Records of the Reign of Tukulti-Ninib I, King of Assyria, about BC 1275
Edited and Translated from a Memorial Tablet in the British Museum

The text and translation of an Assyrian cuneiform foundation tablet, dating to the thirteenth century BCE, published in 1904.

Leonard William King (Edited and translated by)

9781108082419, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 June 2019

208 pages, 12 b/w illus.
21.5 x 14 x 1.2 cm, 0.25 kg

In the preface to this 1904 work by Leonard King (1869–1919) of the British Museum's department of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, he states that the text it presents 'is of great historical value, inasmuch as it supplements our knowledge of the history of Assyria and her relations with Babylonia during the early part of the thirteenth century BC'. The tablet containing the text was buried under the wall of a city founded by King Tukulti-Ninib I (transliterated as Tukulti-Ninurta by modern scholars), to commemorate its building and his previous military achievements, which included the invasion of Babylonia. This account confirms earlier documents, and gives more detail on the chronology of a crucial period in the ancient history of the Near East. The book offers a lengthy introduction on the tablet and on the tradition of such foundation documents, as well as the cuneiform text and a parallel translation, along with an appendix of related documents.

Preface
Part I. Introduction: 1. Materials for the early history of Assyria
2. The memorial tablets of Adad-Nirari I and Tukulti-Ninib I
3. The historical value of Tukulti-Ninib's tablet
4. Description of the tablets
5. Analysis of the text
6. Babylonian and Assyrian foundation memorials
7. Egyptian foundation deposits compared
8. The foundation sacrifice
9. Object and origin of foundation deposits
10. Their manner of burial
11. The city of Kar-Tukulti-Ninib
12. Tukulti-Ninib's campaigns
13. His conquest of Babylon
14. Early relations of Assyria and Babylon
15. Smaller inscriptions of Tukulti-Ninib
16. The seal-inscription of Tukulti-Ninib
17. The undeciphered portion of the seal-inscription
18. Suggested interpretations of the characters
19. Tukulti-Ninib's successors
20. Problems connected with Tukulti-Ninib's rule in Babylon
Part II. Texts and Translations: 1. The annals of Tukulti-Ninib I
2. Supplementary texts
Appendix
Cuneiform texts
Index.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]