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Primary sourceDocument1907 (transcription of ancient original)

Rassam Cylinder, Tar-qu-u Section

Theophilus Goldridge Pinches · 1907 (transcription of ancient original)

A section of cuneiform text from Ashurbanipal's own Rassam cylinder, copied by scholar Theophilus Pinches in 1907.

This is a scholarly transcription of part of Ashurbanipal's own royal inscription on the Rassam cylinder.

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Three groups of black cuneiform wedge signs on a white background. The first two groups show horizontal and angled wedges, and the third group has several vertical and horizontal wedges stacked together.
Rassam cylinder, Tar-qu-u section, transcribed by Theophilus Pinches, 1907.

About this source

What it is

This image shows a section of cuneiform writing from the Rassam cylinder, a royal inscription of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. It was transcribed by the scholar Theophilus Pinches in 1907 for academic study.

Why it matters

The Rassam cylinder preserves Ashurbanipal's own account of his reign and campaigns. Work by scholars such as Pinches allowed historians to read and translate these ancient Assyrian records, giving us direct evidence of how Ashurbanipal described his own rule.

Look closer

  • How are the wedge-shaped signs arranged, and what might that tell us about how the text was written?
  • Why is it important that this text comes from Ashurbanipal himself rather than a later writer?
  • What can't we learn just from looking at a few signs out of the whole inscription?

This document 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.

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