Inscription of Sennacherib.
Translated by H. F. Talbot, F. R. S, from the original cylinders preserved
in the British Museum. Relates conquests, campaigns,
building of temples and palaces, irrigating systems,
and siege of Jerusalem.
Sennacherib, the great King, the powerful King, the King of Assyria, the King unrivalled, the pious monarch, the worshipper of the great gods. The protector of the just: the lover of the righteous: . . . The noble warrior, the valiant hero, the first of all Kings, the great punisher of unbelievers, who are breakers of the holy festivals.
ASHUR, the great Lord, has given to me an unrivalled monarchy. Over all Princes he has raised triumphantly my arms.
In the beginning of my reign I defeated MARDUK BALADAN, King of Babylonia, and his allies the Elamites, in the plains near the city of Kish. In the midst of that battle he quitted his camp, and fled alone: he escaped to the city of Gutzumann: he got into the marshes full of reeds and rushes, and so saved his life. The chariots, wagons, horses, mules, camels, and dromedaries, which in the midst of battle he had abandoned, were captured by my hands. I entered rejoicing into his palace in the city of Babylon: I broke open his royal treasury: gold and silver: vessels of gold and silver: precious stones of every kind: goods and valuables, and much royal treasure, his wife: the men and women of his palace: the noblemen: and those who ranked first among all his men of trust, and were clothed with the chief authority in the palace, I carried off, and counted them as a spoil. I marched after him to the city of Gutzumman, and I sent off my soldiers to search through the marshes and reeds. Five days they moved about rapidly, but his hiding place was not discovered!
In the power of ASHUR, my Lord, 89 large cities, and royal dwellings in the land of Chaldea, and 820 small towns in their neighborhood I assaulted, captured, and carried off their spoils, the Urbi, and the Aramaeans, and the Chaldaeans who were in the cities ofErech, Nipur, Kish, Herris-kalama, and Tiggaba, and the people of the cities which had been in rebellion I carried away, and I distributed them as a spoil. BELIBUS, the son of a Rabbani, who was Prefect of Suanna city, who as a young man had been brought up in my palace, I placed over them as King of Leshan and Akkadi. During my return, the Tribes of the Tuhamuna, Rihikhu, Yadakku, Hubudu, Kipri, Malikhu, Gurumu, Hubuli, Damunu, Gambulu, Khindaru, Ruhaha, Buduku, Khamranu, Hagaranu, Nobatu, and Lihutahu (Aramaeans all of them, and rebels), I completely conquered. Two hundred and eight thousand people, male and female: 7,200 horses and mules; 11,173 asses; 5,230 camels; 80,100 oxen; 800,600 sheep; a vast spoil, I carried off to Assyria.
In the course of my expedition I received the great tribute of NEBO-BIL-ZIKRI, Chief of Ararat: gold, silver, mesukan wood of great size, mules, camels, oxen and sheep. The people of the city Khirimmi, obstinate enemies, who from old times had never bowed down to my yoke, I destroyed with the sword. Not one soul escaped. That district I settled again. One ox, ten sheep, ten goats (these twenty beasts being the best of every kind), I appointed (as a sacrifice) to the gods of Assyria, my Lords, in every township.
In my second expedition, ASHUR, the Lord, giving me confidence, I marched against the land of the Kassi and Yatsubi-galla, obstinate enemies, who from old times had not submitted to the Kings my fathers. Through the thick forests and in the hilly districts I rode on horseback, for I had left my two-horse chariot in the plains below. But in dangerous places I lighted on my feet, and clambered like a mountain goat. The city of Beth-Kilamzahk, their great city, I attacked and took. The inhabitants, small and great, horses, mules, asses, oxen, and sheep, I carried off from it and distributed them as spoil. Their smaller towns without number I overthrew, and reduced them to heaps of rubbish. A vast building, which was their Hall of Assembly, I burnt with fire, and left it in ruins. I rebuilt that city of Beth-Kilamzakh, and I made it into a strong fortress. Beyond former times I strengthened it and fortified it. People drawn from lands subdued by my arms I placed to dwell within it. The people of Kassi and Yatsubi-galla, who had fled away from my arms, I brought down from the mountains, and in the cities of Kar-Thisbe and Beth-Kubitti I caused them to dwell. In the hands of my General, the Prefect of Arrapakha, I placed them. A stone tablet I made: I wrote on it thevictories which I had gained over them, and within the city I set it up.
Then I turned round the front of my chariot, and I took the road to the land of the Illipi. Before me ISPABARA their King abandoned his strong cities, and his treasuries, and fled to a distance. All his broad country I swept like a mighty whirlwind. The city Marupishti, and the city of Akkudu, his royal residences, and 34 great cities, with numberless smaller towns in their neighborhood, I ravaged, destroyed, and burnt them with fire. I cut down their woods. Over their corn fields I sowed thistles. In every direction I left the land of Illipi a desert. The inhabitants, small and great, male and female, horses, mules, asses, oxen, and sheep beyond number, I carried off, and sent them away until none were left. The strong cities of Sisirta and Kummakhli, and the smaller towns in their neighborhood, together with the whole province of Beth-Barrua, I cut off from his land, and added them to the empire of Assyria. I established the city of Ilinzash, to be the royal city and metropolis of that province. I abolished its former name, and I gave it the name of the city of Sennacherib.
During my return I received a great tribute from the distant Medians, who, in the days of the Kings, my fathers, no one had ever heard even the name of their country; and I made them bow down to the yoke of my Majesty.
In those days, Niniveh, the exalted city, the city beloved by ISHTARS within which dwells the worship of all the gods and goddesses, the ancient timin of its palace, those of old time had stamped its clay with sacred writing, and repeated it in the companion-tablets. A splendid place, a storehouse of every kind, and a treasury for all their jewels and regalia, they erected within it. Of all the Kings of former days, my fathers who went before me, who reigned before me over Assyria, and governed the city of BEL, and every year without fail augmented its interior rooms, and treasured up in them all their revenues which they received from the four countries, not one among them all, though the central palace was too small to be their royal residence, had the knowledge, nor the wish to improve it. As to caring for the health of the city, by bringing streams of water into it, and the finding of new springs, none turned his thought to it, nor brought his heart to it.
Then I, SENNACHERIB, King of Assyria, by command of the gods, resolved in my mind to complete this work, and I brought my heartto it. Men of Chalda, Aram, Manna, Kue, and Cilicia, who had not bowed down to my yoke, I brought away as captives, and I compelled them to make bricks. In baskets made of reeds which I cut in the land of Chaldaea, I made the foreign workmen bring their appointed tale of bricks, in order to complete this work.
The former palace, of 360 measures long, adjoining the gardens of the Great Tower: 80 measures wide, adjoining the watchtower of the temple of ISHTAR: 134 measures wide, adjoining the watchtower of the house of worship: and 95 measures wide, . . . which the Kings, my fathers, who went before me had built for their royal residence, but had not beautified its front. The river Tibilti had ruined the brickwork of it when it ravaged the quays of the central city. The trees of its gardens had been burnt for firewood years ago. For a long time this river had undermined the front of the palace. In the high water of its floods it had made great rents in the foundations, and had washed away the timin. That small palace I pulled down, the whole of it. I made a new channel for the river Tibilti, I regulated its water, I restrained its flow. Within its old limits I walled up its stream. The low platform I raised higher, and paved it firmly with stones of great size, covered with bitumen, for a space of 354 measures in length, and 279 in breadth. That space I elevated above the waters, and restored it to be again dry ground. Seventeen hundred measures long: 162 measures wide, on the upper side towards the north: 217 measures wide in the center, 386 measures wide, on the lower side towards the south, fronting the river Tigris, I completed the mound, and I measured the measure.
On a high festival, in a great affluence of the people, I replaced the timin. With a layer of large stones I enclosed its place and I made its deposits secure. The written records of my name, 160 fathoms of bas-reliefs, I sculptured in the palace, but the lower part of the wall, next to the ground, I left to be filled up in future times. Afterwards I resolved to have more tablets carved. I sculptured twenty fathoms of them in addition to the former ones, so that I formed 180 fathoms of them altogether. The enclosure itself I increased beyond what it was in former days: above the measure of the former palace I enlarged it, and I liberally augmented its dwellings, and its fine buildings of ivory, dan wood, ku wood, meshukan wood, cedar wood, cypress wood, and pistachio wood. And in the midst I placed my royal residence, the palace of ZAKDI-NU-ISHA. Around itI planted the finest of trees, equal to those of the land of Khamana, which all the knowing prefer to those of the land of Chaldaea.
By my care I caused the uprisings of springs in more than forty places in the plain: I divided them into irrigating canals for the people of Niniveh, and gave them to be their own property. To obtain water to turn the flour mills, I brought it in pipes from Kishri to Niniveh, and I skillfully constructed water-wheels. I brought down the perennial waters of the river Kutzuru, from the distance of half a kasbu, into those reservoirs, and I covered them well.
Of Niniveh, my royal city, I greatly enlarged the dwellings. Its streets, I renovated the old ones, and I widened those which were too narrow. I made them as splendid as the sun.
In the future days, if one of the Kings, my sons, whom ASHUR shall call to the sovereignty over this land and people; when this palace shall grow old and decay, shall repair its injuries, shall see the written record of my name, shall pour a libation on the altar, and sacrifice a victim, and then shall replace it in its place: ASHUR will hear and accept his prayers.