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Records of the Past, 2nd series, Vol. I

By A. H. Sayce

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Coloumn-VIII

1. Bit-Khamri (the temple) of Rimmon,
2. which Samas-Rimmon the high-priest of Assur 3

3. the son of Isme-Dagon the high-priest of Asur
4. had built, had fallen into decay and was ruined.
5. I purified its site; from its foundations
6. to its roof with brick
7. I bonded (it) together. More than before
8. I adorned, I established (it).
9. In its midst pure victims
10. to Rimmon my lord I sacrificed.

_________

11. In those days the ivory (?) stone, the khalta stone
12. and the mountain stone from the mountains
13. of Nairi, 1 which through Asur my lord
14. I had conquered, I carried away;
15. in Bit-Khamri, (the temple) of Rimmon my lord
16. for days to come I set (them).

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17. As I the illustrious temple, the building supreme,
18. for the habitation of Anu and Rimmon the great gods
19. my lords, have laboured at and have not desisted
20. (and) have not rested from the work, 2
21. (but) have quickly completed (it), and
22. have gladdened the heart of their great
23. divinity, (so) may Anu and Rimmon
24. turn (to me) for ever and
25. love the lifting up of my hands;
26. may they hearken to the earnestness of my prayer;
27. abundant rains, years
28. of fertility and fatness to my reign
29. may they give; in battle and conflict
30. may they conduct (me) in safety;
31. all the countries of my enemies, countries
32. that are powerful, and kings that are hostile to me,
33. may they subdue beneath my feet;

34. to myself and my supremacy
35. may they approach in goodness, and
36. my priesthood in the presence of Asur and their great
37. divinities unto future days
38. may they establish like a mountain for ever.

_________

39. The power of my heroism, the might
40. of my battle, the subjection of enemies,
41. even the foes of Asur, whom Anu and Rimmon
42. have given for a spoil,
43. on my monuments and my cylinder
44. have I described; in the temple of Anu and Rimmon
45. the great gods my lords
46. I have deposited (them) for days to come;
47. the monumental-stones of Samas-Rimmon,
48. my (fore)father I have anointed with oil; 1 a victim
49. I have sacrificed: to their place I have restored (them).

_________

50. In future days, in the days to come,
51. at any time whatever, may a future prince,
52. when the temple of Anu and Rimmon the great
53. gods, my lords, and these towers
54. shall grow old and
55. shall decay, renew their ruins;
56. my monumental-stones and my cylinder
57. may he anoint with oil; a victim may he sacrifice;
58. to their place may he restore (them),
59. and may he write his name along with mine.
60. Like myself may Anu and Rimmon
61. the great gods in goodness of heart
62. and the acquisition of power kindly conduct him!

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63. Whoever my monumental-stones and my cylinder
64. shall shatter, shall sweep away,

65. shall throw into the water,
66. shall burn with fire,
67. shall conceal in the dust; in the holy house of the god
68. (in) a place invisible shall store (them) up in fragments;
69. shall obliterate the name that is written, and
70. shall write his own name, and something
75. evil shall devise, and
72. against my monumental-stones
73. shall work injury;

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74. may Anu and Rimmon the great gods, my lords,
75. fiercely regard him and
76. may they curse him with a withering curse.
77. May they overthrow his kingdom;
78. may they remove the foundation of the throne of his majesty;
79. may they annihilate the fruit of his lordship;
80. may they break his weapons;
81. may they cause destruction to his army;
82. in the presence of his enemies in chains
83. may they seat him. May Rimmon with lightning
84. destructive smite his land;
85. want, hunger, famine
86. (and) corpses may he lay upon his country;
87. may he not bid him live for one day;
88. may he root out his name (and) his seed in the land!

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89. (Written) in the month Kuzallu, 1 the 29th day, in the eponymy
90. of Ina-ili-ya-allak the chief of the body-guard. 2

Footnotes
118:3 The Pate’sis, or high-priests of Assur, preceded the kings of Assyria, of whom the first is stated to have been Bel-kapkapu. As Samas-Rimmon, the high-priest, flourished 701 years before Tiglath-Pileser, his date would be about B.C. 1830. In Babylonia the high-priests were subject to a suzerain king; it is therefore probable that the high-priests of Assur also admitted the supremacy of a supreme monarch who may have ruled in Babylonia. Bricks have been found on the site of Ur in Babylonia bearing the name of Isme-Dagon, "king of Sumer and Accad," but he must p. 119 have lived at a much earlier period than Samas-Rimmon, whose Babylonian contemporary was Gul-kisar.

119:1 Another mode of spelling Nahri.

119:2 Literally "have not laid down my side at the work."

120:1 Thereby turning them into Beth-els or consecrated stones. Cf. Gen. xxviii. 18.

121:1 "Of sheep-breeding," a name of Sivan or May, according to W.A.I., v 43, 14.

121:2 Literally " the mighty men," like the Gibborim of the Old Testament; cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8. Assyrian chronology was reckoned according to the eponyms, officers who gave their name to each year of the king's reign. As the inscription of Rimmon-nirari I, who preceded Tiglath-Pileser I by about two hundred years, is dated in the eponymy of Shalman-garradu ("the god Solomon is a hero"), accurate chronology in Assyria went back to an early period.