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The statue of Idrimi at the British Museum. Photo by Jacob Lauinger.

Alalakh's most famous monument, the Statue of Idrimi, has provoked more discussion than any other find from the site since Sir Leonard Woolley discovered it in 1939. In 103 lines, inscriptions carved on the statue's body and cheek narrate how the historical king Idrimi fled Aleppo, established a kingdom at Alalah, and solidified his rule there. The Idrimi inscriptions are an unparalleled source on the literature and history of Bronze Age Syria and the Levant.

The Electronic Idrimi offers an up-to-date, searchable edition of the Idrimi inscriptions together with glossaries of the Akkadian words and proper nouns that occur in it. The inscriptions' notorious script has famously generated debate about the reading of almost every line; the Electronic Idrimi includes numerous annotations that illustrate Sidney Smith's reading of the text in the original publication together with the readings put forward in subsequent scholarly publications. Additional studies – textual as well as historical, archaeological, and art historical – can be found at the Bibliography link.

The Electronic Idrimi is the online companion to the book, The Labors of Idrimi: Inscribing the Past, Shaping the Present at Late Bronze Age Alalah (ANEM 33, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2024).

This book offers an in-depth historical analysis that combines textual and material perspectives on both the statue and the inscriptions. It reveals how two distinct inscriptions were added to an originally anepigraphic statue to advance a claim about royal legitimacy long after Idrimi's death during a time of political upheaval at Alalah. The volume includes a translation, more than ninety-five images, and sixteen composite plates that, for the first time, present each line of the inscriptions in its entirety to scholars and students. The appendix offers a detailed philological commentary treating numerous aspects of the inscriptions that have been the subject of multiple scholarly interpretations. The Labors of Idrimi is open access and also available for purchase in print editions. Download it here and purchase a copy here.

Unlike The Labors of Idrimi, the Electronic Idrimi can be updated! Our understanding of the Idrimi inscriptions will undoubteldy continue to progress, and, as it does, the Electronic Idrimi will be updated, too. Similarly, the Bibliography is currently a work in progress that is by no means exhaustive and is in the process of being updated.

Finally, many thanks to Eleanor Robson and Steve Tinney for their help in bringing Idrimi onto the Oracc platform.

Content last modified: 23 Sep 2024.

Jacob Lauinger

Jacob Lauinger, 'The Electronic Idrimi', Idrimi, The Electronic Idrimi, 2024 [http://oracc.org/]