he wrote to the king about his sons, Ashurbânipal and Shamash-shum-ukîn,
we may be sure the old courtier got his request, and that he was writing
to Esarhaddon. The letters of Adadi-shum-uṣur concern domestic affairs,
the sickness of one, an auspicious day, the health of another, rarely does
he mention any news of public interest. The persons about whom he writes
are the members of the royal family, Esarhaddon’s children and the
above-named circle of officials. The king sent him to see certain sick
folk,(920) he writes about an eclipse, or a ring, or something of the
sort. He usually gives a very long introduction; often the real message
occupies only a few lines.
(M833) Marduk-shâkin-shum is another of the same group, with twenty-five
letters. They are of the same domestic nature as the last.
Ishtar-shum-êresh is the writer of a score of letters and about thirty
astrological reports. He was evidently a younger member of the group, son
of Nabû-zêr-lîshir, and chief scribe to Ashurbânipal. In the reign of
Esarhaddon he ranked as a _mašmašsu_. Akkullânu, who was an _êrib bîti_,
of Asshur, writes sixteen letters and some dozen astrological reports.
(M834) We have seen that in the second epoch the king had to fix the time
when intercalary months should be inserted. In this period the calendar
was very carefully regulated by astronomical observations. As a new month
began on the day on which the new moon was seen, it is clear that a month
would often exceed twenty-nine days, but that a new moon might sometimes
be seen on the twenty-ninth. Nabûa, the astronomer of the city Asshur,
sends a number of such letters as:(921)
On the twenty-ninth, we kept watch, we did not see the moon. Nabû
and Marduk be gracious to the king, my lord. From Nabûa of Asshur.
So Nabû-shum-iddin writes:(922)
To the Gardener, my lord, thy servant Nabû-shum-iddin, the
_rabûte_ of Nineveh. Nabû and Marduk be gracious to the Gardener,
my lord. On the fourteenth we kept watch on the moon. The moon
suffered an eclipse.
The gardener, or rather irrigator, may be a royal title. At present these
observations are useless to us in our attempts to fix chronology, as we do
not know the month and year of many of them.
(M835) The queen-mother was always an important personage in the state and
she had very great influence indeed at court. But probably few ladies ever
obtained a higher degree of power than did Naki’a, or Zakutu as she was
also called, the wife of Sennacherib and mother of Esarhaddon. She had a
sister Abirami.(923) The queen-mother resided in Laḫiru, but there seem to
have been more than one city of the name. Her necklace, or some part of
it, is in private possession and has been described by Professor
Scheil.(924) She survived her son, and, with her grandsons, Ashurbânipal,
Shamash-shum-ukîn, and the nobles of Assyria, issued a proclamation to the
empire, declaring Ashurbânipal the true heir to the throne.
(M836) It is, of course, uncertain whether the person addressed as mother
of the king is always Zakûtu, since we cannot always date the letters. But
the letter of Nâ’id-Marduk,(925) which names Ummanigash as King of Elam,
was certainly addressed to her. Nâ’id-Marduk was a son of Merodach
Baladan, who, in the reign of Esarhaddon, when his brother
Nabû-zêr-kînish-lîshir was killed by Ummanaldash II., threw himself on the
mercy of Esarhaddon and was by him made ruler of his ancestral domain of
Bît Jakin, as a vassal king. He speaks for himself:
To the mother of the king, my lord, thy servant Nâ’id-Marduk.
Peace be to the mother of the king, my lord. May Ashur, Shamash,
and Marduk give health to the king, my lord. May they decree the
cheer of heart of the mother of the king, my lord. From Elam they
came to me, saying, “They have seized the bridge.” When they came,
I sent to the mother of the king, my lord. Now let the bridge be
restored and the bolts of the bridge strengthened. They say, “They
have burnt it.” I have not sent them, we do not know. They came,
it was gone. To the mother of the king, my lord, I will send. Do
thou, my lord, send troops. The son of Ningal-iddina has gone to
the King of (Elam?) and taken the side of Ḥubanigash. [_Several
lines follow with only fragments of sentences._] “Since these are
trustworthy reports, whatever the Chaldees in future send to the
gods of the king, my lord. If a messenger of the King of Elam does
not bring messages to me, he shall enter and I will see him, and
whatever is his message, he shall explain until I understand.”
They came on the second of Ab, his messenger came to me to the
border; he did not pass over to hinterland, and I sent my
messenger to the palace. My lord, may he decide, and what is right
for the house of my lord, fulfil.
It is evident that the writer regards the queen-mother as so thoroughly
identical with the king that he does not scruple to address her as “my
lord.” Despite several lacunæ the general sense is clear. After the break
the passage in quotation marks seems to be quoted from a report made to
the writer. The sons of Ningal-iddina were Sin-tabni-uṣur,
Sin-balâṭsu-iḳbi, and Sin-shar-uṣur, all of whom were in important
commands in Southern Babylonia. It seems probable that the events referred
to in this letter are those which led up to the Elamite invasion of
Babylonia, when they came raiding as far as Sippara. Esarhaddon was away
at the time in the west. There is no record of how they were driven back.
Here is a letter from the king to his mother:(926)
(M837)
Message of the king to the king’s mother: I am well. Peace be to
the king’s mother. Concerning Amushe’s servant, what thou didst
send me, as the king’s mother has told me, I will at once order.
What thou hast said is extremely good. Wherefore should Ḥamunai
go?
The meaning is obscured for us by our complete lack of information as to
the persons concerned. We may conjecture that Ḥamunai was the servant of
Amushe, but we do not know. However, we see that the queen mother gave
good advice.
(M838) Zakûtu must often have been a prey to great anxiety, left in
command as she was in Assyria, with her warrior son nearly always away and
such awkward neighbors as the Elamites. But she was on the whole
faithfully served. It seems that the proud nobles of Assyria became
restless during Esarhaddon’s long absences, for we learn from the
Babylonian Chronicle that, in B.C. 670, Esarhaddon put a number of them to
death. Here is a letter, however, from an attached subject:(927)
To the mother of the king, my lady, thy servant Aplîa. May Bêl and
Nabû be gracious to the mother of the king, my lady. Every day I
pray Nabû and Nanâ for life and health and length of days, for the
king of lands, my lord, and for the mother of the king, my lady.
May the mother of the king, my lady, be bright. A messenger of
good news from Bêl and Nabû has come from the king of lands, my
lord.
There is a suggestion in the mention of Nanâ that Aplîa wrote from Erech.
He may be the Aplîa afterwards associated with Bêl-ibnî and Kudur in the
south. If so, we may suppose that the messenger came from Esarhaddon, from
Egypt, by way of Southern Babylonia. One would suppose that a messenger
from Canaan, or the west, would reach Nineveh, before Chaldea. But, of
course, the queen-mother may have been at Laḫiru. Only it is doubtful
whether she lived there, while Esarhaddon was away.
It is more likely still that the Aplîa is the same as the _râb ali_ of
Laḫiru, who in B.C. 678 was over the house of the queen-mother there.(928)
(M839) Another letter(929) conveys assurance of fidelity:
To the mother of the king, my lord, thy servant Asharîdu. May Nabû
and Marduk be gracious to the mother of the king, my lord. Daily I
pray to Nêrgal and Lâz for the life and health of the king, and
the king’s mother, my lords. There is peace in the city and
temples of the king and now I keep the watch for the king, my
lord.
That Asharîdu is the same as the writer of some thirty astrological
reports who was the son of Dankâ, a _ḳatnu_, and servant of the king, may
be doubted. He is more likely to be the author of several letters who
seems to have been connected with Borsippa. Another letter(930) is from
Nêrgal-sharâni in response to another about some sacrifices, sent by the
queen-mother. He prays for a thousand years of rule for Esarhaddon, so
there can be no mistake about the period. He recounts the preparations
made—an ox, two sheep, and two hundred geese. But he says that Ninḳai, the
handmaid of the queen-mother, for some reason, will not perform the
sacrifice. The queen-mother is asked to send authority for someone to open
the treasury and perform the work. The letter is defective and obscure by
reason of unknown words. Nêrgal-sharâni may be the same Ashur-shum-uṣur
who so often writes to the king about this time. Again Nabû-shum-lîshir
writes to the queen-mother(931) about a woman, Kallati, who was intrusted
to the writer in the house of Shama’, and about some sheep.
(M840) (M841) Another group includes the letters which refer to medical
treatment. Here especially Dr. C. Johnston, himself a medical man, has
made a most valuable start in his Assyrian _Epistolary Correspondence_,
and we can hardly do better than to follow his guidance. As a rule, what
these ancient peoples said and thought of disease is very obscure to us.
Many terms were then, as now, used in the medical vocabulary which were
well known in ordinary language, but which were given a distinctly
different technical meaning. Great attention was paid to surgery and
medicine, as is shown by the clauses in the Code.(932) There are also a
great number of tablets dealing with medicine, some of which have been
published. Long ago Professor Sayce discussed one such text under the
title, “An Ancient Babylonian Work on Medicine,”(933) and from the British
Museum Catalogue fully four hundred and fifty such texts are known. Dr. C.
F. H. Küchler in his _Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Assyrischen Medicin_ has
made great progress toward settling the reading and meaning of certain
words and phrases. Dr. Baron Felix von Oefele, who has devoted much study
to ancient medicine in general, has made noteworthy contributions to the
study, by his articles in learned journals. Still, the (M842) great
obstacle is that so much of the materia medica, which was a very full one,
is unknown; and the diseases appear under names which do not assist us in
determining the meaning. The medical treatises considered affections of
all parts of the body, and made much of symptoms. They prescribe roots and
oils and a great variety of powdered drugs. Some of the treatment is
evidently based on extended trial and observation. But also much reliance
was placed on charms, and diseases were associated with demons. To drive
away the demon, as well as cure the pain, was the doctor’s duty. There was
full recognition of the mental factor in sickness.
(M843) With considerable hesitation the following two letters from the
physician Ardi-Nanâ to the king Esarhaddon are given, in which Dr. C.
Johnston’s rendering is closely followed. In the first, Ardi-Nanâ reports
on the state of a patient, perhaps one of the young princes, who was
suffering from a disease of the eyes, or perhaps facial erysipelas. He was
progressing so well that the physician piously opines that some god has
taken the case under his care. The gods who were special patrons of the
healing art were Ninip and Gula, whose blessing the physician accordingly
invokes. We read:(934)
To the king, my lord, thy servant Ardi-Nanâ. May it be peace in
the highest degree to the king, my lord; may Ninip and Gula give
cheer of heart and health of body to the king, my lord. It is
extremely well with that poor man whose eyes are diseased. I had
applied a dressing to him, it covered his face. Yesterday, at
evening, I undid the bandage which held it, I removed the dressing
which was upon him. There was pus upon the dressing as much as the
tip of the little finger. Thy gods, if any of them has put his
hand to the matter, he has indeed given his order. It is extremely
well. Let the heart of the king, my lord, be cheered. In seven or
eight days he will be well.
There is also another letter(935) from Ardi-Nanâ to the king, but part of
it is too defective to render. It begins in exactly the same way as
before, save that greeting is also sent to the king’s son.
For the cure which we wrought on ... we were given five-sixths of
a shekel. The day he came, he recovered, he recovered his
strength, he stayed until.... Concerning the patient who had blood
run from his nose, the messenger has told me, saying, “Yesterday,
at evening, much blood ran.” Those dressings are not with
knowledge. They have been placed upon the breathing passages of
the nose and oppress the breathing and come off, because of the
bleeding. Let them be placed within the nostrils, they will
preserve the breath and the blood will be held back. If it is
right in the sight of the king, in the morning I will come and
prescribe for him. Now let me hear his well-being.
The messenger here was a _RAB MU-GI_, in which title it has been proposed
to see the original of the Rabmag of Jeremiah xxxix. 3. He was a high
official charged with the care of horses and chariots, and here sent to
hear news of the patient. There is no evidence that he had any medical
knowledge himself. In another letter,(936) Ardi-Nanâ writes concerning
Ashur-mukîn-palêa, a younger son of Esarhaddon and brother of
Ashurbânipal. He bids the king not to fear. The young prince seems to have
been in the doctor’s care. Further he writes about the health of a tooth
(of the prince’s?) about which the king had sent to inquire. He had
greatly improved its condition (literally, uplifted its head). In another
letter,(937) also partly defective, he directs the king to anoint himself
as a protection against draughts (?), to drink pure water, and to wash his
hands frequently in a bowl. Presently the rash (?) will disappear. In
another still more defective letter(938) he mentions the plant _martakal_,
to which magical efficacy was ascribed. Another long letter,(939) after
the same complimentary opening as the others, goes on:
Continually has the king, my lord, said to me, thus, “The nature
of my disease is this, thou hast not seen to it, its recovery thou
hast not effected.” Formerly I said before the king, my lord, “The
ulcer is incurable (?), I cannot prescribe for it.” Now, however,
I have sealed a letter and sent it. In the presence of the king,
let them read it, I will prescribe for the king, my lord. If it be
agreeable to the king, my lord, let a magician do his work on him.
Let the king apply a lotion (?). Shortly the sore will be loosed.
This lotion of oils (?) let the king apply two or three times. The
king will know if the king says ...
The rest is obscure, simply because we do not know what the disease, or
remedy, was.
Shamash-mîtu-uballiṭ, probably the youngest son of Esarhaddon, writes to
the king, but whether to his father or his brother Ashurbânipal does not
seem clear, about the health of a lady, in whose well-being the king
seemed to take interest.(940)
To the king, my lord, thy servant Shamash-mîtu-uballiṭ. Verily
peace be to the king, my lord, may Nabû and Marduk be excessively
gracious to the king, my lord. Verily the king’s handmaid,
Bau-gâmelat is excessively ill, she can eat nothing. Forsooth let
the king, my lord, send an order and let a doctor come and see
her.
(M844) There is also an interesting letter concerning the appointment of a
successor to a dead official,(941) sent by a writer whose name is lost:
To the king, my lord, thy servant, ... verily peace to the king,
my lord. May Ashur and Beltu be gracious to the king, my lord.
Concerning the overseer of the house of the seers, who is dead, as
I said in the presence of the king, my lord, to wit, his son, his
brother’s son, are alive. Now his son, his brother’s son, and
Simânai, the son of Nabû-uballiṭ, and the son of the father’s
brother, of Ashur-nâ’id, the deputy priest, with them, shall come
into the presence of the king, my lord. Whoever shall find favor
in the sight of the king, my lord, let the king, my lord, appoint.
It is clear that succession was not purely hereditary. Even when the son
was alive, he might be passed over in favor of a cousin, or for a still
more distant relation. There are many other interesting cases where the
king inquires for the proper persons to be placed in the offices vacated
through death or deposition. For example, when Esarhaddon began to set in
order the temple services, he heard the following report:(942)
To the king, my lord, thy servant Akkullânu. Peace be to the king,
my lord. Nabû and Marduk be gracious to the king, my lord. In the
long desuetude of the customary rights of Ashur, regarding which
the king, my lord, sent word to his servant, saying, “Who among
the magnates have not complied, have not given, be it much or
little (their default),” yesterday I could not write to the king,
my lord. Now these are the magnates who have not given their dues:
the governors of Barḫalza, Raṣappa, Kalzi, Isana, Bêlê, Kullania,
Arpadda; these have failed to pay their dues. Raṣappa, Barḫalza,
Diḳuḳina, the chief of the vineyards, Daian-Adadi, Isana,
Ḫalziatbar, Birtu, Arzuḫina, Arbailu, Guzana, Sharish, Diḫnunna,
Rimusu, all these have not given the barley and wheat due from
them. And as to the overseer of the bakehouse, the overseer of the
larder and the chief purveyors, concerning whom the king, my lord,
inquired, they are removed from their posts, and this is alleged
as the reason: The overseer of the bakehouse is a child,
Sennacherib removed him; Ashur-zêr-iddin, the priest of Nineveh,
slandered him. I was frightened at the troubles. He had not
committed any great crime.... The overseer of the larder had
broken (?) a dish of Ashur’s, for this deed thy father removed him
from charge of Ashur’s dish, and appointed a turban-maker’s son;
he is without education. And concerning the chief purveyors,
Sennacherib made a reduction of their allowances, and the son of
the turban-maker receives the rest. Now for six years he has been
dead and his son indeed stands in his office. Justice has been in
abeyance since Sargon. Sennacherib was the remover. This is
according to their reasons. The king, my lord, as he will, let him
do.
The text is difficult, partly because some signs are defaced, partly
because some words could be read more ways than one, and others are
obscure. It seems quite clear that the cult of Ashur had greatly suffered.
We know from the Ḥarrân census that certain lands were charged with dues
to the temples, others with salaries to officials. The list of defaulters
is of geographical value. The deposition of rightful temple officers and
the intrusion of unworthy substitutes, on slight grounds, is charged to
Sennacherib. He was evidently estranged from the cult of Ashur. Doubtless
a comparison of other letters will clear up some of the obscurities, but
sufficient is clear to indicate the importance of such documents.
(M845) It is of interest to note that we have a few letters sent by women.
We may select the following:(943)
To the scribe of the palace, my lord, thy handmaid Sarai. Bêl,
Bêltu (of Nineveh?), Bêltu of Babylon, Nabû, Tashmetum, Ishtar of
Nineveh, Ishtar of Arbela, be gracious to my lord. Long days,
health of mind, health of body, may they give to my lord. The
servants of my lord, whom the governor of Bît Naialani took, seven
souls in all, he gave to Marduk-erba. Now the people are here,
they have come to me and say thus: “Say to the scribe of the
palace, Do not cause them to enter into the house of Marduk-erba.”
The _šâḳu_ has sealed for them, now he is with them.
Evidently the lady Sarai had great influence with the scribe of the
palace; perhaps she was his wife. The reason why the governor took certain
servants of his and gave them to Marduk-erba is not clear. Perhaps they
were sold for some government claim. It seems that the lady wished to keep
them back, but that the purchaser had called and was about to take them
away, unless the scribe in some way intervened.
(M846) A few quite private letters found their way into the archives of
Nineveh, unless indeed this is a mere freak of the discoverers. Thus:(944)
Note from Marduk to Kurigalzu, his brother: Bêl and Nabû seek the
peace of my brother. Wherefore have I not seen thy messenger?
Until he enter Borsippa, when I see thy messenger, my heart shall
drink the wine of joy. Let my brother send so many pots.
Here is another from Borsippa:(945)
Note from Bêl-upaḳ to Kunâ, his father: Peace be to my father.
Daily I pray to Nabû and Nanâ for my father’s health of life and I
have fulfilled the duty to Ezida (the temple of Nabû at Borsippa)
for thy sake. When I inquired of Mâr-bîti (a divine name) for thy
sake, a fixed time of peace was taken up to the fourth day. Thy
workman is informed concerning everything whatever is safe
according to his (the god’s) word.
(M847) As before remarked, many letters are notices of the movements of
horses. These are really obscure in that we do not know what the real
purpose of the reports was. They are very similar to many reports which
lack the form of address that marks a letter. Many of the terms applied to
the horses are also obscure and there is no way to translate them. In
other cases we have reports to the king or his officials on various
every-day subjects. A list of slaves assigned to one or more men, a list
of guests, men of high rank, sent to stay with certain officials, lists of
furniture and effects, including books, sent to Ḥarrân with one of the
princes, all serve to throw light upon the daily life at the court of
Nineveh. Incidentally we have many hints for history as well as life and
manners. But such lists and reports do not lend themselves to translation.
(M848) A group of texts, very similar to the letters, only with an
especial character of their own, are the inquiries addressed by Esarhaddon
and Ashurbânipal to the oracle of the sun-god. Their great interest lies
in the fact that they usually state the events which cause the king’s
anxiety and so make important contributions to history. But the larger
part of them consist of a detailed statement of what omens have been
observed by the augurs on examining the entrails of the sacrifices. On
these it is probable that the sun-god was to base his opinion. He would
know and declare what they portended.
(M849) Occasionally a letter serves to make a contribution to some subject
which is of interest apart from the events of the day. Thus, information
is furnished regarding metrology in a letter primarily concerned with
materials for the repair of a temple or palace.(946) There we read of “six
articles of _mismakanna_ wood, six _ḲA_ apiece, one cubit long and one
cubit thick.” The thickness is clearly a cubit each way, and we learn that
a cubit cube contained six _ḲA_. There are many letters and fragments
which concern beams of wood and stones sent from great distances for
buildings and repairs. When these are all published and considered
together, no doubt they will clear up the difficulties which at present
render translation impossible.