Tuesday, April 21, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

I Wander the Steppe

✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦

A Prophetic Oracle of Ishtar of Arbela

A Neo-Assyrian prophetic oracle from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (K.1292, British Museum). The goddess Ishtar of Arbela speaks in the first person through a female prophet named Dunnaša-amur, "daughter of Arbela," to King Assurbanipal (r. 669–631 BCE).

The text opens in the third person, framing the oracle as the joint work of two goddesses — Ninlil and the Lady of Arbela — who love the king and continually send oracles on his behalf. Then Ishtar's own voice breaks through. She has wandered the steppe, crossed rivers and seas, traversed mountains — all to plead for the king's life before the assembly of the gods. Droughts and scorching heats have consumed her. The beauty of her form is destroyed. She is weary. But her arm is strong and her axe is sharp.

The colophon dates the oracle to the eighteenth of Nisannu (the first month, roughly March–April), during the eponymate of Bel-shadua, governor of Tyre — approximately 670 BCE, when Assurbanipal was crown prince under his father Esarhaddon. This is one of the earliest texts in the Assyrian prophetic corpus: a divine warrior-mother, exhausting herself on behalf of a king who has not yet taken the throne.

The gods' testimony:

The protected one of Ninlil,
the [...] of the Lady of Arbela —
both of them are mighty among the gods;
they love him, and their desire is upon him.

For Assurbanipal, creation of their hands,
they send oracle upon oracle for his life;
they have set good will upon him:

Ishtar speaks:

"Your life I have asked for — I wander the steppe.
I keep crossing rivers and seas.
I keep traversing the lands and the mountains.
I keep crossing every river.

Droughts and scorching heats
consume me.
They destroy the beauty of my form.
I am weary — for your sake my features are worn.

In the assembly of all the gods I spoke of your life.
Strong is my arm — I will not let you go before the gods.
My axe is sharp.
It is raised ever for you.

With my lips I ask and ask for your life.
[...] your life — you shall surpass life itself.
[... May] Nabu rejoice at your words.
[In the assembly of] all the gods
[I speak] your good fortune.

[Your life I have asked for] — I wander the steppe.
[In the midst of woe I said]: your enemy I shall destroy.
[...] and to his land he returned.
[...]"

(Four lines missing.)

(Eight lines missing.)

[...] Ninlil and the Lady of Arbela —
for Assurbanipal, creation of their hands —
may he live forever!

The attribution:

From the mouth of Dunnaša-amur,
daughter of Arbela.
Month of Nisannu, eighteenth day,
eponymate of Bel-shadua, governor of Tyre.

(Eight lines missing.)

Colophon

K.1292 is a single Neo-Assyrian tablet from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, now in the British Museum. It preserves one of the few surviving texts in which a Mesopotamian goddess speaks in the first person about her physical suffering and tireless advocacy on behalf of a human being. The speaker is Ishtar of Arbela — the warrior-goddess of the ancient cult city of Arbela (modern Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan) — addressing the young Assurbanipal through a female prophet of her temple.

The Assyrian prophetic corpus is small — fewer than thirty texts survive. Most are brief. This oracle is notable for the intensity of Ishtar's first-person voice: she does not simply decree the king's safety from a throne. She wanders the steppe. She crosses rivers and seas. She is consumed by drought. She is weary. The beauty of her form is destroyed. Yet her arm is strong, her axe is sharp, and in the assembly of all the gods she has spoken for his life. The image is not of a serene patron deity but of a warrior-mother exhausting herself on a mission that costs her something.

The prophetess Dunnaša-amur (the name is partially reconstructed from the signs MI2.KALAG-sha-a-mur; other readings are possible) is identified as a "daughter of Arbela" — likely a temple functionary of the Ishtar cult. The oracle is dated by the Assyrian eponym (limmu) of Bel-shadua, governor of Tyre, approximately 670 BCE — during the late reign of Esarhaddon, when Assurbanipal was crown prince.

Good Works Translation from Neo-Assyrian Akkadian cuneiform transliteration. Translated independently from the ATF (ASCII Transliteration Format) text in the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, under CC BY 4.0 license. No published English translation was consulted. Damaged or missing passages are indicated by [...] and italicised notes. The translation preserves the verse structure of the original, with each cuneiform line rendered as a separate line of English.

First freely available English translation.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated by Tanken (Life 183, Expeditionary Tulku) of the Tulku Lineage.

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Source Text: K.1292 (ATF Transliteration)

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen. Museum number K.1292, British Museum. ATF (ASCII Transliteration Format) — the standard scholarly encoding of cuneiform tablets. CC BY 4.0.

@obverse

  1. [ki-din]-nu sha2 {d}n[i]n-lil2
  2. [(x) x x] sha2 {d}GASHAN {uru}a[r]ba-il3
  3. [shi-na-m]a ina DINGIR.DINGIR dan-na
  4. [i-ra-']a!-ma u AG2-shi!-na
  5. [a-na] {m!}an-shar2-ba-an-A DU3-ut SHU-MIN-shi-na
  6. [il-t]a-nap-pa-ra sha2 TI.LA-shu2
  7. [u2-sha2-a]sh2-ka-na-shu SHA3-bu
  8. [ba-la]-ta-ka er-sha2-a-ku-ma a-rap-pu-da EDIN
  9. [e]-ta#-nab-bir ID2-MESH u tam-tim-MESH
  10. e#-ta#-na-at-ti-iq KUR-MESH-e hur-sa-a-ni
  11. e-ta#-nab-bir ID2-MESH ka-li-shi-na
  12. e-ta#-nak-kal-a-ni ia-a-shi
  13. tse-[t]a-a-te sa-rab-a-te
  14. il-ta-nap-pa-ta ba-nu-u2 la-a-ni
  15. an-ha-[k]u!-ma sha2-ad-da-lu-pu-ka la-a-ni-ia
  16. ina UKKIN! DINGIR-MESH ka-la-me aq-ti-bi ba-la-ta-ka
  17. dan-na rit-ta-a-a la u2-ram-ma-ka ina IGI DINGIR-MESH
  18. nag-ga-la-pa-a-a har-ru-ud-da
  19. it-ta-na-ash2-sha2-a-ka a-na ka-a-sha2
  20. ina#! NU[NDU]N!-MESH!-[t]e?-ia! e-ta-nar-rish! TI.LA-ka
  21. [x x x x x] TI.LA-ka TI.LA tu-sha2-tar
  22. [x x x x x] {d#}+AG li-ih-da-a NUNDUN-MESH-ka
  23. [ina UKKIN DINGIR-MESH] ka-la-a-me
  24. [aq-ta-nab]-bi dam-qa-a-te-ka
  25. [TI.LA-ka er-sha2]-ku-ma a-rap-pu-da EDI[N]
  26. [ina SHA3 u8-a a-t]a-bi a-a-ab-ka a-ta-[ba-ah]
  27. [x x x x x x] x-ma a-na KUR-shu2 i-tu-r[a]
  28. [x x x x x x x]-u-ni a-sha2-x [x x x]
    $ 4 lines missing

@reverse
$ 8 lines missing
1'. [x] {d}[nin]-lil2# u {d#}GASHAN-arba-il3{ki}
2'. [a-na] {m}an-shar2-DU3-A DU3#-ut SHU-MIN-MESH-shi#-na
3'. lu#!-u2-bal-lit-ta a-na [d]a-a#-r[i]
$ 1 line blank
4'. sha KA#! MI2#.KALAG!-sha2-a-mur
5'. [DUMU.MI2 {uru}arba]-il3#!
6'. {iti}[BAR.AG] UD.18.KAM lim-mu {m}EN-KUR-u-a
7'. ($___$) LU2.GAR.KUR tsur-ri
$ 8 lines missing

Source Colophon

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform tablet K.1292, British Museum, from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (modern Mosul, Iraq). ATF transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus (https://www.ebl.lmu.de/), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, licensed under CC BY 4.0. The ATF encoding has been simplified for web display: subscript numerals rendered inline (e.g., sha2 for sha with subscript 2), determinatives in braces, damaged signs marked with # and !, and lacunae in square brackets following standard Assyriological convention. The original cuneiform tablet is a Neo-Assyrian copy, dated by the limmu (eponym) of Bel-shadua, governor of Tyre, approximately 670 BCE.

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