-EA, is the measurer⁵ of the field.
_________
1 See at the end.
2 These 25 hins represent 75 litres, 16 gallons and a half, for seeding, a surface of 207 acres.
3 The great U, or arura.
4 Again in this deed no statement is given in account of the measurings. The space is determined merely by the indication of the boundaries. This document is also the charter of a royal donation: it is not clear whether the below mentioned objects are the price, or if, what is much more verisimilar, they are only the accessoria of the field.
5 Measurer is expressed by masihan.

			WEIGHTS OF
1	Chariot with its team of horses¹	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	100	silver
6	Harnesses	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	300	"
1	Ass from Phoenicia	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	30	"
6	Harnesses, 1 Ass from Phoenicia	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	50	"
1	Mule	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	15	"
1	Cow (pregnant)	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	30	"
30	Measures of corn, 60 Measures of 12 epha²	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	137	"
1	Hemicorion, 10 Shovels of 4 epha	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	16	"
2	Dogs, good	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	12	"
9	Greyhounds from the East	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	18	"
1	Hunting dog	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	1	"
1	Shepherd dog	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	1	"
1	Dog (bloodhound³)	. . . . . . . . . . . . .	6	"
	Total (weights of) silver	=	616⁴

Such is what NIS-BEL, son of HANKAS, has paid in the hands of MARDUK-NASIR, Captain of the King, is equivalent of the price of a field of 25 hins of (grain).
At any epoch whatever, in the days to come (or process of time) either an aklu⁵or a no-servant, or a farmer, or a husbandman, or a workman, or any other guardian who presents himself, and who settles in the house of HANKAS, and will endeavour to lay waste this field, will earn its first fruits, will turn it over, will plough it (mix up the earth), will have it put under water, who will occupy this
_________
1 Cf. 1 Kings x. 29: "A chariot ... of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver; and a horse for one hundred and fifty."
2 It is a question here of the utensils used for measuring, viz., 30 of one kind, and 60 of another.
3 The quality of the dogs are somewhat uncertain.
4 There is evidently a fault in the total number, 616 instead of 716. A weight of silver may be an olohis, the 360th part of a mina.
5 The akli, who were at the royal court, may have been legists.

{p.106} property by fraud or violence and will settle in its territories, either in the name of the god, or in the name of the King, or in the name of the representative of the Lord of the country, or in the name of the representative of the house, or in the name of any person whatever, whoever he may be, who will give it, will earn the harvest of the land, will say,¹ "These fields are not granted as gifts by the King;" whether he pronounce against them the holy malediction or he swears by these words: "The head is not the head;" and establish any one therein, in saying: "There is no eye;" or who will carry away this tablet, or will throw it into the river, or will break it into pieces, or will bury it under a heap of stones, or will burn it by fire, or will bury it in the earth, or will hide it in a dark place, that man (shall be cursed):
May the god ANU, BEL, HEA, the great gods, afflict him and curse him with maledictions which are not (retracted).
May the god SIN, the splendid in the high heaven, envelop all his members with incurable leprosy until the day of his death; and expel him to the farthest limits like a wild beast.
May SAMAS, the Judge of heaven and earth, fly before him; that he change into darkness the light of the day.
May ISTAR, the Sovereign, the Queen of the gods, load him with infirmities and anguish of illness like arrows, may she increase (day and night his pains,) so that he runs about like a dog, in the ways of his town.
May MARDUK, the King of heaven and earth, the Lord of the eternity without end, entangle his weapons with bonds which cannot be broken.
May NINIP, the god of crops and boundaries, sweep away its limits and tread upon his crops, and remove its limit.
_________
1 All these are formulae solennes, as in the Roman law.

May GULA, the mother (nurse), the great Lady, infect his bowels with a poison, and that he void pus and blood like water.
May BIN, the supreme Guardian of heaven and earth, inundate his field like a ...¹
May SERAH suffocate his first-born. May NABU, the holy minister of the gods, continually pour over his destinies laments and curses; and blast his wishes.
May all the great gods whose name is invoked on this table, devote him to vengeance and scorn, and may his name, his race, his fruits, his offspring, before the face of men perish wretchedly. By this table, the author of the everlasting limits has for ever perpetuated his name.

Five-sixths of an artaba² of corn sows an arura, a field situated on the Euphrates .... adjoining wide adjoining .... a field in great measure ZIRBET-U-ALZU ..... and for the days to come he has given this table SIN-IDIN son of TUKLAT-HABAL-MARDUK, Governor of the town of Nisin. BANI-MARDUK,
______
1 Obscure.
2 The artaba was three epha, 18 hins; the mentioned quantity of 15 hins necessary to seed this very fertile field, is only 79 pints.

{p.108} son of TUKLAT MALIK-KILIM, son of TUKLAT ..... Chief of AN-SALI son of ZAB-ZIB-MALIK MALIK-HABAL-IDIN, of the town of Balaki Chief of SIN-IDIN-HABAL May he cause him to perish and his offering.¹
________
1 Dr. Oppert copied this text twenty years ago; he does not know whether since that time any other piece of the stone has been discovered.

THE INSCRIPTION ON THE SARCOPHAGUS OF KING ESMUNAZAR,
NOW IN THE LOUVRE AT PARIS
TRANSLATED BY
PROF. DR. JULIUS OPPERT.

THIS splendid monument was discovered on the 20th of February, 1855, by M. Peretie, Chancellor of the French consulate at Beyrut, near the ruins of Sidon, the modern Sai'da. The Duke de Luynes bought it, and a munificent Maecenas, he made a present of it to the Museum of the Louvre. The noble donor himself published also the first translation of the Phoenician inscription in a work, entitled, Memoire sur le Sarcophage et l'inscription funeraire d'Esmunazar roi de Sidon, par H. d' Albert de Luynes, Paris, 1856. Since that time, perhaps some forty {p.110} different scholars have endeavoured to explain this important text, either in voluminous works, or in short articles in which some passages only were commented. Among the principal writers on this sarcophagus we must mention MM. Barges, Munck, Schlottman, Schroder, and lately Kampf, as those who have made considerable progress in the explanation of the text.

The author of this present translation has himself been the last to write upon and to explain some difficult passages in the original text, in an article in the Journal Asiatique, 1876, vol. I.

IN the month of BUL,¹ in the fourteenth year of the royalty of King ESMUNAZAR² King of the two Sidons, son of King TABNIT, King of the two Sidons, King ESMUNAZAR, King of the two Sidons, said as follows:

I am carried away, the time of my non-existence has come,³ my spirit has disappeared, like the day, from whence I am silent, since which I became mute.
________
1 The eighth month of the Phoenician year which was identical with the Judaic. Unfortunately we know only the co-relative names of the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 8th months from the Biblical texts, and the names of two or three other months from the Phoenician texts alone; but the position of these months in this year is unknown.
2 King Esmunazar must have lived in the fourth century BC, this is generally admitted on account of the form of the sarcophagus, which was certainly Egyptian; there are even in the middle of it traces of hieroglyphs which have been erased. The King Tubnit may be the Tennes of Greek authors.
3 This is the thirtieth or fortieth translation of this passage, each author having proposed a version differing from all his predecessors. I do not pretend to have said the last word about this question, but it seems to me that this difficult passage is by no means a speech merely personal to Esmunazar. On the contrary, it is a quotation of a hymn or of a funeral chant, otherwise it would not have been repeated. If it were a historical account referring to Esmunazar's life-time, it would have been sufficient to state the fact once. This is the capital point, the misunderstanding of which misled all the former translators. I divide the words thus:
   ננזלמ ג ליצתי׃ בן מס כים כיאז ךמית מב גאלמת׃
With the Masoretic punctuation it would be:
   nigzalti, la lo-ilti.
   bin mas kayyom meaz dammeti mibbo neelamti.
"Abreptus sum; venit non-tempus meum: intellectus evanuit sicut dies ilia ex qua silui, inde a qua obmutui."

And I am lying in this coffin, and in this tomb, in the place which I have built.
O thou (reader) remember this:¹ May no royal race and no man open my funeral couch, and may they not seek after treasures, for no one has hidden treasures here, nor move the coffin out of my funeral couch, nor molest me in this funeral bed, by putting another tomb over it.
Whatever a man may tell thee, do not listen to him:
For the punishment (of the violators) shall be: Every royal race and every man, who shall open the covering of this couch, or who shall carry away the coffin where I repose, or who shall molest me in this couch: they shall have no funeral couch with the Repha'im,² nor shall be buried in graves, nor shall there be any son or offspring to succeed to them, and the sacred gods shall inflict extirpation on them.
Thou whoever (thou art who wilt) be King³ (hereafter), inspire those over whom thou wilt reign, that they may exterminate the members of the royal race (like those men) who will open the covering of this couch, or who will take away
_______
1 I separate entirely from the remainder of the phrase, the letters קגם י את. The last word seems to be the personal of the second person, atta; if it were the preposition et, it ought to be repeated before adam "man," which is not the case. The ya is the usual Arabic and Aramean interjection, although it be not preserved in our Hebrew texts. The formula "O thou," is also to be found frequently in Greek epitaphs; and it refers to the second person, which appears in the following lines. The usual interpretation is: "My imprecation is against all royal races and all men;" but besides the awkward sense, it cannot stand on account of the aforesaid omission of the second et, which would be indispensable.
2 The word Repha'im is to be found here, like in Psalm lxxxviii. 11, with the sense of "deceased," not "shadows of dead;" the passage seems to exclude the notion of immortality. The same thing may be put forth on account of the passage in the Psalms; here, as in the Phoenician passage, the word seems to be purely a synonymous one for "dead."
3 I believe my translation to be quite acceptable, also in this passage, I reject absolutely the interpretation of et as a preposition, and I explain it likewise as the second person, atta mi molekh, tu quivis regnas.

{p.113} this coffin, and (exterminate) also the offspring of this royal race, or of these men of the crowd.
There shall be to them no root below, nor fruit above, nor living form under the sun.
For graced by the gods, I am carried away, the time of my non-existence¹ has come, my spirit has disappeared, like the day, from whence I am silent, since which I became mute.
For I, ESMUNAZAR, King of the two Sidons, son of King TABNIT, King of the two Sidons (who was), the grandson of King ESMUNAZAR, King of the two Sidons.
And my mother AMASTARTE, the Priestess of ASTARTE, our mistress, the Queen, the daughter of King ESMUNAZAR, King of the two Sidons:
It is we who have built the temple of the gods, and the temple of ASTAROTH, on the seaside Sidon,² and have placed there the image of the ASTAROTH, as we are sanctifiers (of the gods).
And it is we who have built the temple of ESMUN, and the sanctuary³ of the Purpleshells River on the mountain, and have placed there his image, as we are sanctifiers (of the gods).⁴
And it is we who have built the temples of the gods of the two Sidons, in the seaside Sidon, the temple of BAAL-SIDON
_______
1 The sentence of "non-existence," which intervenes here a second time with the same words, shows clearly that it is not personal to the buried king.
2 The seaside Sidon, Sidon eres yam, seems to be one of the two Sidons; the other may have been the Sidon of the mountain. Sennacherib speaks also of the two Sidons, the great and the little one.
3 A careful inspection proves that the only one letter defaced is a waw. We read: וקרש יר־לל בהר, "et penetrale flummis muricis in monte." The translation, of course, is doubtful.
4 All former translations of this passage, inconsistent with the real text of the document, must, I think, be abandoned.

{p.114} and the temple of ASTARTE who bears the name of this BAAL.¹
May in future the Lords of the Kings² give us Dora³ and Japhia, the fertile corn-lands, which are in the plain of Saron, and may they annex it to the boundary of the land, that it may belong to the two Sidons for ever.
O thou, remember this: May no royal race and no man open my covering, nor deface (the inscriptions of)⁴ my covering, nor molest me in this funeral bed, nor carry away the coffin, where I repose.
Otherwise, the sacred gods shall inflict extirpation on them and shall exterminate this royal race and this man of the crowd and their offspring for ever.
_______
1 There is no mystical hypostasis of the Baal whatever, as some authors suggested. All Phoenician gods were Baal, and all goddesses Astarte (Compare Jud. x. 6). As there existed a Baal of Sidon, there was also an Astarte of Sidon, bearing the same name. That seems to be the real and very simple meaning of the words Astarte nominis Baalis.
2 The "lords of the kings" seem not to be the kings of Persia, but an epithet applicable to a divine king.
3 Dora and Japhia (Joppe) are both situated at the shore on the plain of Saron.
4 The word יצר may be very probably understood as erase; we see herein a threat against anyone attempting to deface the inscription engraved on this sarcophagus.

THE Cuneiform text of the First and Fifth Creation Tablets, which are the only ones as yet found in a tolerable state of preservation, has been published by the late Mr. G. Smith in Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., Vol. IV. p. 363, and also by Delitzsch in his Assyrische Lesestucke, plates 40 and 41. From these my translation has been made.

The discovery of these tablets has greatly raised the reputation of the ancient author Damascius, for it is now seen that his account of the Creation was derived from genuine Babylonian sources. He says (see Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 318, compared with the original), "The Babylonians speak not of One origin of all things, for they make two original beings, Tauthe and Apason, making Apason the husband of Tauthe, whom they call the mother of the gods. Their only son (eldest son?) was Moymis. And another race proceeded from them, namely, Dakhe and Dakhos. And again a third race proceeded from the same (parents), namely, Kissare and Assoros. These had three children, Anos, Illinos, {p.116} and Aos. And the son of Aos and Dauke was called Belos, who they say was the Demiurgus or fabricator of the world."

This agrees very nearly with the Babylonian records. Tauthe is Tamti, "the Sea" (a very common word in the inscriptions), exchanging the cognate letters U or V for M. Apason is Apzu or Apzo "the Abyss". (which word occurs continually). Moymis is Mummu, "Chaos," see line 4 of our tablet. Dakhe and Dakhos are conjectured by Mr. Smith to be the Lakhmu and Lakhamu of the tablet. This is very likely, and is due to the carelessness of the copyists in writing a Greek D for L, which only differ by one stroke. Assor agrees exactly with Assur, the great god of the Assyrians, and Kissare is the same with the syllable Ki prefixed, and therefore properly transliterated by Kissur. Anos is Anu, named in line 14. The rest of Damascius' names are broken off from the tablet, but Ao is the god usually transliterated as Hea. The sound of his name is doubtful; it is possible that Ao may be the true sound.

Most of this (regarding the testimony of Damascius) has already been pointed out by Mr. Smith, but I could not omit some mention of it here, as it is so closely connected with the interpretation of the tablet.

1 When the upper region was not yet called heaven,
2 and the lower region was not yet called earth,
3 and the abyss of Hades had not yet opened its arms,
4 then the chaos of waters gave birth to all of them
5 and the waters were gathered into one place.
6 No men yet dwelt together: no animals yet wandered about:
7 none of the gods had yet been born.
8 Their names were not spoken: their attributes were not known.
9 Then the eldest of the gods
10 LAKHMU and LAKHAMU were born
11 and grew up ...¹
12 ASSUR and KISSUR were born next
13 and lived through long periods.
14 ANU.....

[This fifth tablet is very important, because it affirms clearly in my opinion that the origin of the Sabbath was co-eval with Creation.]

1 He constructed dwellings for the great gods.
2 He fixed up constellations, whose figures were like animals.
3 He made the year. Into four quarters he divided it
4 Twelve months he established, with their constellations, three by three.
5 And for the days of the year he appointed festivals.
6 He made dwellings for the planets : for their rising and setting.
__________
1 Lacunae.

7 And that nothing should go amiss, and that the course of none should be retarded,
8 he placed with them the dwellings of BEL and HEA.
9 He opened great gates, on every side:
10 he made strong the portals, on the left hand and on the right.
11 In the centre he placed luminaries.
12 The moon he appointed to rule the night
13 and to wander through the night, until the dawn of day.
14 Every month without fail he made holy assembly days.
15 In the beginning of the month, at the rising of the night,
16 it shot forth its horns to illuminate the heavens.
17 On the seventh day he appointed a holy day,
18 and to cease from all business he commanded.
19 Then arose the sun in the horizon of heaven in (glory).

[The last word is broken off, and though there are seven more lines, they are so broken that I cannot give a translation of them with any confidence.

It has been known for some time that the Babylonians observed the Sabbath with considerable strictness. On that day the king was not allowed to take a drive in his chariot ; various meats were forbidden to be eaten, and there were a number of other minute restrictions. See 4 R, plate 32.

But it was not known that they believed the Sabbath to have been ordained at the Creation. I have found, however, since this translation of the fifth tablet was completed, that Mr. Sayce has recently published a similar opinion. See the Academy, of November 27th, 1875, p. 554.

This account falls short of the majesty of the Hebrew Genesis, especially where the writer implies that the heavenly movements might possibly go wrong, and it was therefore necessary that the gods Bel and Hea should watch over them and guard against such a misfortune.]

ISHTAR AND IZDUBAR: BEING THE SIXTH TABLET OF THE IZDUBAR SERIES
TRANSLATED BY
H. FOX TALBOT, F.R.S.

THE original text of this remarkable tablet is lithographic in plate 48 of vol. IV. of Inscriptions of Western Asia published by the British Museum. It has been translated by myself in Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., Vol. V, p 97.

The fifth Izdibar tablet appears to be mostly lost, but the end of is story occupies the first few lines of the sixth tablet, and therefore it is necessary briefly to advert to it.

One of the adventures of Odysseus related by Homer is his return to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. Izdubar, whose wanderings recall those of Odysseus, {p.120} may have adopted some similar disguise, which he here throws off and resumes his royal rank. I have translated the first five lines according to their apparent meaning, but there is too little of the story left to form any opinion what it was. The rest of the tablet is entirely disconnected from it. The words printed in parentheses are restorations, where the original text is effaced.

There is a part of this curious tablet which deserves particular attention, I mean the lines 14 to 19 of Column II which relate the sad fate of a King whom Ishtar changed into a Leopard, "and his own dogs bit him to pieces."

We see here beyond a doubt the ancient original of the Greek fable of Actaeon and his dogs. That hero had offended Diana, who revenged herself by changing him into a stag, when his dogs, and no longer knowing their master, fell upon him and tore him to pieces. The great celebrity of this fable my be judged of from the circumstance that Ovid in his Metamorphoses (III. 206) has preserved the names individually of all the dogs, though there were no fewer than thirty-five of them.

The classical authors of Greece and Rome attribute the fate of the king to the vengeance of Diana, but our tablet ascribes it to the cruelty of Ishtar. This leads to the enquiry whether Ishtar was the Eastern name of Diana? or had similar attributes?

Now, the character of Ishtar was very multiform. She was Venus, the goddess of love. She closely resembles Diana of the Ephesians, who typified Universal Nature, and was the great and universal mother.

But on the other hand, Ishtar was the goddess of war, Enyo of the Greeks, Bellonaof them of the Latins, for Assurbanipal addresses her in his prayer for succour: "O goddess of war! lady of battles!"² and when Esarhaddon was attacked by his enemies at a critical moment of his life, when his succession to the crown of his father was in danger, he says: "Ishtar, queen of war and battle, stood by my side. She broke their bows. Their line of battle in her rage she destroyed."³
_______
1 At first sight this seems alien from the attributes of Venus, but the Greeks of Cythera worshipped an "armed Venus," (see Pausanias iii. 23). From this island she took her name of Cytherea.
2 Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., vol. I, p. 347.
3 Records of the Past, vol. III, p. 104.

But in the tablet which we are now considering, Ishtar appears in a totally different character, as the Hecate of the Greeks, the queen of witchcraft, resembling Hecate in her funereal abode, and in the potency of her magic drugs, equal to those of Circe and Medea. Indeed there is the strongest resemblance between the Ishtar of this tablet and those most renowned enchantresses. The kettle, or cauldron, or pot, filled with magic herbs, reminds us of Medea, who on one occasion spent no less than nine days and nights in collecting herbs for her cauldron, visiting many lands for that purpose in her car drawn by dragons (see Ovid's Metamorphoses, VII. 234). And Circe, in Homer, loves Ulysses (as here Ishtar does Izdubar), yet nevertheless transforms all his companions into swine as soon as they have tasted of her noxious viands.¹ Moreover, Ishtar was the full moon, for which reason she was called the goddess Fifteen in Assyrian, because the month consisting of thirty days the full moon was of course on the fifteenth day.

These different accounts of the goddess Ishtar
_______
1 See Odyssey, Book x.

{p.123} seem perplexing in their diversity: but the theory is maintained by many scholars that all the great goddesses of antiquity were originally one, viewed in various lights. Their attributes, when examined, are found in reality to melt into each other. But the poets took care to keep them distinct, and to provide them with separate adventures, and the priests of various cities had likewise a great interest in individualising their own deities. Thus Ishtar of Arbela was by no means the same divinity as Ishtar of Nineveh.

Hecate was fabled to be the daughter of Asteria, which is merely a Greek form of the name of Ishtar, and varies at other times to Astaroth, Astarte, Astrateia, and Asterodia. Pausanius (III. 25) mentions an Artemis Astrateia, whose worship was brought to Greece from the East.

But to return to the story of Actaeon, which we thus find unexpectedly among the legends of the East.

The persistence of popular fables is a curious subject of contemplation. The Arabian Nights' Entertainments contain stories identical with some in {p.124} Homer's Odyssey, and even in early semi-fabulous Greek history. In Egypt has been found a story, that of the "Doomed Prince," identical with one long known in Europe. In fact there was much greater literary intercommunication between distant nations in very ancient times than is commonly supposed.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses are several stories derived apparently from the Assyrian literature, besides that of Pyramus and Thisbe, which he expressly states to be a tale of Babylon.

1 he had thrown off his tattered garments:
2 his pack of goods he had laid down from his back:
3 (he had flung off) his rags of poverty: and clothed himself in a dress of honour:
4 (with a royal robe) he covered himself:
5 and he bound a diadem on his brow.
6 Then ISHTAR the Queen lifted up her eyes to the throne of IZDUBAR:
7 Kiss me, IZDUBAR! she said: for I will marry thee!
8 Let us live together, I and thou, in one place:
9 thou shalt be my husband, and I will be thy wife.
10 Thou shalt ride in a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold,
11 whose wheels are golden and its pole resplendent.
12 Shining bracelets thou shalt wear every day.
13 By our house the cedar trees in green vigour shall grow:
14 and when thou shalt enter it
15 (suppliant) crowds shall kiss thy feet!
16 Kings, Lords, and Princes shall bow down before thee!
17 The tribute of hills and plains they shall bring to thee as offerings:
18 thy flocks and thy herds shall all bear twins:
19 thy race of mules shall be magnificent:
20 thy (triumphs) in the chariot race shall be proclaimed without ceasing,
______
1 Lacuna.

21 and among the chiefs thou shalt never have an equal!
22 (Then IZDUBAR) opened his mouth and spoke,
23 (and said) to ISHTAR the Queen:
24 (Lady! full well) I know thee by experience!
25 Sad and funereal (is thy dwelling place:)
26 sickness and famine (surround thy path:)
27 (false and) treacherous is thy crown of divinity!
28 (Poor and worthless) is thy crown of royalty!
29 .....¹ poison:
30 .... (many things) I will omit,
31 (many deeds of cruelty) and slaughter:
32 (yes! I have said it) I know thee by experience!²

[And so on, through twelve more lines, which are greatly broken, to the end of Column I. I have restored in parentheses some of the fractured parts, but of course I cannot guarantee that it is done correctly.]
________
1 Lacunae.
2 The meaning of all this (as appears quite plainly from the Second Column) is that Ishtar was, like Hecate in the Greek mythology, the queen of witchcraft, the cruel, the merciless.

1 Wailings thou didst make
2 for TARZI thy husband
3 (and yet) year after year with thy cups thou didst poison him!
4 Thou hadst a favourite and beautiful eagle:
5 thou didst strike him (with thy wand), and didst break his wings:
6 then he stood fast in the forest, (only) fluttering his wings.
7 Thou hadst a favourite lion, full of vigour:
8 thou didst pull out his teeth, seven at a time!
9 Thou hadst a favourite horse, renowned in war:
10 he drank a draught, and with fever thou didst poison him!
11 Twice seven hours without ceasing
12 with burning fever and thirst thou didst poison him!
13 His mother the goddess SILILI with thy cups thou didst poison.
14 Thou didst love the King of the land
15 whom continually thou didst render ill with thy drugs,
16 though every day he offered libations and sacrifices.
17 Thou didst strike him (with thy wand), and didst change him into a leopard!
18 The people of his own city drove him out from it,
19 and his own dogs bit him to pieces!
20 Thou didst love a workman,¹ a rude man of no instruction,
21 who constantly received his daily wages from thee,
22 and every day made bright thy vessels.
_________
1 This incident is evidently introduced, in contrast with the last one, the royal lover, with the meaning that, "Thy love has been fatal to all alike: whether high or low, rich or poor."

23 In thy pot a savoury mess thou didst boil for him,
24 (saying) Come, my servant, and eat with us on the feast-day,
25 and give thy judgment on the goodness of our pot-herbs!
26 The workman replied to thee:
27 Why dost thou desire to destroy me?
28 Mother! thou art not cooking! I will not eat!
29 For I should eat food bad and accursed,
30 and the thousand unclean things thou hast poisoned it with!
31 Thou didst hear that answer (and wert enraged)
32 Thou didst strike him (with thy wand), and didst change him into a pillar;
33 and didst place him in the midst of the desert!
34 I have not yet said a crowd of things; many more I have not added!
35 Lady! thou wouldst love me, as thou hast done the others!
36 ISHTAR this (speech listened to)
37 and ISHTAR was enraged and (flew up) to heaven.
38 ISHTAR came into the presence of ANU (her father),
39 and into the presence of ANNATU her mother she came.
40 O my father, IZDUBAR has cast (insults upon me).

[Here ends Column II; and Column III being almost entirely destroyed, and Column IV nearly so, this part of the story of Ishtar remains isolated from the rest. Column V, which is well preserved, had therefore better be treated at another time, and as an independent subject.]

THIS legend, which is the last of that famous cycle of Chaldean legends now called the Izdubar series, relates to the state of the soul of Heabani, the companion of Izdubar, which has been shut out of heaven, owing to the strange circumstances of his death.

Izdubar, who is probably to be identified with Nimrod, seeks, by aid of a seer or witch, to raise the soul of his lost companion, and to restore it to heaven.

In this ancient legend, Heabani the hero, appears to bear a close resemblance to the Greek rural deity Pan, since he is figured as a satyr, having the body of a man, with the legs, horns, and tail of an ox. This figure occurs very frequently on the gems, and may always be recognised by these characteristics. Heabani is also represented as dwelling in a remote {p.130} place, three days' journey from Erech; as living in a cave, and associating with the cattle and creeping things of the field.

The tablet is in a very broken state, all the upper portion being lost.

The three columns of the obverse contain a lamentation and incantation, uttered over the dead Heabani. In this, Izdubar appears to be assisted by a seer, or witch, who raises the utukku, or spirit of Heabani. The fourth column contains a dialogue between the persons engaged in the incantation; while the fifth, is occupied with the description of the soul of a warrior in heaven.

This legend has been previously translated by the late Mr. George Smith, in his Chaldean Account of Genesis, and by myself in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. IV, part ii, where the text is given.

1 IZDUBAR....¹
2 when of ....
3 To happiness (thou art not admitted).
4 A pure dress (thou dost not wear).
5 Like the glow ...
6 With the enlightening of the good they do not o'erspread thee.
7 To its inheritance they do not choose thee.
8 The bow from the ground thou dost not take.
9 (Those) who with the bow thou shouldest strike gather round thee.
10 A staff to thy hands thou dost not carry.
11 The captive abhors (curses) thee.
12 A support to thy feet thou dost not use.
13 An onset on earth thou dost not make.
14 Thy wife whom thou delightest in thou dost not kiss.
15 Thy wife whom thou despisest thou dost not beat.
16 Thy child whom thou delightest in thou dost not kiss.
17 Thy child whom thou despisest thou dost not beat.
18 The enfolding of the earth has taken thee.
19 O Darkness! O Darkness! Mother NIN-AZU² Oh Darkness!
20 Her mighty power as a garment covers thee.
_______
1 Lacunae.
2 The wife of Hea the god of the underworld, and the the Assyrian pantheon.

1 The child whom he loves he kisses.
2 The child whom he despises he beats.
3 The enfolding of the earth has taken him.
4 O Darkness! O Darkness! Mother NIN-AZU¹ Oh Darkness!
5 Her mighty power like a cloak covers him.
6 .........²
7 When HEA-BANI³ from the earth to rise ......
8 NAMTAR⁴ did not take him, a fever did not take him, the earth took him.
9 The resting place of NERGAL⁵ the unconquered, did not take him, the earth took him.
10 The place of the battle of the heroes did not strike him, the earth took him.
11 When ....... son of NIN-SIMFOI his servant HEA-BANI wept
12 to the Temple of BEL⁶ alone he went.
13 Father BEL TAMBUCCU⁷ to the earth struck me.
14 MIKIE to the earth has struck me.

1 HEA-BANI to rest was not admitted.
_________
1 See col. 1, note 1.
2 Lacunae.
3 The companion of Izdubar.
4 A curse, magical incantation.
5 The god of war, "the great man."
6 A famous temple in Babylon.
7 Tambuccu and Mikie, were two unknown objects which caused the death of Heabani.

2 NAMTAR¹ did not take him, the earth took him.
3 The resting place, of NERGAL² the unconquered, did not take him, the earth took him.
4 The place of the battle of the heroes did not take him, the earth took him.
5 Father BEL a decree did not take him.
6 Father SIN³ TAMBUCCU, to (the earth struck him).
7 MIKIE (to the earth) struck him.
8 HEA-BANI to rest was not admitted.

1 The resting place of NERGAL (has not taken him).
2 The place of the battle of the heroes (has not) taken him.
3 Father HEA⁴ (spake)
4 to the warrior MARDUK his son.
5 The heroic warrior MARDUK⁵
6 The divider⁶ ....
7 The spirit (of HEA-BANI release). .....
8 To his father HEA.....
9 The warrior MARDUK spake saying ....
10 The (divider) the earth opened and .....
11 The spirit of HEA-BANI in glass⁷ from the earth rose.

1 Mysterious friend, Mysterious friend,⁸
2 may the earth hide that she has seen. Mysterious
___________
1 A curse, magical incantation.
2 The war god.
3 The moon.
4 The god of wisdom, who with his son Marduk performed all the cures from magic incantations.
5 Lacunae.
6 A title of Marduk.
7 Zakiku. Comp. Heb. וכווכית, Job xxviii. 17.
8 The seer or witch here appears to be a female.

3 I will not tell to the friend. I will not tell to the friend.
4 Where the earth covers that I have seen, I will tell to thee.
5 ¹.... She sits weeping.
6 ...... May she sit, may she weep.
7 ...... Shall cause to increase, and thy heart rejoice.
8 ...... Thou growest old and the worm enters.
9 ..... Shall cause to increase and thy heart rejoice.
10 ..... (When) to dust all things (turn).
11 .... When he has overcome² ... corruption ...
12 ...... When he has overcome .... corruption.
13 ..... Thou shalt see.³

1 On a couch reclining, and
2 pure waters he drinks,
3 who in the battle was slain she sees.
4 His father and his mother his head support,
5 his wife weeps much.
6 Those who are his friends on the ground stand round.
7 She sees and thou shalt see.
8 His spoil on the ground he does not regard.
9 Of his spoil an account he has not.
10 The captives assemble and follow food
11 which in the tents are eaten. Colophon. The twelfth tablet (of the series) "The fountain he has seen."⁴
_______
1 Lacunae.
2 Applies to Heabani, a form of root גםל Heb.
3 Compare 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, 25.
4 The title of Chapter or Tablet.

THE FIGHT BETWEEN BEL AND THE DRAGON, AND THE FLAMING SWORD WHICH TURNED EVERY WAY
(GEN. ii. 24.)
FROM A CHALDEAN TABLET
TRANSLATED BY
H. FOX TALBOT, F. R. S.

THIS is one of the most striking narratives of the Chaldean mythology. It is found on a tablet lithographed in Delitzsch's work Assyrische Lesestucke, pl. 44, 45. Plate 44 describes Bel arming himself for the battle: the dragon is merely mentioned on this plate, but does, not appear upon the scene.

Plate 45 describes the battle, with much animation. The weapons which Bel wielded were numerous and formidable; but by far the most curious was the flaming sword which turned every way, "to the South, to the North, to the East, and to the West, so that none could escape from it," which resembles so strongly the sword of the cherubim in Genesis which "turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life," that the same celestial weapon must surely be {p.136} intended. It is here supposed to be in the hands of Bel, the beneficent deity who, according to plate 42, had created mankind.

Several lines at the beginning and end of each face of the tablet are broken off, which causes some obscurity.

The 32nd line is very obscure. The word "eleven" is written in words at length, and very distinctly, istin isrit (one and ten) which is the Hebrew term for "eleven," so that there can be no doubt about the word. But twelve is usually the sacred number, and therefore the thought suggests itself that in this legend something had happened to one of the twelve nabniti, or created races, and reduced their number to eleven. Perhaps the story ran that the angels were at first divided into twelve tribes or races, and that one of these joined the dragon in the rebellion, so that "after the battle" (if that is the phrase employed by the scribe) only eleven were to be found in heaven. This certainly does not accord with the statement in plate 43, but this is a different tablet, and the scribe may have followed a different tradition, for these minor points vary much in mythology. The translation was first published by the author in Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., vol. V, p. 1.

2 .....¹ and with it his right hand he armed.
3 His flaming sword he raised in his hand.
4 He brandished his lightnings before him.
5 A curved scimitar he carried on his body.
6 And he made a sword to destroy the dragon,
7 which turned four ways; so that none could avoid its rapid blows.
8 It turned to the South, to the North, to the East, and to the West.
9 Near to his sabre he placed the bow of his father ANU.
10 He made a whirling thunderbolt, and a bolt with double flames, .... impossible to extinguish:
11 and a quadruple bolt, and a septuple bolt, and a ....² bolt, and a bolt of crooked fire.
12 He took the thunderbolts which he had made, and there were seven of them
13 to be shot at the dragon, and he put them into his quiver behind him,
14 Then he raised his great sword, whose name was "Lord of the Storm."
________
1 Lacunae.
2 Forked lightning.

15 He mounted his chariot, whose name was "Destroyer of the Impious:"
16 he took his place, and lifted the four reins¹ in his hand.

Bel now offers to the dragon to decide their quarrel by single combat, which the dragon accepts. This agrees with the representations of the combat on Babylonian cylinders in Mr. Smith's Chaldean Genesis, p. 62, etc.

1 (Why¹ seekest thou thus) to irritate me with blasphemies?
2 Let thy army withdraw: let thy chiefs stand aside:
3 then I and thou (alone) we will do battle.
4 When the dragon heard this,
5 Stand back! she said, and repeated her command.
6 Then the tempter rose watchfully on high.
7 Turning and twisting, she shifted her standing point,
8 she watched his lightnings: she provided for retreat.
9 The warrior angels sheathed their swords.
10 Then the dragon attacked the just Prince of the gods.
11 Strongly they joined in the trial of battle,
12 the King drew his sword, and dealt rapid blows,
13 then he took his whirling thunderbolt, and looked well behind and before him:
14 and when the dragon opened her mouth to swallow him,
15 he flung the bolt into her, before she could shut her lips.
16 The blazing lightning poured into her inside.
17 He pulled out her heart; her mouth he rent open;
18 he drew his (falchion), and cut open her belly.
19 He cut into her inside and extracted her heart,
20 he took vengeance on her, and destroyed her life.
21 When he knew she was dead he boasted over her.
22 After that the dragon their leader was slain
23 her troops took to flight: her army was scattered abroad,
_________
1 Several lines appear to be broken off, including the first part of line 1, which I have restored from conjecture.

24 and the angels her allies, who had come to help her,
25 retreated, grew quiet, and went away.
26 They fled from thence, fearing for their own lives,
27 and saved themselves, flying to places beyond pursuit
28 He followed them, their weapons he broke up.
29 Broken they lay, and in great heaps they were captured.
30 A crowd of followers full of astonishment
31 its remains¹ lifted up, and on their shoulders hoisted.
32 And the eleven tribes pouring in after the battle
33 in great multitudes, coming to see,
34 gazed at the monstrous serpent ......²
35 and .....
36 And the god BEL ......

THE following poem is one of the numerous bilingual texts, written in the original Accadian with an interlinear Assyrian translation, which have been brought from the library of Assur-bani-pal at Kouyunjik. The seven evil spirits who are mentioned in it are elsewhere described as the seven storm-clouds or winds whose leader seems to have been the dragon Tiamat ("the deep") defeated by Bel-Merodach in the war of the gods. It was these seven storm-spirits who were supposed to attack the moon when it was eclipsed, as described in an Accadian poem translated by Mr. Fox Talbot in a previous volume of Records of the Past. Here they are regarded as the allies of the incubus or nightmare. We may compare them {p.142} with the Maruts or storm-gods of the Rig-Veda (see Max Muller Rig-Veda-Sanhita: the Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans translated and explained, vol. I.). The author of the present poem seems to have been a native of the Babylonian city of Eridu, and his horizon was bounded by the mountains of Susiania, over whose summits the storms raged from time to time. A fragment of another poem relating to Eridu is appended, which seems to celebrate a temple similar to that recorded by Maimonides in which the Babylonian gods gathered round the image of the sun-god to lament the death of Tammuz.

A copy of the cuneiform text will be found in the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. IV. pl. 15. M. Fr. Lenormant has translated a portion of it in La Magie chez les Chaldeens, pp. 26, 27.

1 (In) the earth their borders were taken, and that god¹ came not forth.
2 From the earth he came not forth, (and) their power was baneful.
3 The heaven like a vault they extended and that which had no exit they opened.²
4 Among the stars pf heaven their watch they kept not, in watching (was) their office.
5 The mighty hero³ to heaven they exalted, and his father he knew not.⁴
6 The Fire-god on high, the supreme, the first-born, the mighty, the divider of the supreme crown of ANU!
7 The Fire-god the light that exalts him with himself he exalts.
8 Baleful (are) those seven, destroyers.
9 For his ministers in his dwelling he chooses (them).
10 O Fire-god, those seven how were they born, how grew they up?
11 Those seven in the mountain of the sunset were born.
12 Those seven in the mountain of the sunrise grew up.
13 In the hollows of the earth have they their dwelling.
14 On the high-places of the earth are they proclaimed.
15 As for them in heaven and earth immense (is) their habitation.
16 Among the gods their couch they have not.
_______
1 That is, the god of fire.
2 The Assyrian has, "Unto heaven that which was not seen they raised "
3 The Assyrian adds, "the firstborn supreme."
4 In the Accadian text, "they knew not."

17 Their name in heaven (and) earth exists not.
18 Seven they are: in the mountain of the sunset do they rise.
19 Seven they are: in the mountain of the sunrise did they set.
20 Into the hollows of the earth do they penetrate.¹
21 On the high places of the earth did they ascend.
22 As for them, goods they have not, in heaven and earth they are not known.²
23 Unto MERODACH³ draw near, and this word may he say unto thee.⁴
24 Of those baleful seven, as many as he sets before thee, their might may he give thee,
25 according to the command of his blessed mouth, (he who is) the supreme judge of ANU.
26 The Fire-god unto MERODACH draws near, and this word he saith unto thee.
27 In the pavilion, the resting place of might, this word he hears, and
28 to his father HEA⁵ to his house he descends, and speaks:
29 O my father, the Fire-god unto the rising of the sun has penetrated, and these secret words has uttered.
30 Learning the story of those seven, their places grant thou to another.
31 Enlarge the ears, O son of Eridu.⁶
32 HEA his son MERODACH answered:
33 My son, those seven dwell in earth;
34 those seven from the earth have issued.
_____________
1 In the Accadian, "cause the foot to dwell."
2 In the Assyrian, "learned."
3 In the Accadian text, Merodach, the mediator and protector of mankind, is called, "Protector of the covenant."
4 That is, the Fire-god.
5 Hea, the god of the waters, was the father of Merodach, the Sun-god.
6 Eridu, the Rata of Ptolemy, was near the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, on the Arabian side of the river. It was one of the oldest cities of Chaldea.

35 Those seven in the earth were born,
36 those seven in the earth grew up.
37 The forces of the deep for war¹ have drawn near.
38 Go, my son MERODACH!
39 (for) the laurel, the baleful tree that breaks in pieces the incubi,
40 the name whereof HEA remembers in his heart.
41 In the mighty enclosure, the girdle of Eridu which is to be praised,
42 to roof and foundation may the fire ascend and to (work) evil may those seven never draw near.
43 Like a broad scimitar in a broad place bid (thine) hand rest; and
44 in circling fire by night and by day² on the (sick) man's head may it abide.
45 At night mingle the potion and at dawn in his hand let him raise (it).
46 In the night a precept³ in a holy book,⁴ in bed, on the sick man's head let them place.⁵
47 The hero (MERODACH) unto his warriors sends:
48 Let the Fire-god seize on the incubus.
49 Those baleful seven may he remove and their bodies may he bind.
50 During the day the sickness (caused by) the incubus (let him) overcome.
51 May the Fire-god bring back the mighty powers to their foundations.
_______
1 Literally, "warlike-expedition."
2 In the Accadian, "day (and) night."
3 Masal (mashal), as in Hebrew, "a proverb."
4 Literally, "tablet."
5 It is evident that the poem was to be used as a charm in case of sickness. Compare the phylacteries of the Jews.

52 May NIN-CI-GAL¹ the wife of (HEA) establish before her the bile (of the man).
53 Burn up the sickness²
54 May NiN-AKHA-KUDDU³ seize upon his body and abide upon his head,
55 according to the word of NIN-AKHA-KUDDU,
56 (in) the enclosure of Eridu.
57 (In) the mighty girdle of the deep and of Eridu may she remember his return (to health).
58 In (her) great watch may she keep (away) the incubus supreme among the gods (that is) upon his head, and in the night may she watch him.
59 (By) night and day to the prospering hands of the Sun-god may she entrust him. CONCLUSION.
60 (In) Eridu a dark pine grew, in a holy place it was planted.
61 Its (crown) was white crystal which towards the deep spread.
62 The...⁴ of HEA (was) its pasturage in Eridu, a canal full (of waters).
63 Its seat (was) the (central) place of this earth.⁵
64 Its shrine (was) the couch of mother ZICUM.⁶
________
1 Nin-ci-gal, "the Lady of the mighty country," was queen of Hades, and identified with Gula or Bahu (the "chaos," bohu, of Gen. i. 2), "the Lady of the House of Death."
2 In the Accadian, "the sick head (and) sick heart." Then follows a lacuna.
3 Apparently another name of Nin-ci-gal.
4 Lacuna.
5 Compare the Greek idea of Delphi as the central όμφαλός or "navel " of the earth.
6 Zicum or Zigara was the primaeval goddess, "the mother of Anu and the gods."

65 The ....¹ of its holy house like a forest spread its shade; there (was) none who within entered not.
66 (It was the seat) of the mighty the mother, begetter of ANU.²
67 Within it (also was) TAMMUZ.³

For the sake of completeness a charm for averting the attack of the seven evil spirits or storm-clouds may be added here, though the larger part of it has already been translated by Mr. Fox Talbot in Records of the Past, vol. III, p. 143. It forms part of the great collection of magical formulas, and is lithographed in the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. IV, pl. 2, col. v, lines 30-60.

1 Seven (are) they, seven (are) they!
2 In the channel of the deep seven (are) they!
3 (In) the radiance of heaven seven (are) they!
4 In the channel of the deep in a palace grew they up.
________
1 Lacuna.
2 That is, of Zicum.
3 Tammuz, called Du-zi, "the (only) son," in Accadian, was a form of the Sun-god. His death through the darkness of winter caused Istar to descend into Hades in search of him.

5 Male they (are) not, female they (are) not.¹
6 (In) the midst of the deep (are) their paths.
7 Wife they have not, son they have not.
8 Order (and) kindness know they not.
9 Prayer (and) supplication hear they not.
10 The cavern in the mountain they enter.
11 Unto HEA (are) they hostile.
12 The throne-bearers of the gods (are) they.
13 Disturbing the lily in the torrents are they set.
14 Baleful (are) they, baleful (are) they.
15 Seven (are) they, seven (are) they, seven twice again (are) they.
16 May the spirits of heaven remember, may the spirits of earth remember.
________
1 The Accadian text, "Female they are not, male they are not." This order is in accordance with the position held by the woman in Accad; in the Accadian Table of Laws, for instance, translated in Records of the Past, vol. III, p. 23, the denial of the father by the son is punished very leniently in comparison with the denial of the mother.

FRAGMENT OF AN ASSYRIAN PRAYER AFTER A BAD DREAM
TRANSLATED BY
REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.

THE following fragment of a prayer after a bad dream is here translated for the first time. It may serve as a specimen of the numerous Assyrian prayers which are to be found on the tablets now in the British Museum, as well as of the importance attached to dreams by the Assyrians. The tablet when complete seems to have been of considerable length: unfortunately only the fragment given below has been preserved, both beginning and end being lost. The text is lithographed in the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, {p.150} vol. IV, 66, 2. The reverse of the tablet is too far gone for translation. Certain indications make it probable that the inscription was translated from an Accadian original, although the Accadian text is not given. A bilingual Penitential Psalm included in the present volume will show that a literature of a deeply religious character was current among the primitive population of Chaldea. The prayers, however, alluded to above seem to be of purely Assyrian origin.

1 May god my prayer set at rest ....¹
2 may my Lord a return of favour (grant).
3 During the day direct towards death the things that distract (me).
4 O my goddess be gracious unto me; at some time or other (hear my) prayer.
5 May they pardon my sin, my wickedness (and) my transgression.²
6 May the deity pardon; may they be kind towards (my entreaty).
7 My groaning may the seven winds carry away.
8 May the worm lay (it) low: may the bird to heaven cause (it) to ascend;
9 may a shoal of fish carry (it) away, may the river bear (it) along;
10 may the creeping thing of the desert be present unto me. Or: may the flowing waters of the river drench me.³
11 Enlighten me also like an image of gold.
12 Food (and) drink on the waters of thy destruction may I get,
13 (though it be) heaps of worms (and) the burying⁴ of life. Or: the enclosure of thine altar (and) thy homage may I support.
________
1 Lacuna.
2 Literally "opposition," from the same root as Satan.
3 These are alternative sentences, either of which might be recited by the worshipper.
4 Or "enclosing."

14 With the worm make me to pass, and may I be forgiven by thee.
15 Cause me to be fed, and let a favourable dream come.
16 May the dream I dreamed be favourable. Or: may the dream I dreamed be confirmed.¹
17 The dream I dreamed to happiness turn.
18 May MAKHIR² the god of dreams on my head settle.
19 Cause me also to enter into Bit-Saggal the temple of the gods, the temple of NIN,
20 unto MERODACH the mediator,³ unto prosperity, unto the hands of his mighty prospering.
21 May thy entering be exalted; may thy divinity be glorious;
22 may the men of my city make beautiful thy warlike deeds.

_______
1 These are alternative sentences, either of which might be recited by the worshipper.
2 Makhir is elsewhere called "the daughter of the Sun," her two brothers being Cittu and Sisik. Cittu or Cit was the name of the Sun-god among the Cassites. Makhir may also be read Ma'sar.
3 Literally "he that shows favour."

PREFACE	i
Great Inscription in the Palace of Khorsabad By Prof. Dr. JULIUS OPPERT.	1
The Bavian Inscription of Sennacherib By THEOPHILUS GOLDRIDGE PlNCHES.	21
Inscription of Merodach Baladan III By the Rev. J. M. RODWELI,, M.A.	29
Annals of Assurbanipal By the late GEORGE SMITH.	37
Inscriptions of the Persian Monarchs By Prof. Dr. JULIUS OPPERT.	65
Babylonian Public Documents By MM. OPPERT and MENANT.	89
Inscription on the Sarcophagus of King Esmunazar By Prof. Dr. JULIUS OPPERT.	109
Chaldean Account of the Creation By H. Fox TAI.BOT, F.R.S.	115
Ishtar and Izdubar By H. Fox TALBOT, F.R.S.	119
The Twelfth Izdubar Legend By WILLIAM ST. CHAD BOSCAWEN.	129
The Fight between Bel and the Dragon By H. Fox TAI.BOT, F.R.S.	135
Accadian Poem on the Seven Evil Spirits By the Rev. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.	141
Fragment of an Assyrian Prayer after a Bad Dream By the Rev. A. H. SAYCE, M.A.	149