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I besieged him and put him in dire straits. On account of fear and hunger, he fled to the land Elam. When there were conspiracy and treachery against him, he hurried out of the land Elam and entered Šuanna Babylon. The Babylonians inappropriately placed him back on the throne and entrusted him with the lordship of the land of Sumer and Akkad.

They the Babylonians opened the treasury of Esagil and took out the gold and silver of the god Bēl Marduk and the goddess Zarpanītu, the property of the temple of their gods. They sent it as a bribe to Umman-menanu (Ḫumban-menanu), the king of the land Elam, who does not have sense or insight, saying: "Gather your army, muster your forces, hurry to Babylon, and align yourself with us! Let us put our trust in you."

That Elamite, whose cities I had conquered and turned into ruins during a previous campaign to the land Elam, accepted the bribe from them without thinking, then gathered his troops and his forces, inspected his chariots and wagons, and checked his teams of horses and mules.

The lands Parsuaš, Anzan, Pašeru, and Ellipi, the people of Yasil, Lakabera, Ḫarzunu, Dummuqu, Sulāya, and Samʾuna, who was a son of Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-baladan), the lands Bīt-Adini, Bīt-Amukāni, Bīt-Šilāni, Bīt-Sāla (Bīt-Saʾalli), Larak, the city Laḫīru, the people of the tribes of the Puqudu, Gambulu, Ḫalatu, Ruʾuʾa, Ubulu, Malaḫu, Rapiqu, Ḫindaru, and Damunu, a large host, formed a confederation with him.

I myself prayed to the deities Aššur, Sîn, Šamaš, Bēl, Nabû, Nergal, Ištar of Nineveh, and Ištar of Arbela, the gods who support me, for victory over my strong enemy and they immediately heeded my prayers and came to my aid.

I raged up like a lion, then put on armor and placed a helmet suitable for combat on my head. In my anger, I rode quickly in my exalted battle chariot, which lays enemies low. I took in my hand the mighty bow that the god Aššur had granted to me and I grasped in my hand an arrow that cuts off life.

I quickly slaughtered and defeated Ḫum­ban-un­da­ša, his field marshal, a trusted man who leads his troops, his main support, together with his magnates, who wear gold decorated belt-daggers and have reddish gold sling straps fastened to their forearms, like fattened bulls restrained with fetters.

I slit their throats like sheep and thus cut off their precious lives like thread. Like a flood in full spate after a seasonal rainstorm, I made their blood flow over the broad earth. The swift thoroughbreds harnessed to my chariot plunged into floods of their blood just like the river ordeal. The wheels of my war chariot, which lays criminals and villains low, were bathed in blood and gore. I filled the plain with the corpses of their warriors like grass. I cut off their lips and thus destroyed their pride. I cut off their hands like the stems of cucumbers in season.

As for the rest of his magnates, who had raised their arms because they were terrified of doing battle with me, I captured them alive in the thick of battle.

At that time, the Rear Palace of Nineveh that earlier kings, my ancestors, had had built for the proper running of the military camp, the care of horses, and the overseeing of everything — its terrace did not exist and its site had become too small. With the passage of time, its base had fallen into disrepair, then its foundations had become loose and its superstructure had collapsed.

I tore down that palace in its entirety. As an addition, I took much land from the meadow and plain of the city and I added it to the site. I abandoned the site of the former palace and filled in a terrace in the area that I had taken from the meadow. I raised its superstructure 200 courses of brick high.

In a favorable month, on an auspicious day, upon that terrace, I had a large palatial wing, which greatly surpassed the previous one, built for my royal residence.

I roofed it with magnificent beams of cedar. I fastened bands of bright copper on doors of white cedar and I installed them in its gates. I had bull colossi fashioned from white limestone that was discovered in the territory of the city Balāṭāya and on the right and left I made them hold its door bolts.

The god Aššur, the great mountain, granted to me unrivalled sovereignty and made my weapons greater than those of all who sit on royal daises. He made all of the black-headed people from the Upper Sea of the Setting Sun to the Lower Sea of the Rising Sun bow down at my feet. Thus did recalcitrant rulers come to fear battle with me. While they were abandoning their settlements, they flew away alone like bats living in crevices to inaccessible places.

I called it Kār-Sennacherib. I settled therein the people of the lands that I had conquered. I placed it under the authority of a eunuch of mine, the governor of the city Ḫarḫar, and thus enlarged my land.

The god Adad and the goddess Šala, gods of the city Ekallātum whom Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē, king of Akkad, had taken and brought to Babylon during the reign of Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria — I had them brought out of Babylon after 418 years and I returned them to the city Ekallātum, their proper place.

I destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire the city, and its buildings, from its foundations to its crenellations. I removed bricks and earth, as much as there was, from the inner and outer walls, the temples, and the ziggurrat, and I threw it into the Araḫtu River. I dug a canal into the center of that city and thus leveled their site with water. I destroyed the outline of its foundations and thereby made its destruction surpass that of the Deluge. So that in the future, the site of that city and its temples will be unrecognizable, I dissolved it Babylon in water and annihilated it, making it like a meadow.

As for him, Umman-menanu (Ḫumban-menanu), the king of the land Elam, along with the king of Babylon and the sheikhs of Chaldea

I fastened bands of bright copper on doors of white cedar and I installed them in their gates. I had magnificent bull colossi fashioned from white limestone that was discovered in the territory of the city Balāṭāya and on the right and left I made them hold their door bolts.

I greatly enlarged its outer courtyard for the proper administration of the black-headed people, the inspection of thoroughbred horses, mules, agālu-donkeys, military equipment, chariots, carts, wagons, quivers, bows, and uṣṣu-arrows, every type of implement of war, and the submission of teams of horses and mules, which have great strength, to the yoke.

I took away the kingship of Lulî, the king of the city Sidon. I placed Tu-Baʾlu on his throne and imposed upon him payment in recognition of my overlordship.

I put to the sword the people of the city Tumurrum, who live on Mount Nipur, a rugged mountain. I swept over the city Ukku, together with every last one of its settlements, so that they looked like a ruin hill created by the Deluge.

In a pitched battle, they captured him (Nergal-ušēzib) alive and brought him before me. At the Citadel Gate of Nineveh, I bound him with a bear

As for the king of the land Elam, who had come to his (Šūzubu’s) aid, I marched to his land. I surrounded, conquered, plundered, destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire his fortified cities, his treasury, and smaller settlements of his in their environs, as far as the pass of the land Bīt-Bu­na­ki.

Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters of the world, capable shepherd, favorite of the great gods, guardian of truth who loves justice, renders assistance, goes to the aid of the weak, and strives after good deeds, perfect man, virile warrior, foremost of all rulers, the bridle that controls the insubmissive, and the one who strikes enemies with lightning:

I forcibly removed the gods of his father’s house, himself, his wife, his sons, his daughters, his brothers, and other offspring of his father’s house and took him to Assyria. I set Šarru-lū-dāri, son of Rūkibtu, their former king, over the people of the city Ashkelon and imposed upon him the payment of tribute and gifts in recognition of my overlordship so that he now pulls my yoke.

In the course of my campaign, I surrounded, conquered, and plundered the cities Bīt-Daganna, Joppa, Banayabarqa, and Azuru, the cities of Ṣidqâ that had not submitted to me quickly. As for the governors, the nobles,

who loves justice, renders as­sis­tance, goes to the aid of the weak, and strives after good deeds, perfect man, virile warrior, foremost of all rulers, the bridle that controls the insubmissive, and the one who strikes enemies with lightning:

On my return march, I received a substantial payment from the distant Medes, of whose land none of the kings, my ancestors, had heard mention.

I fought with them and defeated them. In the thick of battle, I captured alive the Egyptian charioteers and princes (the sons of the king), together with the charioteers of the king of the land Meluḫḫa.

I surrounded, conquered, and plundered the cities Eltekeh and Tamnâ. I approached the city Ekron and I killed the governors and nobles who had committed crimes and hung their corpses on towers around the city;

Palace of Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters of the world, favorite of the great gods, wise prince, circumspect ruler, shepherd of people, and leader of a widespread population, I:

The god Aššur, father of the gods, looked steadfastly upon me among all of the rulers and made my weapons greater than those of all who sit on royal daises. He gave me a just scepter that widens borders and he put in my hand a merciless rod to fell enemies.

In a pitched battle, I overwhelmed like the Deluge Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-baladan), the king of Karduniaš Babylonia, Chaldeans and Arameans, together with the troops of the land Elam, his allies. He (Marduk-apla-iddina II) fled alone to the Sealand, then he collected the gods of the full extent of his land, together with the bones of his forefathers from their tombs, loaded them and his people onto boats, and crossed over to the city Nagītu, which is on the other side of the Bitter Sea. In that place, he disappeared.

I conquered his entire land and I counted his people as booty. I destroyed, devastated, burned with fire, and conquered his cities.

I ruined the city Ḫirimmu and the land of the Yasubigallians, and the land Ellipi, and I destroyed its settlements.

I put to the sword the people of the city Tumurrum, who live on a rugged mountain Mount Nipur. I destroyed the city Ukku, together with every one of its settlements, so that they looked like a ruin hill created by the Deluge.

I conquered the city Tīl-Garimme, which is on the border of the land Tabal, and turned it into ruins.

The cities Nagītu and Nagītu-diʾbina, the lands Ḫilmu, Pillatu, and Ḫupapanu, districts of the king of the land Elam that are situated on the other shore of the sea, in which the people of the land Bīt-Yakīn — who because of my mighty weapons had dislodged the gods of their land from their abodes and had crossed over the sea — had taken up residence inside: I crossed over the sea in boats of the land Ḫatti, which I had built in Nineveh and the city Tīl-Barsip. I conquered and burned with fire the cities in those districts. I carried off the people of the land Bīt-Yakīn and their gods, together with soldiers of the king of the land Elam, and I brought them to Assyria.

Afterwards, the Babylonians, who had gone forth with Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-baladan) and had fled to the land Elam, brought the king of the land Elam to Babylon and he the king of Elam placed Šūzubu (Nergal-ušēzib), son of Gaḫul Gaḫal, on the royal throne over them.

I ordered archers, chariots, and horses of my royal contingent to confront the king of the land Elam. They killed many troops, including his son, and he the king of Elam retreated. They marched to Uruk and carried off the deities Šamaš of Larsa, the Lady of the Rēš-Temple, the Lady of Uruk, Nanāya, Uṣur-amāssa, Bēlet-balāṭi, Kurunam, Kaššītu, and Palil, the gods who live in Uruk, together with their property and possessions, which are without number.

On their return march, in a pitched battle, they captured Šūzubu (Nergal-ušēzib), the king of Babylon, alive. They threw him into a neck-stock and fetters and brought him before me. At the Citadel Gate of Nineveh, I bound him with a bear.

As for the king of the land Elam, who had come to the aid of the Babylonians, I marched to his land. I surrounded, conquered, plundered, destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire his fortified cities, his treasury, and the smaller settlements in their environs, as far as the pass of the land Bīt-Bunaki.

The king of the land Elam heard about the conquest of his cities and fear fell upon him. He made the rest of the people of his land go up into fortresses. He abandoned the city Madaktu, his royal city, and set out for the city Ḫaydala, which is in the mountains.

I ordered the march to the city Madaktu, his royal city. In the month Ṭebētu X, bitter cold set in and continuous rain fell, and I was afraid of the snow in the gorges, the outflows of the mountains, so I turned around and took the road to Assyria.

Afterwards, the king of the land Elam, the lands Parsuaš, Anzan, Pašeru, and Ellipi, the entirety of Chaldea, and all of the Arameans, a large host, formed a confederation with him. They met up with the king of Babylon and marched towards me to do battle.

With the strength of the god Aššur, my lord, I fought with them on the plain of the city Ḫalulê and defeated them. I put to the sword 150,000 of their combat troops. I took away from them chariots, wagons, and their royal tents.

Terror of doing battle with me overwhelmed the king of Babylon and the king of the land Elam. They released their excrement inside their chariots, fled alone, and ran away to their own lands.

At that time, the Rear Palace, which is inside Nineveh, that earlier kings, my ancestors, had had built for the proper running of the military camp, the care of horses, and the overseeing of everything — a terrace for that palace did not exist and its site had become too small, and its outer courtyard was not wide enough to have horses show their mettle. With the passage of time, its base had fallen into disrepair and its superstructure was tottering.

I tore down that palace in its entirety. As an addition, I took much fallow land from the meadow and I added it to it. I abandoned the site of the former palace and filled in a terrace in the fallow land that I had taken from the meadow. I raised its superstructure 200 courses of brick high, measured by my large brick mold.

I laid the foundation of my palatial halls upon that terrace. I had a palatial hall of limestone and cedar, a replica of a palace of the land Ḫatti, and a magnificent palatial hall of Assyrian workmanship, which greatly surpassed the previous one in size and splendor, built for my royal residence.

I greatly enlarged its outer courtyard for making my thoroughbred horses submissive to the yoke and for reviewing the substantial enemy booty that the god Aššur had given to me.

With the exalted strength of the gods, my lords, I sent orders to all the kings of the land Amurru whom they the gods had made bow down at my feet. They cut down large beams of cedar on Mount Amanus. They dragged them to Nineveh and I roofed them the palatial halls. I fastened bands of copper on doors of cypress and white cedar and I installed them in their gates.

I had pendû-stone — whose appearance is as finely granulated as cucumber seeds, considered valuable enough to be an amulet, a stone for speaking and being accepted, as well as making storms pass by, and keeping illness away from a man, and which was brought from the foot of Mount Nipur — and white limestone, which was discovered at the city Balāṭāya, fashioned into bull colossi and I made them hold their door bolts.

I erected cedar columns over sphinxes of pendû-stone and I positioned the architraves of that palatial hall of limestone on those columns.

With the ingenious mind that the lord of wisdom, the god Ninšiku, had granted to me, by divine will, I created clay molds for all of the bronze works that I intended to cast in Nineveh for the requirements of my palatial halls, then I poured copper into them and my handiwork succeeded. Furthermore, I had twin lamassu-colossi of copper bear slabs of pendû-stone. I stationed them between the sphinxes, made them like battlements, and made the façade beautiful.

In the great courtyard below the palatial hall of limestone, I had a pedestal of pendû-stone, breccia, and sābu-stone made for my royal residence. I placed on it four bronze columns that were alloyed with one-sixth tin and I roofed it with cedar crossbeams that were plated with silver.

I made that armory extremely large, perfect, and splendid. I filled it with luxuriousness to be an object of wonder for all of the people. The surplus payment of all of the lands, including that of the distant Medes — from whom none of the kings, my ancestors, had received tribute — together with the wagons, chariots, vehicles of the king of the Elamites, the king of Babylon, and Chaldea that I had captured, along with the countless equipment that I had accumulated: I had all of these things carried to the treasury of that palace and brought inside it.

I carried off the people of the land Bīt-Yakīn and their gods, together with soldiers of the king of the land Elam, and I brought them to Assyria.

, who along with Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-baladan) had groveled in the face of my mighty weapons during the course of a previous campaign of mine,

I ordered archers, chariots, and horses of my royal contingent to confront the king of the land Elam. They killed many of his troops, including his son, and he the king of Elam retreated. They marched to Uruk and carried off the god Šamaš of Larsa and the goddess the Lady of Uruk, the gods living inside it, together with their property and possessions, which are without number.

On their return march, in a pitched battle, they took Šūzubu (Nergal-ušēzib), the king of Babylon, alive and brought him before me. At the Citadel Gate of Nineveh, I bound him with a bear.

The king of the land Elam heard about the conquest of his cities and fear fell upon him. He made the rest of the people of his land go up into fortresses. He abandoned the city Madaktu, his royal city, and set out for the city Ḫaydala, which is in the mountains.

I ordered the march to the city Madaktu, his royal city. In the month Ṭebētu X, bitter cold set in so I turned around (I turned the front of my yoke) and took the road to Assyria.

on ruin hills. He brought the rest of the people of his land, who had fled before my weapons, down from

I captured the people of his land and counted them as booty. I destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire his cities.

He, the king of the land Elam — the people of whose land I had captured and carried off and whose cities I had destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire — had no sense or insight in him (in his ear). He accepted the bribe of the Babylonians and

The lands Parsuaš, Anzan, Pašeru, and Ellipi, the entirety of Chaldea, and all of the Arameans, a large host, formed a confederation with him. They met up with the king of Babylon and the citizens of Babylon and Borsippa and they marched towards me to do battle.

Terror of doing battle with me o­ver­whelmed the king of Babylon and the king of the land Elam. They released their excrement inside their chariots, fled alone, and ran away to their own lands.

, the temple of the god Sîn, the temple of the goddess Ningal, the temple of the god Šamaš, the temple of the goddess Aya,

) like solid bedrock and I built and completed them from their foundations to their crenellations.

In the future, may a future ruler, when these temples become old and dilapidated, see my inscribed objects, anoint them with oil, make an offering, and place them with inscribed objects bearing his name. The god Aššur will then hear his prayers.

The god Aššur, father of the gods, looked steadfastly upon me among all of the rulers and he made my weapons greater than those of all who sit on royal daises. He gave me a just scepter that widens borders and he put in my hand a merciless rod to fell enemies. He made rulers of the four quarters of the world, from east to west, bow down at my feet and they now pull my yoke.

I built Ešaḫulezenzagmukam, "House of Joy and Gladness for the Festival of the Beginning of the Year."

At the time of the festival of the akītu-house (New Year’s house), I celebrate annually inside it with prayer and expressions of my humility (stroking my nose) before god and goddess and for my lordly pleasure.

Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters of the world, and favorite of the great gods:

The god Aššur and the goddess Ištar granted me a weapon without equal and gave me the strength (opened my arms) to destroy those hostile to Assyria. With their great support, I constantly directed my troops in safety from east to west and I made all of the rulers who sit on royal daises throughout the four quarters of the world bow down at my feet and they now pull my yoke.

At that time, I enlarged the site of Nineveh, my capital city. I broadened its streets for the course of a royal road and thus I made the city as bright as day. I had an inner and outer wall skillfully built and I raised them as high as mountains. I widened its moat 100 large cubits.

So that in the future there would be no diminution of the royal road, I had steles made and they stood on each side, opposite one another. I measured the width of the royal road, as far as the Gate of the Gardens, as fifty-two large cubits.

Palace of Sennacherib, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters of the world, favorite of the great gods:

The god Aššur, father of the gods, looked steadfastly upon me among all of the rulers and he made my weapons greater than those of all who sit on royal daises.

At that time, the palace in the citadel of Nineveh, which the kings, my ancestors, had had constructed and whose site was too small; alongside of which the Tebilti River had flowed and which had shaken its base when its flood was in full spate:

I tore down that palace in its entirety, and then I improved the course of the Tebilti River and directed its outflow.

In its subterranean waters I very firmly bonded reeds below and bitumen above with large blocks of limestone. I raised a plot of land that was 340 cubits long and 289 cubits wide out of the water and converted it into an empty lot. I added it to the dimensions of the former terrace and thereby enlarged the entire terrace to 700 large cubits along its longer side and 440 cubits along its shorter side. I raised its superstructure 190 courses of brick high.

I built a palace of breccia, alabaster, elephant ivory, ebony, boxwood, musukkannu-wood, cedar, cypress, juniper, and elammaku-wood thereon as my royal residence; then I had a portico, a replica of a Hittite palace, constructed opposite its gates.

I roofed them the palatial halls with beams of cedar and cypress. I fastened bands of silver and copper on doors of white cedar and cypress and I installed them in their gates.

In the corridors, I made openings for latticed windows. At their gates, I stationed apotropaic figures of alabaster and elephant ivory. I decorated them with silver and copper knobbed nails. I adorned the arches, friezes, and all of the copings with baked bricks glazed in the color of obsidian and lapis lazuli.

So that the construction of my palace might be carried out correctly, at that time, the god Aššur and the goddess Ištar, who love my priestly service, revealed to me a source of long trunks of cedar, which since distant days grew thick as they stood in the Sirāra mountain range

In the uplands of Mount Ammanāna (northern Anti-Lebanon), they Aššur and Ištar disclosed to me the location of alabaster, which in the time of the kings, my ancestors, was too expensive even for the pommel of a sword.

Moreover, breccia, as much as is needed for making burzigallu-bowls, a stone that had never been seen before, revealed itself at Kapridargilâ ("Dargilâ Village").

In the territory of the city Balāṭāya, white limestone was discovered in abundance, and then I created bull colossi and sphinxes of alabaster, and slabs of alabaster, as well as magnificent slabs of breccia. I cut them free on both sides from their mountains, and then, for the construction of my palace, I had them dragged into Nineveh.

As for the white limestone that was discovered in the territory of the city Balāṭāya, I had it made into bull colossi and sphinxes.

By divine will, I created clay molds of tree trunks and date palms, of twelve raging lions, as well as of twelve magnificent bull colossi and twenty-two sphinxes, and I poured copper into it. I perfected their forms.

I made bull colossi of alabaster and copper, two of which were overlaid with zaḫalû-silver, together with bull colossi and sphinxes of white limestone, hold the door bolts of my palatial halls.

In order to be able to draw water by bucket every day, I had bronze wire chains and bronze cables made and, instead of poles, I had tree trunks and date palms placed over wells.

I made those palatial halls beautiful. To be an object of wonder for all of the people, I raised the superstructure of the entire palace. I called it the "Palace Without a Rival."

By the command of the god Aššur, father of the gods, and the goddess Ištar, the queen, may the good šēdu and the good lamassu last forever and ever in it that palace. May they never leave it.

I raised its superstructure in its entirety 190 courses of brick. I enlarged the structure of the palace to 700 large cubits along its longer side and 440 large cubits along its shorter side and thus I made its site bigger.

I built palatial halls of breccia, alabaster, elephant ivory, ebony, boxwood, musukkannu-wood, cedar, cypress, juniper, and elammaku-wood there­on as my lordly residence; then I had a portico, a replica of a Hittite palace, constructed opposite its gates.

In their corridors, I made openings for latticed windows. At their gates, I stationed apotropaic figures of alabaster and elephant ivory, whose hands are folded, who are laden with pride and allure, and who are filled with exuberance, and thus I made them an object of wonder.