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I. Colophon of the Tablets of the Palace Library. (K. 4870.)
1. Palace of Ashur-bani-pal, king of hosts, king of the country of Assyria,
2. who trusteth in the god Ashur and the goddess Bêlit,
3. on whom the god Nebo (Nabû) and the goddess Tasmetu
4. have bestowed all-hearing ears
5. and his possession of eyes that are clearsighted,
6. and the finest results of the art of writing
7. which, among the kings who have gone before,
8. no one ever acquired that craft.
9. The wisdom of Nebo [as expressed in] writing, of every kind,
10. on tablets I wrote, collated and revised,
11. [and] for examination and reading
12. in my palace I placed—[I]
13. the prince who knoweth the light of the king of the gods, Ashur.
14. Whosoever shall carry [them] off, or his name side by side with mine
15. shall write may Ashur and Bêlit wrathfully
16. sweep away, and his name and his seed destroy in the land.
2. Colophon of the Tablets of the Library of Nebo. (RM. 132.)
1. To Nebo, beneficent son, director of the hosts of heaven and of earth,
2. holder of the tablet of knowledge, he who hath grasped the writing reed of destinies,
3. lengthener of days, vivifier of the dead, stablisher of light for the men who are perplexed,
4. [from] the great lord, the noble Ashur-bani-pal, the lord, the approved of the gods Ashur, Bêl and Nebo,
5. the shepherd, the maintainer of the holy places of the great gods, stablisher of their revenues,
6. son of Esarhaddon, king of hosts, king of Assyria,
7. grandson of Sennacherib, king of hosts, king of Assyria,
8. for the life of his souls, length of his days, [and] well-being of his posterity,
9. to make permanent the foundation of his royal throne, to hear his supplications,
10. to receive his petitions, to deliver into his hands the rebellious.
11. The wisdom of Ea, the precious priesthood, the leadership,
12. what is composed for the contentment of the heart of the great gods,
13. I wrote upon tablets, I collated, I revised
14. literally according to all the tablets of the lands of Ashur and Akkad,
15. and I placed in the Library of E-Zida, the temple of Nebo my lord, which is in Nineveh.
16. O Nebo, lord of the hosts of heaven and of earth, look upon that Library joyfully for years (i.e., for ever).
17. Of Ashur-bani-pal, the chief, the worshipper of thy divinity, daily the reward of the offering—
18. his life decree, so that he may exalt thy great godhead.
The tablets from both Libraries when unbroken vary in size from 15 inches by 8⅝ inches to 1 inch by ⅞ inch, and they are usually
about 1 inch thick. In shape they are rectangular, the obverse being flat and tile reverse slightly convex. Contract tablets,
letter tablets and "case" tablets are very much smaller, and resemble small pillows in shape. The principal subjects dealt
with in the tablets are history, annalistic or summaries, letters, despatches, reports, oracles, prayers, contracts, deeds
of sale of land, produce, cattle, slaves, agreements, dowries, bonds for interest (with impressions of seals, and fingernails,
or nail marks), chronography, chronology, Canons of Eponyms, astrology (forecasts, omens, divinations, charms, spells, incantations),
mythology, legends, grammar, law, geography, etc.3
2 K. 1352 is a good specimen of a catalogue (see p. 10); K. 1400 and K. 1539 are labels (see p. 12).
3 For a full description of the general contents of the two great Libraries of Nineveh, see Bezold, Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets of the Kouyûnjik. Collection, Vol. V., London, 1899, p. xviiiff.; and King, Supplement, London, 1914, p. xviiiff.
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(Brit.