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ASSYRIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
A SOURCE STUDY
THE
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
STUDIES
SOCIAL SCIENCE SERIES
VOLUME III NUMBER 1
ASSYRIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
A Source Study
By
ALBERT TEN EYCK OLMSTEAD
Associate Professor of Ancient History
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Assyrian Historians and their Histories
CHAPTER II
The Beginnings of True History
(Tiglath Pileser I)
CHAPTER III
The Development of Historical Writing
(Ashur nasir apal and Shalmaneser III)
CHAPTER IV
Shamshi Adad and the Synchronistic History
CHAPTER V
Sargon and the Modern Historical Criticism
CHAPTER VI
Annals and Display Inscriptions
(Sennacherib and Esarhaddon)
CHAPTER VII
Ashur bani apal and Assyrian Editing
CHAPTER VIII
The Babylonian Chronicle and Berossus
CHAPTER I
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.