Wadi Bastura Tunnel Inscription

other · 720 BC – 540 BC

Several stone blocks forming the entrance to a tunnel make up part of an aqueduct that Sennacherib had built to divert water from the Bastura River (a tributary of the Upper Zab) to Arbela, a principal cult city of the goddess Ištar. One ashlar block bears an eight-line inscription recording the construction of a (subterranean) watercourse.