This second volume of Joshua Jeffers and Jamie Novotny’s new and updated editio princeps of the inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal provides reliable, up-to-date editions of 169 historical inscriptions of this seventh-century BC ruler, including all such texts known from clay tablets and presumed from Kuyunjik, the citadel mound of the Assyrian capital Nineveh. Each text edition is presented with an English translation, a brief introduction, a catalogue of basic information about all attested exemplars, a commentary on further technical information and notes, and a comprehensive bibliography. This volume includes a general introduction to sources edited in the volume, a study of Ashurbanipal’s building activities in Assyria, photographs of tablets inscribed with texts of Ashurbanipal, indices of museum and excavation numbers and selected publications, and indices of proper names. Prepared by a pair of highly qualified philologists and historians, this modern scholarly edition is the first to translate into English all the presently known inscriptions of Ashurbanipal written on clay tablets. It will be a key reference for Assyriologists for decades to come.

This is the final installment in a tripartite critical edition of the inscriptions of the last major Neo-Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal, and the members of his family. The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period 5/3 provides reliable, up-to-date editions and English translations of 106 historical inscriptions written in the Akkadian and Sumerian languages. These inscriptions account for all certainly identifiable and positively attributable inscriptions of Ashurbanipal discovered in Babylonia, in the East Tigris Region, and outside of the Assyrian Empire, together with inscriptions of some members of Ashurbanipal’s family—his wife Libbāli-šarrat, as well as his sons and successors Aššur-etel-ilāni and Sîn-šarra-iškun—and loyal officials. Each text edition is accompanied by an English translation, brief introduction, catalogue of exemplars, commentary, and bibliography. In addition to a critical introduction to the sources, RINAP 5/3 also includes relevant studies of various aspects of Ashurbanipal’s reign and the final years of the Assyrian Empire; translations of the “Chronicle Concerning the Early Years of Nabopolassar” and the “Fall of Nineveh Chronicle”; photographs of objects inscribed with texts of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun; indexes of museum and excavation numbers and selected publications; and indexes of proper names. Expertly prepared by three leading philologists, this eagerly awaited work will be a key reference for Assyriologists, Near Eastern historians, biblical scholars, and scholars of ancient languages for decades to come.

The city of Ur—now modern Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq, also called Ur of the Chaldees in the Bible—was one of the most important Sumerian cities in Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic Period in the first half of the third millennium BCE. The city is known for its impressive wealth and artistic achievements, evidenced by the richly decorated objects found in the so-called Royal Cemetery, which was excavated by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania from 1922 until 1934. Ur was also the cult center of the moon god, and during the twenty-first century BCE, it was the capital of southern Mesopotamia. With contributions from both established and rising Assyriologists from ten countries and edited by three leading scholars of Assyriology, this volume presents thirty-two essays based on papers delivered at the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale held in Philadelphia in 2016. Reflecting on the theme “Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE,” the chapters deal with archaeological, artistic, cultural, economic, historical, and textual matters connected to the ancient city of Ur. Three of the chapters are based on plenary lectures by senior scholars Richard Zettler, Jonathan Taylor, and Katrien De Graef. The remainder of the essays, arranged alphabetically by author, highlight innovative new directions for research and represent a diverse array of topics related to Ur in various periods of Mesopotamian history. Tightly focused in theme, yet broad in scope, this collection will be of interest to Assyriologists and archaeologists working on Iraq.

In this book, Jamie Novotny and Joshua Jeffers provide updated, reliable editions of seventy-one historical inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, including all historical inscriptions on clay prisms, clay cylinders, wall slabs, and other stone objects from Nineveh, Assur, and Kalhu. Each text edition is accompanied by an English translation, a catalog of all exemplars, a comprehensive bibliography, and commentary containing notes and technical information. This volume also contains a general introduction to the reign of Ashurbanipal, his military campaigns, the corpus of inscriptions, previous studies, and chronology; translations of the relevant passages of several Mesopotamian chronicles and king lists; photographs of objects inscribed with texts of Ashurbanipal; indexes of museum and excavation numbers, selected publications, and proper names. This reference work represents a significant revision of previously published collections and also makes available a number of unpublished inscriptions. It will be invaluable to specialists in royal inscriptions and will be of interest to all scholars of the history and archaeology of the Ancient Near East.