Assyrian Sacred Poetry
A Prayer for the King
1 “Length of days 2 long lasting years 3 a strong sword 4 a long life 5 extended years of glory 6 pre-eminence among Kings 7 grant ye to the King my Lord, 8 who has given such gifts 9 to his gods! 10 The bounds vast and wide 11 of his Empire 12 and of his Rule, 13 may he enlarge and may he complete! 14 Holding over all Kings supremacy 15 and royalty and empire 16 may he attain to gray hairs 17 and old age! 18 And after the life of these days, 19 in the feasts of the silver mountain,2 the heavenly Courts 20 the abodes of blessedness: 21 and in the Light 22 of the Happy Fields, 23 may he dwell a life 24 eternal, holy 25 in the presence 26 of the gods 27 who inhabit Assyria!”
SHORT PRAYER FOR THE SOUL OF A DYING MAN1
1 Like a bird may it fly to a lofty place! 2 To the holy hands of its god, may it ascend!
Notes
1 “Trans. Soc. Bib.
Arch.,” vol. ii. p. 20.
Notes
1 From the “Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.,” vol. i. p. 107. The original is in “Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,” vol. iii. pl. 66.
2 The Assyrian Olympus. The epithet “silver” was doubtless suggested by some snowy inaccessible peak, the supposed dwelling-place of the gods.