A very large number of letters have been preserved to us from all
periods of Babylonian and Assyrian history. Many of them are addressed
to private correspondents, and concern matters of everyday life. They
are often most obscure, as they assume so much knowledge on the part of
the recipient which is withheld from us. Where we can grasp their
reference they furnish considerable light upon social conditions.
A large number, however, are royal letters or dispatches from the king
and his officers to subordinates, or _vice versa_. These more often
concern public affairs.
As yet few letters have come down to us which we can date before the
First Dynasty of Babylon, but some will be found in the _Inventaire des
tablettes de Tello_ (see p. 80), and among the various publications of
Temple accounts and contracts, as early as the times of Sargon of Akkad.
In the _Beiträge zur Assyriologie_, vol. ii, pp. 557-64, 572-9, MEISSNER
published _Altbabylonische Briefe_ (1893), with discussions.
In the times of Hammurabi, or the First Dynasty of Babylon, our sources
for epistolary correspondence become very ample. L. W. KING in his
magnificent work, _The Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, King of
Babylon, about B. C. 2200; to which is added a series of letters of
other Kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon_ (vol. i, _Introduction and
Babylonian Texts_; vol. ii, _Babylonian Texts_, continued; vol. iii,
_English Translation, Commentary, Vocabularies, Introduction, etc._,
London, Luzac & Co., 1898), gave a complete edition of these letters.
The materials for history and social life were epoch-making. In the
_Beiträge zur Assyriologie_ G. NAGEL translated a number of these texts,
_Briefe Hammurabi’s an Sin-iddinam_, vol. iv, pp. 434-83, to which FR.
DELITZSCH added _Zusatzbemerkungen_, pp. 483-500. He, with J. A.
KNUDTZON, wrote on the same subject, vol. iv, pp. 88-100. M. W.
MONTGOMERY took _Briefe aus der Zeit des babylonischen Königs Hammurabi_
as subject for her doctor’s dissertation (Leipzig, Pries, 1901). A.
KLOSTERMANN published _Ein diplomatischer Briefwechsel aus dem 2.
Jahrtausend v. Chr._ (Leipzig, Deichert, 1903). C. V. GELDEREN
contributed _Ausgewählte babylonisch-assyrische Briefe_ to the _Beiträge
zur Assyriologie_, iv, 1902, pp. 501-45. Another great collection was
published by THUREAU-DANGIN in _Lettres et contrats de l’époque de la
première dynastie babylonienne_ (Paris, P. Geuthner, 1910). The author
transliterated, translated, and commented upon three of these texts as
_Lettres de l’époque de la première dynastie babylonienne_ in _The
Hilprecht Anniversary Volume_, pp. 156-63.
_Les Lettres de Hammurapi à Sin-idinnam, transcription, traduction et
commentaire, précédées d’une étude sur deux caractères du style
assyro-babylonien_, by F. C. JEAN (Paris, J. Gabalda, 1913), gives an
idea of the subject.
P. S. LANDERSDORFER, in 1908, had edited _Altbabylonische Privatbriefe,
transkribiert, übersetzt und kommentiert, nebst einer Einleitung und 4
Registern_ (Paderborn, Schöningh), and G. A. BARTON gave an article _On
an old Babylonian Letter addressed to Lushtamar_ in the _Journal of the
American Oriental Society_, pp. 220-22.
A. SCHOLLMEYER wrote on _Altbabylonische Privatbriefe_ in _Babyloniaca_,
vi, pp. 57-64, 1912, and in 1911 published _Neuveröffentlichte
altbabylonische Briefe und ihre Bedeutung für die Kultur des Orients:
Sechs Vorträge vor der Hildesheimer Generalversammlung_ (Köln, P.
Bachem).
E. EBELING contributed to the _Revue d’Assyriologie_, 1913, pp. 15 ff.,
105-56, articles on _Altbabylonische Briefe_. _The First Letter of
Rîm-Sin, King of Larsa_, was published by ST. LANGDON in the
_Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology_, 1911, pp. 221-2.
The period of the Third or Kassite Dynasty has not yet yielded much.
H. RADAU made as much as possible out of a number of fragments found at
Nippur in vol. xvii, 1 of Series A of _The Publications of the
Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania_ called _Letters
to Cassite Kings from the Temple Archives of Nippur_ (1908).
Very little more is known of Epistolary Literature till we reach the
Sargonide Dynasty in Assyria. With the Library of Ashurbanipal at
Nineveh were found a large number of letters and dispatches, alike
royal, public and private, Assyrian and Neo-babylonian, which early
attracted notice. S. A. SMITH published a number from the collections in
the British Museum in his _Assyrian Letters from the Royal Library at
Nineveh, transcribed, translated, and explained_ (Leipzig, Pfeiffer,
1887-1888), and in _Miscellaneous Assyrian Texts of the British Museum
with Textual Notes_ (Leipzig, Pfeiffer, 1887), besides a series of
articles in the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology_ for
1887-1888 called _Assyrian Letters_.
The present writer dealt with _Sennacherib’s Letters to his Father
Sargon_, in the _Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology_,
1895, pp. 220-39. FR. DELITZSCH in the _Beiträge zur Assyriologie_, vol.
i, pp. 185-248, 613-31, and vol. ii, pp. 19-62, under the title _Zur
assyrisch-babylonischen Briefliteratur_, laid deep the foundations of
the study of letters, editing many fresh texts (1890-1894). H. WINCKLER
published a large number of letters in his _Sammlung von
Keilschrifttexten_ (Leipzig, Pfeiffer, 1894). T. G. PINCHES published
_Zwei assyrische Briefe_ (Leipzig, Pfeiffer, 1887).
R. F. HARPER has continued to edit the _Assyrian and Babylonian Letters
belonging to the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum_, vol. i,
1892; vol. ii, 1893; vol. iii, 1896; vol. iv, 1896; vol. v, 1900; vol.
vi, 1902; vol. vii, 1902; vol. viii, 1902; vol. ix, 1909; vol. x, 1911;
vol. xi, 1911; vol. xii, 1913; vol. xiii, 1913 (Chicago University
Press; Luzac & Co., London), which will contain all the British Museum
collections from Nineveh. These copies have been made with the greatest
care, and constitute the chief source of this material up to the present
time. Numerous works have been built upon them as foundation.
CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTON wrote on _The Epistolary Literature of the
Assyrians and Babylonians_ (Baltimore, 1898), reprinted from _Journal of
the American Oriental Society_. E. BEHRENS published in 1906 his
_Assyrisch-babylonische Briefe kultischen Inhalts aus der
Sargonidenzeit_ (Leipzig, Pries, 1905). LEHMANN-HAUPT gave _Zwei
unveröffentlichte Keilschrifttexte_ in _Hilprecht Anniversary Volume_
(1909), pp. 256-8.
In 1910 came M. ZEITLIN’S _Le style administratif chez les Assyriens;
choix de lettres assyriennes et babyloniennes, transcrites, traduites et
accompagnées de notes_ (Paris, Geuthner). In the _Zeitschrift für
Assyriologie_ C. BEZOLD gave _Zwei assyrische Berichte_ (vol. xxvi,
1912, p. 114-25).
In 1911, E. G. KLAUBER wrote _Zur babylonisch-assyrischen
Briefliteratur_ in _Babyloniaca_, iv, pp. 180-86; and in 1912 _Zur
Politik und Kultur der Sargonidenzeit: Untersuchungen auf Grand der
Brieftexte_ in the January and July numbers of vol. xxviii of the
_American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures_. In the January
number of this volume also appeared L. WATERMAN’S _Textual Notes on the
Letters of the Sargon Period_. A most valuable contribution to an
obscure period of Ashurbanipal’s reign was made by H. H. FIGULLA, _Der
Briefwechsel Bêlibni’s: Historische Urkunden aus der Zeit Asurbanipals_,
in _Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft_ (Leipzig, Hinrichs,
1912). E. G. KLAUBER, in 1910, published _Assyrisches Beamtentum nach
Briefen aus der Sargonidenzeit_ (Leipzig, Hinrichs), and in _Der alte
Orient_, xii, Heft 2, _Keilschriftbriefe: Staat und Gesellschaft in der
babylonisch-assyrischen Briefliteratur_ (Leipzig, Hinrichs, 1911). V.
SCHEIL under the title _Diplomatica_ dealt with similar texts in the
_Hilprecht Anniversary Volume_, pp. 873 ff.
Letters of the Neo-Babylonian period are numerous but not much
published. R. C. THOMPSON published _Late Babylonian Letters_ (London,
Luzac & Co., 1906) with translations, &c. FR. MARTIN gave _Lettres
néo-babyloniennes_ (Paris, Champion, 1909), and _Trois lettres
néo-babyloniennes_ in the _Hilprecht Anniversary Volume_, 1909. In the
_Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology_, 1911, pp. 157-8,
T. G. PINCHES published _Two late Babylonian Letters_.