ʿEzana’s Noba campaign

1. [By] the power of the Lord of Heaven, who is in heaven and on earth, who makes me victorious. I, ʿE[zā]nā, 2. son of ʾƎlle ʿAmidā, the man of Ḥalen, king of Aksum and of Ḥəme[r], 3. and of Raydān and of Sabaʾ and of Salḥen and of Ṣəyāmo and of Bəgā and 4. [of] Kāsu, king of kings, son of ʾƎlle ʿAmidā, who is not defeated by the enemy, 5. [by the pow]er of the Lord of Heaven, who gave me <kingship>, the Lord of the Universe, in whom [I believe], 6. <I, the king> who is not defeated by the enemy—may no enemy stand before me, and may no enemy 7. [follow] me—by the power of the Lord of the Universe, I made war on the Noba. When 8. the tribes of the Noba had revolted; when they had boasted, saying, “He will not cross the Takkazi”; 9. when they had oppressed the peoples Mangurto, Ḥasā, and Bāryā, <waging> war 10. on everyone; <when> they had broken their oath twice and <even> three times; [when] they 11. had continually attacked their neighbours; <when> they had robbed our ambassador and our messenger, whom I had 12. [sent] to listen to them, seizing their goods and stealing 13. their […]; when—when I sent yet another messenger—they did not obey me and refused to stop and […], 14. and …, then I made war on them and set out. By the power 15. of the [Lord] of the Earth, I attacked <them> on the Takkazi, beyond Kəmalkē, and then they fled without 16. stopping. I pursued the fugitives for twenty-three days, 17. killing, taking captives, and taking booty wherever I stopped, while my troops who had gone out brought back captives and 18. booty, while I burned their towns 19. built of masonry and those built of straw, <while my troops> plundered their grain, their bronze, their iron, and their […], 20. and destroyed the images in their houses and the stores of grain and cotton, and 21. threw <people> into the river Sedā—and there were many who perished in the water, whose 22. number is not known—while they sank their boats filled with a multitude of people, 23. women and men. I took captive two chiefs who had 24. come as spies, mounted on camels; their names were 25. Yāsakā, 1; Butāle, 1; as well as one ʾangabenāwi nobleman. The chiefs who had met their death <were> 26. Dānokʷe, 1; Dagale, 1; ʾAnakʷe, 1; Hawāre, 1; Karkārā, 1; their priest, 1. They (the Aksumite troops?) 27. […], and they took from him a silver headband and a gold ring. The chiefs who 28. died were 5, as well as one priest. I reached the Kāsū, killing them and taking them captive, at the 29. confluence of the rivers Sidā and Takkazi. On the day after my arrival, [I s]ent 30. the regiments Maḥāzā, Ḥarā, Damaw, Falḥa, and Ṣarāʾ on an expedition 31. upstream along the Sidā <against> the towns built of masonry and those built of straw; the names of their masonry-built towns 32. <were>: ʾAlwā, 1; Daro, 1. They killed, took captives, and threw [people] into 33. [the water]; and they returned safely, having terrified their enemies and overcome them by the power of the 34. [Lord] of the Earth. Then I sent the regiments Ḥalēn, Luken, 35. Sabarāt, Falḥa, and Ṣarāʾ downstream along the Sidā <against> the straw-built towns of the Noba, 36. 4; Nagʿase, 1; <and against> the masonry-built towns of the Kāsū that the Noba had taken: Tabito, 1, 37. Fartoti, 1. My regiments reached the region of the Red Noba and returned safely, 38. having taken captives, killed, and taken booty, by the power 39. of the Lord of Heaven. I erected a throne at the confluence of the rivers Sidā and 40. Takkazi, opposite the masonry-built town that is on that island. What the 41. Lord of Heaven gave me <was>: male captives, 214; female, 415; making <a total of> 629; 42. slain men, 602; slain women and children, 156; making <a total of> 7[58]. 43. <The total of> captives and slain is 1,387. The booty is: cattle, 10,560; 44. sheep, 51,050. I erected a throne here, at Sado, by the power 45. of the Lord of Heaven, who helped me and gave me kingship. 46. May the Lord of Heaven strengthen my kingship. As He has conquered my enemies for me today, 47. may He conquer for me wherever I go. As He has conquered and subdued for me today 48. my enemies, <I wish to reign> with justice and righteousness, without wronging the peoples. I placed 49. this throne that I erected under the protection of the Lord of Heaven, who made me king, and <under the protection> of the earth, 50. which bears it. If anyone uproots it, destroys it, and removes it, may he and 51. his family be uprooted and torn out; may they be uprooted from the country. I erected this 52. throne by the power of the Lord of Heaven.