After
finishing the account of his building operations in the new city and
recording the completion of the city wall from its foundation to its
coping stone, the king makes an appeal to any future ruler who should
find it, in the following words: "In the days that are to come, when
this wall shall have grown old and shall have fallen into ruins, may
a future prince repair the damaged parts thereof, and may he anoint my
memorial tablet with oil, and may he offer sacrifices and restore
it unto its place, and then Ashur will hearken unto his prayers. But
whosoever shall destroy this wall, or shall remove my memorial tablet or
my name that is inscribed thereon, or shall leave Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, the
city of my dominion, desolate, or shall destroy it, may the lord Ashur
overthrow his kingdom, and may he break his weapons, and may he cause
his warriors to be defeated, and may he diminish his boundaries, and may
he ordain that his rule shall be cut off, and on his days may he bring
sorrow, and his years may he make evil, and may he blot out his name and
his seed from the land!"
By such blessings and curses Tukulti-Ninib hoped to ensure the
preservation of his name and the rebuilding of his city, should it at
any time be neglected and fall into decay. Curiously enough, it was in
this very city that Tukulti-Ninib met his own fate less than seven years
after he had founded it.
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