Ancient Iraq

by Georges Roux

  11. SETON LLOYD, Early Anatolia, Harmondsworth, 1956, pp. 177 – 82. Good summary in the articles by I. J. GELB and M. J. MELLINK in Bi.Or., VII (1950), pp. 129 – 50.

  12. J. D. HAWKINS, ‘Assyrians and Hittites’, Iraq, XXXVI (1974), pp. 67 – 83.

  13. On the Aramaeans in general, cf. S. SCHIFFER, Die Aramaer, Leipzig, 1911; E. G. KRAELING, Aram and Israel, New York, 1918; R. T. O'CALLAGHAN, Aram Naharaim, Rome, 1948, pp. 93 – 130; A. DUPONT-SOMMER, Les Aramëens, Paris, 1949; A. MALAMAT ‘The Aramaeans’, in D. J. WISEMAN (ed.), Peoples of Old Testament Times, London, 1973, pp. 134 – 55.

  14. Deuteronomy xxvi. 5.

  15. ARAB, I, § 166.

  16. S. MOSCATI, ‘The Aramaean Ahlamû’, JSS, IV (1959), pp. 303 – 7.

  17. M. FREIHERR VON OPPENHEIM, Der Tell Halaf, Leipzig, 1931, pp. 71 – 198, and Tell Halaf II, Die Bauwerke, Berlin, 1950; A. MOORTGAT Tell Halaf, III, Die Bildwerke, Berlin, 1955; B. HROUDA, Tell Halaf IV, Die Kleinfunde aus historischer Zeit, Berlin, 1962.

  18. P. GARELLI, ‘Importance et rôle des Araméens dans l'administration de l'empire assyrien’ in H. J. NISSEN and J. RENGER (ed.), Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn, Berlin, 1982, II, pp. 437 – 47; H. TADMOR, ‘The aramaization of Assyria: aspects of western impact’, ibid., pp. 449 – 70.

  19. On this and following periods, see: J. A. BRINKMAN, A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia (1158 – 722), Rome, 1968.

  20. On this curious text of ‘lamentation’, see H. TADMOR, ‘Historical implications of the correct rendering of Akkadian dâku’, JNES, XVII (1958), pp. 138 – 9. Cf. CAH, II, 2, p. 501.

  21. L. KING, BBS, No. VI, pp. 29 – 36.

  22. W. G. LAMBERT, ‘The reign of Nebuchadnezzar I: a turning point in the history of ancient Mesopotamian religion’ in W. S. MCCULLOUGH (ed.), The Seed of Wisdom, Toronto, 1964, pp. 3 – 13.

  23. ARAB, I, § 257 (Inscription of Tiglathpileser I).

  24. ARAB, I, § 300 – 303; ANET, pp. 274 – 5.

  25. ARAB, I, § 309. Cf. E. WEIDNER, ‘Die Feldzüge and Bauten Tiglatpilesers I, AfO, XVIII (1958), pp. 342 – 60.

  26. Stone tablet of Nabû-apal-iddina (885 – 852 B.C.), Col. I, 4 – 5. (L. KING, BBS, p. 121.)

  27. L. W. KING, Chronicles, II, pp. 143 – 79. Cf. in particular, the ‘Religious chronicle’ (ABC, pp. 133 – 8); some parts of the ‘Dynastic chronicle’ (ABC, pp. 139 – 44) and a fragment of Assyrian chronicle (ABC, p. 189).

  28. P. GÖSSMANN, Das Erra-Epos, Würzburg, 1955; L. CAGNI, L'epopea di Erra, Rome, 1969. Cf. R. BORGER and W. G. LAMBERT, Orientalia, XXVII (1958) pp. 137 – 49.

  29. ‘Religious chronicle’, III, 4 – 15 (ABC, pp. 137 – 8).

  30. M. DIETRICH, Die Aramäer Südbabyloniens in der Sargonidenzeit (700 – 648), Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1970. Cf. F. MALBRAN in Journal Asiatique, Paris, 1972, pp. 15 – 38.

  Chapter 18

  1. Exactly since Ninurta apal-ekur (1192 – 1180 B.C.).

  2. The main sources for the political history of the so-called Neo-Assyrian period are (1) the Assyrian royal inscriptions translated by D. LUCKENBILL, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (ARAB), 2 vol., Chicago, 1926–7, and, partly, by A. K. GRAYSON, Assyrian Royal Inscriptions (ARI), 2 vol., Wiesbaden, 1972 – 6; (2) the Babylonian royal inscription to be found in J. A. BRINKMAN, A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia (PKB), Roma, 1967: (3) the Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles translated by A. K. GRAYSON, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (ABC), Locust Valley (New York), 1975; (4) the royal correspondence from Nineveh published by R. F. HARPER, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters belonging to the Kuyunjik Collection of the British Museum (ABL), 14 vol., London/Chicago, 1892 – 1914, and translated by LEROY WATERMAN, Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire (RCAE), 4 vol., Ann Arbor, Mich., 1930 – 36; (5) the royal correspondence from Nimrud published and translated by D. J. WISEMAN, H. W. SAGGS, J. V. KINNIER WILSON and B. PARKER in Iraq, XII (1950) to XXVIII (1966); the remarkable series State Archives of Assyria (SAA), K. DELLER et al. (ed.), 5 volumes published, Helsinki, 1987 ff.; the Old Testament, notably II Kings, II Chronicles, Prophets. For a general view of the Assyrians and Assyria, see: H. W. F. SAGGS, The Might that was Assyria, London, 1984.

  3. Inscriptions of Adad-nirâri II in ARAB, I, §§ 355 – 99 and ARI, II, § 394 – 460.

  4. ARAB, I, § 360; ARI, II, §§ 420, 422; Synchr. History, III, 1 – 6 (ABC, p. 166). Cf. PKB, pp. 177 – 80.

  5. Synchr. History, III, 9 – 21 (ABC p. 166). Cf. PKB, pp. 180 – 82.

  6. ARAB, I, § 402 – 34; ARI, II, § 464 – 88. Also see: W. SCHRAMM, ‘Die Annalen des assyrischen Konigs Tukulti-Ninurta II’, Bi. Or., XXVII (1970), pp. 147 – 60.

  7. On this subject see W. G LAMBERT, ‘The reigns of Assurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III, an interpretation’, Iraq, XXXVI (1974), pp. 103 – 6; H. TADMOR, ‘Assyria and the West: the ninth century and its aftermath’ in H. GOEDICKE and J. J. ROBERTS (ed.), Unity and Diversity, Baltimore, 1975, pp. 36 – 48; A. K. GRAYSON, ‘Studies in Neo-Assyrian history: the ninth century B.C.’, XXXIII (1976), pp. 134 – 45; M. LIVERANI, The ideology of the Assyrian empire’ in M. T. LARSEN (ed.), Power and Propaganda, Copenhagen, 1979, pp. 297 – 317; J. READE, Ideology and propaganda in Assyrian Arts', ibid., pp. 329 – 43.

  8. D. G. HOGARTH, The Ancient Near East, London, 1950, p. 25.

  9. It was only in the Middle-Assyrian period (XIII – XIth centuries) that Ashur became a dominant war god. In an Assyrian version of the Epic of Creation (enuma elish), he replaces Marduk at the second rank of the Mesopotamian pantheon.

  10. F. M. FALES; ‘The enemy in the Neo-Assyrian inscriptions: the “moral judgement”’, in H. J. NISSEN and J. RENGER (ed.), Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn, Berlin, 1982, II, pp. 425 – 35.

  11. ARAB, I, § 466, 501 – 2; ARI, II, §§ 574, 641. The talent (biltu) was about 33 kilos and the gur, about 70 litres.

  12. See A. T. OLMSTEAD, History of Assyria, New York, 1923, pp. 530 – 32.

  13. J. N. POSTGATE, Taxation and Conscription in the Assyrian Empire, Rome, 1974, pp. 201 – 2.

  14. AAO, pl. 82; A. PARROT, Assur, Paris, 1961, pls. 22 – 3.

  15. Inscriptions of Ashurnasirpal in ARAB, I, §§ 436 – 552, ARI, II §§ 529 – 869. Also: E. MICHEL, ‘Die Texte Assur-nasir-aplis II’, Die Welt der Orient II (1954), pp. 313 – 21, 404 – 7.

  16. ARAB, I, § 443. ARI, II, § 587.

  17. ANET, p. 276; ARAB, I, §§ 479, 518; ARI, II, § 586.

  18. Tushhan is Kurkh, twenty miles south of Diarbakr. Kar-Ashurnasirpal and Nibarti-Ashur, facing each other on either side of the Euphrates, are probably Zalabiyah and Halabiyah, between Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor.

  19. ARAB, I, §§ 443, 445, 472; ARI, II, §§ 547, 549, 579.

  20. For a reappraisal of Assyrian ‘cruelty’, see H. W. F. SAGGS, ‘Assyrian prisoners of war and the right to live’, AfO, Beiheft 19 (1982), pp. 85 – 93. Also see the remarks of A. T. OLMSTEAD, ‘The calculated frightfulness of Ashur-nasir-apal‘, JAOS, XXXVIII (1918), pp. 209 – 63.

  21. ARAB, I, § 489; ARI, II, § 653.

  22. A. H. LAYARD, Nineveh and its Remains, London, 1849; Nineveh and Babylon, London, 1882.

  23. British excavations from 1949 to 1963. Preliminary reports in Iraq, XII (1950) to XXV (1963). Final report: M. E. L. MALLOWAN, Nimrud and its Remains, 2 vol., London, 1966. Summaries in M. E. L. MALLOWAN, Twenty-five Years of Mesopotamian Discovery, London, 1956, pp. 45 – 78, and in J. CURTIS (ed.), Fifty Years of Mesopotamian Discovery, London, 1982, pp. 99 – 112. Polish excavations from 1972 to 1982. Summarized by R. SOBOLEwSKI in ZA, LXXI (1982), pp. 248 – 73. Iraqi restorations and excavations since 1970.

  24. D. J. WISEMAN, ‘A new stele of Assur-nasir-pal’, Iraq, XIV (1952), pp. 23 – 39.

  25. AAO, pl. 93.

  26. D. OATES ‘Fort Shalmaneser. An interim report‘, Iraq, XXI (1959), pp. 98 – 129; ‘The excavations at Nimrud‘, 1960, Iraq, XXIII (1961), pp. 1 – 14, J. LAESSØE, ‘A statue of Shalmaneser III, from Nimrud‘, Iraq, XXI (1959), pp. 147 �
�� 57.

  27. H. RASSAM, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, New York, 1897; D. OATES, ‘Balawat (Imgur-Enlil’), Iraq, XXXVI (1974), pp. 173 – 8; J. CURTIS, ‘Balawat‘, in Fifty Years of Mesopotamian Discovery, pp. 113 – 19. On the gates: L. W. KING, Bronze Reliefs from the Gates of Shalmaneser, London, 1915. Cf. AAO, pl. 91, 92; A. PARROT, Assur, pl. 121 – 9.

  28. To the inscriptions published in ARAB, I, §§ 553 – 612, add now; G. G. CAMERON, ‘The annals of Shalmaneser III, a new text’, Sumer, VI (1950), pp. 6 – 26; FUAD SAFAR, ‘A further text of Shalmaneser III, Sumer, VII (1951), pp. 3 – 21; J. LAESSØE, ‘Building inscriptions from Fort Shalmaneser’, Iraq, XXI (1959), pp. 38 – 41. Poetic version of the campaign in Urartu: W. G. LAMBERT, ‘The Sultantepe tablets, VIII, Shalmaneser in Ararat’, Anatolian Studies, XI (1961), pp. 143 – 58. J. V. KINNIER WILSON, ‘The Kurba‘il statue of Shalmaneser III’, Iraq, XXIV (1962), pp. 90 – 115.

  29. French excavations 1929 – 31: F. THUREAU-DANGIN and M. DUNAND, Til-Barsib, Paris, 1936.

  30. ARAB, I, § 611; ANET, p. 279. Note that this is the first historical mention of the Arabs.

  31. ARAB, I, § 681. Cf. II Kings viii. 7 – 15.

  32. BBS, pp. 120 – 27.

  33. ARAB, I, § 624. Synchr. Hist. III, 22 – 35 (ABC, p. 167).

  34 A throne-base found at Nimrud shows Shalmaneser shaking hands with Marduk-zakir-shumi. Cf. D. OATES, Iraq, XXV (1963), pp. 20 – 21, and P. HULIN, ibid., pp. 48 – 69.

  Chapter 19

  1. Inscriptions of Shamshi-Adad V in ARAB, I, §§ 713 – 29 and in JNES, XXXII (1973), pp. 40 – 46. On the chronology of the reign, see A. K. GRAYSON in Bi.Or, XXXIII (1976), pp. 141 – 3.

  2. ARAB I, § 731. The presence of this stele among those of the Assyrian kings, and the dedication, by the governor of Kalhu, of a statue for the life of Adad-nirâri and that of Sammuramat (ARAB, I, § 745) suggest that Sammuramat had a considerable power, even though it has not been proven that she exerted the regency (S. PAGE, Orientalia, XXXVIII (1969), pp. 457 – 8).

  3. Among recent studies on Semiramis, see: H. LEWY, ‘Nitokris Naqui'a’, JNES, XI (1952), pp. 264 – 86; W. EILERS, Semiramis: Entstehung und Nachhall einer altorientalische Sage, Wien, 1971; G. ROUX, ‘Semiramis, la reine mystérieuse de l'Orient’, L'Histoire, LXVIII (1984), pp. 20 – 32; G. PETTINATO, Semiramide, Milano, 1985.

  4. DIODORUS SICULUS, Bibl. Hist., II, 4 – 20.

  5. HERODOTUS, Hist., I, 184; BEROSSUS, Babyloniaca, in Sources for the Ancient Near East. Malibu, Calif., 1978, p. 164.

  6. Inscriptions of Adad-nirâri III in ARAB, I, §§ 732 – 43. For other inscriptions, see H. TADMOR, ‘The historical inscriptions of Adad-nirâri III’, Iraq, XXXV (1973), pp. 141 – 50.

  7. A. R. MILLARD and H. TADMOR, ‘Adad-nirâri III in Syria’, XXXV (1973), pp. 57 – 64.

  8. F. THUREAU-DANGIN, ‘Linscription des lions de Til-Barsib’, RA, XXVII (1930), pp. 1 – 21.

  9. The reigns of these three kings are mostly known from the lists of eponyms (ARAB, II, § 1198).

  10. ‘Eclectic chronicle, lines. 7 – 15 (ABC, pp. 182 – 3); PKB, pp. 223, 225 – 6.

  11. Intermittent British excavations since 1960. Preliminary reports by SETON WILLIAMS et al., in Iraq, XXIII (1961), XXIX (1967) and XL (1978).

  12. According to D. STRONACH (Iraq, XXXVI, 1974, pp. 239 – 48), the Persians migrated across the Iranian plateau and reached the north-eastern fringe of Elam soon after 700 B. C.

  13. If we judge from the valuable objects found during the American excavations at Hasanlu, south of Lake Urmiah, from 1959 to 1977. For bibliography see: ‘Bibliography of the Hasanlu Project’ in L. D. LEVINE and D. W. YOUNG (ed.), Mountains and Lowlands, Malibu, Calif., 1977.

  14. Among the recent books devoted to Urartu, see: C. BURNEY and D. H. LANG, The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, London, 1971; B. PIOTROVSKII, Ourartou, Geneva, 1970. Origins and development: M. SALVINI, Nairi e Ur(u) atri, Roma, 1967. Inscriptions: F. KONIG, Handbuch der Chaldischen Inschriften, AfO, Beiheft 8, 1955. On art: B. PIOTROVSKII, Urartu, the Kingdom of Van and its Art, London, 1967.

  15. On these titles and the organization of the peripheral Assyrian provinces, see: R. A. HENSHAW, ‘The office of shaknu in Neo-Assyrian times’, JAOS, LXXXVII (1967), pp. 717 – 25; LXXXVIII (1968), pp. 461 – 83. J. N. POSTGATE, ‘The place of the shaknu in Assyrian government’, Anatolian Studies, XXX (1980), pp. 69 – 76. J. PEČIRKOVA, ‘The administrative organization of the Neo-Assyrian empire’, Archiv Orientalni, XLV (1977), pp. 211 – 28.

  16. F. MALBRAN-LABAT, L'Armée et l'Organisation Militaire de l'Assyrie, Geneva/Paris, 1982, pp. 59 – 61.

  17. ARAB, I, §§ 770, 772, 795, 806.

  18. On this question, see the thorough study of B. ODED, Mass Deportation and Deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Wiesbaden, 1979.

  19. Inscriptions of Tiglathpileser III in ARAB, I, §§ 761 – 822. To these must be added the fragments discovered at Nimrud and published by D. J. WISEMAN in Iraq, XIII (1951); XVIII (1956) and XXVI (1964). Also see: L. D. LEVINE, Two Assyrian Stelae from Iran, Toronto, 1972, and N. POSTGATE, ‘The inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III at Mila Mergi’, Sumer, XXIX (1973), pp. 47 – 59.

  20. ARAB, I, § 772; II Kings xv. 19 – 20.

  21. French excavations in 1928: F. THUREAU-DANGIN et al., Arslan Tash, Paris, 1931. Cf. G. TURNER, Iraq, XXX (1968), pp. 62 – 8. Tiglathpileser III had his own palace at Nimrud.

  22. R. GHIRSHMAN, Iran, Harmondsworth, 1954, p. 94.

  23. Nimrud letter published by H. W. SAGGS in Iraq, XVII (1955), p. 128. Cf. M. COGAN, ‘Tyre and Tiglat-Phalazar III’, JCS, XXV (1973), pp. 96 – 9.

  24. II Chronicles xxviii, 5 – 8; II kings xv, 29 – 30; xvi, 5 – 9; Cf. ANET, pp. 283 – 4.

  25. The royal inscription in ARAB, I, §§ 829 – 30 is, in reality, an inscription of Esarhaddon. On the meagre sources for this reign, see PKB, p. 244.

  26. Inscriptions of Sargon in ARAB, II, §§ 1 – 230. The reference edition is that of A. G. LIE, The Inscriptions of Sargon II of Assyria, I, The Annals, Paris, 1929. Add: c. J. GADD, ‘Inscribed prisms of Sargon from Nimrud’, Iraq, XVI (1954), pp. 172 – 202. The correspondence of Sargon has now been published by S. PARPOLA and G. B. LANFRANCHI in SAA, I (1987) and V (1990). On the chronology of the reign, see: H. TADMOR, ‘The campaigns of Sargon II of Assur’, JCS, XII (1958), pp. 22 – 40, 77 – 100.

  27. Babyl. Chronicle I, 33 – 7. C. J. GADD, ‘Inscribed barrel cylinder of Marduk-apal-iddina II’, Iraq, XV (1983), PP. 123 – 34

  28. ARAB, II, § 5; ANET, p. 285; R. BORGER, ‘Das Ende des aegyptischen Feldern Sib'e = Sô’, JNES, XIX (1960), pp. 49 – 53.

  29. ARAB, II, §§ 30, 62; ANET, p. 286. Cf. H. TADMOR ibid., pp. 83 – 4.

  30. RCAE, esp. Nos. 101, 123, 145, 148, 251, 380, 381, 424, 444, 515. Nimrud letters: H. W. SAGGS, Iraq, XX (1958), pp. 182 – 212.

  31. F. THUREAU-DANGIN, Une Relation de la Huitiéme Campagne de Sargon, Paris, 1912. ARAB, II, §§ 139 – 89. On the so-called ‘Letters to the Gods’, see A. L. OPPENHEIM, ‘The city of Assur in 714 B.C.’, JCS, XIX (1960), pp. 133 – 47.

  32. F. THUREAU-DANGIN, op. cit., p. 7.

  33. French excavations in 1843 – 4 and 1852 – 4: P. E. BOTTA and E. FLANDIN, Les Monuments de Ninive, Paris, 1849 – 50; V. PLACE, Ninive et l'Assyrie, Paris, 1867 – 70. American excavations in 1930 – 5; G. LOUD, Khorsabad, Chicago, 1936 – 8.

  34. ARAB, II, § 89.

  35. J. A. BRINKMAN; Prelude to Empire, Philadelphia, 1984, p. 54, n. 254.

  Chapter 20

  1. D. D. LUCKENBILL, The Annals of Sennacherib (OIP, II), Chicago, 1924; ARAB, II, §§ 231 – 496; A. HEIDEL, ‘The octagonal prism of Sennacherib in the Iraq Museum’ Sumer, IX (1953), pp. 117 – 88; A. K. GRAYSON, ‘The Walters Art Gallery Sennacherib inscription’, AfO, XX (1963), pp. 83 – 96; J. READE, ‘Sources for Sennacherib: the prisms’, JCS, XXVII (1975), pp. 189 – 96.

  2. U. CUZZOLI, I Cimmeri, Roma. 1968; A. KAMMENHUBER, article ‘Kimmerier�
� in RLA, V, pp. 594 – 98.

  3. RCAE, Nos 146, 197. The kingdom of Urartu survived until 590, when it was conquered by the Medes. Inscriptions of Argishti II and Rusas II, a contemporary of Ashurbanipal, have been found.

  4. BEROSSUS, Babyloniaca III, 2. Cf. J. ELAYI and A. CAVAIGNAC, Oriens Antiquus, XVIII (1979), p. 70.

  5. Text of this campaign in ARAB, II, §§ 233 ff. and in ANET, pp. 287–8. The capitulation of Lakish is represented on a relief from Nineveh: AAO, pl. 101.

  6. II Kings xviii. 13 – xix. 34; II Chronicles xxxii. 1 – 22; Isaiah xxxvi. 1-xxxvii. 38. W. VON SODEN, ‘Sanherib vor Jerusalem, 701 B.C.’, in Festschrift Erich Stier, Munster, 1972, pp. 43 – 51.