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Secondary sourceBook1873

Records of the Past, vol. 2

Various · 1873

A 19th-century book of English translations of Assyrian and Egyptian royal inscriptions, including texts attributed to Ashurbanipal.

Contains English translations of inscriptions attributed to Ashurbanipal, made by 19th-century scholars long after his reign.

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Records of the Past, vol. 2PDF · 200 pages
Records of the Past, vol. 2: English Translations of the Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments. London, 1873.

About this source

What it is

This is a scanned 1873 book, Records of the Past, volume 2, published by the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London. It contains English translations of Assyrian and Egyptian monumental inscriptions made by various 19th-century scholars. It survives as a digitised copy on the Internet Archive.

Why it matters

This book reflects how 19th-century scholars worked to decipher and publish ancient Assyrian texts, including royal inscriptions connected to rulers such as Ashurbanipal. It shows how modern knowledge of Assyria depends on translators and archaeologists long after the original inscriptions were carved.

Look closer

  • Who translated these inscriptions, and what expertise would that require?
  • Why might translations from the 1870s differ from how scholars read these texts today?
  • What is lost when an ancient inscription is turned into a printed English translation?

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

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