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 01 010. Urarṭian Emissaries Meet Captives (ABL 0306+)

“(1) The king's word to Nabu-duru-uṣur: (2) Right now I am sending the royal bodyguard Mannu-ki-Aššur to those Urarṭian emissaries: he will bring them to Urzuhina in advance of these captives who are eating bread in your charge. (8) As for you, the day you see this letter, summon these captives; they should be on the alert, standing by, and the day Mannu-ki-Aššur the bodyguard writes to you: "The emissaries have arrived in Urzuhina, set the captives in motion," assemble the captives, go to Urzuhina, and entrust them [...] to the the [city-over]seer of Urzuhina. (r 1) [I am also sending]…”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334195/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 011. Building a Private Army (ABL 0304)

“(1) The king's word to Mannu-ki-Adad: (2) 1,119 able-bodied men — all together they were 5,000 persons, those of them who have died have died, and those who are alive are alive — were given to the exempts of the Palace and entrusted as charges to your care. So why are you appropriating them, turning some to recruits, others to chariot-men, and others again to cavalrymen, into your own regular troops? (13) Have you not said to yourself: "When the time comes for me to summon them, to whose house shall I go for help?" (18) I am writing to you right now: You have sent many of them to the south and to the north or wherever on (various) errands; summon them wherever they are, they must be there before my eunuch arrives. I shall now send my eunuch to make a review of them.”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334193/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 012. The Story of Bel-nuri the Amiable (ABL 1042)

“(Beginning destroyed) (2) "He is talking about [...] uprooting my father's house." [This] Bel-nuri cannot be trusted in what he says [...]; yet you lifted him and put him around your neck like a seal. For this very reason I relieved him of his office as major-domo, removed him and let you settle him in his house in the center of Arrapha. (9) What he did was perpetually slander Arrapheans in your presence and keep putting inhabitants of Arrapha to the sword. I consequently removed him from Arrapha and appointed him in Lubda. The same things again; he did not change his ways. (r 3) Bel-nuri is…”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334693/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 013. Pitching Camp on the Elamite Border (CT 53 076)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) "[......] their [......]; come wi[th your troops and encamp in the pass] of Ura[mmu]." (5) [I am writing to you] right now: this suggestion, the [way he put it], is extremely good. You [know] that this pass [leading to] Urammu is [ver]y difficult [to march through]; there is absolutely no way the Elamite [troops] will be able to get at you. Don't be afraid; at the city of Urammu where you are to pitch the camp [there is] a plain which is [very] good for encamping; it is also [very] good for reconnaissance expeditions, there is [much] grass there, and it is a [good]…”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P313491/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 014. Campaigning in Ellipi (CT 53 823)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) Do not neglect your guard; [you] must be intensely [on your guard]! Yet there is no [......], and you [need not] worry about him! Let the scholar[s] tell [the oracles] to you, whether [good or bad]; Aššur and my gods [will go before you]! A bone in [......]. (8) Perhaps the scholar [ ......] as far as the city of Marubi[štu ......]. (10) Aššur-reš-iši the royal bodyguard [has met with the dignitaries] of Bit-Barru; they dined together, and he [...] [emptied] a cup in the presence of Ki[babaše]. He relates: "[......]; when at my side [......] confusion like [......]…”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P314232/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 015. Bring Your Tribute! (CT 53 311)

“(Beginning destroyed) (3) [... Gam]bulu [......] tribu[te ...... you will re]turn [......] your [......] you did not send [the ... o]f this land [to me]. (9) I am writing to you right [now]: do not [...... t]o the people, but take your [tribut]e and come to me! [I am going to w]rite ... [about the tr]ibute of Ellipi, [they too will bring] their tribute. (14) As to Humbê [of Bit-Zualza, what I wrote in] my previous [letter ...... (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P313726/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 016. Ašpabara Appointed King of Ellipi (ABL 1469)

“(Obverse almost totally destroyed) (r 1) "[If] you write, we shall leave [PN] as city ruler in [...]." (r 3) [I am writing to you] right now: when you appoint Ašpabara [......], and Lutû [..., ...] their people; nobody should make [......]! As long as th[ey] live, [......] brought to them [...... (Rest destroyed)”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334922/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 017. Contacts With Elam (CT 53 642)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) [......] befor[e ...] (2) [......] no [...] (3) [......] still [...] (4) [......] will see, hither [...] (5) [Has the messeng]er of the Elamite [......? Have they written] to you [about ma]king [......] Lutû [...? Have they sen]t to you any [......]? (Rest too broken for translation)”

Source: Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. SAA 1. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P314054/

Read the full tablet entry