ANNALS AND DISPLAY INSCRIPTIONS
(Sennacherib and Esarhaddon)
Of the sources for the reign of Sennacherib (705-686), [Footnote: The
only fairly complete collection of sources for the reign is still
Smith-Sayce, _History of Sennacherib_, 1878, though nearly all
the data needed for a study of the Annals are given by Bezold,
KB. II. 80 ff. Extracts, Rogers, 340 ff. Cf. also Olmstead, _Western
Asia in the reign of Sennacherib, Proceedings of Amer. Historical
Assn._, 1909, 94 ff.] the chief is the Annals, added to at
intervals of a few years, and so existing in several editions. As
usual, the latest of these, the Taylor inscription, has been accorded
the place of honor, so that the earliest edition, the so called
Bellino Cylinder, can be called by a well known historian "a sort of
duplicate of" the Taylor inscription. [Footnote: Maspero,
_Histoire_, III. 273 _n. 1._] As we have seen repeatedly,
the exact reverse should be our procedure, though here, as in the case
of Ashur nasir apal, the evil results in the writing of history are
less serious than in the case of most reigns. This is due to the
unusual circumstances that, with comparatively few exceptions, there
was little omission or addition of the earlier data. Regularly, the
new edition simply added to the old, and, as a result, the form of the
mass of clay on which these Annals were written changes with the
increased length of the document, the earlier being true cylinders,
while the latter are prisms. [Footnote: King, _Cuneiform Texts_,
XXVI. 7 f.] At the same time that the narrative of military events was
lengthened, the account of the building operations followed suit. A
serious defect is the fact that these documents are dated, not by
years, but by campaigns, with the result that there are serious
questions in chronology. The increase in the number of our editions,
however, has solved many of these, as the date of the campaign can now
usually be fixed by observing in which dated document it last occurs.
Of the more than twenty five more or less complete documents, the
first is the so called Bellino Cylinder which dates from October,
702. The fact that it has been studied separately has tended to
prevent the realization that it is actually only a recension. As a
first edition, it is a trifle fuller, but surprisingly
little. [Footnote: K. 1680. Grotefend, _Abh. Göttingen,
Gesell_. 1850. L. 63 f. Smith-Sayce, 1 f., 24 ff., cf. 43
ff. Oppert, _Exped._ I. 297 ff.; Menant, 225 ff.; Talbot,
JRAS. XVIII. 76 ff.; _Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit._ VIII, 369 ff.; RP¹,
I. 23 ff. It is the Bl. of Bezold.] Next comes Cylinder B, now
represented by six complete and seven fragmentary cylinders. It
includes campaign three and is dated in May, 700. [Footnote:
Smith-Sayce, 30, 70 f., cf. 24, 43, 53; Evetts, ZA. III. 311 ff.; for
list of tablets, cf. Bezold, _l. c._] Cylinder C dates from 697
and contains the fourth expedition. [Footnote: K. 1674; Smith-Sayce,
14, 76, cf. 30, 43, 53, 73, 78. The A 2 of Bezold.] The mutilated date
of Cylinder D may be either 697 or 695, but as it has one campaign
more than Cylinder C of 697, we should probably date it to the latter
year. [Footnote: BM. 22,508; K. 1675; Smith-Sayce, 24, 30, 43, 53, 73,
79; King, _Cuneiform Texts_, XXVI. 38, cf. p. 10, n. 2. The A 8
of Bezold.] From this recension seems to have been derived the
display inscription recently discovered on Mt. Nipur, which was
inscribed at the end of campaign five. [Footnote: Inscription at
Hasanah (Hassan Agha?) King, PSBA. XXXV. 66 ff.]
Somewhat different from these is the newest Sennacherib inscription,
[Footnote: BM. 103,000; King, _Cuneiform Texts, XXVI_;
cf. Pinches, JRAS. 1910, 387 ff.] which marks the transition from the
shorter to the longer cylinders. [Footnote: King, _op. cit._, 9.]
After the narrative of the fifth campaign, two others are given, and
dated, not by the number of campaign as in the documents of the
regular series, but by the eponyms, so that here we have actual
chronology. The two campaigns took place in 698 and 695 respectively,
the inscription itself being dated in 694. That they are not dated by
the campaigns of the king and that they are not given in the later
editions is perhaps due to the fact that the king did not conduct them
in person. [Footnote: King, _op. cit._, p. 10.] The occasion for
this new edition is not to be found, however, in these petty frontier
wars, but in the completion of the new palace, in the increase in the
size of the city of Nineveh, in the building of a park, and in the
installation of a water supply, as these take up nearly a half of the
inscription. The recovery of this document has also enabled us to
place in the same group two other fragments, now recognized as
duplicates. [Footnote: BM. 102, 996, King, _Cuneiform Texts_,
XXVI. 38; cf. p. 15, n. 1; K. 4492, ibid. 39, not a reference to
Tarbisi, as Meiasner-Rost, _Bauinschriften_, 94f; as is shown by
King, p. 18 n. 1.]
At about the same time must be placed the various inscriptions on the
bulls which were intended to decorate this new palace. One contains
only five expeditions, [Footnote: Bull 2, Smith-Sayce, 3, 24, 30 f.,
43, 51 f., 53, 67 f., 73, 78 f.,86. L. 60 ff. (Bull 1 occurs only
Smith-Sayce, 3.)] the other has a brief sketch of the sixth,
[Footnote: Bull 3, Smith-Sayce, _l. c._, and also 88 f.] but both
have references to the enthronement of the crown prince Ashur nadin
shum in Babylon. [Footnote: Smith-Sayce, 30 f.] Still another gives a
very full account of the sixth expedition, but there is no mention of
Ashur nadin shum. [Footnote: Bull 4, Smith-Sayce, 3 f., 24, 32 ff.,
43, 51, 53, 65 ff.; 73, 77 ff., 89 ff.; A. Paterson, _Palace of
Sinacherib_, 5 f.; III R. 12 f.; L. 38 ff.] This dates very closely
the inscriptions of the period. The new inscription was written in
August of 694. At this time as well as when the inscription was placed
on Bull II, the news of the sixth expedition, that across the Persian
Gulf to Nagitu, had not yet come in. When this arrived, a brief
account was hastily compiled and added to Bull III. But before a
fuller narrative could be prepared, news came of the capture of Ashur
nadin shum, which took place, as we know, soon after the Nagitu
expedition, seemingly in the beginning of November. [Footnote:
Bab. Chron. II. 36 ff.; for _kat Tashriti_ in line 40,
cf. Delitzsch, _Chronik, ad loc_.] The inscription on Bull IV
accordingly had an elaborate narrative of the Nagitu expedition, but
all mention of the captured prince was cut out.
The last in the series of Annals editions is the Taylor Prism of 690,
generally taken as the standard inscription of the reign, and
substantially the same text is found on seven other prisms.
[Footnote: BM. 91,032, often given in photograph, especially in the
"_Bible Helps_." A good photograph, Rogers, 543;
_Hist_. op. 353. I R. 37 ff. Smith-Sayce, _passim_;
Delitzsch, _Lesestücke_, 54 ff.; Abel-Winckler, 17 ff. Hörnung,
_Das Sechsseitige Prisma des Sanherib_, 1878; Bezold, KB. II. 80
ff., with numbers of the duplicates; Oppert, _Les Ins. Assyr. des
Sargonides_, 41ff.; Menant, 214 ff.; Talbot, RP¹, I. 33 ff.;
Rogers, RP², VI. 80 ff.; Harper, 68 ff. Here also seem to belong the
fragments 79-7-8, 305; K. 1665; 1651; S. 1026, as their text inclines
toward that of the Taylor Prism.] As has already been made evident,
this is of no value for the earlier parts of the reign, since for that
we have much better data, but it ranks well up in its class as
comparatively little has been omitted or changed. Slightly earlier
than the Taylor Cylinder is the Memorial or Nebi Yunus inscription,
now at Constantinople, which ends about where the other does. Here and
there, it has the same language as the Annals group, but these
coincidences are so rare that we must assume that they are due only to
the use of well known formulae. In general, it is an abridgement of
earlier records, though a few new facts are found. But for the second
half of the sixth expedition, the revolt of Babylon, it is our best
source. Not only is it fuller than the Taylor prism, it gives a quite
different account in which it is not the king but his generals who are
the victors. Yet curiously enough, in the seventh expedition the
Taylor cylinder is fuller and better. [Footnote: I R. 43; A. Paterson,
_Palace of Sinacherib_, 3; Smith-Sayce, 7 f., 39 f., 68 f., 86
f., 102 ff., lllff., 127 ff.; Bezold, KB. II. 118 f.; cf. King,
_Cuneiform Texts_, XXVI. p. 10 n. 1. Seen at Constantinople in
1907-1908.]
Here too we may discuss the Bavian inscription, the display
inscriptions cut in the rock where began the irrigation works
constructed to carry water to the capital. In their historical
portions, they parallel the last campaign of the Taylor Prism, though
in such different fashion that they may be considered separate
sources. They then add the final capture and destruction of Babylon,
of which they are the only Assyrian authority. [Footnote: III R. 14;
Pognon,_L'inscription de Bavian_, 1879; Smith-Sayce, 129 ff. 157;
King, _Tukulti Ninib_, 114 ff. Menant,_Nineve et l'Assyrie_,
234 ff.; Pinches, RP¹, IX. 21ff.; Bezold, KB. II. 116 ff. The order of
date is B, C, A, D, Meissner-Rost, _Bauinschriften_, 67. Squeezes
were secured by the Cornell Expedition.] Here too may be mentioned the
two fragments from the later part of the reign, on which is based a
later expedition of Sennacherib against Palestine, [Footnote:
Smíth-Sayce, 137 f.; the later fragment, Scheil, OLZ. VII. 69f;
Ungnad, _Vorderas. Denkmäler_, I. 73 ff.; in Gressmann, I. 121;
Rogers, 345 f.] as well as a tablet which seems to be a draft of an
inscription to be set up in Kirbit in commemoration of the flight of
Merodach Baladan. [Footnote: III R. 4, 4; Strong, JRAS. XXIII. 148
ff.]
To complete our study of the sources for the reign, the more
specifically building inscriptions may be noted. [Footnote:
Meissner-Rost, _Bauinschriften Sanheribs_, 1893.] The greater
part of what we know concerning the building operations of the reign
comes from the documents already discussed. Of the specifically
building inscriptions, perhaps the most important is the New Year's
House inscription from Ashur, [Footnote: MDOG. 33, 14.] and the
excavations there have also given a good number of display
inscriptions on slabs [Footnote: KTA. 43 ff., 73 f.; MDOG. 21, 13 ff.;
22, 17 ff.; 26, 27 ff. 43, 31; 44, 29.] and on bricks, [Footnote:
I. R. 7, VIII. H; Bezold, KB. 114f; KTA. 46-49; 72; MDOG. 20, 24; 21,
12 ff. 22, 15; 25, 36 f.] as well as some building prisms. [Footnote:
MDOG. 21, 37; 25, 22f; 47, 39.]
Esarhaddon (686-668), [Footnote: Inscriptions of the reign collected
by Budge,_History of Esarhaddon_, 1880.] like the others of his
dynasty, prepared elaborate Annals. [Footnote: First reference,
G. Smith, TSBA. III. 457. Boscawen, _ibid_. IV. 84 ff.; III
R. 35, 4; Budge, 114 ff.; Rogers, _Haverford Studies_,
II. Winckler, _Untersuch z. altor. Gesch._, 97f; Winckler,
_Textbuch_, 52 ff.; Ungnad, I. 123; Rogers, 357 ff. Cf. also
G. Smith, _Disc_. 311ff.; Delattre, _L'Asie_, 149; Olmstead,
_Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc_., XLIV. 1912, 434.] It is a poetic
justice rarely found in history that the man who so ruthlessly
destroyed the Annals of Tiglath Pileser IV is today known to us by
still smaller fragments of his own. Aside from five mutilated lines
from the ninth expedition, only a part of the first expedition against
Egypt has survived and that in a very incomplete manner. We are
accordingly dependent for our knowledge of the reign on the display
inscriptions, with all their possibilities for error, and only the
Babylonian Chronicle gives a little help toward fixing the relative
order of events.
The greater part of the history of the reign must be secured from the
three most important cylinders. A and C are complete and are
practically identical. [Footnote: 48-10-31, 2; L. 20 ff.; I R. 45 ff.;
Abel-Winckler, 22 ff.; Budge, 32 ff.; Harper, _Hebraica_,
III. 177 ff. IV. 99 ff. Abel, KB. II. 124 ff.; Oppert, _Ins. des
Sargonides_, 53 ff.; Talbot, _Jour. Sacr. Lit_., IX. 68 ff.
_Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit_., VII. 551 ff.; RP¹, III 109 ff.; Menant,
241ff; Harper, 81ff. C was used by R. for restoring A. Text, Harper,
_Hebraica_, IV. 18 ff., with the parallels 80-7-19, 15, and
K. 1679. Also King, _Supplement_, 108 f.] B is broken and was
originally considerably fuller, but seems to be from the same general
series. [Footnote: 48-11-4, 315; III R. 15 f.; Budge, 20 ff.; 97 ff.;
Harper, _Hebraica_, III. 177 ff.; IV. 146 ff.; Abel-Winckler, 25
f. Winckler, KB, II. 140 ff. Harper, 80 f.; Menant, 248 ff.; Talbot,
RP¹, III. 102 ff.; _North Brit. Rev_., 1870, quoted Harper,
_Hebr. l. c_.] The date of all three is probably 673. [Footnote:
C is dated in the month Abu, cf. Harper, _Hebr_, IV. 24; B,
according to Budge, _ad loc_., has Abu of the year 673, but
Winckler, _l. c_., omits the month. If the month is to be
retained, the identity of month points to identity of year, and there
is nothing in B to prevent this conjecture. A is from Nebi Yunus, B
from Koyunjik.] In comparing the texts of A-C and B, we note that in
the first part, there seem to be no important differences, save that B
adds an account of the accession. In the broken part before this, B
must have given the introduction and the murder of
Sennacherib. Computation of the minimum in each column of B, based on
the amount actually preserved in A and C, will give us some idea of
what has been lost. Column II of B must have been devoted in part to
the final defeat of the rebels and in part to the introduction to the
long narrative concerning Nabu zer lishir. As at least four lines were
devoted to this introduction in the usually much shorter D, it must
have been fairly long in B. Why A omitted all this is a question. That
these two events are the first in the reign is made clear by the
Babylonian Chronicle, so that thus far the chronological order has
been followed. The next event in B and the first in A is the story of
the Sidon troubles, and again the Chronicle shows it to be in
chronological order. Since A has no less than 49 lines to deal with
the events in the lost beginning of column III, it is clear that the
much fuller B has here lost much. In the gap in Column IV, we are to
place the Aduma narrative and the traces where we can begin to read
show that they are in the conclusion of the Median
troubles. [Footnote: _Shepashun_ of B. is the _elishun ukin_
is virtually the same as _ukin sirushun_.] For the lost part of
the fifth column, we must count the Iadi and Gambulu expeditions, and
a part of the building narrative. About the same building account as
in A must be placed at the commencement of column VI. The irregularity
in the minimum numbers for the different columns, on the basis of A,
shows that B had in some cases much longer accounts than in others,
and this is confirmed where B gives a complete list of Arabian and of
Syrian kings while A does not. These minimum numbers also indicate
that but about one-fourth of B has been preserved. However, the
overlapping gives us some reason to hope that nearly all its facts
have been preserved in the one or the other edition.
We have already seen that strict chronology is followed by B, strange
to relate, in the order, punishment of the assassins, 681, Babylon,
680, and Sidon, 677. Then A gives the Kundu troubles which, according
to the Chronicle, follow in 676, and Arzani and the brook of Egypt,
which fit well enough with the Egyptian expedition given under
675. These are the only sections we can date chronologically, and the
order is chronologically correct. But whether we can assume this for
all the events mentioned may be doubted in the light of the
disagreement between A and B in their order. In placing the Arabs
before Bazu, or the Babylonian Nabu zer lishir before Bit Dakkuri, A
is clearly attempting a more geographical order. We shall then use B
as our main source whenever preserved, supplemented by A when the
former is missing, but we must not forget that all are simply display
inscriptions.
Another display inscription of the same type we shall call D. It is
close to B as is shown in the story of Nabu zer lishir, is seemingly
briefer than that document, but is certainly fuller than A, and is
independent of both. The order of events is Babylon, Egypt,
Hubushna. As D omits Sidon and the Cilician cities, found in one of
the others and proved to the period by the Babylonian Chronicle, it is
clear that we have here only extracts, even though the events narrated
are given more fully than in A. [Footnote: K. 2671; Winckler,
ZA. II. 299 ff.; AOF. I. 522.] Still another document of similar
character may be called E. As it mentions the Uabu rebellion which is
not in A, it should date after 673, and its order, Chaldaeans,
Gambulu, Egypt, Arabs, Sidon, Asia Minor, is not chronological but
geographical. It has some striking variants in the proper names, for
example, we have here Musur, universally recognized as meaning Egypt,
where A has Musri, and thus we have exact proof that Musri does equal
Egypt, the advocates of the Musri theory, if any still survive, to the
contrary notwithstanding. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead, _Sargon_, 56
ff.] It is also longer than A in the River of Egypt section, and than
B in the Elam account. As a late document, it is of value only for the
Uabu affair. [Footnote: Winckler, ZA. II pl. II; AOF. I. 526 ff.] We
may also note here another prism fragment [Footnote: 80-7-19, 15;
Winckler, _Untersuch. z. altor. Gesch._, 98. Cf. King,
_Supplement_, 109.] and a slab with a brief account of many
campaigns. The first, that against Bazu, we know dates to 676. The
others, to Uruk, to Buesh king of an unknown land, Akku, and the king
of Elam, are of doubtful date, but are almost certainly
later. [Footnote: K. 8544; Winckler, AOF. I. 532.--I have been unable
to see Scheil, _Le Prisme S d'Assarhaddon._]
Finally, we must discuss two display inscriptions from the very end of
the reign, whose importance is in no small degree due to the locality
in which they were found. One is the famous stele discovered amid the
ruins of the North Syrian town of Sinjirli. It dates after the capture
of Memphis, 671, and seems to have been composed on the spot, as it
shows no relationship to other inscriptions. [Footnote: Photograph and
text, Schrader, in Luschan, _Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli_, I. 11
ff., and pl. cf. Rogers, 551; _Hist_, op. 399; Paterson,
_Sculptures_, 103. Harper, 90 ff. I have been able to consult
squeezes in the library of Cornell University.] The same is probably
true of the equally famous rock cut inscription at the Dog River (Nahr
el Kelb), north of Berut. Though the oldest Assyrian inscription to
have a cast taken, it seems never to have been published. It is
rapidly disappearing, as the fact that it was cut through a very thin
layer of hard rock has caused much flaking. Esarhaddon is called King
of Babylon and King of Musur and Kusi, Egypt and Ethiopia, and the
expedition against Tarqu, which ended with the capture and sack of
Memphis, is given. Thus it agrees with the Sinjirli inscription and
may well date from the same year. [Footnote: Translation, G. Smith,
_Eponym Canon_, 167 ff. The text, so far as I know, has never
been published, even in connection with the elaborate study of the
Nahr el Kelb sculptures by Boscawen, TSBA. VII. 345. I have been able
to use the squeeze taken in 1904 in connection with Messrs. Charles
and Wrench, but much less can now be seen than what Smith evidently
found on the cast. Cast, Bonomi, _Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit._,
III. 105; _Nineveh and its Palaces_, 5 f. 86. 142 ff., 367.]
We have a considerable number of building inscriptions, but there are
few source problems in connection with them. [Footnote: Collected in
Meissner-Rost, _Beitr. z. Assyr_., III. 189 ff. Thureau-Dangin,
_Rev. Assyr_. XI, 96 ff.] Perhaps the most important is the prism
which tells so much in regard to the earliest days of
Assyria. [Footnote: KTA. 51; MDOG. 25, 33.] Another important document
is the Black Stone, a four sided prism with archaistic writing. It was
found at Nineveh, though it deals with the rebuilding of Babylon, and
seems to date from the first year. [Footnote: I R. 49; Winckler,
KB. II. 120 ff.; Meissner-Rost, 218 ff. Oppert, _Exped._, I. 180
f.; Menant, 248; _Babylone et Chaldée_, 167 f.; Harper, 88
f. King, _Supplement_, 38, dates from Aru of accession year.] Two
others date after 675 as the one on a stone slab from the south west
palace at Kalhu states that he took captive the king of Meluh,
[Footnote: L. 19a. Winckler, KB. II. 150 f. Oppert, _Exped._,
I. 324; Menant, 240.] and the other stone tablet gives him Egyptian
titles, [Footnote: I R. 48, 5; Winckler, KB. II. 150 f.;
Meissner-Rost, 204 ff.; Menant, 249.] so that they must be placed
after the capture of that country. We may also mention in conclusion
the one which gives the restoration of the Ishtar temple at Uruk
[Footnote: 81-6-7, 209: Winckler, KB, II. 120 n. 1; Barton,
_Proc. Amer. Or. Soc._, 1891, cxxx.] and the various ones found
at Ashur by the German excavators. [Footnote: KTA. 51-55; 75;
MDOG. 20, 26 ff.; 22, 12 f.; 25, 33, 65; 26, 20 f.; 26, 41ff.; 28, 13,
49, 10 f. Weissbach, in Koldewey, _Die Tempel von Babylon_, 71.]