The Rassam cylinder is a cuneiform cylinder, forming a prism with ten faces, written by

Neo-Assyrian The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

king Ashurbanipal in the 7th century BCE, in 643 BCE. The cylinder was discovered in the North Palace of Nineveh by

Hormuzd Rassam Hormuzd Rassam ( ar, هرمز رسام; syr, ܗܪܡܙܕ ܪܣܐܡ; 182616 September 1910), was an Assyriologist and author. He is known for making a number of important archaeological discoveries from 1877 to 1882, including the clay tablets tha ...

in 1854, hence its name. It is located in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Content

The cylinder describes in detail nine military campaigns of Ashurpanipal. The content of the cylinder has been listed as follows:

Extracts

One of these is his victorious campaign in Egypt: Some reliefs from Nineveh are otherwise known that illustrate these campaigns. A full translation of the cylinder was made by Luckenbill in ''Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia''. A full transcription of the cuneiform is available on CDLI. File:Rassam cylinder (transcription of the first column).jpg, Transcription of the cuneiform script of the first column. File:Rassam cylinder first column (Introduction and First Campaign of Egypt).jpg, Translation of the first column by Luckenbill: Introduction and First Campaign of Egypt. File:Ashurbanipal The First Egyptian War.jpg, Ashurbanipal " The First Egyptian War". Word-for-word translation by George Smith.

Important words

File:Rassam cylinder Mu-ṣur.jpg, The word ''Mu-ṣur'', for

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

File:Rassam cylinder Ku-u-si.jpg, The word ''Ku-u₂-si'', for "

Kingdom of Kush The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in wh ...

" File:Rassam cylinder Shabakuu.jpg, The word ''Sha-ba-ku-u'', for Kushite Pharaoh

Shabaka Neferkare Shabaka, or Shabako ( Egyptian: 𓆷𓃞𓂓 ''šꜣ bꜣ kꜣ'', Assyrian: ''Sha-ba-ku-u'') was the third Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who reigned from 705 to 690 BC.F. Payraudeau, Retour sur la succession ...

File:Rassam cylinder Tar-qu-u2.jpg, The word ''Tar-qu-u₂'', for Kushite Pharaoh

Taharqa Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo ( Egyptian: 𓇿𓉔𓃭𓈎 ''tꜣ-h-rw-k'', Akkadian: ''Tar-qu-u2'', , Manetho's ''Tarakos'', Strabo's ''Tearco''), was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of ...

File:Tar-qu-u in Neo-Assyrian.jpg, ''Tar-qu-u'', an alternative spelling used for Kushite Pharaoh

File:Rassam cylinder Urdamanee.jpg, The word ''Urdamanee'', for Kushite Pharaoh

Tantamani Tantamani ( egy, tnwt-jmn, Neo-Assyrian: , grc, Τεμένθης ), also known as Tanutamun or Tanwetamani (d. 653 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Kush located in Northern Sudan, and the last pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. His p ...

File:Rassam cylinder Ansharpapash.jpg, The word ''An-shar-pap-ash'', for Neo-Assyrian ruler

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of hi ...

File:Rassam cylinder Anshardua.jpg, The word ''An-shar-du-a'', for Neo-Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal File:Rassam cylinder Anshar-ki.jpg, The word ''Aššur ^KI'', for the city of

Assur Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal ...

File:Inscription mat Assur-ki for Assyria in the Rassam cylinder, 1st column, line 5.jpg, The word ''mat Aššur ^KI'', for the country of Aššur,

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

File:Rassam cylinder Anshar.jpg, The word ''An-shar'', for supreme god

Anshar Anshar, also spelled Anšar ( Sumerian: , Neo-Assyrian: , meaning "whole heaven"), was a primordial god in the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish. His consort is Kishar which means "Whole Earth". They were the children of Lahamu and Lahmu ...

File:Meluhha as mentioned by Ashurbanipal in the Rassam cylinder in 643 BCE.jpg, The country of

Meluhha or ( sux, ) is the Sumerian language, Sumerian name of a prominent trading partner of Sumer during the Middle Bronze Age. Its identification remains an open question, but most scholars associate it with the Indus Valley civilisation. Etymolo ...

() possibly identical with Meroe

References

{{British Museum 7th-century BC works 1879 archaeological discoveries Akkadian inscriptions Ancient Near and Middle East clay objects Art and cultural repatriation Middle Eastern objects in the British Museum Iraq–United Kingdom relations