Sennacherib Prism

TRANSLATION Adapted from Luckenbill (1924:23-27)
COLUMN 1

¹Sennacherib, the great king,

²the mighty king,
king of the world,
king of Assyria,
³king of the four quarters,
the wise shepherd,
⁴favorite of the great gods,
guardian of right,
⁵lover of justice,
who lends support,
⁶who comes to the aid of the destitute,
who performs pious acts,
⁷perfect hero,
mighty man,
⁸first among all princes,
the powerful one who consumes ⁹the insubmissive,
who strikes the wicked with the thunderbolt;

¹⁰the god Assur, the great mountain, an unrivaled kinship ¹¹has entrusted to me, and above all those ¹²who dwell in palaces, has made powerful my weapons; ¹³from the upper sea of the setting sun ¹⁴to the lower sea of the rising sun, ¹⁵he has brought the black-headed people in submission at my feet; ¹⁶and mighty kings feared my warfare, ¹⁷leaving their homes and ¹⁸flying alone, like the sidinnu, the bird of the cave, ¹⁹to some inaccessible place.

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