The texts presented here were discovered by a German expedition to Ashur, capital of the Assyrians, more than half a century ago. They have remained in Istanbul, largely uncatalogued and unedited, until this publication, the first in a series to be prepared under the auspices of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project.

The inscriptions speak of the building by the kings of palaces and temples in various parts of Assyria, of the god who were invoked to bless the enterprises, and at times of military campaigns and victories.

Transliterations, commentaries, notes, and hand-copies for the indiviaul texts are provided along with the requisite indexes to make the volume a basic research tool for assyriologists.