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 01 124. Fending off Accusations (ABL 0190)

“(1) [To] the king, my lord: your servant Kiṣir-Aššur. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) As to the houses of the recruitment officers, about which the king, my lord, wrote to me: "The houses are already built, you are deceiving me in order to give them to your servants!" — (8) as if I did not tell the truth to the king, my lord! Let a royal eunuch who will tell the king my lord the truth come and have a look at these houses of the recruitment officers! If they are already built, let him go and tell it to the king, my lord, and let the king, my lord, hold his report to my discredit and say:…”

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/P334135/

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

SAA 01 125. An Earthquake at Dur-Šarruken (ABL 0191)

“(1) [To the king], my lord: your servant Kiṣir-Aššur. Good health to the king, my lord! (4) Upon my coming from Milqia to Dur-Šarruken, I was told that there had been an earthquake in Dur-Šarruken on the 9th of Adar (XII). Perhaps the king, my lord, now says: "Any damage within the city wall?" (16) There is [no]ne. The temples, the ziggurat, the palace, the city wall and the buildings of the city are all well; the king, my lord, can be glad. (r 8) The king, my lord, will hear many things tomorrow and the day after, and say: "Why is it that you heard but did not write?" That is [why I am now writing to] the king, [my lord].”

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/P334136/

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

SAA 01 126. (no title) (CT 53 610)

“(Beginning destroyed) (2) Let me appoint [......] in the service of [...]. (4) [......] the oil that Šep-Aššur (5) [......] let him give them servants (6) [......] upon then (7) [...... on the ...]th we set to work on [......] (9) [......] we are doing it.”

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/P314022/

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

SAA 01 127. (no title) (CT 53 818)

“(1) [To the king], my [lord: your servant Kiṣir-Aššur. Good] health to [the king, my lord! (3) As to what the king] my lord wrote to me: (4) "[......] in the presence (5) [of ......]!" I (6) [......] they discharged (7) [......] appointed under him (8) [......] again (9) [......] they discharged (10) [......] he is a [chariot d]river (Break) (r 1) [......] Nineveh [...] (r 2) [......] of the Inner City [...] their (r 3) [...... of] Arbela and [...] (r 4) [......] tiller (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/P314227/

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

SAA 01 128. Receiving a ‘Shipment’ of People from Guzana (ABL 0167)

“(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Ina-šar-Bel-allak. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! May the gods residing in Dur-Šarruken give the king my lord length of days! (7) I went as far as Šabirešu to meet the people and oxen that were brought to me from Guzana; I checked them, received them, and provided them with shelter. Some of them were missing: (14) Kinâ, a wineskin-raft man, three persons; Sandapî, a vegetable gardener, three persons; Hulî, a farmer, five persons; Kuzâ, a belt-maker, four persons — in all 15 persons missing from my…”

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/P334113/

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

SAA 01 129. Providing Sheep for Offerings at the Nabu Temple (ABL 1087)

“(1) [To the king, my lord: your servant Ina-šar-Bel-allak. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord]! May [the gods] resi[ding in] Du[r-Šarruken] give the king [my lord] length of days! (7) The continual sheep offerings which the king my lord organized for the Nabû temple have been regularly provided by the cohort within my city; [...... (Break; reverse 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/P334729/

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

SAA 01 130. (no title) (ABL 0990)

“(1) [To] the king, my lord: [your servant] Ina-šar-Bal-allak. [Good] health [to] the king, my lord! [May Na]bû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! [May the gods] residing in Dur-Šarruken give the king my lord length of [days]! (r 1) [The ...] of (which) the ki[ng, my lord, ...... have e]ntered [... and ...] the king, my lord [...... (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/P334665/

Read the full tablet entry

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

SAA 01 131. Meeting the King in Babylon (ABL 0842)

“(1) To the king, [my lord]: (2) (This is) your servant Aha-lurš[i, your adorer], who daily prays to Bel and Nabû for the life of [the king, his lord]. May Nabû and Marduk bl[ess the king], my lord! (6) Bel and N[abû ...... (Break) (r 2) [As to what the king, my lord, wro]te to me: "Come [to my presence in Nisan]!" — (r 3) the work will be fini[shed] by the [...th] of intercalary Adar (XIII); I shall leave Dur-Šarruken on the 5th of extra Adar and shall be in the presence of the ki[ng my lord] even before the month of Nisan (I). (r 7) May Nabû and Marduk [bless] the king, my lord! (r 8) That…”

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/P334587/

Read the full tablet entry