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Sennacherib Prism

DESCRIPTION

Image source
Oriental Institute, Chicago
oi.uchicago.edu/OI 

Language: Akkadian
Medium: Clay prism
Dimensions: 38cm high
13.3cm wide at the top
14cm wide at the bottom
Length: 6 columns
500 lines of writing
Approximate Date: 689 BCE
Dates of Sennacherib's reign: 701-681 BCE
Purchaser: J. H. Breasted for
the Oriental Institute
Seller: Baghdad antiquities dealer
Date of Purchase: winter 1919-20
Ostensible find location: mound at Kuyunjik
(in modern Mosul, Iraq)
Current Location: Oriental Institute
Chicago, Illinois
Inventory Number: A2793

TRANSLATION
Adapted from Luckenbill (1927:23-27)

COLUMN 1

Sennacherib, the great king, the mighty king, king of the world, king of
Assyria, king of the four quarters, the wise shepherd, favorite of the
great gods, guardian of right, lover of justice, who lends support, who
comes to the aid of the destitute, who performs pious acts, perfect hero,
mighty man, first among all princes, the powerful one who consumes the
insubmissive, who strikes the wicked with the thunderbolt.

The god Assur, the great mountain, an unrivaled kinship has entrusted to
me, and above all those who dwell in palaces, has made my weapons
powerful. From the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the
rising sun, he has brought the black-headed people in submission at my
feet. And mighty kings feared my warfare, leaving their homes and flying
alone, like the sidinnu, the bird of the cave, to some inaccessible place.

In my first campaign I accomplished the defeat of Merodach-baladan, king
of Babylonia, together with the army of Elam, his ally, on the plain of
Kish. In the midst of that battle he deserted his camp, and he escaped
alone, so he saved his own life. The chariots, horses, wagons, mules,
which he left behind at the beginning of the battle my hands siezed. Into
his palace, which is in Babylon, I entered jubilantly. I opened his
treasure-house: gold, silver, vessels of god and silver, precious stones
of every name, goods and property without limit, heavy tribute, his harem,
courtiers and officials, singers -- male and female -- all his artisans,
as many as there were, his palace servants I brought out, and I counted as
spoil.

In the might of Assur my lord, seventy-five of his strong walled cities of
Chaldea, and 420 small cities of their area I surrounded, I conquered, I
carried off their spoil. The Arabs, Arameans, and Chaldeans who were in
Erech, Nippur, Kish, Harsagkalamma, Kutha and Sippar, together with the
citizens, the rebels I brought out and counted as booty. On my return, the
Tu'muna, Rihihu, Yadakku, Ubudu, Kibrź, Malahu, Gurumu, Ubulu, Damunu,
Gambulu, Hindaru, Ru'ūa, Bukudu, Hamrānu, Hagarānu, Nabatu, Li'tāu,
Arameans who were not submissive -- I conquered all of them.

208,000 people, great and small, male and female, horses, mules, asses,
camels, cattle and sheep, without number -- a heavy booty -- I carried off
to Assyria. In the course of my campaign, I received from
Nabū-bźl-shumāte, governor of the city of Hararate: gold silver, great
musukkani-trees, asses, camels, cattle, and sheep as his onerous
contribution. The warriors of Hirimme, wicked enemies, I cut down with the
sword.  No one escaped. Their corpses I hung on stakes, surrounding the
city (with them). That district I reorganized: one ox, ten lambs, ten
homers of wine, twenty homers of dates, its choicest, for the gods of
Assyria, my lords, I established for all time.

In my second campaign, Assur, my lord, encouraged me, and against the land
of the Kassites and the land of the Yasubigallai, who from of old had not
been submissive to the kings, my ancestors, I marched. In the midst of the
high mountains I rode on horseback where the terrain was difficult, and
had my chariot drawn up with ropes: where it became too steep, I clambered
up on foot like the wild-ox. The cities of Bīt-Kilamzah, Hardishpi, and
Bīt-Kubatti, their strong, walled cities I besieged, I captured. People,
horses, mules, asses, cattle, and sheep, I brought out from their midst
and counted as booty. And their small cities, which were beyond numbering,
I destroyed, I devastated, and I turned into ruins. The houses of the
steppe, (namely) the tents, in which they lived, I set on fire and turned
them into flames. I turned round, and made that Bīt-Kilamzah into a
fortress -- I made its walls stronger than they had ever been before.