Assyrian Historiography : A Source Study (Albert Ten Eyck Olmstead)

[Antiquarian]

Chapter 1
Assyrian Historians and their Histories

To the serious student of Assyrian history, it is obvious that we
cannot write that history until we have adequately discussed the
sources. We must learn what these are, in other words, we must begin
with a bibliography of the various documents. Then we must divide them
into their various classes, for different classes of inscriptions are
of varying degrees of accuracy. Finally, we must study in detail for
each reign the sources, discover which of the various documents or
groups of documents are the most nearly contemporaneous with the
events they narrate, and on these, and on these alone, base our
history of the period.

To the less narrowly technical reader, the development of the
historical sense in one of the earlier culture peoples has an interest
all its own. The historical writings of the Assyrians form one of the
most important branches of their literature. Indeed, it may be claimed
with much truth that it is the most characteristically Assyrian of
them all. [Footnote: This study is a source investigation and not a
bibliography. The only royal inscriptions studied in detail are those
presenting source problems. Minor inscriptions of these rulers are
accorded no more space than is absolutely necessary, and rulers who
have not given us strictly historical inscriptions are generally
passed in silence. The bibliographical notes are condensed as much as
possible and make no pretense of completeness, though they will
probably be found the most complete yet printed. Every possible care
has been taken to make the references accurate, but the fact that many
were consulted in the libraries of Cornell University, University of
Chicago, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania, and
are thus inaccessible at the time when the work is passing through the
press, leaves some possibility of error. Dr. B. B. Charles, Instructor
in Semitics in the University of Pennsylvania, has kindly verified
those where error has seemed at all likely.--For the English speaking
reader, practically all the inscriptions for the earlier half of the
history are found in Budge-Kjing, _Annals of the Kings of
Assyria. 1_. For the remainder, Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian
Literature_, is adequate, though somewhat out of date. Rogers,
_Cuneiform Parallels to the, Old Testament_, gives an up to date
translation of those passages which throw light on the Biblical
writings. Other works cited are generally of interest only to
specialists and the most common are cited by abbreviations which will
be found at the close of the study.]

The Assyrians derived their historical writing, as they did so many
other cultural elements, from the Babylonians. In that country, there
had existed from the earliest times two types of historical
inscriptions. The more common form developed from the desire of the
kings to commemorate, not their deeds in war, but their building
operations, and more especially the buildings erected in honor of the
gods. Now and then we have an incidental reference to military
activities, but rarely indeed do we find a document devoted primarily
to the narration of warlike deeds. Side by side with these building
inscriptions were to be found dry lists of kings, sometimes with the
length of their reigns, but, save for an occasional legend, there seem
to have been no detailed histories. It was from the former type that
the earliest Assyrian inscriptions were derived. In actual fact, we
have no right to call them historical in any sense of the word, even
though they are our only sources for the few facts we know about this
early period. A typical inscription of this type will have the form
"Irishum the vice gerent of the god Ashur, the son of Ilushuma the
vice gerent of the god Ashur, unto the god Ashur, his Lord, for his
own life and for the life of his son has dedicated". Thus there was as
yet little difference in form from their Babylonian models and the
historical data were of the slightest. This type persisted until the
latest days of the Assyrian empire in the inscriptions placed on the
bricks, or, in slightly more developed form, in the inscriptions
written on the slabs of stone used for the adornment of palace or
temple. For these later periods, they rarely have a value other than
for the architectural history, and so demand no further study in this
place. Nevertheless, the architectural origin of the historical
inscription should not be forgotten. Even to the end, it is a rare
document which does not have as its conclusion a more or less full
account of the building operations carried on by the monarch who
erected it.

It was not long until the inscriptions were incised on
limestone. These slabs, giving more surface for the writing, easily
induced the addition of other data, including naturally some account
of the monarch's exploits in war. The typical inscription of this
type, take, for example that of Adad nirari I, [Footnote: BM. 90,978;
IV. R. 44 f.; G. Smith, _Assyr. Discoveries_, 1875, 242 ff.;
Pognon, JA. 1884, 293 ff.; Peiser, KB. I. 4 ff.; Budge-King, 4 ff.;
duplicate Scheil, RT. XV. 138 ff.; Jastrow, ZA. X. 35 ff.; AJSL. XII
143 ff.] has a brief titulary, then a slightly longer sketch of the
campaigns, but the greater portion by far is devoted to the narration
of his buildings. This type also continued until the latest days of
the empire, and, like the former, is of no value where we have the
fuller documents.

When the German excavations were begun at Ashur, the earliest capital
of the Assyrian empire, it was hoped that the scanty data with which
we were forced to content ourselves in writing the early history would
soon be much amplified. In part, our expectations have been
gratified. We now know the names of many new rulers and the number of
new inscriptions has been enormously increased. But not a single
annals inscription from this earlier period has been discovered, and
it is now becoming clear that such documents are not to be
expected. Only the so-called "Display" inscriptions, and those with
the scantiest content, have been found, and it is not probable that
any will be hereafter discovered.

It was not until the end of the fourteenth century B. C. with the
reign of Arik den ilu, that we have the appearance of actual
annalistic inscriptions. That we are at the very beginning of
annalistic writing is clear, even from the fragmentary remains. The
work is in annals form, in so far as the events of the various years
are separated by lines, but it is hardly more than a list of places
captured and of booty taken, strung together by a few
formulae. [Footnote: Scheil, OLZ. VII. 216. Now in the Morgan
collection, Johns, _Cuneiform Inscriptions_, 33.]

With this one exception, we do not have a strictly historical document
nor do we have any source problem worthy of our study until the time
of Tiglath Pileser I, about 1100 B.C. To be sure, we have a good
plenty of inscriptions before this time, [Footnote: L. Messerschmidt,
_Keilschrifttexte aus Assur_. I. Berlin 1911; _Mittheilungen
der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft_; cf, D. D. Luckenbill,
AJSL. XXVIII. 153 ff.] and the problems they present are serious
enough, but they are not of the sort that can be solved by source
study. Accordingly, we shall begin our detailed study with the
inscriptions from this reign. Then, after a gap in our knowledge,
caused by the temporary decline of Assyrian power, we shall take up
the many problems presented by the numerous inscriptions of Ashur
nasir apal (885-860 B.C.) and of his son Shalmaneser III (860-825
B.C.). In the case of the latter, especially, we shall see how a
proper evaluation of the documents secures a proper appreciation of
the events in the reign. With these we shall discuss their less
important successors until the downfall of the dynasty. The revival of
Assyrian power under Tiglath Pileser IV (745-728 B.C.) means a revival
of history writing and our problems begin again. The Sargonidae, the
most important of the various Assyrian dynasties, comprising Sargon
(722-705 B.C.), Sennacherib (705-686 B.C.), Esarhaddon (686-668 B.C.),
and Ashur bani apal (668-626 B.C.), furnish us a most embarrassing
wealth of historical material, while the problems, especially as to
priority of date and as to consequent authority, become most
complicated.

Before taking up a more detailed study of these questions, it is
necessary to secure a general view of the situation we must face. The
types of inscriptions, especially in the later days of the empire, are
numerous. In addition to the brick and slab inscriptions, rarely of
value in this later period, we have numerous examples on a larger
scale of the so called "Display" inscriptions. They are usually on
slabs of stone and are intended for architectural adornment. In some
cases, we have clay tablets with the original drafts prepared for the
workmen. Still others are on clay prisms or cylinders. These latter do
not differ in form from many actual annals, but this likeness in form
should not blind us to the fact that their text is radically different
in character.

All the display inscriptions are primarily of architectural character,
whether intended to face the walls of the palace or to be deposited as
a sort of corner stone under the gates or at the corners of the
wall. We should not expect their value to be high, and indeed they are
of but little worth when the corresponding annals on which they are
based has been preserved. For example, we have four different
recensions of a very long display inscription, as well as literally
scores of minor ones, also of a display character, from the later
years of Sargon. The minor inscriptions are merely more or less full
abstracts of the greater and offer absolutely nothing new. The long
display inscription might be equally well disregarded, had not the
edition of the annals on which it is based come down to us in
fragmentary condition. We may thus use the Display inscription to fill
gaps in the Annals, but it has not the slightest authority when it
disagrees with its original.

It is true that for many reigns, even at a fairly late date, the
display inscriptions are of great value. For the very important reign
of Adad nirari (812-785 B.C.), it is our only recourse as the annals
which we may postulate for such a period of development are totally
lost. The deliberate destruction of the greater portion of the annals
of Tiglath Pileser IV forces us to study the display documents in
greater detail and the loss of all but a fragment of the annals of
Esarhaddon makes for this period, too, a fuller discussion of the
display inscriptions than would be otherwise necessary. In addition,
we may note that there are a few inscriptions from other reigns, for
example, the Nimrud inscription of Sargon, which are seemingly based
on an earlier edition of the annals than that which has come down to
us and which therefore do give us a few new facts.

Since, then, it is necessary at times to use these display
inscriptions, we must frankly recognize their inferior value. We must
realize that their main purpose was not to give a connected history of
the reign, but simply to list the various conquests for the greater
glory of the monarch. Equally serious is it that they rarely have a
chronological order. Instead, the survey generally follows a
geographical sweep from east to west. That they are to be used with
caution is obvious.

Much more fortunate is our position when we have to deal with the
annalistic inscriptions. We have here a regular chronology, and if
errors, intentional or otherwise, can sometimes be found, the relative
chronology at least is generally correct. The narrative is fuller and
interesting details not found in other sources are often given. But it
would be a great mistake to assume that the annals are always
trustworthy. Earlier historians have too generally accepted their
statements unless they had definite proof of inaccuracy. In the last
few years, there has been discovered a mass of new material which we
may use for the criticism of the Sargonide documents. Most valuable
are the letters, sometimes from the king himself, more often from
others to the monarch. Some are from the generals in the field, others
from the governors in the provinces, still others from palace
officials. All are of course absolutely authentic documents, and the
light they throw upon the annals is interesting. To these we may add
the prayers at the oracle of the sun god, coming from the reigns of
Esarhaddon and Ashur bani apal, and they show us the break up of the
empire as we never should have suspected from the grandiloquent
accounts of the monarchs themselves. Even the business documents
occasionally yield us a slight help toward criticism. Add to this the
references in foreign sources such as Hebrew or Babylonian, and we
hardly need internal study to convince us that the annals are far from
reliable.

Yet even internal evidence may be utilized. For example, when the king
is said to have been the same year in two widely separated parts of
the empire, warring with the natives, it is clear that in one of these
the deeds of a general have been falsely ascribed to the king, and the
suspicion is raised that he may have been at home in Assyria all the
time. That there are many such false attributions to the king is
proved by much other evidence, the letters from the generals in
command to their ruler; an occasional reference to outside
authorities, as when the editor of the book of Isaiah shows that the
famous Ashdod expedition was actually led by the Turtanu or prime
minister; or such a document as the dream of Ashur bani apal, which
clearly shows that he was a frightened degenerate who had not the
stamina to take his place in the field with the generals whose
victories he usurped. Again, various versions differ among
themselves. To what a degree this is true, only those who have made a
detailed study of the documents can appreciate. Typical examples from
Sargon's Annals were pointed out several years ago. [Footnote:
Olmstead. _Western Asia in the Reign of Sargon of Assyria_,
1908.] The most striking of these, the murder of the Armenian king
Rusash by--the cold blooded Assyrian scribe,--has now been clearly
proved false by a contemporaneous document emanating from Sargon
himself. Another good illustration is found in the cool taking by
Ashur bani apal of bit after bit of the last two Egyptian campaigns of
his father until in the final edition there is nothing that he has not
claimed for himself.

The Assyrians, as their business documents show, could be exceedingly
exact with numbers. But this exactness did not extend to their
historical inscriptions. We could forgive them for giving us in round
numbers the total of enemies slain or of booty carried off and even a
slight exaggeration would be pardonable. But what shall we say as to
the accuracy of numbers in our documents when one edition gives the
total slain in a battle as 14,000, another as 20,500, the next as
25,000, and the last as 29,000! Is it surprising that we begin to
wonder whether the victory was only a victory on the clay tablet of
the scribe? What shall we say when we find that the reviser has
transformed a booty of 1,235 sheep in his original into a booty of
100,225! This last procedure, the addition of a huge round number to
the fairly small amount of the original, is a common trick of the
Sargonide scribe, of which many examples may be detected by a
comparison of Sargon's Display inscription with its original, the
Annals. So when Sennacherib tells us that he took from little Judah no
less than 200,150 prisoners, and that in spite of the fact that
Jerusalem itself was not captured, we may deduct the 200,000 as a
product of the exuberant fancy of the Assyrian scribe and accept the
150 as somewhere near the actual number captured and carried off.

This discussion has led to another problem, that of the relative order
of the various annals editions. For that there were such various
editions can be proved for nearly every reign. And in nearly every
reign it has been the latest and worst edition which has regularly
been taken by the modern historians as the basis for their
studies. How prejudicial this may be to a correct view of the Assyrian
history, the following pages will show. The procedure of the Assyrian
scribe is regularly the same. As soon as the king had won his first
important victory, the first edition of the annals was issued. With
the next great victory, a new edition was made out. For the part
covered by the earlier edition, an abbreviated form of this was
incorporated. When the scribe reached the period not covered by the
earlier document, he naturally wrote more fully, as it was more
vividly in his mind and therefore seemed to him to have a greater
importance. Now it would seem that all Assyriologists should have long
ago recognized that _any one of these editions is of value only when
it is the most nearly contemporaneous of all those preserved. When it
is not so contemporaneous, it has absolutely no value when we do have
the original from which it was derived._ Yet it still remains true
that the most accessible editions of these annals are those which are
the latest and poorest. Many of the earlier and more valuable editions
have not been republished for many years, so that for our most
contemporaneous sources we must often go to old books, long out of
print and difficult to secure, while both translation and commentary
are hopelessly behind the times. Particularly is this the case with
the inscriptions of Sennacherib and Ashur bani apal. The greatest boon
to the historian of Assyria would be an edition of the Assyrian
historical inscriptions in which would be given, only those editions
or portions of editions which may be considered as contemporaneous and
of first class value. With such a collection before him, notable as
much for what it excluded as for what was included, many of the most
stubborn problems in Assyrian history would cease to be problems.

The historian of Assyria must test his sources before he can use them
in his history. To do this, he must first of all be able to
distinguish the primary sources which will reward future study from
those which are secondary and are based on other and more contemporary
documents which even now are actually in our possession. When these
latter are cast aside as of no practical value, save perhaps as they
show the peculiar mental operations of the Assyrian editor, we are
then ready to test the remainder by the various methods known to the
historian. The second part of this task must be worked out by the
historian when he studies the actual history in detail. It is the
discovery of what are the primary sources for the various reigns and
of the value of the contributions which they make to Assyrian history
that is to be the subject of the more detailed discussion in the
following chapters.

[Antiquarian]

Chapter II
The Beginnings of True History
Tilgath-Pileser I

We shall begin, then, our detailed study of the sources for Assyrian
history with the data for the reign of Tiglath Pileser I (circa 1100
B.C.). Taking up first the Annals, we find that the annalistic
documents from the reign may be divided into two general groups. One,
the Annals proper, is the so called Cylinder, in reality written on a
number of hexagonal prisms. [Footnote: Photographs of B and A,
Budge-King, xliii; xlvii; of the Ashur fragments, of at least five
prisms, Andr䬠_Anu-Adad Tempel_, Pl. xiii ff. I R. 9 ff.;
Winckler, _Sammlung_, I. 1 ff.; Budge-King, 27 ff., with variants
and BM numbers. Lotz, _Inschriften Tiglathpilesers_ I, 1880;
Winckler, KB. I. 14 ff. Rawlinson, Hincks, Talbot, Oppert,
JRAS. OS. XVIII. 150 ff.; Oppert, _Histoire des empires de Chald饼br> et d'Assyrie, 1865, 44f; Menant, 35 ff.; Rawlinson, Rp1, V. 7
ff. Sayce RP?, I. 92 ff.; Muss-Arnolt in Harper, llff.; MDOG. 25, 21f;
28, 22; 29, 40; 47, 33; King, _Supplement_, 116; Andr䬼br> _Tempel_, 32 ff.] First comes the praise of the gods and self
praise of the ruler himself. Then follow the campaigns, not numbered
as in the more developed style of later rulers, but separated into six
sections, for the six years whose events are narrated, by brief
glorifications of the monarch. Next we have the various hunting
exploits of the king, and the document ends with an elaborate account
of the building operations and with threats against the later ruler
who should destroy the inscription or refuse credit to the king in
whose honor it was made.

No relationship has been made out between the fragments, but the
four-fairly complete prisms fall into two groups, A and C, B and D, as
regards both the form of writing and the character of the text. All
date seemingly from the same month of the same year, though from
separate days. The most fragmentary of these, D, seems the best, as it
has the smallest number of unique readings and has also the largest
number of omissions, [Footnote: II. 21b-23a; III. 37b-39a; IV. 36.]
all of which are clearly interpolations in the places where they are
given. This is especially true of the one [Footnote: IV. 36.] which
refers to the Anu-Adad and Ishtar temples, for not only is the
insertion awkward, we know from the Obelisk [Footnote: II. 13.] that
the Anu-Adad temple was not completed till year five, so that it must
be an interpolation of that date. In spite of its general resemblance
to D, especially in its omissions, B is very poorly written and has
over two hundred unique readings. One of its omissions would seriously
disarrange the chronology, [Footnote: IV. 40-42.] others are clearly
unwarranted, [Footnote: II. 79081; V.4; VIII. 29b-33.] and one long
addition [Footnote: VII. 17-27; also I. 35; different in VI. 37.]
further marks its peculiar character. Our conclusion must be that it
is a poor copy of a good original. C is between A and B, agreeing with
the latter in a strange interpolation [Footnote: III. 2a-c.] and in
the omission of the five kings of the Muski. [Footnote: I. 63b. King,
_Supplement_, 116 follows C.] A is the latest but best preserved,
while the character of the text warrants us in making this our
standard as it has but few unique readings and but one improbable
omission. [Footnote: VII. 105-8.] The same account, in slightly
different form and seemingly later in date [Footnote: K.2815 is dated
in the eponomy of Ninib nadin apal, the LAH MA GAL E official. He
probably is after the rab bi lul official in whose year the hexagons
are dated.] is also found in some tablet inscriptions. [Footnote:
Budge-King, 125 n.3; K.2815, with different conclusion; 81-2-4, 220,
where reverse different; K.12009; K.13840; 79-7-8, 280; 89-4-26, 28;
Rm. 573: Winckler, AOF. III. 245.]

A second annalistic group is that postulated as the original of the so
called Broken Obelisk. Of documents coming directly from Tiglath
Pileser himself, the only one that can with any probability be
assigned to this is the tiny fragment which refers to the capture of
Babylon. [Footnote: K. 10042; Winckler, AOF. I. 387.] But that such a
group did exist is proved by the extracts from it in the obelisk
prepared by a descendant of Tiglath Pileser, probably one of his sons,
Shamshi Adad or Ashur bel kala. [Footnote: Photograph, Budge-King, li;
Paterson, _Assyr. Sculptures_, 63. I R. 28; III R. 4, 1;
Budge-King, 128 ff. Lotz, _op. cit._, 196 ff.; Peiser, KB. I.
122 ff.; Talbot, JRAS. OS. XIX. 124 ff.; Houghton-Finlay, RP(1), XI. 9
ff.; Oppert, _Hist._, 132 ff.; Hommel, _Gesch._, 532 ff.;
Menant, 49 ff. Proved to Tiglath Pileser, Lotz, _op. cit._, 193
f.; cf. Budge-King, 131 n. 4, though Streck, ZA. XVIII. 187 ff., still
believes that it belongs to an earlier king. Found at Nineveh, though
it deals with Ashur constructions.] Only the upper portion, probably
less than half to judge by the proportions, is preserved, and even
this is terribly mutilated. Fortunately, the parts best preserved are
those relating to the years not dealt with in the Annals. The first
half of the document is devoted to the campaigns of Tiglath Pileser,
then come his hunting exploits, and only a bit at the end is reserved
for the building operations of the unknown ruler under whom it was
erected. Its source seems to have had the same relation to the
earliest form of the Annals that the Obelisk of Shalmaneser III had to
the Monolith, that is, it gave the data for the earlier part of the
reign, that covered by the other source, very briefly, only expanding
as it reached a period where the facts were not represented by any
other document. That our earlier Annals, or perhaps rather, one of its
sources, was a main source of our second type, is proved by the
coincidences in language in the two, in one case no less than twenty
signs the same, [Footnote: In year V we have _ishtu...adi alu
Kargamish sha matu Hatte...isu elippe pl mashku tahshe_.] not to
speak of the hunting expeditions. But this earlier Annals was not the
only, or at least not the direct source for the Obelisk, nor was that
source merely a fuller recension of it. Data for the first six years,
not found in the earlier Annals, are given in the Obelisk, [Footnote:
Obl. I. 17, reference to Marduk nadin ahe, King of Akkad; II. 1, one
thousand men of land of...; II. 2, four thousand of them carried
prisoner to Assyria, the position of which shows that it cannot, with
Budge-King, 132 n., be referred to Ann. III. 2, the Kashi; II. 12, the
Mushki (?); II. 13, temple of Ami and Adad. These all precede the
Carchemish episode.] while our document also, for the first time in
Assyrian historical inscriptions, dates the events by the name of the
eponym for the year, and, still more unusual, by the month as
well. That the Obelisk may be considered merely a resume of this
original source is shown by the statement that he conquered other
lands and made many wars, but these he did not record. [Footnote:
Obl. IV. 37.] As they seem to have been given after the hunting feats,
in the lost lower part of column IV, we may assume that all that
preceded is taken from that source. Furthermore, we are given the
other hunting exploits "which my [father] did not record." [Footnote:
Obl. IV. 33.] The numbers of beasts killed, which the scribe intended
especially to emphasize, have never, curiously enough, been inscribed
in the blanks left for their insertion. [Footnote: E.g., Obl. IV. 4.]

Opposed to the Annals proper are the Display inscriptions in which
chronological considerations and details as to the campaigns are
subordinated to the desire to give a general view of the monarch's
might. Two have been found in foreign lands, one at the source of the
Tigris, [Footnote: Discovery, J. Taylor, cf. H. Rawlinson,
_Athenaeum_, 1862, II. 811; 1863, I. 229. III R. 4, 6; Schrader,
_Abh. K. Preuss. Akad._, 1885, I. Winckler, _Sammlung_,
I. 30: Budge-King, 127 n. 1. Meissner, _Chrestomathie_, 6;
Abel-Winckler, 5; Menant, 49. Winckler, KB. I. 48 f. Dated after the
Arvad expedition as shown by reference to Great Sea of Amurru, and of
same date as Melazgerd inscription, Belck, _Verh. Berl_.] the
other near Melazgerd in Armenia. [Footnote: From Gonjalu, near
Melazgerd, Belck-Lehmann, _Verh. Berl. Anthr. Ges._ 1898,
574. Photograph, Lehmann, _Sitzungsber. Berl. Akad._, 1900,
627. Is this one of the "cuneiform inscriptions near Moosh" reported
to Taylor, _Athenaeum_, 1863, I. 229?] Drafts for similar
inscriptions have been found on clay tablets, written for the use of
the workmen who were to incise them on stone. Of these, one, which is
virtually complete as regards number of lines, seems to date from year
four as it has no reference to later events. [Footnote: S. 1874;
K. 2805, Tabl. I of Budge-King, 109 ff. III R. 5; Winckler,
_Sammlung_, I. 26 ff.; cf. Lotz, _op. cit._, 193; Tiele,
Gesch., 159 n. 2; Meissner, ZA. IX. 101 ff. Meissner's restoration of
these as parts of one tablet in chronological order will not stand in
view of the fact that I is complete in itself while there are
variations in the order of Nairi and totally different endings.] It
would then be our earliest extant source. It is also of value in
dating the erection of the palace whose mention shows that the tablet
is complete. That the compiler had before him the document used by the
Annals in its account of the Nairi campaign [Footnote: Ann. IV. 71 ff.]
is proved by his writing "from Tumme to Daiene" for these are the
first and last names in the well known list of Nairi states. The order
of the tablet is neither chronological nor geographical. Another
tablet dates from year five to which most of its data belong. In the
first half, it follows the order of Tablet I, and in the remainder
follows closely the words of its source in the Annals, merely
abbreviating. [Footnote: K. 2806 with K. 2804, Tabl. II of
Budge-King, 116 ff.] Possibly in its present form, it may be later than
year five [Footnote: The badly damaged reverse of K. 2806 has one
reference to the Euphrates which _may_ be connected with
Obl. III. 24, probably of year IX.] for a third tablet of year ten
duplicates this first part. [Footnote: K. 2804, Tabl. V of
Budge-King, 125 f.] Unfortunately, this latter gives next to no
historical data, but its reference to the "Lower Zab" and to the
"Temple of Ishtar" may perhaps allow us to date to this same tenth
year the highly important tablet which gives a full account of the
campaign in Kirhi and Lulume and which also ends with the restoration
of the Ishtar temple. [Footnote: K. 2807; 91-5-9, 196. III R. 5, 4;
Tablet IV of Budge-King, 121 ff. Winckler, AOF. III. 246. Hommel,
_Gesch._, 511 f.] Here too and not with the Annals must be placed
the fragment with the Arvad episode. [Footnote: Scheil,
RT. XXII. 157. Restorations, Streck, ZA. XVIII. 186 n. 2. First
attributed to Tiglath Pileser, Peiser, OLZ. III. 476; Winckler,
ibid. IV. 296; cf. AOF. III. 247.--Bricks I R. 6, 5; Scheil,
_op. cit._ 37; Winckler, _Sammlung_, I. 31; Budge-King,
127. Other inss., King, _Supplement_, 453, 488.]

[Antiquarian]

Chapter III
The Development of Historical Writing
Ashur-nasir-Apal and Shalmaneser III

After the death of Tiglath Pileser, there is a period of darkness. A
few bricks and other minor inscriptions give us the names of the
rulers and possibly a bit of other information, but there is not a
single inscription which is important enough to furnish source
problems. It is not until we reach the reign of Tukulti Ninib
(890-885) that we again have an Annals [Footnote: Scheil, _Annales
de Tukulti Ninip_ II, 1909; cf. Winckler, OLZ. XIII. 112 ff.] and
not until the reign of his son Ashur nasir apal (885-860) that we have
problems of the sources.

The problem of the sources for the reign of Ashur nasir apal may be
approached from a somewhat different angle than we took for those of
Tiglath Pileser. Here we have a single document, the so called Annals,
which gives practically all the known data of the reign. Earlier
writers on the history of Assyria have therefore generally contented
themselves with references to this one document, with, at most, an
occasional reference to the others. This should not blind us, however,
to the fact that the problem of the sources is by no means as simple
as this. Indeed, for far the greater portion of the events given in
the Annals, we have earlier and better sources. We may therefore best
attack the problem as to the sources of the reign by working out the
sources of the Annals.

Taking up the introduction to the Annals, [Footnote: I R. 17 ff.;
Budge-King, 254 ff. Le Gac, _Les Inscriptions d'Assur-Nasir-Aplu_
III. 1907, 1 ff. Peiser, KB. I. 50 ff. H. Lhotzky, _Annalen
Asurnazirpals_, 1885. Oppert, _Exp餩tion en M鳯potamie_,
1863, I. 311 ff.; Rodwell, RP?, III. 37 ff.; Sayce, RP?, II. 134 ff.;
Menant, 67 ff.; _Manuel_, 1880, 335 ff.] it at once strikes us as
curious that it consists of a hymn to Ninib, at the entrance to whose
temple these slabs were placed, and not of a general invocation to the
gods, beginning with Ashur, such as we are accustomed to find in other
annalistic inscriptions. Further, we have other slabs in which this
Ninib hymn occurs as a separate composition, [Footnote: Slabs 27-30,
Budge-King, 255 n.--Other invocations are the Bel altar at Kalhu,
BM. 71, Budge-King 160; Strong, JRAS. 1891, 157; and the Ishtar lion
BM. 96, II R. 66, 1; S. A. Strong, RP?, IV. 91 f.; dupl. Budge-King,
206 ff.] and this leads us to assume that it is not the original
introduction. This is still further confirmed by the fact that we do
find such a required invocation in the beginning of the Monolith
inscription. Clearly, this is the original invocation. The second
section of the Annals begins with the praise of the monarch, and here
too begins the parallelism with the Monolith. The last events
mentioned in the Monolith date from 880 and it is thus far earlier
than our present edition of the Annals, which contains events from so
late a date as 867. To this extent, then, the Monolith is a better
document. It was not, however, the direct source of the Annals, as is
shown by certain cases where the latter has preserved the better
readings of proper names. Indeed, we should not over rate the
Monolith, for it too is a compilation like its younger sister, and is
by no means free from obvious mistakes, though in general better than
the Annals. [Footnote: BM. 847. Photograph, Budge-King, lxix; Paterson,
_Assyr. Sculptures,_ 64. I R. 27; Budge-King, 242 ff.; cf. 254
ff.; Le Gac, 129 ff. Peiser, KB. I. 118 ff. Menant, 66 f. Talbot,
_Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit.,_ VII. 189 ff.; RP?, VII. 15 ff.] For some
portions of this earlier section, we have also separate slabs with
small portions of the text, [Footnote: BM. 90830, cf. Budge-King, 255
n.; L. 48 f.] and these regularly agree with the Monolith as against
the Annals. [Footnote: I. 57, transposition; I. 69, the significant
omission of _shadu;_ and a large number of cases where they agree
in spelling as against the Annals.]

For the last of these years, 880, we have also the inscription from
Kirkh, [Footnote: III R. 6; Budge-King, 222 ff.; Le Gac, 137
ff. Peiser, KB. I. 92 ff.] which contains data for this year alone,
and ends abruptly with the return from Nairi. This might be expected
from its location at Tushhan, on the border of that country, and we
are therefore warranted in assuming that it was set up here
immediately after the return from the campaign and that in it we have
a strictly contemporaneous document. Judged by this, the Annals, and
even the Monolith, do not rank very high. Important sections are
omitted by each, in fact, they seem to agree in these omissions,
though in general they agree fairly closely with the account set up in
the border city. It would seem as if the official narrative of the
campaign had been prepared at Kirkh, immediately after its close, by
the scribes who followed the army. [Footnote: Cf. Johns,
_Assyr. Deeds and Documents_, II. 168.] One copy of this became
the basis of the Kirkh inscription while another was made at Kalhu and
it was from this that the Monolith and Annals are derived. [Footnote:
Ann. II. 109, where Mon. has 300 as against 700 of Kir. and Ann.,
shows Ann. did not use Kir. through Mon.; Kir. has 40 as against 50 of
the others in II. 111, and 200 for 2000 in II. 115; proper names such
as Tushha for Tushhan show nearness of Mon. to Kir., but the likeness
can hardly be considered striking.] From this, too, must have been
derived the slab which gives a fourth witness for this
section. [Footnote: L. 48 f.]

With this year, 880, the Monolith fails us. But even if we had no
other document, the Annals itself would show us that the year 880 was
an important one in the development of our sources. At the end of the
account for this year, we have a closing paragraph, taken bodily from
the Ninib inscription, which may thus be assigned to 880. This is
further confirmed by the manner in which, this passage in the Annals
abstracts the last lines of the Monolith, [Footnote: Ann. II. 125-135a
is the same as the Ninib inscription l-23a (BM. 30; Budge-King, 209
ff.), and this in turn is merely a resume of the close of the
Monolith.] which is repeated almost in its entirety at the close of
the Annals itself. The column thus ends a separate document, whose
last line, giving a list of temples erected, seems to go back to one
recension of the Standard inscription, which in its turn goes back to
the various separate building inscriptions.

That the Annals itself existed in several recensions is indicated by
the fact that, while there are no less than at least seventeen
different duplicates of Column I, [Footnote: Le Gac, _Introd._]
there are but seven of II and five of III; that there is one of II
only [Footnote: Le Gac, iii.] and one of III; [Footnote: Ibid. 126 f.]
and that there is still another, in at least three exemplars, in which
parts of the Standard and Altar inscriptions are interpolated between
the Ninib invocation and the main inscription. [Footnote: Ibid, ii;
123 f. (B).]

The year 880 marks also the removal of the capital from Nineveh to
Kalhu, [Footnote: First mentioned as starting point of an expedition
in 879, Ann. III. 1.] which indicates that to this year we are to
attribute the majority of the building inscriptions. But, as they are
all more or less identical with the closing section of the Annals, we
may best discuss them in that place. Continuing with the Annals, we
now reach a section where it is the only source. And just here the
Annals is lacking in its most essential feature, an exact chronology,
no doubt because the dated year was not given in the source, though
the months are carefully noted! In the last of the years given in this
section, probably 876, we are to place the various bull and lion
inscriptions, which in general agree with this portion of the
Annals. [Footnote: Bulls 76, 77; Lions 809, 841. Budge-King, 189
ff. Le Gac, 181 ff. Made up of brief attribution to king, then regular
building text, then duplicates of Ann. III. 84 ff.] One of these bull
inscriptions, as well as the text of the great altar, adds a good bit
in regard to the hunting expeditions, which may be dated, so far as
they can be dated at all, to this year. [Footnote: Bull 77;
Budge-King, 201 ff.; Peiser KB. I. 124 f.; Altar, L. 43 ff.; Le Gac,
171 ff.] Here too we must place the Mahir document, [Footnote: V R. 69
f.; Budge-King, TSBA. VII. 59 ff.; Budge-King, 167 ff. S. A. Strong,
RP?, IV. 83 ff.; Harper, 29 ff.] describing the erection of a temple
to that deity at Imgur Bel, as is shown by the specific reference to a
campaign to the Lebanon for the purpose of securing cedar. The years
875-868 seem to have been years of peace, for the only reference we
can attribute to them is an expedition to the Mehri land for beams to
erect a temple at Nineveh [Footnote: Ann. III. 91 f.] and so to this
period we must assign the Ishtar bowl inscriptions. [Footnote: III
R. 3, 10; Budge-King, 158 ff.; S. A. Strong, RP?, II. 95.] Finally, we
have the campaign of 867, the last fixed date in the reign of Ashur
nasir apal, and the reason for compiling the latest edition of the
Annals. For this year, and for this alone, this latest edition has the
value of a strictly contemporaneous document. [Footnote: Ann. III. 92
ff.]

The last section of the Annals consists of the building account, found
also in nearly all the other inscriptions, though naturally here it is
in the form it last assumed. It may be seen in greater or less fulness
in the so called Standard Inscription, [Footnote: L. 1 ff.; Schrader,
_Inschrift Asur-nasir-abals_; Talbot, _Proc. Soc. Antiquaries
of Scotland_, VI. 198 ff.; Meissner, _Chestomathie_, 7 f.;
Abel-Winckler, 6. RP?, VII. 11 ff.; Ward, _Proc. Amer. Oriental
Soc._, X. xcix; Budge-King, 212 ff.; Le Gac, 153 ff. The number of
slabs containing this inscription which may be found in the various
Museums of Europe and America is simply amazing. No full collection or
collation of these has ever been made. Many are still exposed to the
destructive effects of the atmosphere at Nimrud and are rapidly being
ruined. Squeezes of these were taken by the Cornell Expedition. Others
at Ashur, MDOG., xxi. 52; KTA. 25. Several are in the newly opened
section of the Constantinople Museum, cf. Bezold,
_Ztf. f. Keilschriftforschung_, I. 269. An unknown number is in
the British Museum, and were utilized by Budge-King, 1. c. Streck,
ZA. XIX. 258, lists those published from European Museums. These are
Edinburgh, Talbot 1. c.; Copenhagen, Knudtzon, ZA. XII. 256;
St. Petersburg, Jeremias, ZA. I. 49; Bucharest, D. H. M?
_Wiener Ztf, f. Kunde d. Morgenlandes_, XIII. 169 ff.; Dresden,
Jeremias, _l. c._; Z? Bezold, _Literatur_, 71; Cannes,
Le Gac, ZA. IX. 390; Lyons, Ley, RT. XVII. 55; Rome, O. Marucchi,
_Museo Egizio Vaticano_, 334; Bezold, ZA. II. 229. In addition,
there are, according to Budge-King, _l. c._, copies at Paris,
Berlin, Munich, the Hague, etc. For the Berlin inscriptions,
cf. _Verzeichnis der vorderasiatischen Altert? 92 ff.;
101. No less than 59 are known to have been or to be in America. The
majority have been listed by Ward, _op. cit._, xxxv, and Merrill,
_ibid._ xci. ff.; cf. _Bibliotheca Sacra_, xxxii. 320
ff. Twelve in the possession of the New York Historical Society have
not been on exhibition since the society moved into its new quarters,
and are completely inaccessible, the statements in the guide books to
the contrary notwithstanding. The Andover slab is published by
Merrill, _op. cit._ lxxiii, and the one from Amherst by Ward,
_l. c._ These were presented by Rawelinson and Layard to
missionaries, and by them to the institutions named, as were the
following: Yale University; Union College, Schenectady; Williams
College; Dartmouth College; Middlebury College; Bowdoin College;
Auburn (N. Y.) Theological Seminary; Connecticut Historical society at
Hartford; Meriden (Conn.) Public Library; Theological Seminary of
Virginia; Mercantile Library of St. Louis. An inscribed relief to
which my attention has been called by Professor Allan Marquand, has
been presented by Mr. Garrett to Princeton University. Three similar
slabs, loaned by the late Mr. J. P. Morgan, are in the Metropolitan
Museum in New York City.--In this place we may also note the brick
inscriptions in America, listed by Merrill, _l. c._, as well as
the statute inscription, III R. 4, 8; Menant, 65; Schrader,
_Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,? 184.] the short
account so monotonously repeated on the slabs at Kalhu and so familiar
to all who have visited any Museum where Assyrian antiquities are
preserved. There seem to be two recensions, a longer and a shorter,
[Footnote: Le Gac, xvii.] and some, to judge from the variations in
the references, are much later than 880. The same inscription
essentially is also found as the ending of the Ishtar, Mahir, Calah
Palace, [Footnote: Budge-King, 173 ff.; Le Gac, 188 ff.] Calah wall,
[Footnote: Budge-King, 177 ff.] Bulls, and Ninib inscriptions,
[Footnote: Budge-King, 209 ff.] Variants are few, but are not without
value in fixing the relative dates of the various recensions. For
example, some of the Standard inscriptions, as well as the Ishtar and
Mahir ones, insert a reference to "Mount Lebanon and the Great Sea"
which would place them after 876, and this is confirmed by the
reference to Liburna of Patina which occurs in the Annals and the
Calah wall inscription. Of course, this gives only the upper limit,
for it would be dangerous to suggest a lower one in the case of
documents which copy so servilely. Some of the Standard inscriptions,
as well as the Bulls, have a reference to Urartu, of great importance
as the first in any literature to the country which was soon to become
the worthy rival of Assyria. Absence of such reference in the regular
Annals is pretty conclusive evidence that there were no warlike
relations, so that these too are to be dated after 876. With this is
to be compared the addition telling of the conquest of Nairi, found in
the Ishtar, Mahir, and Calah Palace inscriptions, and which would seem
to refer to the same period. The Suhi, Laqe, and Sirqu reference,
through its omission in the Monolith, is also of value as adding proof
that that inscription dates to 880. [Footnote: Minor inscriptions,
L. 83 f.; G. Smith, _Disc_., 76; Budge-King, 155 ff., Le Gac,
172; the very fragmentary Obelisk, Le Gac, 207 ff.; KTA. 25; MDOG. 20,
21 ff.; 21, 15 ff. King, _Supplement_, no. 192, 470,
1805. Hommel. _Zwei Jagdinschriften_, 1879, with photographs;
Andr䬠_Tempel_, 86 ff.]

Much the same situation as regards the sources is found in the reign
of his son Shalmaneser III (860-825). Aside from a few minor
inscriptions, our main source is again the official account which has
come down to us in several recensions of different date. The process
by which these recensions were made is always the same. The next
earlier edition was taken as a basis, and from this were extracted,
generally in the exact words of the original, such facts as seemed of
value to the compiler. When the end of this original was reached, and
it was necessary for the editor to construct his own narrative, the
recital becomes fuller, and, needless to say, becomes also a better
source. If, then, we have the original from which the earliest portion
of a certain document was copied or abstracted, we must entirely cast
aside the copy in favor of the contemporary writing. This would appear
self evident, but failure to observe this distinction has led to more
than one error in the history of the reign. [Footnote: The majority of
the inscriptions for the reign were first given in Layard,
_Inscriptions_, and in the Rawlinson publication, cf. for first
working over, Rawlinson, JRAS. OS. XII. 431 ff. The edition of
Amiaud-Scheil, _Les inscriptions de Salmanasar_ II, 1890, though
without cuneiform text, is still valuable on account of its
arrangement by years, as well as of its full notes, cf. also
Winckler-Peiser, KB. I. 128 ff. The one edition which is up to date is
N. Rasmussen, _Salmanasser den II's Indschriften_, 1907, though
the same may be said of the selections in Rogers, 293 ff.]

Each of these editions ends with the account of some important
campaign, the need of writing up which was the reason for the
collection of the events of previous years which were not in
themselves worthy of special commemoration. The first of these is the
one which ends with the famous battle of Qarqara in 854. This has come
down to us in a monumental copy which was set up at Kirkh, the ancient
Tushhan, and which has been named the Monolith inscription. [Footnote:
III R 7f; Rasmussen, cf.; 2 ff. Photograph, Rogers, 537; _Hist_.,
op. 226. Amiaud-Scheil, _passim_; Peiser, KB. I. 15off. Menant,
105 ff.; Sayce, RP?, III. 83 ff.; Scheil, RP?, IV. 55 ff.; Craig,
_Hebraica_, III. 201ff.; Harper, 33 ff.; cf. Jastrow,
AJSL. IV. 244 ff.] For the events of 860-854, then, we need go no
further than this, for it is strictly contemporaneous with the events
it describes. No actual errors can be pointed out in it, a seeming
distortion of the chronology being due simply to the desire of the
scribe to indicate the unity of two campaigns, carried out in
different years, but against the same country. [Footnote: II. 66.] How
moderate are its numbers is shown by comparing its 14,000 killed at
Qarqara with the 20,500 of the Obelisk, the 25,000 of the Bulls, and
the 29,000 of the recently discovered statue from Ashur. As we shall
see below, it is correct in giving no campaign for 855, though the
Bulls inscription, written a generation later, has not hesitated to
fill the gap. This is the only edition which seems to be entirely
original and a comparison with those which are in large part
compilations is favorable to it in every way. In fact, the oft
repeated reproach as to the catalogue nature of the Shalmaneser
writings, is due to the taking of the Obelisk as a fair sample,
whereas it stands at the other extreme, that of a document almost
entirely made up by abridgement of other documents, and so can hardly
be expected to retain much of the literary flavor of its
originals. The Monolith, on the other hand, free from the necessity of
abridging, will hold its own in literary value with the other
historical writings of the Assyrians.

The next edition was prepared in 851, at the conclusion of the
Babylonian expedition. The document as a whole is lost, but we have
excerpts in the Balawat inscription. [Footnote: Pinches, PSBA. VII. 89
ff.; _The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of Balawat_, 1880;
Rasmussen, XIff.; Amiaud-Scheil, _passim_; Delitzsch,
_Beitr. z. Assyr._, VI. 133 ff.; Winckler KB. I. 134 ff. Scheil,
RP?, IV. 74 ff.] For the years 859, 857, and 856, the excerpts are
very brief, but fortunately this is of no importance as we have their
originals in the Monolith. No mention is made of the years following
until 852-851 which are described so fully that we may believe we have
here the actual words of the document. It is interesting to notice
that there is no particular connection between the reliefs on the
famous bronzes [Footnote: Pinches, _Bronze Ornaments_, a
magnificent publication. A cheaper edition of the reliefs, with
valuable analysis of and comments on the sculptures, Billerbeck;
_Beitr. z. Assyr._ VI. 1 ff. Additional reliefs owned by
G. Schlumberger, Lenormant, _Gazette Arch._, 1878 p1. 22 ff. and
p. 119 ff. Still others, de Clerq, _Catalogue_, II 183 ff.,
quoted Billerbeck, 2. I have not yet seen King, _Bronze Reliefs from
the Gates of Shalmaneser_, 1915.] and the inscription which
accompanies them. The latter ends in 851, the pictures go on to
849. The more conspicious pictures were brought up to date, but, for
the inscription which few would read, a few extracts, borrowed from
the edition of two years previous, sufficed. Incidentally, it shows us
that no new edition had been made in those two years. For the years
before 853, the practical loss of this edition need trouble us little
as it seems merely to have copied the original of the Monolith. That
it might have had some slight value in restoring the text of that lost
original seems indicated by a hint of a fuller text in one place
[Footnote: II.6 f.] and a more moderate number of enemies slaughtered
in another. [Footnote: Balawat kills but 300 while Monolith slaughters
3400.] For the events of 853, as given in this edition, we have only
the abstract of it in the Bulls inscription. [Footnote: Bull 75 ff.]

The year 845, the year of the expedition to the sources of the Tigris,
seems to mark the end of a third period, commemorated by a third
edition, extracts from which are given in the inscriptions on the
Bulls. [Footnote: Discovery, Layard, NR. I. 59. L. 12 ff.; 46 f.;
Rasmussen, XVff.; 42 ff. Amiaud-Scheil, _passim_; Delitzsch,
_op. cit._, 144 ff.; Menant, 113 ff.] That it actually began with
the year 850 is shown by the use of a new system of dating, by the
king's year and the number of the Euphrates crossing. Comparison with
passages preserved in the Balawat extracts shows that the work of
excerpting has been badly done by the editor of the third edition. The
capture of Lahiru is placed in the wrong year, [Footnote: Bull 79;
cf. Balawat IV. 6.] the graphical error of Ukani for Amukkani shows it
derived from the Balawat edition, while variations between the two
copies of the bull inscription indicate that we cannot be sure of the
exact words of the original. [Footnote: Variants in Amiaud-Scheil,
_passim_. The most striking is the different text with which they
end, of. Amiaud-Scheil, 58 n. 1.] And we can also point to deliberate
falsification in the insertion of an expedition to Kashiari against
Anhitti of Shupria, when the older edition, the Monolith, knew of no
expedition for the year 855. It has already been shown elsewhere that
this is closely connected with the attempt of the turtanu (prime
minister) Dan Ashur to date his accession to power to 856 instead of
854, and to hide the fact of the palace revolution which seems to have
marked the year 855. [Footnote: Cf. below under the Obelisk, and, for
fuller discussion, Olmstead, _Jour. Amer. Or. Soc._ XXXIV. 346
f.]

From various hints, it is possible to prove that a fourth edition was
prepared in 837, the end of the wars with Tabal. The most striking
evidence for this is the fact that, after this year, the Obelisk
suddenly becomes much fuller, a clear proof that the author knew that
he was now dealing with events not previously written up. We may see,
then, in the Obelisk account from 844 to 837 an abstract of the lost
edition of 837. But we are not confined to this. One actual fragment
of this edition is the fragment which deals with the events of 842 and
is so well known because of its reference to Jehu. [Footnote: III
R. 5, 6; Rasmussen, XXI; 56; Delitzsch, _Assyr. Lesest? 51f
Amiaud-Scheil, 58; Winckler, KB. I. 140; Ungnad, I. 112; Rogers, 303
f.] The first half of this is also intercalated after the introduction
to one of the Bull inscriptions, and before year four, thus showing
that it was inserted to bring the edition of 845 up to
date. [Footnote: L. 12f; Rasmussen, XIX; 53.] Based on this edition,
though only in very brief abstract, seems also the so called throne
inscription from Ashur, whose references to Damascus, Que, Tabal, and
Melidi form a group which can best be correlated with the events of
the years 839, 840, 838, and 837, respectively. [Footnote: Discovery,
Layard, NR. II. 46 ff.; cf. G. Smith, TSBA. I. 77. L. 76f; Craig,
_Hebraica_, II 140 ff.; Rasmussen, XXXVIII; 84 ff.;
Amiaud-Scheil, 74 ff.; Delitzsch, _Beitr. z. Assyr._, VI. 152f;
cf. Jastrow, _Hebraica_, V. 230 ff.] Another Ashur inscription on
a royal statute gives selections from the events of the reign, up to
835, but its main source is evidently the same. [Footnote: Andr䬼br> MDOG. 21, 20 ff. 39 ff.; Delitzsch, _ibid_. 52; KTA. 30; Langdon,
_Expository Times_, XXIII, 69; Rogers, 298f; 529.]

But the strongest proof of the existence of this edition is to be
found in the two fragments of clay tablets which are not, like all the
preceding, epigraphical copies of the originals, but form part of the
original itself. [Footnote: Boissier, RT. XXV. 82 ff.] These two bits
are written in the cursive style, and, though their discoverer
believed them to belong to separate documents, the fact that one so
closely supplements the other, and that they have the same common
relation to the other editions, justifies us in assuming that they
really do belong together. At first sight, it might be argued that
they are to be restored from the text of the Obelisk, with which they
often agree verbally. Closer inspection shows, however, that they
contain matter which is not found in that monument, and that therefore
they belong to an earlier and fuller edition, yet the resemblance to
the Obelisk is so close that they cannot be much earlier. On the other
hand, the Bulls inscription can be compared for the events of 854-852
and this has all that our tablets have, plus a good bit more. They
therefore belong between these two editions, and the only time we can
place them is 837. Since the clay tablets so fully abstract the Bulls
inscription wherever the latter is available for comparison, we may
assume that in 857-855 they give the minimum of that inscription. Thus
we have the editions of 845, of 837, and of 829, in a common line of
descent. Although for 857-856, there are numerous verbal coincidences
with the Balawat excerpts, it must be noted that not all the plus of
our tablets appears in that document, and we can only assume a common
source, a conclusion which well agrees with our characterization of
the Balawat inscription as a series of mere extracts. That this common
source was also the source of the Monolith seems proved by a certain
similarity of phraseology as well as by the reference to Tiglath
Pileser in connection with Pitru, but this similarity is not great
enough fully to restore our plus passages. Unfortunately for the
student of history, our tablets do not add any new facts, for, in the
parts preserved, we already had the earlier representatives of the
original sources from which the edition was derived. It does, however,
throw a most interesting light on the composition and development of
these sources.

Last and least valuable of all is the Obelisk. [Footnote: Discovery at
Kalhu, Layard, NR. II. 282. Layard, _Monuments of Nineve_, I. 53
ff.; L. 87 ff.; Abel-Winckler, 7f; Rasmussen, XXXIIIff.; 80 ff.
Amiaud-Scheil, _passim_; Winckler, KB. I. 128 ff.Oppert,
_Exp褮_ I. 342; _Hist._ 108 ff.; Menant, 97 ff. Sayce, RP?,
V. 29 ff.; Scheil, RP?, IV. 38; Jastrow, _Hebraica_,
V. 230. Mengedoht, _Bab. Or. Rec._, VIII, lllff.; 141ff.; 169
ff. Photographs and drawings too frequent for notice. Casts are also
common, e. g., in America, Metropolitan Museum, N. Y. City; University
of Pennsylvania; Haskell Museum, University of Chicago; Boston Museum
of Fine Arts.] Because of its most interesting sculptures and because
it gives a summary of almost the entire reign, it has either been
given the place of honor, or a place second to the Monolith alone. The
current view is given by one of our most prominent Assyriologists as
follows: "The first rank must be ascribed to the Black Obelisk, and
for the reason that it covers a greater period of Shalmaneser's reign
than any other.... It is clear then, that for a study of the reign of
Shalmaneser II the black obelisk must form the starting point, and
that, in direct connection with it, the other inscriptions may best be
studied, grouping themselves around it as so many additional
fragmentary manuscripts would around the more complete one which we
hit upon, for a fundamental text." [Footnote: Jastrow, _l. c._]

This view might be accepted were the problem one of the "lower
criticism". Unfortunately, it is clearly one for the "higher" and
accordingly we should quote the Black Obelisk only when an earlier
edition has not been preserved. There is no single point where, in
comparison with an earlier one, there is reason to believe that it has
the correct text, in fact, it is, as might be expected in the case of
a show inscription, filled with mistakes, many of which were later
corrected, while in one case the engraver has been forced to erase
entire lines. [Footnote: Cf. the textual commentary in Amiaud-Scheil,
_passim_, and especially 65 n. 6.] Its date is 829, a whole
generation later than the facts first related, and it can be shown
that it is a formal apology for the turtanu (prime minister), Dan
Ashur, glorifies him at the expense of his monarch, and attempts to
conceal the palace revolution which marked his coming into power by
changing the date of his eponomy from 854 to 856 and by filling in the
year 855 with another event. Nor is it without bearing in this
connection that it was prepared in 829, the very year in which the
revolt of Ashur dan apal broke out as a protest against the control of
his father by the too powerful turtanu. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead,
_Jour. Amer. Or. Soc., l. c._] As these last years of the reign
were years of revolt, there is no reason for believing that there was
another edition prepared, and the narrative of this revolt in the
Annals of his son Shamshi Adad points in the same direction.

Of documents which do not belong to this connected series, the most
important is the recently discovered lion inscription from Til
Barsip. Aside from its value in identifying the site of that important
city and an extra detail or two, its importance is not great, as it is
the usual type of display inscription. [Footnote: R. C. Thompson,
PSBA. XXXIV. 66 ff.; cf. Hogarth, _Accidents of an Antiquary's
Life_, op. 175.] The Tigris Tunnel inscription also has its main
importance from the locality in which it was found. [Footnote: Scheil,
RT. XXII. 38.] Other brief inscriptions add a bit as to the building
operations, which, curiously enough, are neglected in the official
annals series. [Footnote: L. 77 f.; Amiaud-Scheil, 78; Rasmussen, XLI;
88 f. Layard, NR. II. 46; I. 281. Bricks in America, Merrill,
_Proc. Amer. Or. Soc._, X. c; _Bibl. Sacra._ XXXII. 337 ff.;
Streck, _Ztf. Deutsch. Morg. Gesell._, 1908, 758; Scheil,
RT. XXVI. 35 ff.; Pinches, PSBA. XXXII. 49 f., of year I; KTA. 26 ff.;
77; MDOG. 21, 20f; 22, 29 ff.; 22, 77; 28, 24f; 31, 15; 32, 15 ff.;
36, 16 ff.; 48, 27; Andr䬟 Tempel_, 41ff; Taf. XX. XXIIf.]

[Antiquarian]

Chapter IV
Shamishladad and the Synchronistic History

The main source for the reign of Shamshi Adad (825-812) is the
official Annals which exists in two recensions. One, written in
archaistic characters, from the south east palace at Kalhu, has long
been known. After the usual introduction, it deals briefly with the
revolt of Ashur dan apal. No attempt is made to differentiate the part
which deals with his father's reign from that of his own, and the
single paragraph which is devoted to it gives us no real idea of its
importance or of its duration. Then follow four expeditions, the first
two given very briefly, the last rather fully. As the years of the
reign are not indicated, there is considerable difficulty in obtaining
a satisfactory chronology. [Footnote: IR. 29 ff. Scheil, _Inscription
Assyr. Archaﱵe de Samsi Ramman IV_, 1889. Abel, KB. I. 174
ff. Oppert, _Hist._, 122 ff.; Menant, 119 ff.; Sayce, RPi, I. 11
ff. Harper, 45 ff. For errors in writing cf. Scheil, VI; for use of
rare words, _ibid._ VII.] The other carries the record two years
further, but has not yet been published. [Footnote: MDOG. 28, 31
f. Through the courtesy of Dr. Andra, I was permitted to see this in
the excavation house at Ashur in 1908.--Cf. also the palace brick,
Scheil, RT. XXII. 37.]

The long list of expeditions which the Assyrian Chronicle attributes
to the reign of Adad nirari (812-783) indicates that he must have
composed Annals, but they have not as yet been discovered. Of extant
inscriptions, the earliest is probably that on the statue base of
Sammuramat (Semiramis), in which she is placed before her son and
emphasis is laid on the fact that she is the widow of Shamshi Adad
rather than that she is the mother of the reigning monarch. [Footnote:
MDOG. 40, 24 ff. 42, 34 ff.] Next in time comes the inscription on the
famous Nabu statue in which Adad nirari is placed first, but with
Sammuramat at his side, and which accordingly marks the decline of the
queen mother's power. [Footnote: Rawlinson, _Monarchies_, II. 118
n. 7; Photograph, Rogers, 511; _Religion_, op. 86; I. R. 35, 2;
Abel-Winckler, 14; Abel, KB. I. 192 f.; Rogers, 307 f.; Winckler,
_Textbuch_3, 27 f.; Meissner, _Chrestomathie_, 10; Menant,
127 f.] Near the end of his reign must be placed the two Kalhu
inscriptions in which Sammuramat is not mentioned. One refers to the
conquests from the sea of the rising sun to the sea of the setting
sun, a statement which would be possible only after the conquest of
Kis in 786. This is the document which throws a vivid light on the
early history of Assyria, but the remainder is lost [Footnote: Layard,
NR. II. 20. L. 70; I. R. 35, 3; Delitzsch, _Lesest?, 99;
Abel-Winckler, 13. Abel, KB. I. 188 ff. Sayce, RP?, I. 3 ff.;
S. A. Strong, RP?, IV. 88f; Harper, 50 f.] and a duplicate adds
nothing new. [Footnote: L. 70.] The other Kalhu inscription adds
considerable material, but in a condensed form which makes it most
difficult to locate the facts in time. The historical portion is
divided into three sections which seem roughly to correspond with the
chronological order. First comes a list of the peoples conquered on
the eastern frontier, arranged geographically from south to north. As
but two of these names are listed in the Assyrian Chronicle, and as
each occurs several times, it is impossible to locate them exactly in
time. The second section deals in considerable detail with an
expedition against Damascus but the Chronicle does not list one even
against central Syria. The fulness of this account shows that it took
place not far from the subjugation of Kaldi land, the narrative of
which ends the document and shows it to have been written not far from
786, its date in the Chronicle. [Footnote: Rawlinson, _Athenaeum_,
1856, 174; I R. 35, 1; Winckler, _Textbuch_3, 26 f. Abel,
KB. I. 190 ff. Ungnad, I. 112 f.; Rogers, 306 f. Talbot,
JRAS. XIX. 182 ff.; Harper, 51 f.; Meissner, _Chrestomathie_, 9;
Menant, 126 f.--Nineveh brick, I R. 35, 4. Abel, KB. I. 188 f. Ashur
inscriptions, KTA. 35 f.; MDOG. 22, 19; 26, 62.]

For the remaining reigns of the dynasty, we have only the data in the
Assyrian Chronicle. No annals or in fact any other inscription has
come down to us, and, so far at least as the annals are concerned,
there is little likelihood of their discovery, as there is no reason
to believe that any were composed in this period of complete
decline. But, curiously enough, from this very period comes the
document which throws the most light on the earliest period of
Assyrian expansion, the so called Synchronistic history. [Footnote: II
R. 65, 1; III R. 4, 3; Winckler, _Untersuch_., 148 ff.;
CT. XXXVI. 38 ff.; cf. the introduction of Budge-King; King,
_Tukulti Ninib._ Peiser-Winckler, KB. I. 194 ff.; G. Smith,
_Disc_. 250 f.; Sayce, TSBA. II. 119 ff.; RP?, III. 29 ff.; RP?,
IV. 24 ff.; Barta In Harper, 195; cf. Winckler, AOF. I. 114 ff.;
Belck, _Bettr. Geog. Gesch._, I. 5 ff.] Adad nirari is the last
ruler mentioned, but the fact that he is named in the third person
shows that it was compiled not earlier than the reign of his successor
Shalmaneser IV.

Our present copy is a tablet from the library of a later king,
seemingly Ashur bani apal. [Footnote: Maspero, _Hist_., II. 595,
dates its composition to this reign.] In form, it marks an advance
over any historical document we have thus far studied, for it is an
actual history for many centuries of the relations between Assyria and
Babylonia. But it is as dry as possible, for only the barest facts are
given, with none of the mass of picturesque details which we have
learned to expect in the annals of the individual kings. Nevertheless,
its advance over preceding documents should not be over estimated. Its
emphasis on treaties and boundaries has led to the idea that it was
compiled from the archives as a sort of diplomatic pi裥 justificative
in a controversy with Babylonia over the possession of a definite
territory. [Footnote: Peiser-Winckler, KB. I. 194 n. 1.] Its true
character, however, is clearly brought out in its closing words "A
succeeding prince whom they shall establish in the land of Akkad,
victory and conquest may he write down, and on this inscribed stone
(naru), eternal and not to be forgotten, may he [add it]. Whoever
takes it, may he listen to all that is written, the majesty of the
land of Ashur may he worship continually. As for Shumer and Akkad,
their sins may he expose to all the regions of the world." [Footnote:
IV. 32 ff.]

Obviously, then, this tablet of clay is only a copy of an earlier
_naru_ or memorial inscription on stone, and we should expect it
to be only the usual display inscription. This is still further proved
by the introduction, mutilated as it is, "... to the god Ashur ... his
prayer ... before his face I speak.... eternally a [tablet] with the
mention.... the majesty and victory [which the kings of Ashur mad]e,
they conquered all, [the march] of former [expedi]tions, who
conquered..... [their booty to their lands they br]ought..." Clearly,
this is the language of a display inscription and not of a diplomatic
piece justificative. So we can consider our document not even a
history in the true sense of the word, merely an inscription erected
to the glory of Ashur and of his people, but with the "sins of Shumer
and Akkad," in other words, with the wars of the Babylonians against
"the land" [Footnote: Cf. Belck, _Beitr. Geog. Gesch. I._ 5
ff.--The double mention of Ashur bel kala and Shalmaneser points to
double sources, one the original of BM. 27859, Peiser, OLZ. XI. 141.]
and with the sinful destruction of Assyrian property they caused, also
in mind. When we take this view, we are no longer troubled by the
numerous mistakes, even to the order of the kings, which so greatly
reduce the value of the document where its testimony is most
needed. [Footnote: Cf. Winckler, AOF. I. 109 ff.] We can understand
such "mistakes" in a display inscription, exposed to view in a place
where it would not be safe for an individual to point out the
truth. But that it could have been used as a piece justificative, with
all its errors, when the Babylonians could at once have refuted it, is
incredible.

The accession of Tiglath Pileser IV (745-728) marks a return to
warfare, and the consequent prosperity is reflected in an increase of
the sources both in quantity and in quality. [Footnote: For
inscriptions of reign, cf. Rost, _Keilschrifttexte Tiglat-Pilesers
III_; cf. also Anspacher, _Tiglath Pileser_, 1 ff.] Tiglath
Pileser prepared for the walls of his palace a series of annals, in
three recensions, marked by the number of lines to the slab, seven,
twelve, or sixteen, and seemingly by little else. Originally they
adorned the walls of the central palace at Kalhu, but Esarhaddon, a
later king of another dynasty, defaced many of the slabs and built
them into his south west palace. Thus, even with the three different
recensions, a large part of the Annals has been lost forever. For
years, the great problem of the reign of Tiglath Pileser was the
proper chronological arrangement of this inscription. Thanks to the
aid of the Assyrian Chronicle, it is now fairly fixed, though with
serious gaps. Once they are arranged, little further criticism is
needed, for they are the usual type, rather dry and uninteresting to
judge from the extant fragments. [Footnote: Detailed bibliography of
the fragments, Anspacher, _Tiglath Pileser_, 3 ff.; Discovery,
Layard, NR. II. 300. L. 19 ff.; III R. 9 f. Rost, _de inscriptione
Tiglat-Pileser III quae vocatur Annalium_, 1892; Rost, Iff.; 2 ff.;
Winckler, _Textbuchs?_, 28 ff. Ungnad I. 113 ff.; Rogers, 313
ff.; Schrader KB. II. 24 ff.; Rodwell, RP?, V. 45 ff.; Menant, 144
ff. For discussion of arrangements of fragments, cf. G. Smith,
_Ztf. f. Aegyptologie_, 1869, 9 ff.; _Disc._, 266; Schrader,
_Keilschrift und Geschichtsforschung_, 395 ff.; _Abh.
Berl. Akad._, 1880; Tiele, _Gesch._, 224; Hommel,
_Gesch_., 648 ff.] Perhaps separate notice should be given to the
sculptured slabs in Z?with selections from the Annals. [Footnote:
Boissier, PSBA. I have not seen his _Notice sur quelque Monuments
Assyr. a l'universit頤e Z?, 1912.]

Next to the Annals comes the clay tablet from Kalhu, from which, if we
are to judge by the proportions, less than a half has
survived. [Footnote: Usually called the Nimrud inscription, a cause of
confusion. K. 3751. Photograph of obverse, "but upside down, Rogers,
541; _History_, op. 267. II R. 67; _Rost_, XXXVff; 54
ff. Schrader, KB. II. 8 ff.; Erneberg, JA. VII. Ser. VI. 441ff.;
Menant, 14oft; Smith, _Disc._, 25eff.; Strong, RP?, V. 115 ff.;
J. M. P. Smith, in Harper, 52 ff.; Rogers, 322.] Thus, owing to the
method used by the Assyrians in turning the tablet for writing, only
the first and last parts are preserved. Unfortunately, the greater
part of what is preserved is taken up with an elaborate introduction
and conclusion which we would gladly exchange for more strictly
historical data. The other contents are, first an elaborate account of
the wars in Babylonia, next of the wars on the Elamite frontier, a
brief paragraph on Ulluba and Kirbu, and then the beginning of the war
with Urartu. Each of these paragraphs is marked off by a line across
the tablet. Thus far, it is clear, we have a geographical order for
the paragraphs. After the break, we have an account of the Arab tribes
on the border of Egypt. It is therefore clear that the order was
continued in the break which must have contained the most of the
Urartu account and whatever was said about Syria. The fulness with
which the extant portion chronicles the Babylonian affairs makes it
probable that the part now lost in the break dealt with Armenian and
Syrian relations with equal fulness. The next paragraph seems to be a
sort of summary of the various western rulers who had paid tribute,
and the length of this list is another proof of the large amount
lost. The very brief Tabal and Tyre paragraphs, out of the regular
geographical order, are obvious postscripts and this dates them to
year XVII (729), unless we are to assume that the scribe did not have
them in mind when he wrote the reference to that year in the
introduction. That they really did date to the next year, 728, is
indicated by the fact that the Assyrian Chronicle seems to have had a
Tyre expedition in that year. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead,
_Jour. Amer. Or. Soc._, XXXIV. 357.] If so, then our inscription
must date from the last months of Tiglath Pileser's reign. Though
written on clay, it is clearly a draft from which to engrave a display
inscription on stone as it begins "Palace of Tiglath Pileser." The
identity of certain passages [Footnote: I. 5, 9 ff., 16, 22, 47.] with
the Nimrud slab shows close connection, but naturally the much fuller
recital of the tablet is not derived from it. We have also a duplicate
fragment from the Nabu temple at Kalhu and this is marked by obvious
Babylonianisms. [Footnote: DT. 3. Schrader, _Abh. Berl. Akad._
1880, 15 ff., with photograph. For the Babylonian character, cf. Rost,
11.]

With the Nimrud clay tablet is easily confused the Nimrud
slab. [Footnote: Layard, NR. II. 33. L. 17 f. Schrader, KB. II. 2 ff.;
Rost, 42 ff.; Oppert, _Exped._, 336; Smith, _Disc._, 271;
Meissner, _Chrestomathie_, 10 f.; Menant, 138 ff.] This dates
from 743 and is thus the earliest inscription from the reign. But its
account is so brief that it is of but trifling value. It assists a
little in, conjecturing what is lost from the tablet and mention of an
event here is naturally of value as establishing a minimum date. But
where both have preserved the same account, the tablet is the fuller,
and, in general, better, even though it is so much later. [Footnote:
Other inscriptions, III R. 10, 3, the place list; 83-1-18, 215,
Winckler, AOF. II. 3 f.; painted fragments, Layard, _Nineveh and
Babylon_, 140 f.]

[Antiquarian]

Chapter V
Sargon and the Modern Historical Criticism

The sources for the reign of Sargon (722-705) [Footnote: Collected in
Winckler, _Kellschrifttexte Sargons_, 1889.] have already been
discussed in detail elsewhere. All that is here needed is a summary of
results. [Footnote: Olmstead, _Western Asia in the Days of Sargon of
Assyria_, 1908, 1 ff.] They fall into three well marked groups. The
first includes the early inscriptions of the reign, which are
miscellaneous in character. [Footnote: _Sargon_, 17 ff.] The
circumstances under which Sargon came to the throne are indicated by a
tablet from the second year which is of all the more value in that it
is not a formal annals or display inscription. [Footnote: K. 1349;
Winckler, _Sammlung_, II, 1; AOF. I. 401 ff.] The Nimrud
inscription comes from Kalhu, the earliest capital of
Sargon. Unfortunately, it is very brief and is not arranged in
chronological order. Aside from the rather full account of Pisiris of
Carchemish, sufficient to date the inscription soon after its capture,
we have only the briefest of references, and its value would be
nothing, could we only secure the original, perhaps the earliest
edition of the Annals, on which it is based. [Footnote: L. 33f;
Winckler, _Sargon_, I. 168 ff. II. 48; Lyon,
_Assyr. Manual_, 9f; Pelser, KB, II. 34 ff.; Menant, 204 ff.] A
brief fragment may be noted because of its mention of the sixth year,
though we cannot be sure of the class to which it belongs. [Footnote:
K. 1660; Winckler, _Sammlung_, II. 4.] Other fragments are either
unpublished or of no importance. [Footnote: K. 221+2669; K. 3149;
K. 3150; K. 4455; K. 4463, Winckler, _Sammlung_, II. 6; K. 4471,
_ibid_. II. 4; DT. 310; 83-1-18, 215. The unpublished fragments
known from Bezold, _Catalogue, ad loc_.]

As a proved source for the second group, the newly discovered tablet
should begin our study. [Footnote: Thureau-Dangin, _Relation de la
Huitieme Campagne de Sargon_, 1912.]From the standpoint of source
study, it is of exceptional value as it is strictly contemporaneous
and yet gives a very detailed account in Annals form of the events of
a single year. The tablet was "written", probably composed, though it
may mean copied, by Nabu shallimshunu, the great scribe of the King,
the very learned, the man of Sargon, the eldest son of
Harmaki,--seemingly an Egyptian name,--and inhabitant of the city of
Ashur. It was brought (before the God Ashur?) in the limmu or eponym
year of Ishtar duri, 714-713, and tells us of the events of 714. It is
written on an unusually large tablet of clay and is in, the form of a
letter. It begins "To Ashur the father of the gods... greatly, greatly
may there be peace. To the gods of destiny and the goddesses who
inhabit Ehar sag gal kurkurra, their great temple, greatly, greatly
may there be peace. To the gods of destiny and the goddesses who
inhabit the city of Ashur their great temple, greatly, greatly may
there be peace. To the city and its inhabitants may there be peace. To
the palace which is situated in the midst may there be peace. As
for [Footnote: So Thureau-Dangin, _ad hoc_.] Sargon the holy
priest, the servant, who fears thy great godhead, and for his camp,
greatly, greatly there is peace." So this looks like a letter from the
king to the god Ashur, to the city named from him, and to its
inhabitants. Yet it is a very unusual rescript, very different from
those which have come down to us in the official archives, especially
in the use of the third person in speaking of the king, while in the
regular letters the first is always found. Further, in the body of the
supposed letter, the king, as is usual in the official annals, speaks
in the first person.

However it may be with the real character of the "letter," there can
be no doubt as to its great value. To be sure, we may see in its boast
that in the campaign but six soldiers were lost a more or less severe
stretching of the truth, but, at least in comparison with the later
records, it is not only much fuller, but far more accurate. Indeed,
comparison with the later Annals shows that document to be even worse
than we had dared suspect.

Comparison of the newly discovered inscription with the parallel
passages of the broken prism B shows that this is simply a condensed
form of its original. The booty seems to have been closely copied, but
the topographical details are much abbreviated. The discovery of this
tablet, while supplying the lacunae in Prism B, has made this part
useless. But all the more clearly is brought out the superiority, in
this very section, of the Prism over the later Annals. Naturally, we
assume the same to be true in the other portions preserved, in fact,
the discovery of the tablet has been a brilliant confirmation of the
proof long ago given that this was superior to the Annals. [Footnote:
Olmstead, _Sargon_, 11 ff., with reconstruction of the order of
the various fragments, as against Prasek, OLZ. XII. 117, who sharply
attacked me "?en historischen wert den Stab zu brechen."]
Unfortunately but a part of these fragments has been published
[Footnote: Winckler, _Sargon_, II. 45 ff. cf. I. xif. Photograph,
Ball, _Light from the East_, 185. Thureau-Dangin,
_op_. _cit_., 76 ff.] and the difficulties in the way of
copying these fragments have made many mistakes. [Footnote: To judge
by a comparison of Winckler's text with that prepared by King for
Thureau-Dangin, _l.c._] But a few of these fragments have as yet
been translated or even discussed. [Footnote: Winckler, _Sargon_,
I. 186 f.; AOF. II. 71 ff.; _Mitth. Vorderas. Gesell._, 1898, 1,
53; Thureau-Dangin, _l.c._] For all parts of the reign which they
cover, save where we have the tablet, they are now clearly seen to be
our best authorities, nearer in date to the events they chronicle and
much freer from suspicion than the Annals. The most urgent need for
the history of the reign is that the fragments which are still
unpublished [Footnote: Cf. Bezold, ZA. 1889, 411 n. 1.] should be
published at once with a collation of those previously given. Even a
translation and examination of the fragments already published would
mark a considerable advance in our knowledge of the period. [Footnote:
For detailed study of Prism B, cf. Olmstead, _l.c._]

Very similar to Prism B is our other broken prism, A. [Footnote:
Winckler. _Sargon_, II. 44; 1. 186 ff.;
_Untersuch. Altor. Gesch._, 118 ff.; _Textbuch_3, 41 f.;
Rogers, 329 f.; G. Smith, _Disc._, 288 ff. Boscawen,
_Bab. Or. Rec._ IV. 118 ff. The Dalta episode and the beginning
and end are still untranslated.] Both were found at Nineveh [Footnote:
G. Smith, _Disc._, 147.] and this of itself proves a date some
distance from the end of the reign when Sargon was established at Dur
Sharruken. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead, _Sargon_, 14 n.] Prism A is
of much the same type as the other, in fact, when we see how the
Ashdod expedition, begun in the one, can be continued in the other,
[Footnote: As in Winckler, _Sargon_, I. 186 ff.] we are led to
believe that the two had a similar text. If, however, the Dalta
episode in each refers to the same event, then they had quite
different texts in this part of the history. Which of the two is the
earlier and more trustworthy, if they did not have identical texts,
and what are their relative relations cannot be decided in their
fragmentary state, but that they are superior to the Annals is
clear. Like Prism B, Prism A is worthy of better treatment and greater
attention than it has yet been given.

The third group consists of the documents from about the year 707,
which have come down to us inscribed on the walls of Sargon's capital,
Dur Sharruken. [Footnote: For discussion of this group, cf. Olmstead,
_Sargon_, 6 ff.] The earliest document of this group is naturally
the inscription of the cylinders which were deposited as corner
stones, [Footnote: Place, _Nineve_, II. 291 ff.; Oppert, _Dour
Sarkayan_, 11 ff.; I R. 36; Lyon, _Keilschrifttexte Sargons_,
1 ff. Winckler, _Sargon_, II. 43; Menant, 199 ff.; Peiser,
KB. II. 38 ff. Barta, in Harper, 59 ff.] indeed, it closely agrees
with the deed of gift which dated to 714. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead,
_Sargon_, 178 f.] The same inscription is also found on
slabs. [Footnote: Menant, RT. XIII. 194.] It is the fullest and best
account of the building of Dur Sharruken, and from it the other
documents of the group seem to have derived their building
recital. Nor are other phases of the culture life neglected, as
witness, for example, the well known attempt to fix prices and lower
the high cost of living by royal edict.

The remaining inscriptions of the group are all closely related and
all seem derived from the Annals. The display inscription gives the
data of the Annals in briefer form and in geographical order. Numbers
are very much increased, and its only value is in filling the too
numerous lacun栯f its original. [Footnote: Botta, _Mon. de
Nineve_, 95 ff.; Winckler, _Sargon_, II. 30 ff.; I. 97 ff.
Oppert-Menant, _Fastes de Sargon_.-JA. 1863 ff.; Menant, 18 ff.;
Oppert, RP?, IX. 1 ff.; Peiser, KB. II. 52 ff.] Imperfect recognition
of its character has led many astray. [Footnote: The error in
connecting Piru and Hanunu, for example, already pointed out by
Olmstead, _Sargon_, 10, is still held by S. A. Cook, art.
Philistines, in the new _Encyclopedia Britannica_.] Other
inscriptions of the group are incised on bulls, on founda-slabs, on
bricks, pottery, and glass, or as labels on the sculptures. Save for
the last, they are of absolutely no value for the historian as they
simply abstract from the Annals. As for the Cyprus stole, its location
alone gives it a factitious importance. [Footnote: For full
bibliography of the minor inscriptions, cf. Olmstead, _Sargon_, 6
f. For others since found at Ashur, cf. KTA. 37-42; 71; MDOG. 20, 24;
22, 37; 25, 28, 31, 35; 26, 22; 31, 47; Andr䬠_Tempel_, 91ff.;
Taf. XXI; Genouillac-Thureau-Dangin, RA. X. 83 ff.]

The one important document of the group, then, is the Annals. That,
with all its value, it is a very much over estimated document, has
already been shown. [Footnote: Olmstead, _Sargon_, 3 ff.] There
are four recensions, some of which differ widely among themselves and
from other inscriptions. For example, there are three accounts of the
fate of Merodach Baladan. In one, he is captured; [Footnote: Display
133.] in the second he begs for peace; [Footnote: Annals V.] in the
third, he runs away and escapes. [Footnote: Annals 349.] Naturally, we
are inclined to accept the last, which is actually confirmed by the
later course of events.

But it is only when we compare the Annals with earlier documents that
we realize how low it ranks, even among official inscriptions. Already
we have learned the dubious character of its chronology. The Assyrian
Chronicle has "in the land" for 712, that is, there was no campaign in
that year. Yet for that very year, the Annals has an expedition
against Asia Minor! It is prism B which solves the puzzle. In the
earliest years, it seems to have had the same chronology as the
Annals. Later, it drops a year behind and, at the point where it ends,
it has given the Ashdod expedition as two years earlier than the
Annals. [Footnote: Cf. Ohmstead, _Sargon_, 11.] Even with the old
data, it was clear that the Prism was earlier and therefore probably
more trustworthy; and it was easy to explain the puzzle by assuming
that years "in the land" had been later padded out by the Annals, just
as we have seen was done for Dan Ashur under Shalmaneser III. Now the
discovery of the tablet of the year 714 has completely vindicated the
character of Prism B while it has even more completely condemned the
Annals as a particularly untrustworthy example of annalistic writing.

In the first place, it shows us how much we have lost. The tablet has
430 lines, of which a remarkably small portion consists of passages<