Chapter 07 · 911 – 609 BCE

Neo-Assyrian

Empire, library, terror, scholarship.

Illustration: Scholars examining clay tablets in an Assyrian archive at Nineveh
An archive at Nineveh, around 650 BCE.

~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 059. A Chaldean Bodyguard (ABL 0742)

“(1) [To the king, my lord]: your servant Aššur-dur-pani[ia]. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) As to Abi-ul-idi, the Chaldean bodyguard about whom the king, my lord, wrote to me: "[...]... [...] (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P334529/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 060. Providing for Troops (CT 53 389)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) [......] all (2) [......] their fields (3) [......] their threshing floors (4) [...]; moreover, 20 homers of se[ed] corn (5) [... of] the fort in the tow[er] (6) [...] and the troops hith[er] (7) [......] when Aššur-reṣ[uwa] (8) [......] anyw[here] (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P313803/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 062. Meeting the King on the Way (ABL 0729)

“(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Na'di-ilu. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) Now that the king, my lord, has set out and is coming, should I come as far as Šabirešu to meet the king, my lord? May the king, my lord, wr[ite me] what the king my lo[rd's orders are]. (9) [Perhaps] the king, my lord, will s[ay]: "The horses [...] (Break) (r 2) ... should se[n]d straw [......] (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P334518/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 063. Subjugating Bit-Amukani (ABL 0194)

“(1) [To the king], my lord: [your servant] Na'di-ilu. [Good health] to the king, my lord! (4) [As to] Naṣib-Il [about whom] the king, my lord, wrote me: "In [......] (Break) (9) "Afterwa[rds, he should k]eep [watch over them]." (10) He does not [obey] me at all and is not [assembling th]em. (11) Before I visi[ted the king], my [lo]rd, he used to enter my [court]; I sent him on various errands, and he stayed [in] my presence. Let the king, my lord, write him [as] follows: "Assemble the whole Bit-Amukani, stay with the chief cupbearer, and do whatever he commands you!" (r 7) Let the king, my…”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P334139/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 064. Horses from the East (ABL 0192)

“(1) To the king, my [lord]: your servant Na'di-ilu. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) The first 120 horses of Nabû-remanni arrived in Arzuhina on the 27th. They will be there for the 28th and set out (again) on the 29th. (11) I shall go and bring them across (the river) to Sarê and keep them in Sarê for the 30th, until the later (horses) reach me. (r 3) All the same, the horses have been heavily pressed; the foals should rest out.”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P334137/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 065. An Arrival Report (Iraq 07 99)

“(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Na'di-ilu. Good health to the king, my lord! (5) I am in Hadattu on the 11th day; the king's subjects in my command are well.”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P336178/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 066. Fragment of a Military Report (ABL 0195)

“(1) [To] the king, [my lord: your servant] Na'di-ilu. [Good] health to the king, [my lord]! (4) [As to what the king], my lord, wr[ote me: "The tr]oops of the [......] (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P334140/

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~715 BCE · Reconstructed composite — see ORACC entry for manuscript witnesses

SAA 05 067. Assembling Troops (CT 53 085)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) [As to what the king, my lord, wrote me]: "[Your troops] should be as[sembled; come to me, quickly] — (4) [the ki]ng, my lord, knows that all my troops are around the ci[ty]; they can be assembled within three [days]. (9) I have appointed [...]; m[y] major-domo [will] ass[emble] the troops, and I [shall] co[ver] in one day the st[retch f]rom the city [... to ...]. (r 1) [The k]ing, my lord, should give [orders that ...] (r 2) [the wo]rk on [......] (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Lanfranchi, G.B. & Parpola, S. 1990. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces. SAA 5. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa05/P313500/

Read the full tablet entry