Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBook1905

Rassam Cylinder, First Column Transcription

Theophilus Goldridge Pinches · 1905

A 1905 printed transcription of the first column of Ashurbanipal's own royal inscription, the Rassam cylinder.

A modern transcription of Ashurbanipal's own inscribed account of his reign, preserved on the Rassam cylinder.

Ask Ashurbanipal about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Printed transcription page titled 'The Annals of Assur-bani-pal, from a decagon cylinder (Rm.I) in the British Museum, restored from fragments of duplicates', labeled Column I. Two columns of cuneiform signs are set in typeset lines, with small annotation marks along the margins.
Theophilus Pinches, transcription of Column I of the Rassam cylinder, 1905. Based on the British Museum cylinder Rm.I.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed transcription made in 1905 by Theophilus Pinches of the first column of cuneiform text on the Rassam cylinder, a decagon-shaped clay cylinder inscribed with the annals of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria. The original cylinder is held in the British Museum; Pinches restored and set the text from fragments of duplicate copies.

Why it matters

The Rassam cylinder is one of the main sources for Ashurbanipal's own account of his reign, written in his name. Scholars like Pinches worked to read and publish these ancient royal records so historians could study what Assyrian kings claimed about themselves.

Look closer

  • Why might a king want his deeds written on a cylinder meant to last for ages?
  • What does it take to turn broken clay fragments into a readable text?
  • Whose voice are we really reading — the king's, or the modern scholar's reconstruction?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ashurbanipal on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Ashurbanipal sources

Meet the AI Ashurbanipal →
A pale yellowish-beige baked brick fragment lies on a white background, with a scale bar and label reading B 1968/12.1 beside it. The brick's surface shows faint, worn markings.Artifact

Primary source

Baked Brick Naming King Ashurbanipal

7th century BCE

Photo of a carved stone relief panel. At left, a bearded man in a robe thrusts a spear into the head of a lion. An attendant with a quiver stands beside him. At right, a figure walks beside a horse, and a rider sits on the horse's back.Sculpture

Primary source

Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal

Assyrian royal sculptors · c. 645–635 BCE

A tall, multi-sided clay prism covered in rows of cuneiform script, lit from the left against a dark background, standing on a grey display base. Its faces show fine wedge-shaped writing.Document

Primary source

Rassam Prism of Ashurbanipal

643 BCE

Pen and brown ink sketch on a cream sketchbook page, numbered 7 in the top right corner. Two bearded figures with long curled hair stand in profile, one playing a large round-bodied harp or lyre with a curved frame, the other playing a stringed instrument. A third figure in a long fringed robe stands at the far right. Pencil construction lines are visible. Handwritten note at bottom.Painting

Secondary source

Relief with Musicians from the Palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh

A cuneiform clay tablet, tan and brown with a broken edge, resting on a blue display surface. Rows of wedge-shaped script cover its face. The tablet is tilted toward the viewer in a museum case, with a thin metal support visible.Document

Primary source

Flood Tablet

Scribes of Ashurbanipal's library · 7th century BCE

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Ashurbanipal now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions