RA 45, 182f. (Sargon the Conquering Hero)

1       “[Yo]u have encouraged me

2       because of your hidden(?) …

3       [y]ou have informed me.

4       Courage, discipline, aggression, and valor

5       have always come together for you before.

6       … for you heroism

7       they have produced the plenty which we enjoyed.

8       … lift up! proclaim! be proud!

9       … draw near! (and) seize (it)!”

10     Now, then, spoke the foremost in rank:

11     “Restore your jewelry to your body,

12     your equipment!

13     Certainly, you are endowed with sense. Your attacker is the enemy of ...

14     ...

15     Let your mouth command your heart

16     and your heart command your legs!

17     Here, then, is the clash of heroes

18     Tomorrow Akkade will commence battle,

19     the festival of men will be held

20     The women feel their labor pains,

21     the two giving birth are bathed in blood.

22     Where shall the comrades observe the festival?

23     The companion is seated apart,

24     and the man prospers who will have appeared tomorrow

25     in command.”

26     His speech was lordly in answer to the king.

27     He had no opponents among the forces of the king.

28     Amidst the troops

29     he was not vainglorious.

30     “That you should tomorrow be extolled

31     in the palace

32–33   your vizier should receive instructions.”

34     Take on the weapon of the enemies, his

35     shield

36     I have attended to you, o King, my warrior,

37     he shall make it known to you(?).

Col. ii   

38     He shall erect a statue of you before

39     his own statues.

40     The sleeper destroyed their wakefulness,

41     the vigilant preserved the city for the lord.

42–43   He put forth his hand and purified the army.

44     He let loose the mighty bullocks, the warriors,

45     40 thousand…

46     those from the city(?), thrice heroic

47     those appointed,

48     girded with breastplates of gold,

49     those from the quay of Ḫaššum,

50     the ironclad,

51     those who attend in reverence,

52     those from the mountains, with cloaks of linen(?)

53     skilled of leg,

54     joined together in heroism,

55     who like the stars

56     cover the meadows.

57     Sargon journeyed

58     to the land of Utanapashtim,

59     as if an opponent, the forest opposed him.

60     It imposed darkness

61     on the light of the heavens.

62     The sun grew dark,

63     the stars came out

64     against the enemy.

65     The fortresses of the enemy were set nine times.

66     City, herds, cattle and sheep,

67     he bound together.

68     At that time he … Simurr[um]

69     The tribute of Akkade, which was with him,

70     and the tribute of Akkade, which was split off, he led away

71     the city he turned to heaps and ruins.

72     50 leagues around the palace he uprooted.

73     … which he did not burn

74     he …

Col. iii  

75     50 cities did the battles …

76     …

77     …

78     … were burned …

79     …

80     … he pursued …

81     …

82     … a statue of the king …

83     …

84     …

85     …

86     …

87     … of mercy

88     …

89     … he gave

90     …

91     …

92     … went

93     … my lord

94     … on his dais

95     …

96     … am I

97     … the king

98     … I killed

99     … that they had I destroyed … 

100   … I killed

101   … destiny before him

102   I destroyed Amurru

103   … before … I sacrificed

104   I destroyed Suba[rtu]

105   … clothing and … I plu[ndered]

106   I destroyed Gi-…-um(?)

107   I loaded it onto a raft and …

108   …

109   I destroyed Carchemish

110   [… I im]posed a lash

111   I destroyed […]-kia

112   …

113   [I destroyed] …

Col. iv  

114   I felled its [timber?], placed lamentation.

115   I destroyed …-zum(?)

116   …

117   I put to the fire.

118   After I had bound them I … 

119   Before his [god] …

120   Sargon instructs the main force:

121   “Now let the king who would become my equal

122–3   travel himself where I travel.”

2: The beginning of the line is still uncertain. Von Soden 1957 first suggested [aš-šu]m, translating “des Buhlen, deines Musikers.” J. G. Westenholz 1997, 60 accepts [aš-š]um, but suggests the “tentative” reading of Ḫa-ar-mi-na-ri-ka as (an unattested) geographical name. The photograph of the line in Westenholz 1997, 382 is unclear, but suggests far too little room for Haul's reading (2009, 356): [la tu-u]ḫ?-ḫa-ar-mi na-ri-ka “Zögere nicht mit deiner Stele.”

6: The beginning of the line remains uncertain; cf. Haul 2009, 364.

7: The reading of the second half of the line (nu-ḫu-uš ni-ku-la) was first suggested by  Nougayrol 1951, followed by CAD N/2 321b s.v. nuḫšu and Foster 2005, 107. Westenholz 1997, 62 reads [ša a-t]a-wu-ú nu-ḫu-uš-ni qú-la “Take heed of our well-being [whereof I sp]oke!” The verb qú-la to qâlum “to heed, pay attention, to listen to” (CAD Q 73b s. v. qâlu A 2; AHw II 895a s. v. qâlu G 2) should, however, normally take a dative object with the preposition ana rather than the accusative. Haul 2009, 364 objects that Nougayrol's nuḫuš nīkula presupposes an abundance not yet won, since the successful campaign follows later in the text. But prior campaigns have already been implied at this point in the text in the phrase pāna ištu ulla in l. 5. For the sense of the verb wapûm, see AHw III 1460 s.v. wapû Š 6 "Herrschaft, Fülle usw. wirksam machen." The term nuḫšum would then refer to the material rewards of the campaigns, and not to the abstract "Prächtigkeit" (Haul 2009, 357) or "well-being" (Westenholz 2009, 63).

20f.: See the commentary in Haul 2009, 368–372, who follows Westenholz 1997 in interpreting the dual form (ālittān) in l. 21 as a reference to the two combatants. For childbirth as a metaphor for battle as well as the battle metaphors in depictions of childbirth, see Bergmann 2008, 50 with fn. 131.

59: For the modal force of tuša in this line, see Wasserman 2012, 94f.