Assyrian Historiography: A Source Study

n detail elsewhere. All that is here needed is a summary of results. [Footnote: Olmstead, Western Asia in the Days of Sargon of Assyria, 1908,

der. Aside from the rather full account of Pisiris of Carchemish, sufficient to date the inscription soon after its capture, we have only the briefest of references, and its value would be nothing, could we only secure the original, perhaps the earliest edition of the Annals, on which it is based. [Footnote: L. 33f; Winckler, Sargon, I. 168 ff. II. 48; Lyon, Assyr. Manual, 9f; Pelser, KB, II. 34 ff.; Menant, 204 ff.] A brie

Ashur?) in the limmu or eponym year of Ishtar duri, 714-713, and tells us of the events of 714. It is written on an unusually large tablet of clay and is in, the form of a letter. It begins "To Ashur the father of the gods... greatly, greatly may there be peace. To the gods of destiny and the goddesses who inhabit Ehar sag gal kurkurra, their great temple, greatly, greatly may there be peace. To the gods of destiny and the goddesses who inhabit the city of Ashur their great temple, greatly, greatly may there be peace. To the city and its inhabitants may there be peace. To the palace which is situated in the midst may there be p

the campaign but six soldiers were lost a more or less severe stretching of the truth, but, at least in comparison with the later records, it is n

Sargon, 11 ff., with reconstruction of the order of the various fragments, as against Prasek, OLZ. XII. 117, who sharply attacked me "über den historischen wert den Stab zu brechen."] Unfortunately but a part of these fragments has been published [Footnote: Winckler, Sargon, II. 45 ff. cf. I. xif. Photograph, Ball, Light from the East, 185. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., 76 ff.] and the difficulties in the way of copying these fragments have made many mistakes. [Footnote: To judge by a comparison of Winckler's text with that prepared by King for Thureau-Dangin, l.c.] But a few of these fragments have as yet been translated or even discussed. [Footnote: Winckler, Sargon, I. 186 f.; AOF. II. 71 f

ce from the end of the reign when Sargon was established at Dur Sharruken. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead, Sargon, 14 n.] Prism A is of much the same type as the other, in fact, when we see how the Ashdod expedition, begun in the one, can be continued in the other, [Footnote: As in Winckler, Sargon, I. 186 ff.] we are led to believe that the two had a similar text. If, however, the Dalta episode in each refers to

Place, Nineve, II. 291 ff.; Oppert, Dour Sarkayan, 11 ff.; I R. 36; Lyon, Keilschrifttexte Sargons, 1 ff. Winckler, Sargon, II. 43; Menant, 199 ff.; Peiser, KB. II. 38 ff. Barta, in Harper, 59 ff.] indeed, it closely agrees with the deed of gift which dated to 714. [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead, Sargon, 178 f.] The same inscription is also found on slabs. [

.; Oppert, RP1, IX. 1 ff.; Peiser, KB. II. 52 ff.] Imperfect recognition of its character has led many astray. [Footnote: The error in connecting Piru and Hanunu, for example, already pointed out by Olmstead, Sargon, 10, is still held by S. A. Cook, art. Philistines, in the new Encyclopedia Britannica.] Other inscriptions of the group are incised on bulls, on founda-slabs, on bricks, pottery, and glass, or as labels on the sculptures. Save for

ions, some of which differ widely among themselves and from other inscriptions. For example, there are three accounts of the fate of Merodach Baladan. In one, he is captured; [Footnote: Display 133.] in the secon

olves the puzzle. In the earliest years, it seems to have had the same chronology as the Annals. Later, it drops a year behind and, at the point where it ends, it has given the Ashdod expedition as two years earlier than the Annals. [Footnote: Cf. Ohmstead, Sargon, 11.] Even with the old data, it was clear that the Prism was earlier and therefore probably more trustworthy; and it was

s of material, the Annals has utilized but 36 lines. That this is a fair sample of what we have lost in other years is hardly too much to suspect. Further, it would seem that the Annals used, not the tablet it

as captured [Footnote: Ann. 106.] when the original merely says that it was abandoned by its chief. [Footnote: Tabl. 84.] But the most glaring innovation of the scribe is where, in speaking of the fate of Rusash, the Haldian king, after his defeat, he adds "with his own iron dagger, like a pig, his heart he pierced, and his life he ended." [Footnote: Ann. 139.] This has long been doubted on general principles, [Footnote: Cf. Olmstead, Sargon, 111.] but now we have the proof that it is only history as the scribe would like it to have been written. For the new inscription, while giving the conventional picture of the despair of the defeated king, says not a word of any suicide. [Footnote: Tabl. 411ff.] However, the tablet does elsewhere mention the sickness of Rusash, [Footnote: Ibid. 115.] and it may well be that it is to this sickness that we must attribute his d