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 01 140. Setting up a Divine Panther (ABL 1209)

“(1) [To the king, my lo]rd: your servant Ilu-iqbi. (4) I have set up the panther which is on the right side of the god; it stands firmly on the ped[estal]. The ki[ng, my lord, c]an be glad. (10) I shall release ...[...] to the god [...... (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/P334794/

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

SAA 01 141. Stones for Cleansing the Throne of Destiny (ABL 0644)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) The artists [...] said [to me]: "Write to the Palace that they should bring us 'wiping-stones' of Izalla. We should cleanse the Throne-of-Destiny of silver and the door of Ištar-of-Hearing."”

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/P334445/

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

SAA 01 142. The Throne of Destiny Cleansed (CT 53 183)

“(1) [To the king], my [lord: your servant Ilu-iq]bi. (3) The [Throne-of-Destiny] of silver and the [......] of silver are finished; [as to the ..., ...] said [that they are not] finished. (9) The [...] are cleansing the [...] in the presence of the governor; they will be ready [this] very moment. [The ... who are] wiping [...... (Break) (r 2) ...... I am fee]ding the Šugureans [who] are coming in. All the king's [servants are well]; the king [my lord] can be glad.”

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/P313598/

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

SAA 01 143. Straw for the Glazing of Bricks (ABL 1180)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) [On the ... th, after ......] we had finished the (city) wall, [we] got [busy], gathered men for the straw that the king had given to us in Halahhu, and went to carry it over. (8) The men working in the ditch, [of] a single prefect and 125 in number, have [neither] delivered straw of their own nor are they carrying that of Halahhu. By means of what will they glaze bricks for their work-quota tomorrow? What does the king my lord say? (r 1) As to the replacement for the dead concerning which the king told the magnates: "Provide the replacement!" — nobody has given us…”

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/P334776/

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

SAA 01 144. Reeds for the King’s Work (ABL 0626)

“(Beginning destroyed) (1) I shall finish the king's [.....] before the king my lord (comes); the king [my lord] can be glad. (7) I have no reeds for the king's work, (so) I have no work of [the king] (to do). (r 3) They should speak to the governor of Calah; there is reed in the wadi of Ubasê; let him give me a wineski[n raft (loaded) with r[eeds ...... (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/P334432/

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

SAA 01 145. Measurements of Bull Colossi (CT 53 327)

“(1) [To the king, my lord]: your [servant Šamaš-upahhir]. Good he[alth to the king, my lord]! (3) As to [the measurements] of the b[ull coloss]i about which the king [my lord wrote to] me, the length of the first bu[ll colossus] is [x] and a half royal [cubits], [its] widt[h is x]; from the length and the width [x] cubits and a half have been finished. (11) [Another] colossus: [length is] 9.5 cubits; from its other side t[o the r]iver [......] cubits [...... (Break) (r 1) [a bull colossus: length is x cubits], width [x cubits]; (r 2) a bull colossus: [length] 10.[5 cubits], width 5 cubits;…”

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/P313742/

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

SAA 01 146. City Rulers Petition the King (ABL 0136)

“(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Šamaš-upahhir. Good health to the king, my lord! (5) The king my lord's servants, the city-rulers under my authority whom the king [my lord] o[rdered] to work in Milqia [have co]me [to my presence saying: "...... (Break) (r 1) "Send [..... to the pa]lace!" (r 2) They have made [me] sack [the ... of the ki]ng, my lord; what does the king my lord 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/P334083/

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

SAA 01 147. The Petition of the City Rulers (ABL 0526)

“(1) To the king, our lord: your servants the city-rulers who are doing the king's work in Milqia. (6) As to what the king wrote to us: "Finish your work it while it is supervised" — we will do what the king our lord wrote to us and deliver it to the king our lord, but the work is a great burden on us. (r 1) What with the kallapus and the trackers, they do not allow us to do the king's work. (r 6) We are now petitioning the king our lord to release us so that we can perform the king's work. We shall repay our debt as soon as we are back in our country.”

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/P334359/

Read the full tablet entry