First Millennium BC Research Papers (original) (raw)

This collection of studies on temple building honors Richard Ellis. The first part explores the richness of textual evidence in Ancient Near East cultures: among others Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hittite, Achaemenid. The... more

This collection of studies on temple building honors Richard Ellis. The first part explores the richness of textual evidence in Ancient Near East cultures: among others Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hittite, Achaemenid. The second part is devoted to various passages of the Hebrew Bible dealing with the building of temples: among others, the building of the First Temple, the Chronicler’s Temple Building account, temple reform in Ezekiel, and the instructions for building the tabernacle in Exodus 25ff. The volume is supplemented by an extensive collection of short descriptions of ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Hebrew texts dealing with temple building and will thus serve as a comprehensive and useful reader.

This closer look at the extant E Prism material of Ashurbanipal, the Gyges narrative(s) in particular, reveals that the current understanding of the E Prisms needs to be significantly revised since both the Prism E₁ and Prism E₂... more

This closer look at the extant E Prism material of Ashurbanipal, the Gyges narrative(s) in particular, reveals that the current understanding of the E Prisms needs to be significantly revised since both the Prism E₁ and Prism E₂ inscriptions very likely contain one and the same description of Gyges’ extraordinary first contact with Ashurbanipal. This new interpretation makes it clear (1) that there were (at least) three E Prism inscriptions and (2) that the Prism E₂ inscription was composed earlier than the Prism E₁ text, and not the other way around as scholars have assumed for over the last forty years. This paper will re-evaluate Ashurbanipal’s E Prisms in light of a previously unrecognized parallel in the earliest accounts of the Gyges narrative.

Surface collection, exposed sections and the use of irrigation wells and channels enabled the authors to map the settlement pattern of the elusive Dian kingdom before it became a subsidiary of the Han empire. The pattern showed that the... more

Surface collection, exposed sections and the use of irrigation wells and channels enabled the authors to map the settlement pattern of the elusive Dian kingdom before it became a subsidiary of the Han empire. The pattern showed that the Dian were already hierarchical, with settlements of different sizes and a political centre in which ritual bronzes featured. The empire redrew the landscape, with settlement migrating away from the wetlands into the hills where it could oversee the routes of communication into Southeast Asia.

The book focuses on the Neo-Babylonian administrative letters dated to Nabopolassar and the first half of Nebuchadnezzar’s reigns (ca. 626–580 BCE); this is the formative phase of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The 215 letters in the corpus... more

The book focuses on the Neo-Babylonian administrative letters dated to Nabopolassar and the first half of Nebuchadnezzar’s reigns (ca. 626–580 BCE); this is the formative phase of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The 215 letters in the corpus come from the two major Neo-Babylonian temple archives known today: Eanna, temple of Ištar, in Uruk (190 letters), and Ebabbar, temple of the son god Šamaš, in Sippar (25 letters). Two letters from Babylon are additionally included as appendices A and B (one of which is of the still crown prince Nebuchadnezzar from the battlefield at Harran).
In many ways, these letters are the closest we get to the erratic drama which was day-to-day life in Babylonia at the mid first millennium BCE. The letters were a vital administrative tool, necessary for the ongoing functioning of these institutions. As such, they provide first-hand testimony for the tasks and obstacles that the Neo-Babylonian bureaucrats faced. As of yet, no systematic attempt has been made to date and contextualise the Neo-Babylonian administrative letters and they have never been studied as a group, and they are still one of the most underrepresented and underexploited source material in Neo-Babylonian studies. This is due to the lack of up-to-date editions, the “elusive nature” of epistolography (namely the difficulty in accurately dating and contextualising the letters), as well as the unique philological difficulties of the texts. Thus three interdependent goals stand at the base of this study:
1. Establishing new, up-to-date editions of the early Neo-Babylonian letters from Eanna and Ebabbar
2. Studying these letters as a distinct text group
3. Contextualising the letters
The first part of this work, chapters 2–6, analyses the letters as a distinct text group with its own characteristics. The letters are examined both as a source for their authors’ sense of identity and mentality, as well as for the structure and administrative setting in which these authors were active. Following the introduction (chapter 1), which lays out the historical and scholarly basis for this study, chapter two examines the formal aspect of epistolography (e.g., structure and stock phrases). It then discuss two main methodological issues: the rhetorical analysis of the letters, and the problem of dating. In chapter three I discuss the “non-content” aspects of epistolography: viz. the language, the tablets themselves, and the logistics involved in epistolographic activity. At the core of the discussion chapters (2–6) stands chapter four, in which I examine aspects of officialdom in the temples. Following a discussion on the concepts of (good) service (maṣṣartu) and “administrative sin” (ḫīṭu), I go on to focus on the different interactions as revealed in the letters. Here, the slightly different administrative structure of the two temples, as well as substantial difference in their size, requires the distinction between Eanna and Ebabbar (the former naturally takes most of the focus). Starting with the inner interaction of temple officials with their colleagues within the same institution, the discussion then zooms out to examine the interaction of temple officials with other temples and state’s institutions. Chapter five surveys the main subject matters discussed in the letters, highlighting the contribution of the epistolographic perspective to the study of the temples’ day-to-day operation. In the sixth and concluding chapter of the discussion, a diachronic perspective is introduced, and the early Neo-Babylonian letter corpus is compared to the earlier Neo-Assyrian letters from the State Archive of Assyria (SAA), and to the later epistolographic material from the second half of the long sixth century (late Nabonidus and Achaemenid letters).
The second part of the book, chapter seven, presents up-to-date editions of the 215 letters in the corpus. These include translation, transliteration, and contextual and philological commentary. Close attention is given to the contextualization of the letters; vis-à-vis dates, prosopography, and administrative and historical settings.

The Babylon Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, perhaps the best-known group of texts in the extant corpus this seventh-century Assyrian king, have for decades presented a real challenge in cracking the various levels of ideology imbedded in... more

The Babylon Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, perhaps the best-known group of texts in the extant corpus this seventh-century Assyrian king, have for decades presented a real challenge in cracking the various levels of ideology imbedded in their contents, as well as the chronological order in which they were written. The latter issue is closely tied to the fact that several clay prisms inscribed with these texts are all dated by the formula šanat rēš šarrūti, "accession year. " This paper will argue that the intentional dating of the Babylon Inscriptions reflects historical reality and that Esarhaddon's did not deliberately falsify the dates of inscriptions. It will also closely examine the contents of the known texts in this small subcorpus of this Assyrian king's official inscriptions and suggest new dates of composition for each text (especially Babylon A and Babylon D), as well as a new chronological sequencing of the inscriptions. Lastly, this paper will present updated editions of Babylon G and Babylon F based on an old nonphysical join proposed by A. R. Millard and a new international join discovered by the author.

http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/ Numerous royally commissioned texts were composed between 744 BC and 609 BC, a period during which Assyria became the dominant power in southwestern Asia. Eight hundred and fifty to nine hundred such... more

http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/
Numerous royally commissioned texts were composed between 744 BC and 609 BC, a period during which Assyria became the dominant power in southwestern Asia. Eight hundred and fifty to nine hundred such inscriptions are known today. The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) Project, under the direction of Professor Grant Frame of the University of Pennsylvania, will publish in print and online all of the known royal inscriptions that were composed during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC), Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC), Sargon II (721-705 BC), Sennacherib (704-681 BC), Esarhaddon (680-669 BC), Ashurbanipal (668-ca. 631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (ca. 631-627/626 BC), Sîn-šumu-līšir (627/626 BC), Sîn-šarra-iškun (627/626-612 BC), and Aššur-uballiṭ II (611-609 BC), rulers whose deeds were also recorded in the Bible and in some classical sources. The individual texts range from short one-line labels to lengthy, detailed inscriptions with over 1200 lines (4000 words) of text. These Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions (744-609 BC) represent only a small, but important part of the vast Neo-Assyrian text corpus. They are written in the Standard Babylonian dialect of Akkadian and provide valuable insight into royal exploits, both on the battlefield and at home, royal ideology, and Assyrian religion. Most of our understanding of the political history of Assyria, and to some extent of Babylonia, comes from these sources. Because this large corpus of texts has not previously been published in one place, the RINAP Project will provide up-to-date editions (with English translations) of Assyrian royal inscriptions from the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC) to the reign of Aššur-uballiṭ II (611-609 BC) in seven print volumes and online, in a fully lemmatized and indexed format. The aim of the project is to make this vast text corpus easily accessible to scholars, students, and the general public. RINAP Online will allow those interested in Assyrian culture, history, language, religion, and texts to efficiently search Akkadian and Sumerian words appearing in the inscriptions and English words

The paper examines the cuneiform evidence from sixth-century Babylonia (and beyond) for information on the form and aims of Neo-Babylonian imperial rule over its western provinces. While new texts, which hitherto have not been considered... more

The paper examines the cuneiform evidence from sixth-century Babylonia (and beyond) for information on the form and aims of Neo-Babylonian imperial rule over its western provinces. While new texts, which hitherto have not been considered in this context, can be brought to bear on the issue, direct evidence from these provinces is still scarce. These documents will thus be supplemented by drawing on the rich information concerning state institutions and resource extraction in the imperial centre. It is argued that in the first half of the Neo-Babylonian period, until ca. 585 BCE, Babylonian imperial rule in the western periphery can be conceptualized primarily as a straightforward exploitative tributary regime. From about the mid-reign of Nebuchadnezzar onwards, however, there is a shift towards a more sustainable resource extraction through the creation of stable pockets of Babylonian presence in the periphery. This diachronic shift was meant to steady and organize the initial ad hoc Babylonian approach. These measures, however, did not prevail, and the chaotic years which followed the 43 years reign of Nebuchadnezzar illustrate the fragility of the relatively short-lived Babylonian imperial age.

This joint study of Novotny and Watanabe deals with the personal and ethnic identity of four foreigners depicted on a wall relief of the North Palace in Nineveh as submitting to Ashurbanipal after the fall of Babylon. The study analyzed... more

This joint study of Novotny and Watanabe deals with the personal and ethnic identity of four foreigners depicted on a wall relief of the North Palace in Nineveh as submitting to Ashurbanipal after the fall of Babylon. The study analyzed the pictographic details with circumstantial evidence from the king’s inscriptions.

Brief history of Southern Phoenicia in the first millennium BCE (Sidon and Tyre) with new insights.

As is well known, Phoenicians were among the principal traders in the Mediterranean during the First Millennium BC. The vast amount of artefacts considered to have been produced by Levantine people testify to the amplitude of Phoenician... more

As is well known, Phoenicians were among the principal traders in the Mediterranean during the First Millennium BC. The vast amount of artefacts considered to have been produced by Levantine people testify to the amplitude of Phoenician trade, which reached the entire Mediterranean basin. Even if past literature focused essentially on the Central and Western parts of the Mare Nostrum, archaeological researches in the Nile Valley continue to uncover objects showing an evident connection to the Phoenician and Levantine world.
The aim of this paper is to present some luxury items suggesting a Levantine style found in the Napata region in order to explore the contact system between Nubia and Phoenicians during the Third Intermediate Period. Mainly by analysing the geographical distribution of these materials and their parallels, we will try to contribute to delineating characteristics of the Levantine presence in Nubia during the First Millennium BC.

This article treats a composition that was probably dedicated to Nergal, a god with a long cultic tradition in ancient Mesopotamia who was mainly related to war and death. The text was first edited by Böhl (1949; 1953: 207-216, 496-497),... more

This article treats a composition that was probably dedicated to Nergal, a god with a long cultic tradition in ancient Mesopotamia who was mainly related to war and death. The text was first edited by Böhl (1949; 1953: 207-216, 496-497), followed by Ebeling (1953: 116-117). Later, Seux (1976: 85-88) and Foster (2005: 708-709) translated and commented upon it. I will present a new reading of the invocation on the tablet's upper edge, which confirms that the tablet originated in Uruk during the Hellenistic period. Furthermore, I will discuss the many Neo-Babylonian and Late Babylonian grammatical elements of this composition. The high frequency of these elements, typical of the vernacular language, is unusual for a literary text and suggests that not only the tablet, but also the composition of the text stems from the first millennium BCE, and perhaps, just like the tablet, from Hellenistic Uruk. The purpose of this contribution is, therefore, to show through an analysis of this text, that the conservative and poetic literary language was reworked and adapted to the cultural situation of the late period in Mesopotamian literary production.

This paper investigates agricultural practices during the 1st millennium BCE in Greece. New archaeobotanical data provide fresh insights on the plant economy at the urban centers of Sikyon and Olynthos, dated to the Archaic-Classical... more

This paper investigates agricultural practices during the 1st millennium BCE in Greece. New archaeobotanical data provide fresh insights on the plant economy at the urban centers of Sikyon and Olynthos, dated to the Archaic-Classical period. The results show that the staple economy of Sikyon and Olynthos was based on a broad spectrum. However, the analysis records the presence of taxa such as sesame (Sesamum indicum) and pine (Pinus pinea) that are usually absent in assemblages from Greece. In order to understand the role and the place of these sites within the ancient Greek world, we draw a wider comparison of the ubiquity of the main economic taxa using available archaeobotanical records, covering the Protogeometric period to the end of the Hellenistic period. This paper gives an overview of plants exploited during the 1st millennium BCE and also focuses on the unusual remains recently recovered.

The paper examines concepts of service and duty within Babylonian temples as reflected in the administrative letters from the archive of the Eanna temple in Uruk. It discusses the use of the Babylonian term maṣṣartu (“guard/watch”) in the... more

The paper examines concepts of service and duty within Babylonian temples as reflected in the administrative letters from the archive of the Eanna temple in Uruk. It discusses the use of the Babylonian term maṣṣartu (“guard/watch”) in the letters and examines aspects of professional identity and bureaucratic mentality of Neo-Babylonian temple officials. The final section examines persuasion strategies employed by the Neo-Babylonian temple officials, and the implication of such analysis on the professional identity of temple personnel.

This general paper provides a very brief introduction to the textual sources and the scribes who wrote them, as well as give some information on historical events and personal interests of the kings that appear to have impacted the... more

This general paper provides a very brief introduction to the textual sources and the scribes who wrote them, as well as give some information on historical events and personal interests of the kings that appear to have impacted the content and nature of the source material. Although the Neo-Assyrian period starts in earnest with Ashurnsirpal II, this contribution covers only the very end of the eighth century and most of the seventh century, thus limiting itself to the reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal, as well as their four lesser-known successors.

Political and commercial relationships between Egypt and Lebanon have always been so prosperous that they generated a mutual exchange of knowledge, culture and people. Even if past studies focused essentially on Egyptian artefacts... more

Political and commercial relationships between Egypt and Lebanon have always been so prosperous that they generated a mutual exchange of knowledge, culture and people. Even if past studies focused essentially on Egyptian artefacts discovered in the Phoenician area, recent archaeological research has shown that several categories of records found in the Nile Valley should be attributed to a Levantine production. Studying these artefacts provides a helpful opportunity to discuss the phenomena of identitarian construction during the Persian domination period in the Nile Valley. The primary question is how were Phoenicians in Egypt able to express their individual identity while living in a country with such a strong cultural presence.

The global analysis of the direct and indirect sources on the Phoenicians reveals a certain difficulty in determining the components that make up their identity, stemming from the tendency to attribute a unity to them which is not... more

The global analysis of the direct and indirect sources on the Phoenicians reveals a certain difficulty in determining the components that make up their identity, stemming from the tendency to attribute a unity to them which is not documented anywhere. If, therefore, the Phoenician identity should rather be considered an instrument of historical and scientific study, here we are trying to broach the subject by reversing the perspective and using a different point of view.
The study of the corpus of textual and material data originating from the kingdoms (notably Egypt and Assyria) surrounding the territory traditionally considered Phoenician, as well as the analysis of certain luxury objects generally associated with Levantine craftspeople could, in effect, represent a way to determine the perception that “the strangers / the others” had of
the individuals who inhabited the Syrian-Lebanese coast.

This paper critically analyses the building accounts of the late Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions by interrelating and comparing those from various periods. The book chapter shows that the “building history” given in the royal inscriptions... more

This paper critically analyses the building accounts of the late Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions by interrelating and comparing those from various periods. The book chapter shows that the “building history” given in the royal inscriptions refer only selectively to the predecessors’ building works and often appear misleading or incorrect.

The history of Southern Phoenicia in the 1st quarter of the 1st millennium BC is summed up in the history of the kingdom of Tyre. This assumption comes from the biblical sources concerning the relations between Hiram the king of Tyre and... more

The history of Southern Phoenicia in the 1st quarter of the 1st millennium BC
is summed up in the history of the kingdom of Tyre. This
assumption comes from the biblical sources concerning the relations between
Hiram the king of Tyre and David and Solomon. However, the textual data
suggest that Tyre was part of a Sidonian kingdom that covered all
Southern Phoenicia.

Simple dog burials, dating primarily to the second half of the 1st millennium b.c.e. (Persian–Hellenistic periods [ca. 6th–1st centuries b.c.e.]), have been excavated at more than a dozen Levantine sites, ranging from a handful of burials... more

Simple dog burials, dating primarily to the second half of the 1st millennium b.c.e. (Persian–Hellenistic periods [ca. 6th–1st centuries b.c.e.]), have been excavated at more than a dozen Levantine sites, ranging from a handful of burials to more than 1,000 at Ashkelon. This study systematizes previously discussed canine interments, distinguishing intentional whole burials from other phenomena (e.g., dogs found in refuse pits), and suggests a new interpretation in light of human mortuary practice in the Iron Age II–III-period (ca. 10th–4th centuries b.c.e.) Levant. The buried dogs seem to be individuals from unmanaged populations living within human settlements and not pets or working dogs. Frequent references to dogs in literary and epigraphic Northwest Semitic evidence (including Hebrew, Phoenician, and Punic personal names) indicate a complex, familiar relationship between dogs and humans in the Iron Age Levant, which included positive associations such as loyalty and obedience. At some point in the mid-1st millennium b.c.e., mortuary rites began to be performed by humans for their feral canine “neighbors” in a manner resembling contemporaneous low-energy–expenditure human burials. This behavioral change may represent a shift in the conception of social boundaries in the Achaemenid–Hellenistic-period Levant.

Assyria's last great king Assurbanipal invested much time and effort ensuring that his accomplishments both on and off the battlefield were immortalized as he wished to his gods and subjects, foreign rulers and dignitaries, future kings... more

Assyria's last great king Assurbanipal invested much time and effort ensuring that his accomplishments both on and off the battlefield were immortalized as he wished to his gods and subjects, foreign rulers and dignitaries, future kings of Assyria, and future generations of Assyrians. Numerous royal inscriptions and sculpted stone orthostats are a testament to the large number of scribes and artists involved in the creation and masterful reworking of his image as a warrior without equal, a fearless lion hunter, a well-educated and literate ruler, and a devoted supporter of religious institutions. This selection of Assurbanipal's inscriptions presents for the first time full editions of the prism inscriptions I and T and new editions of several important texts written on clay tablets from the library collections at Nineveh. These texts describe Assurbanipal's youth and education, military campaigns against Egypt and Elam, the return of Marduk's statue to Babylon, and the building and decoration of numerous temples and sanctuaries in Assyrian and Babylonian cities.
Like the rest of the SAACT series, the volume is primarily intended as a teaching aid and is ideal for both classroom teaching and for self-study. Besides providing an introduction to the inscriptions of Assurbanipal and an appealing alternative to the "Annals of Sennacherib," it now makes it possible, for example, for first time to read Assurbanipal's famous "School Days Inscription" (L4) in class. Each text is presented both in cuneiform and in transliteration with fresh English translations. Moreover, the book includes a list of logograms and their readings, an Akkadian glossary, an index of personal, geographical and divine names, and a sign list, everything needed to read these important Assyrian compositions.

The Assyrians actively engaged themselves in construction in the heartland and in the numerous provinces of the Empire. Textual sources (especially royal inscriptions and correspondence), as well as archaeological excavations, mention and... more

The Assyrians actively engaged themselves in construction in the heartland and in the numerous provinces of the Empire. Textual sources (especially royal inscriptions and correspondence), as well as archaeological excavations, mention and sometimes document some of these building programs, for example, Sargon II’s transformation of the city Harhar into a provincial capital named after himself (Kar-Sharrukin), Sargon II’s construction of a palace at Carchemesh (as recorded in a newly published cylinder inscription), and Ashurbanipal’s rebuilding and expansion of the temple of the moon-god Sîn at Harran. This paper will present the available (textual) evidence for Assyrian building activities in Harran, an important cult and administrative center in the northwestern part of the Empire, and will attempt to contextualize the eighth- and seventh-century construction projects there by looking at building activities in other Assyrian provincial centers.

This paper provides evidence for the existence of a new inscription of Esarhaddon from Nineveh: A 16926, a piece now in the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), is not an exemplar of Nineveh B, but rather part of an edition of... more

This paper provides evidence for the existence of a new inscription of Esarhaddon from Nineveh: A 16926, a piece now in the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago), is not an exemplar of Nineveh B, but rather part of an edition of Esarhaddon’s ‘annals’ from Nineveh that was composed before Esarhaddon’s 5th year (676). The paper will also present evidence for reassigning 83-1-18,601, a small fragment in the British Museum, as an exemplar of Nineveh C or an early copy of Nineveh A.

Though our knowledge of Iron Age Phoenician cultic architecture is quite limited, the available data suggests that pre-Classical Phoenician temples followed a similar plan which displayed several unique architectural features. This plan... more

Though our knowledge of Iron Age Phoenician cultic architecture is
quite limited, the available data suggests that pre-Classical
Phoenician temples followed a similar plan which displayed
several unique architectural features. This plan originated from a
long held, Bronze Age, Canaanite tradition which became
especially prominent along the northern Levantine coast from the
Middle Bronze Age II, appearing alongside other temple plans.
This article aims to demonstrate that during the Iron Age and
most of the Persian period, this temple plan became the
predominant temple type in Phoenicia and its dependencies. It
was only during the late Persian period, that a drastic change
occurred, and this millennia-old plan was abandoned in favor of
other temple types. Nevertheless, it appears that despite this
seemingly radical change, the most notable feature of the
traditional plan was preserved.

In the 2016 campaign of the Wādī al-Jīzī Archaeological Project a rich collection of Iron Age funerary artefacts was found from disturbed (probably collective) burials in the Wādī Fizḥ. These graves have relatively few comparanda in... more

In the 2016 campaign of the Wādī al-Jīzī Archaeological Project a rich collection of Iron Age funerary artefacts was found from disturbed (probably collective) burials in the Wādī Fizḥ. These graves have relatively few comparanda in Eastern Arabia and are therefore of some significance for our understanding of this periods. In this paper we will first discuss the broader Iron Age cultural landscape of the Wādī Fizḥ, and then focus on the cemetery site. We will discuss the pottery, soft-stone vessels, and miscellaneous artefacts retrieved from these grave contexts, and compare our data with those from other sites in Oman and the Emirates. Keywords: Wādī Fizḥ, collective burials, Iron Age, soft-stone vessels, ceramics THIS IS A TYPESCRIPT. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO UPLOAD THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF OUR PAPER ONTO ACADEMIA.

Considerable scholarly effort has been made trying to lift the heavy veil shrouding the details of the history of the final two decades of the kingdom of Israel, including the identity of the Assyrian ruler who conquered its capital... more

Considerable scholarly effort has been made trying to lift the heavy veil shrouding the details of the history of the final two decades of the kingdom of Israel, including the identity of the Assyrian ruler who conquered its capital Samaria and captured its last king Hoshea. Because there are significant discrepancies in extant primary sources, in particular between the Old Testament and Assyrian inscriptions, scholars have yet to satisfactorily answer the most important questions about this crucial period of history of the Levant. Assyrian sources, especially royal inscriptions, may provide some key pieces to the puzzle, but what can they tell us about the last twenty to thirty years of the kingdom of Israel, the fall of Samaria, and the fate of Hoshea? This paper will examine the available inscriptions of the eighth- and seventh-century Assyrian kings in order to elucidate what information that genre of Akkadian text can and cannot provide with regard to the history of Israel. Special attention will be given to potential lost sources to determine if new Assyrian texts could really help scholars solve some of the mysteries of the Bible. This paper will serve as a general introduction to the more topic-specific papers given in Part I of this book. Nevertheless, I do hope to say a few things not covered in the other presentations. As a word of warning, at least one section of this paper will be purely speculative. However, these conjectures will be deeply rooted in the extant source material of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II.

In 1996, Rykle Borger did the Assyriological community a great service by publishing concise, conflated "edi tions" of Assurbanipal's res gestae and handwritten transliterations of several hundred clay prism and tablet ments. There is... more

In 1996, Rykle Borger did the Assyriological community a great service by publishing concise, conflated "edi tions" of Assurbanipal's res gestae and handwritten transliterations of several hundred clay prism and tablet ments. There is little doubt that Beitrage zum lnschriftenwerk Assurbanipals is an extremely useful research tool for scholars and students of Near Eastern history and languages, and that it has begun filling the astonishingly large gap in our knowledge of late Neo-Assyrian inscriptions (721-612 B.C.). 1 Borger's contribution has made it possible for other Assyriologists to examine the various prism editions, as well as numerous previously unpublished tablet frag ments. This paper presents information on Prisms C, Kh (:= CKalach), and G that has come to light since Borger's publication, specifically on their classification and dates of composition (647 and 646 B.C.).