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Home , 648 BC, 681 BC, 8th century BC, Ashurbanipal, Nineveh, Sargon I

The BabvlonianTexts of

Report on the 's Library Project*

By Jeanette C. Fincke (Heidelberg)

"rr3l learned thc craft of Adapa, the sage, (which is) the secret knowledge, evcrything pertaining to thc scribal art, rr{I am wcll acquaintcdwith the signs of heavcn and carth, I was detiberating in thc assembly ofthe scribal cxpcrts,rrsl was calculating the livcr (which is) an imagc of hcaven together with thc (most) compctcnt oil (divination) cxpcrts, I16l solved complicatcd muthemulicalprohlems that havc not (cvcn) been understoodbeflorc, IrTl rcad the artfully writtcn texts in which thc Sumcrian version was obscurc and the Akkadian version for clarifying (too) difficult, rrtl am cnjoying the cunciform wedgcs (sc. writing) on stone(s) from before the flood." (Ashurbanipal, inscription Lr)

This article is the final report on the AshurbanipalLibrary Project of the British Museum that I carried out at the Museum's Departmentof the Ancient over six months in 2003.1

Table of contents

I. The British Museum'sAshurbanipal Lihrary X. The Babyloniantexts of the Ninevite Librar- Project...... ill ies...... 129 II. The British Museum'sexcavations at Kouvun- X. l. The literaryand scientifictexts ...... 130 jik...... :...... I 13 X.2. The divinationcorpus: library texts and divi- III. The so-calledAshurbanipal's Library 114 nationreports...... l3l IV. The historicalbackground regarding Babyloni- X.3. Comparisonwith the data of the library rec- an scholarsin .... l15 ords...... 134 V. Ashurbanipal'srise to power...... il9 X.4. The Babylonianarchival texts...... 135 VI. Ashurbanipal'sinterest in the scribalart ...... t20 XI. Comparisonwith other Mesopotamianroyal VII. Ashurbanipal'smethod of collectingBabyloni- libraries...... 137 an tablets 122 XII. Summaryand prospectsfor furtherstudies...... 140 VIII. The Neo-Assyrianlibrary records 124 XIII. Appendix:List of the Museumnumbers of the IX. The writing-boardsof the Neo-Assyrianlibrar- Babyloniantablets from Nineveh accordingto ies in Nineveh...... 126 their genre ...... '...... AZ

I. The British Museum's Ashurbanipol Library texts the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal ordered to be Project included in his famous royal library. Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) was the sixth Neo-Assyrian king - This part of the British Museum's Ashurbanipal who ruled over Assyria as well as over - Library Project sets out to investigate what kind of about 60 years after Tiglath-pileser III had conquered

*) My sincerethanks go to ChristopherB. F. Walker and to publish the results of my research in this way. My grati- Dr. Irving L. Finkel of the British Museum,who supervised tude goes to the Townley Group of the Friends of the British the AshurbanipalLibrcry Project, for giving me the honour Museum for funding this project. Dr. Marie-Christine Ludwig to carry out this survey at the British Museum. I owe very kindly offered me hospitality during my first days in , much to ChristopherWalker for his friendship,encourage- and her friendship, both was and is of much value to me. I ment, support, and tireless readinessto discuss manifold would like to thank Dr. Nils P. HeeBel, Heidelberg, who aspectsof the Kouyunjik Collection,the AshurbanipalLibrary carefully read the first draft of this article and suggested and Nineveh with me; I gaineda from my conversations many improvements; this manuscript has benefited from his with him. Irving Finkel constantlyfollowed the processof my critical reading. My thanks are due to Dr. St John Simpson researchand discussedvarious issueswith me. My cordial and, again, to Dr. Irving L. Finkel of the British Museum, thanksgo to the staff of the AncientNear EastDepartment of who kindly undertook the very important task of correcting the British Museumfor their kindnessand support.Dr. John my English where appropriate. My final thanks go to Dr. Curtis of the British Museum has always shown sincere Michaela Weszeli for her attention to this manuscript. concernfor my research,read the manuscript,and provided ') A preliminary report was given during the 49e Rencon- me with additionalinformation for which I am most grateful. tre Assyriologique Internationale, London, 7-1 I July 2003. I am indebted to the Trusteesof the British Museum for This paper will be published together with the other Rencon- "Nineveh" grantingme permissionto work on the Tablet Collectionand tre paperc on the subject in volume 66 of lraq.

Archiv fir Orientfurschung 50 (200312004) 112 JeanetteC. Fincke

Babylonia (729 BC\. During the first 20 years of Collection and to the collecting activities of Ashurba- Ashurbanipal'sreign, his brotherSamaS-Sum-ukin was nipal. This task has been limited by various facts. appointedking of Babylonia,but later revoltedagainst Firstly, the survey on the tablets of Ashurbanipal's his brother.In 648 BC, Ashurbanipalwas victoriousin library is inevitably basedon the material which has the civil war and took over the kingship of Babylonia. been excavatedso far. We do not know how many This situationgave him direct accessto all the Baby- tabletsare either still waiting in Nineveh to be discov- lonian templearchives. When Ashurbanipalcreated his ered5or have already perishedand been lost forever. extensiveroyal library in the citadel of his Assyrian Moreover,the invaderswho conqueredNineveh in 612 Nineveh (Kouyunjik) he incorporatedAs- BC might have destroyed or even carried off an syrian and Babyloniantablets into the collection.The unknown number of tablets. There might tabletswritten in Babyloniancharacters may havebeen also have been looters who ransackedthe ruins of imported from Babylonian libraries, whereas others Nineveh later, or casual visitors and travellers who could have been written by Babylonianscribes in the entered or re-openedearlier excavationsand whose serviceof the Assyrian king.2 finds have since appearedin private collectionsor on The AshurbanipalLibrary Project was initiated by the antiquitiesmarket.6 It is thereforeobvious that the Dr. Ali Yaseen of the University of who de- material in the British Museum's Kouyunjik Collec- scribed the project to a group of British Museum tion doesnot representthe completenumber of tablets curatorsduring the conferencein March 2002. that were included in the libraries and archives in It was explained that the University of Mosul was Ashurbanipal'stime7. However, the numberand varie- intending to establisha new Institute of Cuneiform ty of texts unearthedso far is large enoughto outline Studies, specifically for the study of Ashurbanipal's the focus of Ashurbanipal'slibraries. The number of Library. A specially designedbuilding would contain tablets is also large enough for a statisticalsurvey. an exhibition of castsof tablets,computer facilities and Secondly,the task of relating the Babyloniantexts a library. Dr. Yaseenasked whether the British Muse- to the rest of the Kouyunjik Collection has to be um would agreein principle to supply castsof tablets, postponeduntil the carrying out of a similar project on and he was assuredthat the British Museum would the Ninevite Assyrian tablets.Within the limited time make every effort to co-operate.Shortly afterwardsthis of this initial project it was impossiblealso to examine was confirmed by Dr. John Curtis, Keeper of the the Assyrian texts, the number of which is several British'Museum's Department,in times higher than the number of the Babyloniantexts an interview in Baghdadwith the Minister of Higher (seebelow). Therefore,the basic task of this research Educationand Scientific Research,Dr. Hummam Ab- has been to record the Babylonianwritten tablets and dul Khalik. This was followed by somepress coverage fragments of the Kouyunjik Collection, to identify the of the subject.3 compositions8or classiff the tablets and fragments As well as agreeingto supply castsof tabletsfrom Ashurbanipal'sLibrary, it was decided in the British 5) The relatively small numberof Ninevite letterswritten Museum that the opportunity should be taken to reap- to Sennacheribleads to the assumptionthat this king's ar- praisethe Library. As the first stageof this process,an chive has not yet been found; seebelow sectionX.4. 6) See e. g. the tablet with a historical epic of the Lord applicationwas madeto the British MuseumFriends to Binning Collectionpublished by C. B. F. Walker - S.N. fund a six-month post purpose. for this The present Kramer in their article "Cuneiform Tabletsin the Collection writer was appointed to this position for the period of Lord Binning," 44 (1982) 70-86as no. 2 (pp. 76-78). from the l0th of March until the 9th of September, Another exampleis the tablet fragmentof the Ecolepratique 2003. In the British Museum the work was supervised des Hautes Etudesthat is joined to a tablet of the British by the curatorsChristopher B. F. Walker and Irving L. Museum'sKouyunjik collectionand publishedby S. Parpola, "A Finkel. Letter to SennacheribReferring to the Conquestof Bit- This initial part of the Ashurbanipal Library Proj- Ha)iri and Other Events of the Year 693," AOAT 281, Mtinster2002,559-580. The British Museumalso purchased ecl is focusedexclusively on the Babyloniantablets of tabletsunearthed in Kouyunjik, e. g. the numbersor collec- the so-calledlibrary of Ashurbanipala.The intentionof tions1901-10-12,89. 1909-2-13, l. 1909-3-13,l. l9l9-10-8, this researchis to establishthe compositionsinvolved, 142-148.1912-5-13,2. 1913-4-16, 147-1608 and 1930-5-8, and their relation both to the rest of the Kouyunjik 47-90or tabletsfrom private collectors,see e. g. S. Parpola, "A Letter from Sama5-Sum-ukinto ,"Iraq 34 2) It is unlikely that Assyrian scribes used Babylonian (1972\2r-34. cuneiformsigns to write their tablets,although it is conceiva- 7) Apart from clay tablets,Ashurbanipal's libraries also ble that they did. In this research,tablets with Babylonian includedmany woodenwriting-boards that havenot survived; charactersare assumedto havebeen written by Babylonians. see below sectionsVIII and IX. r) See e. g. The Times,09.05.2002; The Independent, 8) The identificationof the compositionsis basedon the 09. 05. 2002; The Art Newspaper,08. 05. 2002. sevenvolumes of the Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in a) Seebelow sectionIII. the Kouyunjik Collection(Volumes I-IV by C. Bezold, 1889- The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh il3

according to the text genre,eto analysethese data, and II. The British Museum'sexcavations at Kou- to givc an overview of the Babylonian material. yunjik During the first three months, I surveyedapproxi- mately 26,000 tablets and fragmentsof the Nineveh Most of the famous of the Ninevite tablet-collectionfor the script. The last three months palacesand nearly all the cuneiform tabletsof the so- were occupiedin examiningBabylonian texts by con- called Ashurbanipal'sLibrary are housedin the British tent, grouped together to rejoin fragments,r0and by Museum,London.ra The fact that they did not enterthe trying to identify previously unclassified fragments. collection of the , , is due to the peculiar While researchingthe Kouyunjik tablet-collectionI circumstancesat the time and the diplomacy of Henry entered the content of the Babylonian texts into a CreswickeRawlinson (1810-1895). When Paul-Emile databaserr,also adding a short descriptionof the frag- Botta (1802-1870),French Consul in Mosul, started ments including shape, colour, number of columns, excavatingTell Kouyunjik in December 1842 he did lines, and dividing lines. This database12includes in- not find anything.Disappointed, he moved on to Khor- formation on 4252 tabletsand fragmentsof which, so sabad(ancient Dur-Samrkin) in March 1843where he far, 658 have alreadybeen rejoined to other fragments. unearthedsome figures and inscriptionswithin three Until today, the total number of Babyloniantexts and daysof excavation.Understandably enough, he contin- fragmentsunearthed in Nineveh is 3594,13or lessthan ued to excavateKhorsabad and did not return to Kou- ll7 of the completeBritish Museum's Nineveh tablet- yunjik. The British excavator Austin Henry Layard collection. (1817-1894)took up excavationsthere again in May 1846 and May to July 1947 during his campaign in Nimrld (ancientKall3u). Within a few months,Layard 96, SupplementaryVolume by L. W. King, 1914, Second found a terrace and some adjacentrooms, which led Supplementby W. Lambert- A. R. Millard, 1968,Third the British Museum to entrusthim with anotherexca- Supplementby W. Lambert, 1992) and innumerabletext vation campaignat that site. During his campaignfrom editionsthat I surveyedbefore starting research at the British October1849 to April l85l he excavatedNimrld and Museumand after I returnedto Heidelberg.I am awareof the Kouyunjik at the sametime. At Kouyunjik, he unearth- fact that, most probably, various publicationsmight have escapedmy attentionand that the bibliographyI compiledis ed another72 rooms of a large (the South-West not complete. palace),found ten winged -colossiand a countless ') The classificationof unpublishedtexts given in the number of cuneiform tablets and fragments. In his sevenvolumes of the Catalogue o./'the Cuneiform Tablets in book Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and , the Koryuniik Collection(see previous note) had to be veri- London 1853, Layard described the finding of the fied and corrected. cuneiform tablets(p. 345): r0)Many Assyriologistswho did their researchon certain Thechambers I am describing[i. e. rooms40 and4l groups proved of texts or even specialliterary compositions of the South-West palace] appear to have been a joins. the usefulnessof this methodto find Nevertheless,this depository in the palace of Nineveh for such docu- great "Ein methodis describedin detail by R. Borger, Brief ments. To the height of a foot or more from the floor -idinnamsvon Larsaan Sonnengottsowie Bemerkun- they were entirely filled with them; some entire, but "Joins" "Joinen"," (: gen iiber und das NAWG 1991.2 Nach- the greater part broken into many fragments, probably richten Akademie der ll/issenschaftenin Gtittingen, Phi- by the falling in of the upper part of the building. lologisch-historischeKlasse, Jahrgang l99l Nr. 2), Gdttingen They were of different sizes; the largest tablets were 1991,37-s8 (or: [l]-[22]). ") flat, and measured about 9 inches by 6 inches; the A first draft of the databasewas made by C. B. F. smaller were slightly convex, and some were not more Walker and handedover to me and other scholars.Tbe first draft includedthe Museumnumbers of the Babyloniantexts, the genreaccording to the sevenvolumes of the Catalogueof ra) For the discovery of Kouyunjik and the different the Cuneifbrm Tabletsin the Kouyunjik Collection, and a few excavatorsat this site see M. T. Larsen, The Conquestof publications. Assyria. Excavationsin an Antique Land, (English edition) t2) Part of this databaseis now availableon the World London 1996, P. Matthiae, Ninive. Glanzvolle Hauptstadt Wide Web: http://fincke.uni-hd.delnineveh/. Assyriens,translated from Italian by Eva Ambros, Miinchen '3) This number refers to December2003 and will be 1999(the Italianedition was publishedin Milano 1998),l2- reducedin the futureby rejoiningmore fragments;during six- 18, J. E. Curtis - J. E. Reade,Art and Empire. Treasures months' researchon the Kouyunjik Collection I was able to from Assyriain the British Museum,British Museum1995,9- make 86 joins and thereare many more to be found.Another 16, and N. Chevalier,La recherchearchtologique.frangcaise possibility to reducethe numberof Babyloniantablets is to au Moyen-Orient1842-1947, Paris 2002,21-29 (esp. note 26, identify Babylonian tablets, which originate from ancient 28-29, note 5l), 46-58. For the different campaignsand sitesother than Kouyunjik (for this seebelow note 22). This excavatorsin combinationwith the excavatedareas see J. E. :i, is most probablythe casefor 3l text numbersof the original Reade,"Ninive (Nineveh)," RIA 9, 392-394.Those tablets database,which have already been deductedin the above- excavatedsince 1932 are in Baqhdadand other Iraoi muse- mentionedcalculation. ums. tt4 JeanetteC. Fincke

thanan inch long,with but one or two linesof writing.The cu- neiformcharacters on most of themwere singularly sharp and well defined,but so minutein Kouyunjik someinstances as to be almost AshurbaniWl3 illegible without magnifying Libraries glass.These documents appear to be of variouskinds ... In the following years, the British Museumcontinued to dig North Gate ? at Kouyunjik. Henry Creswicke Rawlinson undertook the next rather productive campaign in December1852 - April 1854. In 1851,Victor Place (1818- 1875)was madeFrench Consul in Mosul and he assertedhis right to continue Botta's exca- vations in Kouyunjik. Rawlin- son and Place agreed that the British were to excavate the southern part of Kouyunjik, and the French the northern part, which they did very sporadically A' and without any remarkable re- sults. Then Hormuzd Rassam ( I 826-l9 I 0), Rawlinson'sassist- ant, started to dig the northern part of the by night. On the 20th of December1853, they un- covered the first reliefs of Ashurbanipal'sNorth Palaceand I mLoted later on several thousands fur- ther cuneiform tablets. Rawlin- conjectural son was able mownfindsnts to appeasethe an- oftabrets gry Place by offering him some 020 2m 3(n m of the reliefs from the North Palace for the Louvre. The French acceptedthe offer and withdrew from Kouyunjik. In Figure l. Kouyunjik - Ashurbanipal'sLibraries: sketch with restorationsafter J. E. "Ninive general,the British Museum con- Reade,RIA 9,391, 407-418,421-427 (article (Nineveh)")(drawn by J. C. tinued to excavate Kouyunjik Fincke). until 1932.Since that time, Iraqi and American excavators have undertaken excavations some additional findspots on and off the mound of It is at Nineveh on several occasions.15 Kouyunjik. the tablet collectionof the South-West Palacethat formed the Ashurbanipallibrary, but tablets from the North Palaceare also consideredto belong to III. The so-calledAshurbanipal Library this library.'7 When the combinedforce of Babyloniansand Me- Nineveh in 612 BC, looters In principle, the tablets excavatedin Nineveh had des conquered the did not spare the libraries. In addition to the looting of the originally been stored in four or more different build- ings (seefigure 1)'6:the South-WestPalace, the North Palace, the areas of the I5tar- and Nabt-temples, with r7) See e.g. L.W. King, Catalogue... Supplement,Xll note 2, XIV; R. C. Thompson- M. E. L. Mallowan, "The "Ninive 15)See J. E. Reade, (Nineveh)," RIA 9, 390-394. British MuseumExcavations at Nineveh 1931-32,"AAA 20 "Ninive '6) See J. E. Reade, (Nineveh)," RIA 9,421-422. (1933)I l0; J. E. Curtis- J. E. Reade,Art andEmpire, 12-13. The BabvlonianTexts of Nineveh ll5 city, the invaders destroyed most of the buildings, several years before being given a K-number. During especially the royal and temples. However, the years, the sequenceof their arrival at the British most of the libraries had been housedon the second Museum was disturbedand thereforethe numbersno floor of these buildings on the citadel of Nineveh. longer allow assigningtablets to individual excavation When the buildings collapsed,all the tablets crashed campaigns.Sometimes it is even evident that tablets through the ceiling into the rooms of the ground floor from other excavationsslipped into the K-registration beneath.The tablet fragmentswere widely scattered.18 system.22This fact has important consequencesfor The diff,rculty we have today in finding those frag- researchon the Babylonian tablets of the so-called mentsthat belongto the sametablet and to rejoin them AshurbanipalLibrary: in many cases,there is no proof is partly due to this situation. Apart from this the that a Babylonian or an Old Babylonian tablet was excavationreports of Nineveh very seldomly refer to excavatedat Kouyunjik; some might have been un- the placeswhere the tabletswere found - the excava- earthedin Babylon,, , or anotherBaby- tors were much more interestedin the finds themselves lonian site altogether.23 than in their findspots.In some cases,we know the To reconstructthe differentlibraries2a and archives2s year in which the different buildings of Nineveh had is a very time-consumingtask and beyond the sope of beenexcavated and we can connectthe finds oftablets this project. Therefore,for the time being, all Babylo- with those buildings.reThis is the case,for example, nian literary tabletsand all official or legal documents for most of the Old Babyloniantablets from Nineveh, from Kouyunjik written during or before Ashurbanipal's which came from the room in square TT and the part reign are consideredas coming from one place,namely of the court coveringsquare OO of the I5tar Temple.2o the AshurbanipalLibrary (or libraries) in Nineveh26. In most cases,different places were excavatedat the same time and there is no evidenceto enableus find out where the tablets originally came from. Even fV. The historical btckground regarding Baby- the Museum's numbering system of the Kouyunjik lonian scholars in Assvria tablets does not always help in tracing the possible findspot:2rThe tablets excavatedby Layard and Ras- The relation of the Neo-Assyriankings to Babylo- sam in July 1849 - April 1854, for example, were nia. Babvlonian scribes.or Babylonian tablets can be given a registration number referring to the excavation "K", site Kouyunjik. Sometimes,the excavatedtablets 22) Some of the Babylonian texts have already been remainedunregistered in their consignmentboxes for identifiedas deriving from Babyloniaand not from Kouyun- jik; this information entered the different volumes of the Catalogue ... ('the Kouyunjik Collection and the Catalogue 't) L.W. King, Catalogue ... Supplement, XX note 2, of the Babylonian Tabletsin the British Museum VolumeYl: "Some, described that evidently kicked by the feet of fugi- TabletsJiom Sippar I, by E. Leichty. However,even tablets tives when the palace was in flames, were found scattered from other Assyriansites enteredthe Kouyunjik Collection, "Archaeology around the main exit on the west, and they extended for some see J. E. Reade, and the Kuyunjik Archives," distance on to the paved terrace which overlooked the CRRAI 30,213. beyond the palace-faqade on this side." 23)It is possiblethat some'of the Old Babyloniantablets 'e) The complexity of this situation is illustrated by G. that are thoughtto havebeen excavated at Kouyunjik will be Turner with regard to the South-West Palace in his article identified as coming from other sites, which will further "'s Palace at Nineveh: The Primary Sources from reducethe total numberof Babyloniantablets from Nineveh. Layard's Second Campaign," Iraq 65 (2003) 175-220. 2a)Not all of the so-called library texts (for this see "Ninive 2u)See J. E. Reade, (Nineveh)," RIA 9,407, and below) that wereunearthed in Ninevehnecessarily came from "Old St. Dalley, Babylonian Tablets from Nineveh; and the royal library, e. g. the Ninevite tablets of Nab0-zuqup- Possible Pieces of Early Epic," Iraq 63 (2001) k€na might have never been part of Ashurbanipal'slibraries 155. but were only usedto producecopies for the palace;see St. J. "A 2r) See the Catalogue ... of the Kouyunjik Collection (see Lieberman, MesopotamianBackground for the So-Called 'Measures' above note 8), and E. Leichty, Catalogue of the Babylonian Aggadic of Biblical Hermeneutics?,"HUCA 58 Tablets in the British Museum Volume Yl: Tablets from (1981)217. Sippar l, London 1986 (with an introduction by J. E. Reade). 25)For the different archivesof Nineveh, see e. g. J. E. See further e.g. G. Smith, lssyrian Discovenes, London Reade,CRRAI 30, 213-222,and S. Parpola,in the same 1875; H. Rassam, Asshur and the Land of Nimrorl, New York volume,223-236. "The - Cincinnati 1897; S. Parpola, Royal Archives of 'o) L.W. King, Catalogue... Supplemezt,XIV-XV, con- Nineveh," in: K. R. Veenhof (ed.), Cunei/brm Archives and sideredthe tabletsfrom the Ninevehtemple librariesto form Libraries, CRRAI 30 (PIHANS 57), Leiden 1986,223-236; "a very inconsiderableproportion of the total numberrecov- "Ninive J. E. Reade, (Nineveh)," RIA 9, 388b-433b. For an ered at Kouyunjik, so that for all practicalpurposes the bulk on-line overview of the registration numbers of the Babyloni- ofthe literary,religious and explanatorytexts in the Kouyun- an Nineveh texts see http://fincke.uni-hd.de/nineveh/ follow- jik Collection may be regardedas coming from the Palace "description ing the and explanation" of the database. Library." 116 JeanetteC. Fincke traced with the help of letters and reports unearthedin in their hometowns.32 Nineveh. Evidently, the earliestNinevite recordsdate A letter to SargonII reveals"[when they rem]oved from the reign of SargonlI (721-705BC). It was his our writing-boardsthey [brou]ght (them) to - son and successor,Sennacherib (704-681 BC), who apla-iddi[n]a."33This fragmentaryletter also refers to made Nineveh - the residential city of his crown the Babyloniancities of Der and Dlr-ladini, and there- princeship(which he held, at least,since 715 BC) - the fore might have either been written in , most new Assyrian capital2T.Moreover, becauseSennache- probably by the governor, the iandabaklcu-offi,cial,3aor rib had alreadytaken over Assyrian governmentbusi- rather in Borsippa.35There is no hint of the number of ness during the time of the king's absencewhile he writing-boardsthat had been removedor their owners was crown prince,28there are many letters and docu- - they could have been private scholarsor even the ments from Sargon'sII reign archived in Nineveh.2e temple library of Dtr-anki. If these writing-boards The earliest records concerning Babylonians and were literary texts and not administrativerecords,36 one Babylonianscribes belong to the period after the Baby- might speculatethat Marduk-apla-iddinaII anticipated lonian king Marduk-apla-iddinaII (721-710BC) went the Assyrian effort to obtain the written knowledgeof into exile to in 710 BC, and SargonII ascended Babylonia and he might then have tried to preventthis the Babylonian throne. In those days, the Assyrian by collecting the writing-boardsand storing them at a palacewas - apart from the temples- the only insti- safe place. However, Marduk-apla-iddinacould have tution that was able to support a large number of requestedthe writing-boardsfor anotherreason. In any scribeson a long-term basis,3Oand many Babylonian case, mentioning these writing-boards to Sargon II scholars sought employment by the Assyrian king. indicatesthat they were of some interestfor the king. This situation did not change substantiallyover the SargonI[37 or his successorSennacherib38 gave an following 43 years,3runtil Ashurbanipalascended the order to a Babylonian scholar concerning a le'u ia Assyrianthrone (663 BC) and his brother SamaS-Sum- ekurrl, a "writing-board of the temples."3eThe inten- ukin the Babylonianthrone (667 BC). Many Babyloni- tion was to preparea list of all Babylonian temples. ans had been acting as agentsfor the Assyrian kings The scholar in charge was B6l-iddina who wrote an since 710 BC, writing lettersand reportsabout events interim report to the king describing the regions of Babylonia he had alreadychecked and the lists he had 27)In the 9th centuryBC, Ashurna,sirpalII (883-859BC) made and sent to the king. -iddina wrote that he extendedthe Middle Assyrian provincial capital KalLru was afraid to continue his inspection further to the (Nimrud) into his royal capital. Kallu remained Assyrian capital until Sargon Il (721-705 BC) moved into his own 12)Altogether, the excavatorsunearthed some 1046Baby- choice, on the site of the small village Magganubba,and lonian letters and letter fragmentsin Nineveh; see below foundedroyal capital Dflr-Sarrukin(Khorsabad). sectionX.4. 28)See E. Frahm, Einleitung in die Sanherib-lnschriften, rr) CT 54, 451(79-7-8,257)rev.l-3: ... i GIS.DA.MES- -dAMAR.-IBILA AfO Beih. 26, Wien 1997,2-3,and S. Parpola,CRRAI 30, n[i ki-il Q) [it-ie-s)u-nua-na SUM- 233. [n]u (3) Iul-te-b)i-lu ...; see M. Dietrich, The Babylonian 2e)See e.g. S. Parpola,CRRAI 30,229 and note 3l: correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib, SAA XVII, almost50 % of the lettersfrom the Kouyunjik collectiondate Helsinki2003, 165(no. 201). 3a) "Neue from the reign of SargonII. It is rather unlikely that later M. Dietrich, Quellenzur GeschichteBabyloniens theseletters and other importantdocuments were transferred (r)", wdo 4 (1967-68)86-87 (A Vr lb). from the archivesof the formercapital to Nineveh,during the 35)In SAA XVII, 2003, 165 (no. 201), M. Dietrich reign of Sennacherib(see Parpola,op. cit., p. 233 note 52). assumesthis letter to be written by Ana-Nab0-taklak,who r0) A royal library in the palace of Babylon cannot be was basedin Borsippa(see p. XXXV). traced(see below sectionXI). Therefore,if the scholarswere 36)For the useof writing-boardsin Neo-Assyrianlibraries not associatedwith a temple or a school,they had either to and administration,see below sectionIX. work independentlyas scribesor to be employedby officials. r7) L. Waterman, Royal Correspondenceof the Assyrian However, there are hints at Assyrian scribesemployed by Empire Zol. I (RCAE I), 1930,360-361 (no. 516); H. D. high Babylonian officials; these scribes might have been Baker in: K. Radner (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo- assignedby the Assyrianking as loyal agents,see G. Frame, AssyrianEmpire (PNAE) Vol. 1II: B-G, Helsinki1999,312 "The Correspondenceof Nab0-u5ab5i,Governor of ," (Bel-iddinano. 8); M. Dietrich,SAA XVII, 2003,41-42(no. CRRAI 30.267. 43), seep. XXXV. 3r) See e. g. the letter from an unknown Babylonian 18)M. Dietrich, IrydO4 (1967-68)90; F. W. Vera Chama- scholar,who had taught"apprentices whom the king appoint- za, Die Omnipotenz Aiiurs. Entwicklungen in der Aiiur- ed in my charge"the astrologicalseries enfima anu enlil,but Theologie unter den Sargoniden Sargon ll., Sqnherib und was ignored, when the king summoned"scribes great and Asarhaddon,AOAT 295,2002,308-309(no. 65). small;" see ABL 954 (K. 895) : SAA X l7l (S. Parpola, 3) ABL 516 (81-7-27, 3l) 6: di-iu GlS.le--umJd Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars, Helsinki E.fUn.UpS. For the useof woodenwriting-boards in Assyr- 1993).This letter had been written to either Esarhaddonor ian administration,see below note 124. For the use of Ashurbanipal. writing-boardsin the Ninevehlibraries, see below sectionIX. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh tt7

south of Babylonia,to the villages of Ddr and Nippur, particular omens.44Knowledge of future events was becauseit was too dangerousfor him to go there as an also believedto help preventbad eventsby performing official in the Assyrian king's servicewithout special suitable rituals.asIn other words, knowledge of these proof of authorization.aoThe order to preparea list of omenswas vital to maintain the power of the king, as Babylonian temples might have had administrative well as kingship itself, and the well-being of the reasons,4rbut it could also concern the tablets of the country. Therefore, Esarhaddon employed experts Babyloniantemple libraries.At least this letter proves (ummdnu)in extispicy(barfttu), diviners (barft), astrol- the uncertainpolitical situationin southernBabylonia ogers (Tupiar enuma anu enlil, tupiarru), exorcists for the Assyrianking and makesit clear that SargonII (aiipu), and augurs (dagil i;;urC)46who observed the would have experiencedmuch difficulty in creatinga different materials the gods used to give ominous royal library that includedBabylonian tabletsa2 as - signs. At the same time, they were familiar with banipal did about 60 years later. reading the relevant omen textsaTfor their correct During the reign of Esarhaddon(680-669 BC), the interpretation.Many of thesescholars came from Bab- son and successorof Sennacheriband father of Ashur- ylonia. banipal, severalBabylonian scholarswere taken into Babyloniandiviners had beeninspecting the sheep's the king's service.Esarhaddon is the first known Neo- liver and writing reportson the procedurefor . Assyrian king to keep reports about extispicy and At this period, even though they never dated their astrologicalobservations in his archivesfor reference reportsaccording to the year,a8the shapeof the tablets purposes(see below and sectionX.2). The large num- and the introduction formula are distinctive. The re- ber of these reports indicates that Esarhaddonused ports, physically characterisedby their distinctive pil- divination systematically;he might even have beenthe low-shape,begin with an addressto the sungod,'SamaS, first Neo-Assyrianking to use divination to this ex- great lord, give me a firm positive answerto what I am tent.arKnowing future eventsbeforehand enabled the asking you,"o' followed by the specific question, a king to be preparedproperly. Esarhaddonis the first descriptionof the variousparts of the inspectedsheep's known Neo-Assyrianking to revive the ancient"sub- aa) "farmer" stituteking ritual" which made a substituteabsorb the The Assyrianking becamethe (LU.ENCAR) evil that was predictedto the Assyrian king through while the substituteking saton the throneand officially ruled Assyria.At the end, the substituteking was put to deathfor the dual purposeof proving the correctnessof the bad omen, 40)ABL 516 (81-7-27,3l) rev. 6-9: ... GlS.le-ur-um(7) and eliminatinghim before the king was reinstalled.Letters Ii{-id-1ar id la LUGAL pal-fta-ku-ma(8) a-na BAD-AN.KI unearthedin Nineveh refer to the substituteking, which, "... , NIBRU.KI (9) ul al-lak ilai dul-li-ia Let a writing- accordingto S. Parpola,date to the years679 or 674 BC (nos. board be written, becausewithout the king I am in fear and l, 2, 3, 4), 671BC (nos.12, 189,314, 350, 351), and 669 BC I will not proceedto Der and Nippur with my work." (nos.209, 210,211,212,219,220,221); SAA X no.3ll a') M. Dietrich,SAA XVll,4l-42 (no.43), editsthe letter cannotbe dated. under the title "lnspection of Work on Temples all over a5)The Akkadian term for these rituals is ; sec Babylonia".H. D. Baker, PNAE l.II, 312 (Bel-iddina8.) St. M. Maul, Zukun/isbewdltigung.Eine Untersuchungaltori- describesthe information of the letter as copying required entalischen Denkens anhantl der babylonisch-assyrischen Babyloniantexts on writing-boardswhich the senderwould Liiserituale(Namburbi), BaF 18, 1994. sendto the king, later. This interpretationwould point to the a6) For bird augury, a science from the west that is collecting methodsof Babyloniantexts used by Ashurbani- principally known from the Hittite texts, and the augur from pal, for this see below sectionVII. Kummuli (Commagene),who was employedat the palaceof a2)He could have createda library that includedBabylo- Kallu (Nimrud) in the beginningof the 8th ,see J. V. nian material, but certainly not original Babyloniantablets. Kinnier Wilson, TheNimrud l4/ineLists, 75 (no. 9). Seealso For the exchangeof knowledgebetween scholars by travel- the referenceto the LO.da-,gtlMIUSEN.MESI / lLUl.fta-mat- ling and copying tabletsor lending tabletsto other scribes, a-a "the augurfrom Hamath"(in the Orontesvalley) in ABL seeEckart Frahm, "Headhunter, Bticherdiebe und wandernde 1346(K. 10849)obv. 2-3, editedby L. Waterman,RCAE II, Gelehrte:Anmerkungen zum altorientalischenWissenstrans- no. 1246(see above note 37). fer im erstenJahrtausend v. Chr.," to appearin CDOG 4, a7)Scholars created different series for the signsin the sky llissenskultur im Alten Orient. l/'eltanschauung,Wissenschaf- (enuma anu enlil) and on earth (iumma alu ina mdb Jakin), ten, Techniken,Technologien; 4. Internationales Colloquium as well as for thosesigns seen during the examinationof the tler DeutschenOrient-GesellschaJi 20.-22. Februar in Miln- appearanceof the human body (physiognomicomens) or ster. inspectionof animals(extispicy). a3)At the beginningof the BC, Babylonian at) The earliest texts with "oracle inquires" were not divinerswere employedin Kallu (Nimrnd), and their number dated.Later, the divinersadded the date accordingto the day might even have been larger than the number of Assyrian and the month on which the sheep'sliver had beeninspected diviners;see J. V. Kinnier Wilson, TheNimrud ll/ine Lists.A and their own names as a kind of signatureto prove the Study of Men and Administration at the Assyrian Capital in accuracyof the tablet, e. g. "ITU.GUD (lllrd month), 3rd the Eighth Century,.B.C., London 1972,75 (no. 40). Howev- day; (from) Nadinu and Tabni". er, no extispicyreports have yet been unearthedin Kall-ru. ae)iamai b€lu rabft Ja aialluka anna klna upulanni. ll8 JeanetteC. Fincke

liver, and the result of this inspection.5oThese reports 16l am fully master of my father's profession, the "oracle "queries to the sun- discipline of lamentation; I have studied and chanted are called enquiries" or 'mouth-washing', god",st and differ from the so-called "extispicy re- the series. I am competent in [...], ports" written under the reign of Esarhaddon'sson and purification of the palace [...]. I have examined healthy and sick flesh. Ashurbanipal.52 a{'l have read the (astrological series) Enunra Anu Esarhaddonalso employedastrologers who observ- Enlil 1...1and made astronomical observations. I have ed the sky and wrote reports on the appearanceof the read the (anomaly series) Summa izbu, the (physiog- sun and the moon. or the constellationsof the stars.sl nomical works) fkatuduggft, alandi)mmft and nigdim- In the face of this it is probablethat the fragmentary dintmtt, [... and the (terrestrial omen series) iumlnta letter from the Babylonian scholar Marduk-5ap7k-zeri,5a alu. aslAll who offered himself and twenty other able scholars5s this I learlned lin my youthl. Under the acgis lord, have perfected my ... for royal service,should also be dated to the reign of of the king, my I [...] Esarhaddon.56In his letter, Marduk-5apik-zeri,exten- Each of the 20 scholarsMarduk-Sapik-zEri mention- "there sively describeshis abilities in the different disci- ed in his letter - are [...] who [have returnedf plines:57 from Elam, [scribes(sc. astrologers),lamentation chan- ters], exorcists, diviner, and physicians"58- was a 50)There are at least 186 complete or fragmentaryso- masterin his field - most of them were specialisedin called"queries to the sungod"written by Babyloniandiviners more than one discipline basedon their study of the "useful in the tablet collection from Nineveh. written lore - and were to the king, my lord."5e 5') SeeE. G. Klauber, Politisch-religiiise Texteder Sargo- "Remarks Esarhaddonnot only employed scholarsbut also nidenzeit,Leipzig l9l3; J. Aro, on the Practiceof kept sons of high officials or even sheikhsof Babylo- Extispicy in the Time of Esarhaddonand Assurbanipal," nia as hostagesin one of his Ninevite palacesin order CRRAI 14, Paris 1966, 109-117;I. Starr, Queriesto the Sungod. Divinution antl Politics in Sargonid Assyria, St\A to have them taughtthe scribalart. We know about 18 IV, Helsinki 1990. young Babylonianswho were instructedin scriballore, 52)The first yearsof Ashurbanipal'sreign were marked by sometimesunder compulsionlike -gimilli, son "oracle "has a changein these enquiries".At first, the tabletswere of the iandabakku of Nippur, who been put in still written by Babylonians,but later Assyriandiviners sign- irons".6"These students were educatedin Assyria and, ed and datedthem. At aboutthe sametime the format of the later, might have entered into the king's service as tabletschanged, as well as the formula:the tabletsno longer loyal officials. Some of them might even have later look like blown-uppillows, but havemore or lessthe usual returned to their native country, as is well known from shapeofletters, anddo not havean addressto the sungod,but begin with the question for which the inspection of the the royal inscriptions.6r sheep'sliver was performed.These are the so-called"ex- The fact that Esarhaddonnot only educatedthem in tispicy reports". Later, Assyrian diviners themselveswrote the Assyrian ideology but also wanted them to learn increasingnumbers of tablets. the scribal art points to the privileged statusof these 5r) There are so far 85 complete or fragmentaryastrologi- hostages.A goldsmith of the queen's householdwho cal reports from Nineveh identified as having been written wantedhis son to get the sameprivilege and therefore g. during the reign of Esarhaddon.For thesereports, see e. bought a Babylonianwho taught the exorcist's litera- R. C. Thompson, The Reports o,f the Magicians and Astrolo- ture and specialdivination texts to his son,was report- gers of Ninevehand Babylon, London 1900, A. L. Oppen- heim, "Divination and Celestial Observationin the Last ed to the king by an agent.62The agentpointed out that AssyrianEmpire," Centaurus14, Copenhagen1964, 97-135, by doing this the goldsmith was acting like the king and H. Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings, SAA and the crown prince, which of coursewas unforgivable. VIII, Helsinki 1992. s4)ABL l32l (K. 5440)+ CT 54,t06 (82-5-22,123b+...) 5?)Translation by S. Parpola,SAA X, 122 (no. 160). (+) CT 54, 57 (K. 3034+7655;edited by H. Hunger,Studies 58)SAA X 160 obv. 47-49:... tnq SA-biS,i-nu(48) lx x Reiner,AOS 67, 1987,157-162):SAA X 160;cf. alsoS. M. x x x x x x x x xl-ai-iti id ul-tu KUR.NIM.MA.KI (49) [x x Freedman,IJ'a City is Set on a Height. The Akkadian Omen x LU.DUB.SAR.MESLU.GALA.MES LlU.MAs.MAs.MEs Series iumma alu ina mek iakin. Vol. l: Tablets l-21. LU.UAL.MES r-U.R.ZU.Vp. Occasional Publications o/'the Samuel Kramer Fund, se)a-na LUGAL EN-ia 1a-a-bu. 17, Philadelphia1998, l0 n. 40. 60)ABL 447 (K. 821) : SAA XI 156 obv. l0: si-par-ri 55)SAA X 160rev.35: PAP 20 UM.ME.A.MESle->u-i- AN.BAR id-kin; see also S. Parpola,Iraq 34 (1972) 33-34. tu. 6t) Seee. g. Esarhaddon'sNineveh inscription A col. IV 56)See H. D. Baker (ed.), PNAE 2.II: L-N, 2001, 726 l5-16 (see R. Borger, Die Inschri.ftenAsarhaddons, Kdnigs (Marduk-5apik-zeri).M. Dietrich, IrdO 4 (1967-68)95 (A/B von Assyrien,A.fO Beih. 9, Graz 1956,53): tta-bu-u-atar-bit I la: K. 3034+7655),96(K. 5440+82-5-22,123),dates this E.GAL AD-id a-na LIJGAL-uti (16) UGU-.sri-nudi-kun-ma "l .i.i letter to the reign of Sargon II, and H. Hunger, Studies tt-tt DINGIR.MES-id a-na KtJP.-idil-tir-ii placedTarb0a, Reiner, 162, to Ashurbanipal.S. Parpola,SAA X, 120-124 who was brought up in my father's palace,to the kingship (no. 160) does not date the letter at all, but SAA X only over them and let her return to her (home) country together includesletters from the reign of Esarhaddonand Ashurbani- with her gods." pal. 62)ABL 1245(83-l-18, tzl): SAA XVr 65. The BabvlonianTexts of Nineveh ll9

V. Ashurbanipal'srise to power don but especiallyon his having been manifestly cho- sen and elevated by the gods.66Ashurbanipal was "created Ashurbanipalwas born as the third eldest son of by A55ur and Mulissu,"otthe one whom Sin "shepherdship Esarhaddon,king of Assyria and Babylonia (680-669 appointedfor the of Assyria" even be- BC). His eldestbrother, Sin-nadin-apli, was appointed fore he was actually born, and whom Sama5and Adad crown prince of Assyria,while his secondeldest broth- entrustedwith exercisingthe kingship.6sBy establish- er, Sama5-5um-ukln,was appointed crown prince of ing his crown princeshipthrough the will of the high- Babylonia. Born as third son, Ashurbanipalhad no est-rankingAssyrian gods, his authority became de- right to a throne, and grew up with no chance of a tachedfrom human legitimaciesas well as inviolable. position of power in the future. However, when Sin- To avoid a possiblecivil war in the future, Esarhaddon "convened nadin-apli died Ashurbanipal'ssituation changedim- the peopleof Assyria,great and small, from mediately and he becamecrown prince of Assyria in coast to coast,made them swear a treaty oath by the 672 8C.63 gods and establisheda binding agreementto protect Politically, Ashurbanipal'snewly establishedposi- my crown princeshipand future kingship over Assyr- tion as Assyriancrown princewas ratherdangerous for ia."6eThis happened on the l2th7ti day of the month him, becauseit was contrary to the practice that only ajjaru (April/May), when he officially announced the eldestson would succeedhis father on the throne. Ashurbanipalas his successoron the Assyrian throne. Whenever a king broke this rule and appointed a During the ceremonyof his designationas crown "oldest youngerson as crown prince,the appointedson had to prince of Assyria Ashurbanipalbecame prince "the struggle against opponentsand face rebellion. After of the blt ridfiti"7t, House of Administration", or Sin-nadin-apli'sdeath the secondeldest son of Esar- the old North Palacein NinevehT2and the residenceof haddon would have been the legitimatecandidate for the crown prince and the king sinceits constructionby the Assyrian throne. However, Sama5-Sum-ukinhad his grandfatherSennacherib.T3 In his royal inscriptions, alreadybeen chosen for the Babylonianthrone and his Ashurbanipaldescribed the eventsfollowing the cere- educationwas certainlyfocused on his future position. mony as follows:74 23 Esarhaddonclearly did not want Sama5-Sum-ukinto Admidstrejoicing and merrymaking I entered the have a conflict of interests,if he now insteadbecame Houseof Administration, crown prince of Assyria, and therefore chose the tr) The same happenedto Esarhaddonhimself. He was a youngerson Ashurbanipalas successorto the Assyrian youngerson, as well, though appointedcrown prince by his heir to the throne.6aAshurbanipal and his friends in fatherSennacherib "on demandof A55ur,Sin, Sama5,Bel and high positions65certainly supported Esarhaddon in Nab0, I5tar of Nineveh and lStar of Arbela" after having making this decision. practicedextispicy on this subject;see R. Borger"A.fO Beih. Esarhaddonand his son Ashurbanipal had been 9,40 (Esarhaddon'sNineveh inscription A col. I 8-14). awareof the difficulty of the situation.The legitimacy 61)binftt aiiur u mulissu:Ashurbanipal Prism A and F I of Ashurbanipal'scrown princeshipwas said to rest 1. For all prism inscriptionsof Ashurbanipal,see M. Streck, not only on his being declaredthe son of king Esarhad- Assurbanipal,and the new edition by R. Borger, BIWA. 6E)Ashurbanipal Prism F I 3-6. In each of his prism inscriptionsAshurbanipal refers to the gods who selected 63) For Ashurbanipal's family and rise to power see him. The numberof gods differs in the various inscriptions recentlyE. Weissert,PNAE l.l (A), 160-163. but thesefive gods are always named. s) See e. g. the letter to Esarhaddonwritten by the 6e)Ashurbanipal Prism F I 12-17. Translationby S. exorcistAdad-Suma-ugur describing this situation,ABL 595 Parpola, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths, SltA ll, (K. I119)+ K. r9l5 + ABL 870(82-s-22, 107) : CT 53,31, Helsinki 1988,XIXX. See the latest edition of a composite editedby S. Parpopla,SAA X, 1993,no. 185. text of the treaty by S. Parpola- K. Watanabe,ibid. 28-58 65)Ashurbanipal seems to havecarefully prepared his rise (no. 6). to powerby making surethat he had enoughsupporters. Even 70)Other prism inscriptionsrefer to the l6th or lSth day before he becamecrown prince he had been the one who of this month. "no "gave the order to officials" and without whom governor 7t) mar iarri rabit iq bft ridfiti'. AshurbanipalPrism A and had been appointedand no prefect had been installed," see Fr2. Ashurbanipalinscription L4 (K. 2694+3050;cuneiform text: 72)Later, Ashurbanipal demolished this palace while con- C. F. Lehmann-Haupt,Samaiiumukin. Kdnig von Babylonien structing the Nab0 Temple on part of the site of the former 668-648v. Chr., Leipzig 1892,pl. XXXIV-XXXIX; edition: palace. Another palace was built to the north of the l5tar- and M. Streck, Assurbanipal und die letzten assyrischenKdnige Nab0-temples in the late 640s BC; see Figure l. bis zum UntergangNiniveh's lI. Teil: Texte, VAB VII.2, 7r)Ashurbanipal Prism F I 18-24,M2-25. Leipzig 1916,252-271, and others;cf. now correctionsand ?a)Ashurbanipal Prism A I l-34. Translation by E. Reiner, collationsby R. Borger,Beitrcige zum Insc'hriftenwerkAssur- Your Thwarts in Pieces. Your Mooring Rope Cut. Poetry banipals(BIWA), Wiesbaden1996, 187-188) | 27-28:... !e- from Babylonian and Assyria, Michigan Studies in the Hu- e-mea3-ta-nak-kan a-na GAL.MES (28\ -lu-u-aLU.NAM manity 5, Michigan 1985, l9-20. See also the new edition by uft) ip-pa-qid LU.GAR ul ii-ia-kan. R. Borger, BIWA, l5-16, 208-209 (translation). t20 JeanetteC. Fincke

u an artfully constructed place, the node of the mainly due to his officers, becauseAshurbanipal him- kingdom, self was not very keen on fighting.78He stayed in 25wherein Sennacherib, father of the father who continuous contact with his officials and agents, in- engendered me, stead,and controlledhis empireusing the written word 26 and kingship, exercised the crown-princeship of letters and instructions.?e 27in which Esarhaddon, my own father, was born, 2Egrew up, exercised the rule over Assyria,

tt and in it I myself, Ashurbanipal, learned the VI. Ashurbanipalosinterest in the scribal art wisdom (who's patron is) Nab0, 32'33the entire scribal art; I examined the teachings of The colophons of his tablets repeatedlyrefer to all the masters, as many as there are. Ashurbanipal'sinterest and abilities in the scribal art. ! I learned to shoot the bow, to ride horses and The imageone can obtain from thesesources would be to hold the reins. "great chariots, that Ashurbanipalwas gifted with intelligence" and a "bright eye."8nHe used his talents to learn the Having moved into the btt ridrtfi Ashurbanipalre- scribal art and gainedconsiderable success so that he ceived an educationsuitable for a crown prince. The was not only able to read cuneiform tablets,8rbut also training in intellectual and physical skills he already to write "the wisdom of Nabfi, the cuneiformsigns" on obtainedwas appropriatefor one of the king's younger clay tablets.82He practised his skills even after he sons,but certainly not good enoughfor someonewho becamedesignated crown prince.83At the end, he was would have to rule over Assyria. Ashurbanipal refers to himself having learned the scribal art (see below 7E)Ashurbanipal did not always attendthe military cam- section VI) and the art of warfare.TsHe must have paignsin personbut let his commandersdo th€ . This is the most important ones; consideredthese two skills for exampleknown for the campaignagainst in the first ability would give him independencefrom his 653 BC when he stayed at home to praise Ishtar, thereby officials in the future and the other one he would obeying an explicit order of the goddess,see Ashurbanipal certainly need to practise as king. We do not know PrismB V 46-76,esp. 63-68. how old Ashurbanipalhad beenin 672 BC but he took 7e)See e. g. the letter from Ashurbanipalto BCI-ibni,the over the kingship of Assyriajust four years later (668 military commanderof the Sealand,giving instructionsfor BC). Bcl-ibni's further action concerningthe Gurasimmu-people, after the commanderhad neglectedthe king's order;see ABL Ashurbanipalmust have been a very diligent pupil 291 (K. 938)edited by L. Waterman,RCAE I, asno. 291(see judging his deedsand inscriptions.Even as a younger by abovenote 37), and by R. H. Pfeiffer,State Letters oJ'Assltr' political son he must have had some insight into the ia, a Transliteration and Translation oJ'355 Of/icial Assyrian events and he certainly knew what a reign depended Letters Dating from the Sargonid Period (722'625 B. C.), on.76And Ashurbanipalmust have been clever enough AOS 6, New Haven1935, 149 no.202: see also M. Dietrich, to know that he had to be better in everything than any Die Aramder Sfidbabyloniens in tler Surgonidenzeit (700- ofhis predecessorshad beenifhe wantedto be accept- 648),AOAT 7, Kevelaer- Neukirchen-Vluyn1970, 188-191. 80) Kolophone ed by other kings, or even the officials of his own H. Hunger, Babylonischeund assyrische (BAK), (AOAT 2), Kevelaer- Neukirchen-Vluyn1968,97' country Assyria.TTThe following historic eventsdem- 98 (no. 319: Asb.type c-e) ll. 3-4:Sadnabft udtai-me-tunuz- that Ashurbanipalhad to prove his ability in "to onstrate nu ra-pa-di-tuo ii-ru-ku-ui (4) i-!u-zu lGl na-mir-tu maintainingthe Assyrian empire by using diplomacy, whom Nab0 and Ta5metugave great wisdom, who acquired deterrence, and military campaigns during the first a bright eye"; seealso p. 103(no. 329: Asb. type o) ll. l-2. three decadesof his reign. His military successwas 8')H. Hunger,BAK,97-98 (no.319: Asb. type c-e) 11.4, 7-8: ... ni-siq lup-iar-ru-ti ... (7) ina lup-pa-a-niiti-1ur as-niq 75)Ashurbanipal Prism F I 3l-32: ide ep€Jqabli u tafidzi ab-re-e-ma(8) a-na ta-mar-ti ii-ta-as-si-iaqt-reb E.GAL-ia "I "(l (32) kullumaku seddru u mitbu$utu know how to wage war il-kin learned)the highest level of the scribal art. ... I and battle (32) I have been shown (how to set up) battle wrote on clay tablets,checked and collated(them) and depos- line(s) and (do) combat." ited (them) in my palacefor inspectionand readingby me." E2) 76)Ashurbanipal already knew the usefulnessof conspira- H. Hunger,BAK,97-98 (no.319: Asb. typec-e) ll.4- cy to reacha goal beforehe becamecrown prince,see above 7: ... ni-siq lup-Sar-ru-ti (5\ iit ina LUGAL.MES'ni aJik note 65. mafu-ri-iamam-ma iip-ru iu-a-tu la i-fuu-uz-zu(6) ni-me-eq dnabtt 77) After Esarhaddon'sdeath in 669 BC, his mother ti-kip sa-an-tak-ki ma-la ba-di-mu (7) ina lup-pa-a-ni "The Zak0tu imposeda loyalty oath on the Assyrianroyal family, di-Eur as-niq ab-re-e-ma wisdom of Nab0, the cunei- the aristocracy,and the nation in favour of her grandson form signs, as many as there are fonned, I wrote on clay Ashurbanipal,who hadjust ascendedthe Assyrianthrone; see tablets,checked and collated(them)"; see also p. 105-106 ABL 1239(83-l-18,45) + 83-1-18,266(JCS 39 [1987]189), (no. 338) ll. 7-9. "Neo-Assyrian Er) edited by S. Parpola, treatiesfrom the royal A tablet with the text of the fourth tablet of the : "for archivesofNineveh," JCS 39 (1987)165-170, and S. Parpola explanatoryseries HAR-ra bubullu had been written - K. Watanabe,SAA Il, 62-64 no. 8. the inspectionof Ashurbanipal,the crown prince;" see H. The BabvlonianTexts of Nineveh t2r familiar with the "complete scribal art"8aincluding the the omen literature by a synonym$ or an alternative "craft of the diviner, the secretsof heavenand earth," expressioner.Some scribes even transferred the learned and the "wisdom of SamaSand Adad."85 kind of writing that useslogograms into syllabic Akka- According to his royal inscriptions,Ashurbanipal dian writing" or gave the pronounciation of these was familiar with difficult bilingual texts,E6but focus- logograms;e3someone who was familiar with Sumerian ed his particular interest on old tablets. It was well would have known how to read these sentences.The establishedwithin Assyrian and Babylonian scholar- exorcist Nab0-nasir,on the other hand had overesti- ship that the older a tablet was, the more authority it mated the king's knowledge when he wrote to him was allotted.Ashurbanipal was thereforevery proud of aboutmiqit iam€, "what has fallen from heaven,"a not his ability to read"stone tablets from beforethe flood," uncommon expressionfor epilepsyea.The king was which is really remarkableconsidering the changein astonishedand asked:"'Fall of heaven.'What is this? cuneiform script over the millennia. According to one The heavensexist forever."es of his prism inscriptions,Ashurbanipal was not only The obliging mannerof the scribesto explain cer- able to read theseold scripts,but was also "enjoying tain words or expressionsmight indicatethat the king the writing on stonesfrom before the flood."E8 himself read the reports;the scribesdid not expectthe Because of his interest in old tablets, the king king to have the expert knowledge of divination.e6 encouragedhis agentsto look for them in Babylonia. Still, it is doubtful whether Ashurbanipal started to One of his agents, A3aredu the younger, wrote to learn the scribal art only after his designationas crown Ashurbanipal:Ee"The tablet which the king is using is defective and not complete.Now then I have written and fetched from Babylon an ancient tablet made by m) Seee. g. RMA 37 (K. 729) : SAA VIII 253 obv. 4 king Hammurapi and an inscription from before king (-€1irto Esarhaddon):rSArr : pe-lu : S[A'J : sa-a-mu Hammurapi." "SA, (means)red. SA, (also means)red (brown)." er) The official sources describe Ashurbanipal as a Seee. g. RMA 36 (Bu.89-4-26,159) : SAA VIII 106 learnedscholar, who was able to read any cuneiform rev. I (written by Akkullanu to Esarhaddon);e-de-du i $a-pe- qar-ni "'to be pointed' meansto be adorned,said of tablet, no matter how old it was and regardlessof ru Sa horns"; the same explanationis given RMA 364, (K. whetherit was written in either Sumerianor Akkadian. 12469): SAn VIII 190obv. 2' (unknownAssyrian scribe), Someof those scholarswho wrote lettersor reportsto and RMA 27 (K. 874) : SAA VIII 330 obv. 7 (writtenby the king might have judged his ability differently. A5areduthe older to Ashurbanipal).In RMA 82 (K. 769) Sometimes,they explaineda rather common word of : SAA VIII 320 obv. 9-10, the astrologerMunnabitu ex- plainesEsarhaddon the phenomenonthat "the moon and the sunwill makean eclipe"with: iri UD-14-KAM (10) ITU-as- Hunger,BAK, 108no. 345 1.2: a-na tam-ri-irtu 'da^i-izr-DU- sa DINGIR KI DINGIR NU IGI-rz "on the l4th day, each DUMU.NITA DUMU LUGAL, month, one god will not be seenwith the other." M)H. Hunger,BAK, 103(no. 330: Asb. type r-s) 1.5:kul- e2)In his reports to Esarhaddonand Ashurbanipal,the "who lat lup-iar-ru-ti ifi-su-suka-ras-su understoodthe com- Assyrianastrologer Nab0-alle-eriba used to add the syllabic plete scribal art." writing in a smallerscript below the logogramconcerned; see t5)H. Hunger,BAK, 100-l0l (no. 325: Asb. type l) l. 3: sAA Vrrr 40, 41, 43-45,48-55, 57, 60, 62-66,68-E7. The NAM.AZU AD.HAL AN-e z Kli,im nt-me-qi dUTU u dls- samecan be seenon RMA 42 (Sm. 1073): SAA VIII 188 KUR i-!u-zu-ma ui-ta-bi-lu -ras-su"who learnedthe craft obv. 5 (unknownAssyrian scribe): ... KA GI.NA (pronounced) ofthe diviner, the secretsofheaven and earth,the wisdomof pu-u i-kan "speechwill becomereliable", RMA 137(K. 799) Sama5and Adad. and understandsit." : SAA VIII 268 rev. 4 (Nergal-€firto Esarhaddonor Ashur- 86) So according to Ashurbanipal inscription Lt (K. banipal):... DIB-i',i (pronounced)ig-ba-tu-ui "he seizedhim." 2694+3050;for editionsof the inscriptionsee above note 65) er)See e. g. ABL 869 (81-2-4,120) : SAA X 78 obv. 5' I 17: di-ta-si kam-munak-lu id EME.GI?;u-ul-lu-lu ak-ka- (written by the Assyrianastrologer Nab0-a$!€-eriba to Ashur- du-u ana Jule-iu-ri di-lu "l have read artfully-written texts banipal):EN.NUN-UD.ZA[L.LA] (is pronounced)e-nu-un i- in which the Sumerianversion was obscureand the Akkadian rza-a11-la. q) version for clarifying (too) difficult." SeeM. Stol, Epilepsyin Babylonia,CM 2, Groningen 87) Vacat. 1993,7-9. miqit iam€ is the Akkadiantranslation of Sumeri- t8) Ashurbanipal inscription La (K. 2694+3050; for edi- an AN.TA.SUB.BA,a word that is usedin medicaltexts; the tions of the inscription see above note 65) I 18: ftit-1a-ku commonword for epilepsyor epilepsylike diseasesused in GU.SUM ab-ni id la-am a-bu-bi "l am enjoying the cunei- every day life is Akkadian bennu. form wedges(sc. writing) on stone(s)from beforethe flood." e5)PBS VII 132(CBS 1471) : SAA X 295obv. I l-12: ... None of thesestones were excavated. SUg-r; AN-e mi-i-nu iu-u (12) ka-a-a-fma-nlzAN-e i-ba-ii. E') ABL 255 (K. 552) : SAA X 155 obv. 5-13:1up-pi id N. P. HeeBelkindly drew my attentionto this text. e6) LUGAL (6) [ma]-!u il ul Jd-lim (7) [a]-du-tilup-pi (8) llla-bi- This would also refer to scribes,who usedto readthe ru id am-mu-ra-piLUGAL (9) fel-pu-iil ma-al-1a-ru(10) [^i.t royal correspondence.They haven't have been able to read p)a-ni am-mu-ra-pi LUGAL (ll) ki-i [ti-pu-ru (12) ul-tu omen texts,at the sametime, becausethe vocabularyof both TIN.TIR.KI (13) at-ta-id-a. texts differs very much. The Babylonian Texts of Nineveh t23

head ofthe king's bed and the feet ofthe king('s bed), r because thev inscribed a stela with the text of this tsthe grindstoneweapon of the head of the king's bed, I letter.r"t Laier, during the Seleucid period, a scribe r6the "May tTbring incantation Ea and Marduk together copied the stela onto a cunciform tablet, which hap- ruwisdom", the collected one, rEtheseries (concerning) "battle", pens to be in the British Museum Babylon collec- as much as there is, reincludingtheir extra tion.106The relevant passagesrun as follows:r07 single-columned tabletsr('2,20as much as there are, "that rTo Ashurbanipal,the greatking, the mighty king, 2'(the ritual) an arrow should not come close to "walking the king of the world, the king of Assyria,... a person in battle", 22(therituals for) in the "entering EThusanswer the obedientpeople of Borsippathe open country", (for the) the palace", 2rthe "hand instruction,the king, their master,wrote (to them): instructions of the lifting", 2a"theinscription of "'Copy completescribal corpus that is in the the amulets" and 2swhateveris good for the kingship, the "giddiness"tot, possessionof Nab0,my lord, and sendit to me!" r0... 26"purification of the village", ztlal- rr...Now, we are neithernegligent of the king's, though it is) out of use, and whatever is needed 28in our master's,order, nor do we rest,but keepawake to the palace - as much as there is; and the 2erare pleasethe king, our master.'2We will carry out (lit.: 2ttablets 2ethat are known to you but 30are not in write) trthe instructionr2by writing-boards made of Assyria. Search for them and rrbring them to me! musukkannu-wood.... Everything r3thatyou wrote, Right now, r2l have written 3rto 32theiatammu-offi- apart from what is in the Esaggil, is here. Our lord cials and to the provincial commandants; 33you shall (which is the god Nab0)might complete(the order)in place (them) in the houses of your surety. front of the king, our master. No one raisallowed to hold back a tablet from you; and as for r5any tablet or instruction that I did 36not write to you about but that you have discovered r?to be In his letter order to Sadfinu,Ashurbanipal request- "whatever good for the palace, you must take (them) as well and ed the original tablets of is good for the "whatever resend(them) to me. kingship" and ... is good for the palace,"but the scholarsof Borsippajust refer to copiesof tablets. Taking a closerlook at the various tablet-seriesthe Obviously,they misinterpretedthe instructionwith the king was seekingfor - instructionsfor the first and the intention of keeping the original tablets in their own seventhmonth of the year, severalrituals for the king's temple library. Could the memory of Tukulti-Ninurta I bed, for battles, for walking around in the dangerous (1243-1207BC) who ransackedthe Babylonianlibrar- desert,for amuletsto protect a personagainst evil, for ies in the late l3th centuryBC and carriedaway many care of the palace - we must agree with the king's tabletsr08to A55urr0ebe the reasonfor their misinterpre- summarythat he was looking for "whateveris good for tation? the kingship" (1, 25) and "whatever is ... good for the to) palace" (1. 37). First of all, the king's aim was to BM 45642 (81-7-6, 35) rev. 21: ib-trdr an-na-a ina "this collect as many instructions for rituals and incantations UGU-bi N^4.R[U.A] ^friNA4.GIS.NUil.GAL is written as possiblethat were vital for his own protectionand on a stefle] made of ". 106)Andrew R. Georgewho gave a paperon this subject that of every singleplace where he might possiblystay at the 49e RencontreAssyriologique Internationale, 2003, in during his reign: his palace or one of his military London, will publish this tablet. In S. Parpola- R. M. campaigns. Whiting (ed.),Assyria 1995,Helsinki 1997,7l-72, note 9, But the king not only asked for tablets of rituals A. R. Georgegave the first information about this text and that were vital to maintainhis royal power but also for transliteratedand translatedsome lines. tttul "the rare tabletsthat ... are not in Assyria" (ll. 28-30). BM 45642(81-7-6,35) obv. 1,8-9, ll-13: (l) a-na .AN.SAR-DIU-A This instructionpoints to Ashurbanipal'sidea of creat- LIUGAL GAL-' LUGAL dan-nuLUGAL (8) rv^'t-*a ing a comprehensivelibrary including every scholarly kii-iat LUGAL al-iur.Kl ... bar.sip.KI.MESsa- an-qfu-t)it a-na LUGAL EN-.in-na i-ta-ru-rnirl na-di-par- tablet he was able to get hold of. And he knew that he tum 3d ii-lu-ru (9) um-ma kul-lat LU.DUB.SAR-r, .itd SIA also had to get accessto the private libraries of the NiG.GA dAG EN-ia iu-yu-ru-a'Su-hil-lu-ni... (ll) ... e-nin- scholarsand to the temple libraries (ll. 8-10) if he ni ina KfA LUGIAL EN-ni ul ni-ig-gu ni-na-ftuni-dal-li-pu wanted to collect the written knowledge and wisdom ana LUG/IL EN-ni nu-ialJlaml nla-ai-pafr-tum (12) ni- of the known world for his library. [Sa)tr:trdrina IJGtJlGIS.DA id GIS.MES.MA.KAN.NU,r4- Fortunately, we know the answer of the scholarsof pal<-lu> ... UL DU.A.[B]I (13) fi)d tai-pu-ru al-la id ina Borsippato a instruction Ashurbani- E.SaC.CII- ia-a-nu EN-ni ina IGI LUGAL EN-ni tii-lim. this or similar of r08) pal.'M This reply to the king becamea very important See the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic B rev. VI (BM 98730) 2'-8',l1', 12'-13'(seeW. G. Lambert,,{fO 18 44- and well-known documentfor the citizensof Borsippa, 11957-581 45, P. B. Machinist,The Epic of Tukulti-Ninurtal; A Studyin Middle AssyrianLiterature, Ph. D. Dissertation,Yale 1978, '02) A tablet format used both for excerpts and tablets of 128-129):ni-sir-fli...l (3') lup-pa-at t...1(4) tupriar-ru1-tfa a series. ...1(5) a-ii-pu-tab[a' ...) (6') ER.SA.HUN.GArl(tt pi1 xl...l t03) "giddiness, IGI-NIGIN.NA : sud pani vertigo." (7'\ ba-ru-ta ... ti-Slu-rlatAN-rer [KI-lt ...] (8') mal-tra-rata- t*) BM 45642(81-7-6,35). I learnedabout this text from su-ti nt-pei na-falp-mfa-daae...) (9') ... (11) ul ez-baina an unpublishedmanuscript Eckart Frahm kindly madeavaila- KUR iu-me-ri n URI.KI mim-ma [...] / (12') [t]dk-ii-il tuau- ble to me (see abovenote 42). ri ni-iirli MAN tc[.f-.fi-t ...] (13') i-ie-em-li GIS.MA.MES 122 .IeanetteC. Fincke

prince.eTLearning how to write and read cuneiform rOrder of the king to Sad0nu: 2l am well - let your signsmust alreadyhave been part of his former educa-- heart be at ease! 3The Tseize tion, judging by the advancedknowledge he reachedin day you see my letter in your hands sSumaya,athe this art. Ashurbanipalwas very proud of the fact that son of Suma-ukin, B0l-cgir, his brother, 5Aplaya, the sgn of Arkat-ilani, 6and (all) scholars his scholarlyskills were much betterthan thoseof any Twhom from Borsippa you know and r0collect 8all the of his predecessorserJbecause, unlike them, he did not tablets as much as there are in their houses eandall the dependon what his scribesor officials told him or read tablets as much as there are stored in the temple to him. His ability to check the correctnessof the Ezida: Iothetablets concerning the amulets of the king, written words preventedhim from being manipulated. rt(those)concerning the watercoursesof the days of At somepoint, Ashurbanipalmust have discovered the month nisannu (l), t'the amulet concerning the his interest in literature and in old historical texts. watercourses of the month tairttu (YlI), (e. g.) con- tlthe Moreover, later on when he had the opportunity to do cerning the (ritual) brt sald m|tot, amulet con- cerning the watercourses of the decisions (or: so, this interest led him to create a personal royal trials) (of) the day (sc. Sama5, the sun), ra4 amulets of the library as well as to extendthe existing libraries.This was of such concernto him that the scholarsin charge ab-ka (3'l un-mulup-pi ta-mu-ru ^Su-ma-a (4) DUMU-.in .id informed him about the processof copying tabletsfor .MU-GI.NA dEN-KAR-ir SES-SI;(5) -IBILA-A DUMU-.S:I his library, as well as about the numberof copiesthat id ^A1-h'I-DINGIR.MES(O i LU.um-ma-nuid bdr-sipa.Kl alreadyexisted of a certaincomposition.ee In addition (7) id ataa il-du-i ina SlJtt-kaSa-bat-mu (8) DUB.MES na- to that, Ashurbanipaltried to acquireBabylonian tab- la ina t.MES-Si-nui-ba-di-Sti-ti (9), DUB.MESma-la ina lets for his libraries. t-zi-da iak-nu (10) fti-pi-ir-rra DUB.MES .;'; CU.trleS Sa LUGAL (ll) il na-ra-a-tiid DADAG.MES ^ir,ITU.BAR (12) NA,.GU .id iD.MEs .i'dITU.DUL ii E sa-taL A.MEs (13) Nn4.cU.id ID.MES iri di-ni uo-mu(14) 4 NA4.GU.MES Vn. AshurbanipaPs method of collecting Baby- ^ir;sAG GIS.NA LUGAL u ie-pit LUGAL (15) GIS.TUKUL lonian tablets GIS.MA.NU jI SAG GIS.NA LUGAL (16) EN di-a u dASARI.LU.HI ni-me-qa (17) li-gam-ne-ru-ni pu-uft-bu-ru During the first 20 years of Ashurbanipal'sreign, (18) ES.GARMF, ma-la ba-J{t-il(19) a-di IM.GID.DA.ME- his brother Sama5-Sum-ukinruled as king of Babylonia iil-nu at-ra-a-ti (20) ma-la i-ba-di-iil-n Q|) ina Mii Gl ana (see above section V), but he later started a revolt LU NU TE-e (rev. 22) EDIN-NA-DIB-BI-DAE-GAL-KU"- (23) against his brother. In 648 BC, Ashurbanipal was RA ni-pi-ia-a-nu SU-if--la.rcaM.a-nu (24) mdl-ta-ru .il NA4.MESu iit a-na LIJGAL-u-ti (26) tak-pir- victorious in the civil war and assumedkingship of Q5) !a-a-bi /i URU IGI.NIGIN.NA (27) ki-i na-qut-ti u mim-ma Babylonia. This gave Ashurbanipal bi-Sib-ti accessto all the (28) i-na E.CAL ma-la ba-iil-rt, DUB.MES (29) aq-rutu id Babyloniantemple archivesand libraries,and enabled mt-dak-ku-nu-iim-ma(30) ina KUR.ai'szr.Kl ia->-nu bu-'-a- him to use theseBabylonian sources for expandinghis nim-ma (31\ 3u-bi-ta-a-nia-du-il a-na ,32) LU.SA.TAM l.t own royal library. LU.GAR-UMIJSal-tap-ra (33) ina E SU"-k, tul-tak-numan- An Assyrian king, who most probably is Ashurba- ma (34) lup-pi ul i-kil-lak-ka u ki-i (35) mim-ma lup-pi u ni- nipal, gives the most instructiveinformation about the pi-iti iti u-na-ku (36) la di-pu-rak-ku-nu-iu-u ta-tam-ra-ma (37) way of assemblingtablets for royal libraries:He gave a-na E.Cdt-ta !a-a-bu (38) it-tP-im-mu i-iti-nim-ma (39\ iu-bi-la-a-ni. For earlier translationsof this letter see a written order to his agentsin Babyloniato searchfor e.g.R.C. Thompson,Late BabylonianLetters, 1906,2-5,F. tabletsthat might be useful for his royal library. Two Martin, Lettresnto-babyktniennes, 1909, 19-22,R. H. Pfeif- copies of his letter order to Sadfinu,the governor of fer, StateLetters,1935, 179-180 (no. 256) (seeabove note Borsippa,are preserved:roo 79), andE. Ebeling,Neubabylonische Briefe, Miinchen 1949, l-3. Seealso E. Weidner,4fO 14 (1941-44)178, 178 note 37, e) "Assyrian Ashurbanipal'sprism inscription A l-34 seems to S. Parpola, Library Records,"JNES 42 (1983) ll indicate this, if we interpret the sequenceof events as a and St. J. Lieberman, "Canonical and Official Cuneiform descriptionin real chronologicalorder. Texts:Towards an Understandingof Assurbanipal'sPersonal eE) H. Hunger,BAK,97-98 (no.3l9: Asb.typcc-c) tl.4- Tablet Collection," in: T. Abusch - J. Huehnergard- P. 5: ... ni-siq lup-iar-ru-ti (5) id ina LUGAL.MES-n| a-lik Steinkeller,Lingering over ll/ords, Fs. Moran, Atlanta 1990, "(who ma!-ri-ia mam-ma iip-ru iu-tt-tu la i-bu-uz-zz lear- 3r0,334-336. ned) the highestlevel of the scribal art, a skill which none r0r) "House of the water sprinkling". This purification among the kings, my predecessors,ever had learned;" see ritual was often performed together with the btt rimki rit:ual alsop. 103(no. 329:Asb. type o) ll. 2-3, andp. 105-106(no. after eclipsesof the moon (ABL 437 [K. 168] : SAA X 352; 338)ll. 4-6. see also the cataloguein L. W. King, BMS, 1896,p. xix). ee) 'temple-enterer' See e. g. two of Akkullanu's, the of According to the ritual tablet, it was to be performedin the A55ur,letters to theking: CT 53, 187(K. 1538): SAA X l0l earfy month tairttu (YlIth month) (K. 2798+ obv. I [G. and CT 53,417 (K. 10908)+ CT 53, 702 (K. 15645): SAA Meier,AfO 14 (1941-44)139 n.2l). Seealso K. 1526(SAA x 102. X 219),the letter from Adad-5uma-u$urto the king question- to9 CT 22 no. I (BM 25676,BM 25678):(l) a-mat ing if it was too soonto perform the (ritual) of btt sala) m€ ^id-du-nu LUGAL a-na (2) iul-mu ia-a-ii lib-ba-ka lu-u !a- after the 26th of the month ululu (Yl). t24 JeanetteC. Fincke

Another very important piece of information con- VIII. The Neo-Assyrianlibrary records tained in the scholar's answer is the fact that they intended to copy the requestedtablets on wooden The administrationof the Neo-Assyrian royal li- writing-boards(GIS./a'a)rr0 instead of clay tablets braries was well organized. The scribes in charge (luppu).This might correlatethe situationin the Ashur- wrote record tablets about acquisitions of incoming banipal libraries since there are only a few tablets tablets (DUB.MES, luppu) and wax-coveredwriting- known to havebeen written in Babyloniaand therefore boards(GIS.ZU, le'u) in the library and kept them for imported to Nineveh,rrrwhereas the other Babylonian further reference.Some of these library records from tabletscould just as well have been written by Baby- early in the year 647 BC have been foundr13.In gener- lonian scribes in the service of the king's palace in al, the records list tablets separatelyfrom writing- Assyria.rr2 boards, summing them up at the end of each group. There is just one casewhen the scribegave a sum that da-iur "Secret[s bi-i;-bi ana [...] of (or: The treasu[reo0 ...], refers to tablets togetherwith writing-boards.rraMost tabletsof [...], the corpusof scribalar[t ...], the corpusof of the writing-boardsmentioned in these library rec- incantation... t..], eriafuunga-lamentationsaccording to ... ords were polyptychsmade of severalleaves (GIS.IG, the plansof heaven earth [...], the corpusof diviners..., [and daltu "door, leaf (of writing-boards)")hinged together ...], medicalprescriptions according to the lore of the physi- kind of book.rrsThey consist of one to six cians (including)the procedurefor band[ages...] ... There to form a leaves;the majority of them have three to four leaves. was not left any [...] in the land of and (sc. Babylonia)./ The abundantprofit ofthe secrets(or: treasures) Even though none of the library recordsof 647 BC of the king of the Kassi[tes...], he filled boatswith (rich) is complete, they still give significant information yieldsfor (or: ..., to) the god A55ur[...]." about Ashurbanipal'smethod of assemblingtablets for Ioe) The Middle Assyrian library of the A55urtemple in his libraries in Nineveh. Approximately 2,000 tablets A55ur(Qal(at Serqdt) included both Assyrianand Babylonian and 300 writing-boardsrr6were taken from Assyrian E. Weidner,"Die BibliothekTiglat- texts.For this librarysee and Babylonianprivate scholars.With few exceptions pilesars1.," AJO 16 (1952-53)197-215, O. Peders€n,lr- thesepalace acquisitions consist of the completeMeso- chives and Libraries in the City of : A survey of the potamian scientific and religious lore, mainly divina- materialfrom Germanexcavations. Part I, Upsala 1985,3l- 42 (library M 2), and below sectionXI; the literary texts of tion texts, like extispicy,astrological, terrestrial, phys- A55ur are subject of the project initiated by St. M. Maul, iognomic, and birth omens, as well as the Heidelberg. exorcists' lore, medical texts and lamentations,and r'0) For the use of writing-boards sec below. various other compositionsthat occur only once or trr) Seee. g. the tablet with a ritual for the prince mount- twice in the records. (DIS KASKAL ing a chariot NUN GIS.GIGIRU,-za ina The library recordsgive the following information GIN-ii ...) Th. 1905-4-9,88 (BM 98582) (see Thureau- (see Fig. 2),rr7although, becauseof the fragmentary Dangin,RA 2l !9241 128[copy], 127-137 [edition], and CT o/o 34 pl. 8-9) that is copied from a tablet from Babylon by the conditionof the records,the compositionsof 74.7 of Babylonian scribe Nab0-u5allim,descendant of Egibi, the tablets are still unknown to us. But, still, the LU.MAS.MAS. The clay of the tabletpoints to a Babylonian divination corpus is the largest one - 20.8 o/oof all origin. tablets mentioned in the records, but 82 oZ of those rr2)This can easily be demonstratedby the Babylonian whose compositionscan be identified (see Fig. 3) - extispicy (bartttu)tablets from Nineveh that have an Ashur- followed by the exorcists' lore, which is 1.2% of all Koch-Westenholz,Babylonian Liver banipal colophon. U. tabletsbut 4.8 o/oof the numbersof known composi- Omens. The Chapters Manzdzu, Padanu and Pan takulti of tions (seeFig. 3). Within the group of divination texts the Babylonian Extispicy Series mainly from AiJurbanipal's Library, CNI Publications 25, Copenhagen2000, 28, has shown that the most common Ashurbanipalcolophons are "3) S. Parpola,JNES 42 (1983) l-29 publishedthe rec- type "b" (seeH. Hunger,BAK, no. 318)and type "l" (seeH. ords; seealso F. M. Fales- J. N. Postgate,Imperial Admin- Hunger, BAK, no. 325). Among the relevant Babylonian istrativeRecords, Part I, SAA VII, Helsinki 1992,nos. 49-56. tabletsonly thesetwo types of colophonsare preserved,so In some cases,the numbers of tablets and writing-boards far: see e. g. the 20th pirsu (division?) of the bardtu-sub- given in SAA VII differ from thoseof JNES42. The statistics seriesmultabiltu, K. 2880 (to be published by U. Koch- given in the presentarticle use the numbersgiven in SAA Westenholz)with an Asb. col. type "b"; K. 2912 (to be VII. publishedby U. Koch-Westenholz),also a multabiltu-tabler, ttr; The total of 188given in SAA VII I 17'(PAP l me of which the colophon is a variant to Asb. co1. Type "1" 88) refersto tablets(l 5': egirate"one-column tablets"), I l2': (courtesyU. Koch-Westenholz);K. 16799(to be published DUB.MES "tablets") and to writing-boards (1. 7': by U. Koch-Westenholz),a multabiltu-tabletwith an Asb. col. crS.zu.MES). type "1" (courtesyU. Koch-Westenholz);Rm. 23l, a liver tr5)For this seebelow. omen text, has Asb. col. type "1" (courtesyU. Koch-Westen- 116)According to S. Parpola,JNES 42 (1983) 4. holz). The Babyloniantablet K.9118 that has a variantto tt7) The records published as SAA VII 53-56 are not Asb. col. type "1" might belong to the extispicy series,as included in this statisticalsurvey because they are too frag- well. mentaryand uninformative. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh 125

Figure 2. Four library recordsfrom Nineveh (SAA VII 49, 50, 51, 52).

composrttonsand sertes number ot tablets . wrrtrng-boards: percentage oI the total number Ol . number of leaves tablets I writine-boards terrestrialomens (iumma dlu) 16l tablets I wr.-boards r0.9% 0.7% astrologicalomens (enuma anu enlil) 73 tablets 3 wr.-boards 5.0% 2.2% extispicy (barAtu) 0 tablets 69 wr.-boards 50.4% physiognomicomens (alandimmft) 39 tablets I wr.-boards 2.7 o/o 0.7Yo dream omens(iikar zaqtqu) l6 tablets 0 wr.-boards t.r% birth omens (Jummaizbu) 9 tablets 7 wr.-boards 0.6% 5.t% omen seriesiqqur ipui 4 tablets 0 wr.-boards 0.3% hemerologies(ume tlbuti) 3 tablets 0 wr.-boards 0.2% - (total:divination texts 305tablets EI wr.-boards 20.8 o/o se.t%) exorcists' lore (aiiputu) 18 tablets : 4wr.-boards 1.2% : 2.9% medical texts (bult€) 7 tablets : 27 wr.-boards 0.5 % :. tg.1 0 lamentations (kalfitu\ 2 tablets :. 12 wr.-boards 0.1% : 8.8yo various compositions 40 tablets l3 wr.-boards 2.7 o 9.5 Yo (tgta.l.9f.t!e. lqgy.n 99Tp.o.siti9ls...... )7?.ttl!".tt...... lJTyt !ee'91.. 25.3% ":': " 100.0%)"- " unknowncompositions and series 1097tablets : 0wr.-boards i4'.i% o/o total: 1469 tablets 1 137 wr.-boards 100.0 : 100.0% (+ 188 tablets I and wr.-boards)

the terrestrial omens (iumma alu ina mel6 iakin) have collectionsof tablets relevant to their special field.r2r the largestnumber with regardto tablets- 16l tablets, Some scholarlytexts from theseprivate libraries were which is 10.9Yo of all tablets- while there is just one acquiredfor the royal library.r22 writing-board which is 0.7 %o of all writing-boards mentionedin the records.The astrologicaltexts (enuma anu enlil) are cited with 73 tablets- 5 % of all tablets - and 3 writing-boards.With regard to the writing- boards the extispicy corpus (barfitu) has the largest (SpT{D I (ADFU 9\, 1976,E. von Weiher, SpTU ll (ADFU number- 69 (50.4 %) but no tabletsat all. All of these l0), 1983,E. von Weiher,SpTU III (ADFU l2), 1988,E. von baritu writing-boards were acquired from the Babylo- Weiher, SpiitbabylonischeTexte aus dem Planquadrat U 18 nian clan Bit-Ibe. (SpTUIV) (AUWE l2), 1993,and E. von Weiher,dito (SpTU According to the library records, some of the schol- V) (AUWE l3), 1998.Another example of the variety of ars gave away a remarkablyhigh number of tablets,rrs literary textsincorporated in a privatelibrary is the library of the exorcist (aiipu) Kigir-A5Surin A55ur. The excavation but none of them subrnittedcompositions needed for producedabout 800 clay tabletsfrom the so-called"house of the individual's profession.rreThe records prove also the exorcist".Most of them were from the exorcists'lore but that contemporary scholars had private libraries that they alsoincluded epics, copies ofthe "TopographyofA55ur", includeda variety of scholarlytexts,r20 rather thanjust royal rituals,and othersas well as somelegal documents.See O. Peders6n,Archives and Libraries in the City o.f AJiur: A rrE) Seee. g. Nab0-[...],who handedover 435 tablets(see Survey tf the Material from German Excavations II, Upsala SAA VII 49 II 5'-6');Nab0-apla iddin, son of Ub[ru-...],gave 1986, 4l-76 (library N4), and O. Peders6n,Archives and 342 tablets(SAA VII 49 rev. II 19-21);the diviner Nab0- Libraries in the AncientNear East 1500-300B. C., Bethesda nadin-apli,son of Issar-dDri,handed over 188 tablets(SAA 1998,135-136 (library N4 : Assur20). S. M. Maul's project VII 50 I l7'-19'); Bit-iba gave l0 polyptychs(of writing- (seeabove note 109)will give more insight into this library. boards)with extispicy texts (SAA VII 5l II l'-3). 12r)The astrologerAdad-Suma-ugur apologized for his late rre) SeeS. Parpola,JNES 42 (1983)8-9. answer to the king's question explaining (ABL 357 [Sm. r20) In this context,see e. g. the variety ofthe 503 textsin 13681: LAS 147: SAA X 202 obv. 8-12:inu Sn p.CaL a- the Late-Babylonianlibrary of the asipu (exorcist)Iqi$6, son za rUDU!.NiTAt.MESiil-nu (9).id LU.GAL-MlJ ti-ie-sa-an- of I5tar-5uma-ere$,of the family of Ekur-zakirin Uruk (War- ni (10) ti-se-li GlS.ZtJ ina E irt-u Ql) il-ma-a an-nu-rig ka), who inheritedtablets from former libraries.His library GIS.ZU (12) a-mar pit-iir-iu a-na-sa-fua)"l was driving to includedincantations, medical texts, the diagnostichandbook the palacethose rams, which the chief cook had broughtforth SA.GIG, the terrestrialomens series(.iazrza alu ina mdl€ to me. The writing-boardwas in (my) house.Now then,I can iakin), texts of the anomalyseries, astrological (enuma anu check the writing-boardand extract the relevant interpreta- enlil) and astronomicaltexts, extispicy (barfitu), and lexical tion;" this letter was written to Esarhaddonin 670(?) BC. texts, as well as myths, hymns, and others. The texts are r22)It is not clear whether the scholarsgave the tablets published by H. Hunger, SpdtbabylonischeTexte aus (Jruk voluntarily or were forced to do so. t26 Jeanette C. Fincke

IX. The writing-boards of the Neo-Assyrian therefore were soft and fragile. The same might have libraries in Ninevch been the case with the tablets from the Babylonian temple or private libraries.Therefore, the transportof The answerof the Borsippeanscholars to Ashurba- cuneiform tablets would have neededspecial precau- nipal's requestfor Babyloniantablets (see above sec- tions for their protection,such as wrapping in straw. tion VII) and the library records (see above section Secondly, cuneiform tablets are much heavier than VIII) indicate that the palace acquiredgreat numbers wooden writing-boards,which would have increased of waxed wooden writing-boards(GIS./e-'u)r23 inscri- the load. The Assyrian imperial administration, of bed with literary texts. As regardsthose from Borsip- course,used both clay tablets(see Fig. 3)125and writ- pa, it seemslikely that the transportfrom Babyloniato ing-boards(see Figs. 4-6). The reasonfor using writ- Assyria itself was a significant factor as it is much ing-boardsin this contextr26is obvious: script on wax- easier to dispatch wooden writing-boards than clay coveredwood could easilybe erasedor correctedeven tablets.Many of the cuneiformtablets of Ashurbanipal's daysor monthslater, while clay dried after a few hours libraries might originally have been unbakedr2aand which made changesof the written text impossible. The library records indicate that wooden writing- boardswere includedin the library for long-termstor- r23)The excavatorsof Nimrud (Kalbu) unearthedin the just North-WestPalace several ivory and walnut writing-boards age as the clay tablets were. In fact, there are measuringapp. 33.8 x 15.6cm with a marginwhich is raised severalhints that writing-boardswere consideredequiv- 0.3 cm. Within the margin, the boardswere scratchedwith alent to clay tablets regarding their substanceand criss-crosslines to producea surfacewith a good grip. The reliability by Neo-Assyrianscholars, even by the king inner part of some boardswere still partially coveredwith wax showing some cuneiform signs.According to the colo- adelphia1989, l0-11). Thereis at leastone Middle Babylo- phon written on the outsideof one of the leaves,the ivory nian tablet with firing holes (seeU. Jeyes,Studies Lambert, boardswere once producedfor Sargon'sII palace in Dur- 2000,371), and severalMiddle Assyriantablets from A55ur - Sarrukin they had been inscribedon both sides in two (E. Ebeling,AJO 14 [194]-441298-303,Tafeln IX-X [Assur columnsand hinged togetherto form a polyptychconsisting 21953o;-mythl), some of them belong to the group of of eight or nine leaves(G|S.IG, t)altul; see M. E. L. Mallo- tabletswith a distinctivesort of clay which have a red core "The wan, Excavationsat Nimrud (Kall3u), 1953," Iraq 16 and an ivory colouredsurface (e. g. KAV I [VnT 1000;Old "Assyrian (1954)98-107, and D. J. Wiseman, Writing-Boards," Assyrian lawsl, VAT 14388 lA.fO 12 (1937-39) Tafel Vl). Iraq 17(1955) 3-13. For thetechnical aspect ofthese writing- The same appearanceof clay has a Middle Assyrian tablet "Technical boards,see M. Howard, Descriptionof the Ivory with incantationsfrom Nineveh, and it thereforemust have Writing-Boardsfrom Nimrud," Ireq 17 (1955) l4-20. been taken from A55ur: see W. G. Lambert. "A Middle The excavationin A55ur(Qal(at Serqat), west of the so- Assyrian tablet of incantations",AS l6 (StudiesLandsber- "house called ofthe exorcist",also revealed an ivory writing- ger), Chicago1965, 283-288 (Rm. 376). There is no research board measuring 8.2 x 4.3 cm with a margin raised 0.4- on the Middle Assyriantablets from Nineveh,but at leastthe 0.5 cm and criss-crossscratching on the inner side (Ass. tablet describingthe eighth campaignof SargonII (714 BC) 13932).The way of connectingthis board to othersproves published in TCL III has firing holes on the edges and that this board was meant to form a diptych of just two betweenthe columnson obverseand reverse.In Neo-Assyri- "Eine leaves.See E. Klengel-Brandt, Schreibtafelaus Assur," an times,some large library tabletsfrom Kallu (Nimrld) and AOF 3 (1975) 168-171,Tafeln 2l-22. Nineveh have firing holes. "n) SeeJ. E. Reade.CRRAI 30.218-219.who considered r25)The sceneshows two Assyrianofficials taking records that looters' fires in 612 BC had baked the tablets of the during a military campaign,one with a clay tablet, and the "firing Kouyunjik collection.The existenceof the so-called other one with a scroll. The latter is used to be thought a holes" on some of the Ninevite tabletsdoes not necessarily scribewriting in the language.However, J. Reade, point to baking of the tablets in antiquity (see C. B. F. AssyrianSculpture, British Museum,London, 1996(8th im- Walker,Reading the past: Cuneiform,British Museum 1987, pression),34, gives anotherinterpretation. According to him, "the 24-25),but ratherto the scribes'effort to avoid empty space man with the scroll was a war-artist, illustrating the on the tabletsso that nobodywas ableto add something,later events about his colleague is writing. After the reign of "Gall-bladder (seeU. Jeyes, omensextant in Middle Babylo- Tiglath-pilesar,however, they appearfrequently, sometimes nian, Nineveh, and Seleucidversions," in: A. R. George- with scrolls,sometimes with hingedboards, the ancientequiv- I. L. Finkel (ed,.),Wisdom, gods and literature fStudiesLam- alent of bound books." For reliefs of Assyrianofficials, one bertf,WinonaLake 2000, 371). The useof thesefiring holes with a writing-boardand the other one with a scroll, dating becamea matter of tradition - even the copies of literary to the reign of Ashurbanipal,see Figs. 4-6. "firing tabletshave their holes" in exactly the sameposition 126)For the use of writing-boardsin the Assyrianadmin- (see C. B. F. Walker, op. cit., 24). On the other hand, all istrationsee e. g. nDD 826 (K. 897) : SAA Xl 172rev. l- tabletswith firing holes publishedso far seemto have been 2: PAP l7 ZI.MES (2) ia la GIS./e-'i"In total 17 deportees, bakedin antiquity. who are not (recorded)on the writing-board."For writing- The oldesttablet with firing holesis Old Babylonian(see boardsin the Neo-Babyloniantemple administrationof Sip- "Some B. Alster - C. B. F. Walker, SumerianLiterary texts par, seeJ. MacGinnis,"The Use of Writing Boardsin the in the British Museum,"in: H. Behrens- D. Loding - M. T. Neo-BabylonianTemple Administrationat Sippar," Iraq 64 Roth [ed.], DUMU-E2-DUB-BA-A [Studies Sjdberg], Phil- (2002\2r7-236. The Babvlonian Texts of Nineveh r27

Figure3. Tiglath-pilesetIII (747:725BC), Kalbu (NimrDd),Central Palace (BM 118882):Eunuch Figure 4. Ashurbanipal (66E-627 BC) or later, Nineveh scribestaking notes of the booty;the left scribeis (Kouyunjik), South-WestPalace, Court XIX (BM 124782): writingon a claytablet using cuneiform script, and Scribes taking notes of the booty; the bearded scribe is the right one on a parchmentin Aramaic(sketch writing on a waxed writing-board(diptych) using cuneiform drawnby J. C. Finckeafter B. Hrouda,Der alte signs,and the other one on a parchmentin Aramaic (sketch Orient,1999,204). drawn by J. C. Fincke after S. Smith,l.r.ryrian Sculpturesin The British Museum,1938, p. XLVII). himself. The Assyrian astrologer l5tar-5uma-ere5sug- "let gestedto Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipal them bring Neo-Assyrian scholars who worked for the palace in that writing-board of enuma anu enlil, which we had access to Assyrianr3r and Babylonian'32 writing- wrote, (and) let the king, my lord, have a look"r27. boards. Scribes copied or extracted from these writing- "writing Scholars quoted from a board of the series boards to produce clay tablets for the royal library,r33 MUL.APIN".r28Even Babylonianscholars quoted from as is well known from the tablet colophons.r3a The writing-boardsr2eas well as from tablets.Occasionally scholars made excerpts on writing-boards and sent dispatchedto me via Ali-duri there [was described(how to them to the king to allow him to study a certain matter make)lphylacteries [o?and ...]." in more detail.r30 r3r)See e. g. CT 53, 187(K. 1538): SAA X l0l obv.9: lclS.ZUl.MES a|-Sur.Kr-uti. r27)RMA 152 (Ki. 1904-10-9,268) = LAS 319 : SAA rr2)See e. g. CT 53,187 (K. 1538): SAA X l0l obv.8: VIII l9 rev. l-3: GIS.LI.U,.UMam-mi-u (2).ia UD-AN-dter- IGIS.ZIU.MESUru.rI-ri-r[i x x x x x], and LAS 320 (83-l- lil ia ni-ii-1ur-u-ni (3\ lu-5e-ri-bu-u-niLUGt\L be-li le-mu. 18, 235) : SAA X 384 rev. l-2: an-nu-rlr?GIS.Lll.U'.UM r28) "Now Seethe letter from Balasi and Nab0-al-rle-eribaLAS (2) URI.KI-ril Ui-hil-ru then, let them [sel]ect an 43 (K. 13174)(+?) ABL 693 (83-l-18, 154) : LAS s5 Akkadian (sc. Babylonian)writing-board." '33) 'temple (: sAA X 62) obv. r3-14:[Grs].DA ^ic MUL.APIN (14) [fril- Akkullanu, the enterer' of A55ur in A55ur, "[The] i an-ni-e writing-board of MUL.APIN says as wrote to Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipalabout copying omen Ifo]llows." textsfor theking: CT 53, 187(K. 1538): SAA X l0l obv. r2e) See the report Nabt-iqi5a from Borsippa wrote to 7-10: ... fia-ra-me-ma[x x x x x x] (S) tclS.ZlU.MES Esarhaddon:RMA 215 A (DT 304): SAA VIII 297 obv.l- URI.KI-/-I[, x x x x x] (9) IGIS.ZUI.MESai-iur.Kl-u-ti fx "Later 2: MUL.UDU.IDIM.SAG.US1x x x xl (2) ana 3-iu ina x x x xl (10) [x x x D]UB.MES la-di-tur fI shall "Saturn GIS.DA [id-ti-ir) [... it is written] three times on a collect) the Akkadian (sc. Babylonian)[writing-b]oards [...] writing-board." and the Assyrian [writing-boa]rds[...], and I shall write the r30) See e. g. the letter from Esarhaddonto the chief tablets[...]." rra) chanterUrad-gula (PBS VII 132 [CBS l47l] : SAA X 295 The following informationof the colophonsabout the .PAB?- obv. 4-8): ... tna SA-bt clS.ZU (5) iu-u lila ina SUII origin ofthe writing-boardsand tabletsthe scribescopied the rBADtt (6) tu-ie-bi-la-an-ni(7) me-UGU-ii-nu x lx xl-a-te text from are taken from the writer's researchon the Baby- "In (8) i-na Sa-a; 1x x xl ... that writing-boardthat you lonian textsfrom Ninevehand the studyby H. Hunger,BAK, 128 JeanetteC. Fincke

Figure 5. Ashurbanipal(668 - ca. 627 BC) or later, Nineveh Figure 6. Ashurbanipal(668 - ca. 627 BC) or later, Nineveh (Kouyunjik), South-WestPalace, Room XXVIII, Panel 10 (Kouyunjik), South-West Palace, Room XXVIII, Panel 9 (BM 124956):Scribes taking notes ofthe booty;the beardless (BM 124955):Scribes taking notes of the deadenemies; the (sic!) scribe is writing on a waxed writing-board(diptych) beardedscribe is writing on a waxed writing-board(diptych) using cuneiform signs, and the bearded (sic!) one on a using cuneiform signs,the beardlessone on a parchmentin parchmentin Aramaic (sketchdrawn by J. C. Fincke after P. Aramaic (sketch drawn by J. C. Fincke after J. M. Russell, Matthiae,Ninive, 1999,p. 98-99). Sennacherib'sPalace without Rival at Nineveh. 1991. 30 figure l9). original writing-boards used for the tablets of Ashurba- "Assyria nipal's libraries came from Assyriar35, from citiesr3e.Other originals - writing-boards or clay tab- 'Sumer and the countries and Akkad' (sc. Babylo- lets - came from Assyriara0,and from the Babylonian "Assyria nia)"t;6, from and Akkad (sc. northern part of cities Babylonrar and Borsippara2. Babylonia)"r37, from Babylonr3E,and other Babylonian t:1 The origin of the writing-boardused by the Babyloni- 1968. Further studies will certainly give a more detailed an scribe Nabt-Sapik-z€rifor the third tablet of the series pictureof the different cities from which the originalscame. enilmaanu enlil isnot known(K. 10129IAAT lla : ACh Sin r35) Seee. g. the Babylonian,sdfa-commentary to astrolog- 7l); see H. Hunger, BAK, no. 346. lt is the samewith the ical texts(Rm. II, 127lE. Reiner,A.fO 24 (1973)l0l; seeH. Babylonian tablet containing a namburbi (K. 3853 [K. D. Hunger, BAK, no. 439) or the Babylonianextispicy-tablet Macmillan,BA 5.5, 1906,698 no. LI) + 13287[R. I. Caplice, K.9872 (seeH. Hunger,BAK, no. 479).See also H. Hunger, OrNS40 (1971)Tab. l4 (photo);S. M. Maul, BaF 18, 1994, BAK, no. 544. 439-4421),and the unpublishedBabylonian fragments K. 8890 116)See H. Hunger,BAK, no. 318 (Asb.col. type "b"). and83-l-18,751. r37)See H. Hunger,BAK, no. 336. t+o;The original of the religious tablet with prayersto r38)See e. g. the tabletsof Nab0-zuqup-k€nu'slibrary in Sama5written by a Babylonianscribe came from KUR.a.i- Kallu that had beenwritten during the reign of Sennacherib ^iar.Kl(K. 6073 [GeersHeft B p. 28] + 9l-5-9, 132 [C. D. and were later transferredto Nineveh. Most of thesetablets Gray,Sama! pl. 201). "according ra') had been written to old tablets" (see H. Hunger, The first(K.3139 IAAT pl.6: ACh Sinl]) andthe BAK, nos. 296, 297, and 301), some of which originally 22nd (79-7-8, 121 [ACh Sin 34] + 79-7-8, 125, cf. F. Roch- camefrom Babylon(see H. Hunger,BAK, no. 312). Other berg-Halton,AfO Beih. 22, 1988,253-270 [text J]) tablet of tablets of this library were written after original writing- the astrologicalseries enima anu enlil written by unknown boards from Babylon (see H. Hunger, BAK, nos. 293 and Babylonianscribes, the unpublishedBabylonian tablet with 302) or from Babylonand Assyria(see H. Hunger,BAK, no. terrestrialomens K. 12188,the Babylonianreligious text K. 307). As for other tablets of Ashurbanipal'slibraries that 8637 (Geers Heft A p. l9), and the tablet with a ritual, were written after writing-boardsfrom Babylon,see H. Hun- written by the Babylonianscribe Nab0-uSallim (Th. 1905-4- ger, BAK, nos.500, 502, and 535. 9, 88 [F. Thureau-Dangin,RA 2l (1924)128; CT 34 pl. 8-9; The Babylonian Texts of Nineveh 129

What happenedto the writing-boards after the pal- compositions such as divination, religious, lexical, ace acquiredthem? Were they housedin the libraries medical, epical and mythological, historicalra5,and next to the tabletsas the library recordsindicate? This mathematicaltexts were incorporatedin the libraries, would certainly have been the caseif they were made whereasletters, reports, legal documentslike contracts, of valuablematerial, as the ivory writing-boardsfound and administrativetexts were kept in archives.There is in Nimrld suggest.r43But what happenedto the writ- just one group of Ninevite texts that might belong to ing-boardsmade of simple wood? Were they all stored both kinds of tablet collections,namely the reportson in a specialpart of the library, awaiting scribesto copy ominouseventsra6 which were written to report observ- the text onto clay tabletsas the colophonsindicate? If ed phenomena.The later examples of this type are so, were they later reused,or were they kept for future even dated like contracts,and, significantly, there exists reference?We cannot answerthese questions, at least alwaysjust one manuscriptof eachtext. Thesereports as yet. are therefore considered"archival 1"r,1.".r47On the other hand,these reports cite from and sometimesrefer to the literary works on astrologicalomens (enuma anu X. The Babylonian texts of the Ninevite enlil) and extispicy (barfrtu). It is therefore unlikely Libraries that they were usually separatedfrom the relateddivi- nation texts:ra8both kinds of text must have been The Babylonian texts unearthed in Nineveh have consultedfor further reference,especially during the various contents.There are literary compositionson initial stageof the royal library.rae the one hand, and letters,contracts, as well as reports To be able to relate the data of the Babylonian on ominous events like celestial observationsor ex- Nineveh texts to those of the above-mentionedlibrary tispicy reports,on the other. It is generally accepted recordsand other Mesopotamianlibraries, but also to that these texts belong to different tablet collections, make the group of the divination reportsavailable for namely the library and the archive. future studies,it has beendecided to make the distinc- "library "divination According to Olof Peders6nthe definition of ar- tion between texts", reports", and chives and libraries runs as follows:raa"The term "ar- chive" here,as in other studies,refers to a collectionof ta5)E. Weidner,AfO 16 (1952-53)197, classifiesthe texts, each text documentinga messageor statement, historicaltexts as archivaltexts: "Die historischenTexte und for example,letters, legal, economic,and administra- Bauinschriften,vor allem die Prisma-und Zylinder-lnschrif- tive documents.In an archivethere is usuallyjust one ten, die Briefe, die astrologischenRapporte, die Anfragenan geh

"archival texts" and classify letters, legal and adminis- (aiiputu\ with incantations and rituals. The Akkadian trative texts as "archival texts" accordingto the gener- prayers that distinguish between regular 'prayers', ally acceptedclassification. Thus, the distribution of ikribu, and tamltu-prayersr5rbelong to the the lore of the Babvlonian texts is as follows:rs0 the diviner (baritu).ts2 The Sumerian and bilingual library texts: 1594 prayers are called balag, er5emma,and er5al-runga. divination reports: 645 Most of the Akkadian rituals and incantationsbelong archival texts: 1085 to namburbi-rst(26 texts)or maqlfi-rituals's4(13 texts), not classified: 270 while most of the bilingual rituals are from the exorcis- tic seriesUDUG.UUL.A.MES - utuklu lemnututss(37 Total: 3594 texts). Most of the tabletswith prayersor incantation and rituals, of course, are in a much too fragmentary state to be identified without further study (Akkadian X.1. The literary and scientific texts prayers:27 texts,Akkadian rituals: I l4 texts;bilingual prayers: l7 texts, bilingual rituals: 46 texts). In additi- The group of the literary and scientific texts within on to the Akkadian, Sumerianand bilingual texts there the Babylonian text corpus of Nineveh covers divina- are three tabletsand fragmentswritten in Old Babylo- tory, religious,medical, lexical, historical,and mathe- nian or archaic signs; these texts are not included in matical texts as well as epics, myths and the like. In the following overview: general, these texts are representedin the following quantities:

tsabylonran hterary Irbrarytexts 'num6didrvrnatrorreports not classrtied and scientific texts nuin6diI % %'h;in6eiI i; drvlnatory 746 46.8 Yo 645 100 Yo 27 | El.E% religious 585 36.7 yo medical 8l 5.t% lexlcal )6 5.5 Yo historical 27 1.7% epics, mythso etc. t7 l.l Yo mathematical 0.1% vana 2l t.3% not identitied OU J.6 "/o 6 | r8.2% total 1594 100.0% 645 r00% 33 | 100.0%

The largest group of the literary and scientific texts tst; The tamitu-prayers- a typical Babylonian kind of "The is the divination corpus,which includesnearly half of prayer- will be editedby W. G. Lambert,see his article 'tamttu'texts" all library texts (46.8 %), followed by the religious in: La Divination en Mtsopotamieancienne et texts with 36.7%. The divination corpus will be dis- les rtgions voisines,CRRAI 14, Paris 1966, ll9-23. r52)Some of the Akkadian prayers,of course,belong to cussedlater togetherwith the archival texts (see be- the exorcists'(aSiputu) or the musicians' lore (narutu). As- low). signingthe specificprayers to the lore of one of thesefields is subjectto further studies.For the purposeof this research, The religious texts all Akkadian prayersare generallyconsidered as part of the lore of the diviner. Babylonian fragments 585 tabletsand of the Nine- r53)For the apotropaicnamburbi-rituals, see S. M. Maul, veh collection are identified so far as religious texts, BaF 18.1994. which make up 36.7% of all Babylonian literary and r5a)Main parts of the ritual maqlft "buming" have been scientific texts. There are monolingual - Akkadian or edited by K. L. Tallqvist, Die assyrischeBeschwdrungsserie Sumerian- and bilingual religious texts. The content Maqlft (ASSF 20N), Leipzig 1895, G. Meier, Die assyl"isglrs of thesetexts derivesfrom the lamentation-priest'slore BeschwdrungssammlungMaqltt, AfO Beih. 2, 1937, "Studien (kaWtu) with Sumerian and bilingual prayers, cult and G. Meier, zur BeschwdrungssammlungMaql0," (1966) "Maql0," songs, and hymns, as well as from the exorcists' lore AfO 2l 70-81.See also T. Abusch, RIA 7, 346-335. r55)An editionofthe incantationand ritual series"the evil r50)The databaseof the Babylonian Nineveh texts with utukku" is in preparationby M. J. Geller. For previousedi- the museumnumbers, category of texts, publicationof the tions see e.g. E. Ebeling, "Zwei Tafeln der Serie utukku cuneiform and edition of the texts together with a short limntttu," AfO 16 (1952-53) 295-304,and M. J. Geller, "A descriptionof the tabletsand fragmentsis availableonline; Middle Assyrian tablet of utukku lemnutu, tablet 12," Iraq 42 seehttp://fi ncke.uni-hd.de/nineveh/. (1980)23-51. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh t3l

lJabylonlan rellglous AKKadlan Sumenan blllngual tion to this, there are two trea- ' '%' ''v; texts 6/;' iurri6di | ilirinbei| ties,one treaty befween SamSi- kulutu 9 29.0% 7r | 38.4% Adad V and Marduk-zakir- a aiiputu 209 57.r% J 9.7% 9l | 49.2% SumiI, and one treatybetween barAtu 4l 11.2% Ashurbanipaland the Babylo- vana ll6 3r.7% l9 6t.3% 23 | 12.4% nian allies. total J66 IUU.U% 1l 100.0% 185 | 100.0%

The medical texts Epics, myths, and other literary texts The corpus of medical texts covers 8l documents The group of epics,myths, and the like is represent- and is the third largest group within the Ninevite ed by l7 Babylonianpieces or l.l o/oof all literaryand literaryand scientifictexts in Babylonianscript (5.1%). scientific texts.r58Most of the epics (7) representthe The vast majority of thesetexts are "medical compen- famousGilgameS-epic of Babylonianorigin (3), while dia" referring to specialdiseases or parts of the body anotherthree fragments refer to the Neo-Assyriankings (71 tabletsand fragments);many of them,however, are Sennacherib(l)'se and Ashurbanipal(2). Half the myth- too fragmentaryto identify the relevant compendium ological texts (8) deal with the BabylonianAnz0-myth involved (43). One fragment might be a commentary (4); the othersbelong to the so-calledBabylonian "epic on the diagnostichandbook SA.GIG'56. Moreover, it is of creation" enumaeliit6o (2), or are not yet identified likely that all lists of stones(8 fragments),or plants (2). In addition, there is one fragmentcontaining love and stones(l fragment),belong to the medical lore, poetry(?), and another representsa literary propaganda becausethe Assyrian and Babylonian therapistsused text of Ashurbanipa plants and stonesfor the cure of diseases. Mathematical texts/ The lexical texts There is just one mathematical text within the There are altogether56 Babylonian lexical texts, corpus of the BabylonianNineveh texts. which is 3.5 % of all literary and scientific texts. 12 textsbelong to the well-known lexical seriesHAR-ra: Varia (5), mallat : Sarru (3), ALAM : tanu (l), ftubultu 2l or 1.3Yo of the literary or scientific texts are IGI.DUH.A : tamartu(1), SIG,.ALAN : nabnttu(l), smaller groups. There are 14 unidentified fragments and the plant-list URU.AN.NA(?) (l). Twenty tablets with colophons.Four fragmentsare parts of commen- or mostly fragments are other explanatory texts (5) or taries to literary compositionsthat are not yet identi- not identified (15). The largestgroup within the "lexi- fied. Thereis one fragmenteach of a catalogueof texts cal" texts is syllabariesor archaicsign lists (22). Apart containingprophecies(?), and of the Middle Assyrian from this, there are two grammatical texts. laws. Historical texts Nearly all of the 27 historical texts, which are X.2. The divination corpus: library texts and 1.7 % of all literary and scientific texts,r57are royal divination reports inscriptionslike tablet inscriptions(14 texts),cylinders (8), prisms(2), and cones(l). The tablet inscriptions The corpus of divination texts is the largestwithin date to Esarhaddon(l), Ashurbanipal(4), either Esar- the Babylonianliterary and scientific texts of Nineveh haddonor Ashurbanipal(l), or are inscriptionsfrom an and encompasses746 tabletsand fragmentsor 46.8 %o unknown king (6); three inscription are written in of all library texts,all of the divination reportsplus 27 archaizingscript (3), of which one datesto Esarhaddon (l). There are cylindersfrom Esarhaddon(2), Ashurba- r58)For the influenceof Badylonianepics and myths in nipal (l), or from an unknown king (3), and one Assyria see e. g. W. von Soden,"Ubernahme babylonischer cylinder in archaicscript. The prisms dateto SargonII Literaturwerkeim neuassyrischenGroBreich," in: H. Waet- (l) and to Ashurbanipal(l). There is one Old Babylo- zoldt - H. Hauptmann, Assyrien im ll/andel der Zeiten, nian architecturalcone from Samsuiluna(1). In addi- CRRAI 39 (HSAO 6), Heidelberg1997, 178-180. r5e)The so-called"tablet of destination"of Sennacherib. r6u)See L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation, 156) For this series,see recently N. P. HeeBel, Babylo- London 1902,Ren6 Labat, Le podmebabylonien de la cria- nisch-assyrischeDiagnostif, AOAT 43, Miinster 2000. tion (Enumae/i$, Paris 1935, and W. G. Lambert, "Enuma rs7)For the uncertaintyin categorizingthehistorical texts eli5," TUAT lll.4: Mythenund Epen II, Giitersloh1994, 565- as librarv texts see abovenote 145. 602. t32 JeanetteC. Fincke

fragments that are not classified according to library earthed so far might lead to the assumptionthat Esar- texts or divination reports deal with divination. The haddon introducedcelestial divination into the every- texts cover various aspectsof divination: day life of the Assyrian sovereignon a large scale,rs althoughthere is no further lJabylonran dlvrnatlon .. tlp.r.a.ry.teg9chvlnatron reports evidence for this sugges- texts number| % nurnUeiIv, tion.r6s Ashurbanipal, like astrolosicalomens 359 48.1% 333 51.60 6 22.2% his father. took note of "astronomy (of which l3 t.7%) astrologicalreports, but the- o/o extispicy t04 13.9 269 44.6'/o l5 55.6% re are less examplesdating terrestrialomens 73 9.8 Yo I 0.2 0 clearly to his reign (20 re- serres tqqur tpus 6 O.8Vo ports). The remaining 222 teratomanticomens ) U.lYo undatedastrological reports physiognomicalomens 2 0.3% must have been written du- hemerology I 0.1% 4 0.6% ring the reign of either of various divination 196 26.3% l8 2.8 o/o 6 22.2Yo thesekings. total 746 100.0% &5 r00.0% 27 100.0%

Astrological omens: "Astronomy" Most of the Babylonian divination texts refer to The texts summarizedunder the heading "astrono- various phenomenain the sky: 359 library texts my" (13 fragmentsor 1.7%o of all Babylonianlibrary (48.1%),333divination reports (5l.6yo), as well as 6 divination texts) are texts of the series MUL.APIN unclassifiedfragments (22.2%) deal with this subject. "Plow Star"r66(9 fragments)and relatedtexts (4 frag- The relevant library texts are tablets of the series ments).These texts combinethe descriptionof the sky "when enumaanu enlil, Anu (and) Enlil",t0t excerpts at night - the stars and their constellations- with a from this series,various celestial omen texts,commen- mythological explanationof stars,and some ominous taries (6 ;dtu- and 12 mukallimtr-commentaries),and interpretationsof certain phenomenalike astrological one catalogueof celestialand terrestrialomens. texts. MUL.APIN is a compendiumof many sources More than half the divination reports(51.6 %) deal describingstars and planetsseen at differenttimes, and with celestial events. l/3 of these 333 astrological does not invent new scientific ideas or give sufficient reportsr62can be dated to one of the Assyrian kings: information to calculatethe heliacal rise of a certain reignof SargonIl (721-705BC) <2> <1> reignof Sennacherib(688-681 BC) 'e) reignof Esarhaddon(680-669 BC) E. Frahm,AfO Beih.26,5, assumesthat Sennacherib's reignof Ashurbanipal(668 - ca. 627 BC) <20> archivemight not yet have been found, if it survivedat all. reignof Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipal<3> E. Frahm disagreeswith S. Parpola, who considered unknowndate <222>. Sennacherib'sarchive to be destroyedby his successors;see S. Parpolain: Mario Fales(ed.), Assyrian royal inscriptions: New horizons in literary, ideology, and historical analysis, The biggestshare ofthe astrologicalreports dates to Roma 1981,120-l2l note3, and CRRAI 30, 1986,235.In the reign ofEsarhaddon(85 reports),father and prede- CRRAI 30, 231, note 40, S. Parpola refers to the palace cessorof Ashurbanipal.r63The number of tablets un- calledbtt maiarti on Tell Nebi Yunus(Nineveh. south of Tell Kouyunjik), where at least four fragmentsof Sennacherib's 16r)For publication ofthis series and further bibliography, royal inscriptionswere found; unfortunately,there have only "Der see J. C. Fincke, Assur-Katalog der Serie enfimu anu been limited excavationson Tell Nebi Yunus becauseof enlil (EAE)," OrNS 70 (2001) 19-39, esp. 20-21, and, L. modernsettlement. Verderame, Le Tavole l-YI della serie astrologica Enuma t65)As far as is known, no astrological reports have been Anu Enlil, NISABA 2, Roma 2002. unearthedat Kallu (Nimrnd), the Assyriancapital in the 9th 162) For publication of these astrological reports see above and early 8th century BC, or Dlr-Sarrukin (Khorsabad), note 53. Assyriancapital of Sargonll (721-705BC). This fact could t63) Brown, Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy- lead to the assumptionthat this categoryof texts was only Astrology, CM 18, Groningen 2000, 4'7, understands the introduced into the Assyrian palace during the reign of increase ofdivination reports to Esarhaddon in his final years SargonII as the earliestNinevite reportsdate to his reign. "the as reflection of Scholars' concern over their charge" - However,it is equallypossible that they did not includethese every report is also meant to remind the king to pay his agent texts when they moved the library and archivesfrom the old "the for the given service. The reports also reflect Scholars' to the new capital, or simply that the archive of thesetexts concern over" Esarhaddon as king ofBabylonia; the econom- has not yet been found. ic growth during his reign also increased the number of t66)This series is edited by H. Hunger - D. Pingree, employees at the palace and encouraged Babylonian scholars MUL.APIN. An Astronomical Conrpendium in Cunei/'orm, to offer themselves for the king's service. AfO Beih.24,Wien 1989. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh 133

planet for the future. It is obvious that MUL.APIN Seriesiqqur ipui cannotbe regardedas a real astronomicalseries and is The omen series iqqur Ipu{n is divided into two thereforesubordinated to divination, esp. astrology,in parts, the first dealing with terrestrialevents and the this study. secondwith celestialphenomena. In this respect,the seriesiqqur lpui is a sort of combinationof terrestrial Extispicy and astrologicalomens, but, unlike these,iqqur lpui The secondlargest group of divination textsrefer to only considersthe twelve months of the year for the the observationof the entrails of sheep: 104 library interpretationof each event. In Nineveh, six library tabletsand fragments(13.9 %oof the Babyloniandivi- texts of this series written by Babylonian scholars nation corpus),289 extispicy reports(44.8% of all (0.8 %) have been found. Babylonian reports), and 15 unclassified fragments (55.6% of the unclassifiedBabylonian divination texts). Teratomantic omens Most of the library texts are tablets from the barfrtu- There are just five examplesof Babylonian birth series,the compositiondealing with extispicy,or relat- omens; all of them are library texts (0.7 %). Three ed texts (100 texts and fragments).r67In addition to tablets and fragments belong to the relevant omen these omen texts there are four commentaries.all of sefiesiumma izbu "if an izbu",rtt and two are them of the mukallimtu-type,written in Babylonian ;6tu- commentaries. script. The archival texts dealing with liver omens are Physiognomical omens "oracle enquiries", on the one hand, and "extispicy reports",on the other hand.The numberof Babylonian Two BabylonianNineveh fragmentsrepresent omens texts from Nineveh clearly shows the distribution of dealingwith the appearanceof a person'shuman body thesetwo kinds of reportsto the two kings Esarhaddon (0.3 yo).t1'Both of them are library texts and belongto (oracle enquiries) and Ashurbanipal (extispicy re- the seriesalandimmi. ports)r6E: oracleenquiries (queries to the sungod)<186> written Ilemerology duringthe reignof Esarhaddon(680-669 BC) <93> duringthe reign of Ashurbanipal(668 - ca.627 BC) <5> Strictly speaking,hemerological texts do not belong duringthe reignof Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipal<4> to the divination corpus,because they give instructions unknowndate <84> and orders for what has to be done or not done on extispicyreports <73> written certain days of each month, whereasdivination inter- duringthe reignof Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipal prets given ominous phenomenaor events. On the - <31> duringthe reign of Ashurbanipal(668 ca.627 BC) other hand,hemerological texts are treatedlike divina- unknowndate <41> tion texts, in that there are reportsdealing with hemer- not yet classifiedarchival extispicy fragments <30>. ology as well as with omens. Therefore, the five Ninevite hemerologicaltexts written by Babylonians Terrestrial omens are dealt with in the categoryof divination texts. 73 or 9.8 % of the Babylonianlibrary texts belong There is just one hemerologicaltext written by a to divination regarding ominous events on earth. Al- Babylonian scholar for the Ninevite library (0.1%\, most all of thesetexts belong to the seriesof terrestrial but there are four hemerologicalreports (0.6 % of all "if omens with the title iumma alu ina mehAiakin a reports);one ofthese datesto the reign ofEsarhaddon. city is set on a height"r6eor related texts (66 tablets and fragments). Apart from that, there are seven ,sdfz- Various divination texts commentariesto iumma alu written in Babvlonian Nearly all of the 196 tabletsand fragmentsof this script. group, or 26.3 %oof all library texts, cannotbe identi- There is just one report dealing with terrestrial fied with the above-mentioneddivination practices. omens that the Babylonian Nabfi-iqbi wrote during the One of these texts deals with medical or diagnostic reign of Ashurbanipal(SAA VIII 435).

167)For this series see Ulla Jeyes, Old Babylonian Extis- r70)For this seriessee R. Labat,Un calendrierbabylonien picy. Omen Texts in the British Museum, Leiden 1989, and U. des traveaux des signeset des mois (stries iqqur ipu5), Paris Koch-Westenholz, Babylonian Liver Omens,2000, with fur- 1965. A new edition of iqqur tpui is in preparationby the ther literature. author. tu') For this see above section IV. r7r)See E. Leichty, The Omen Seriesiumma izbu, TCL t6e)This series has been studied by Sally M. Moren, 77re IV, LocustValley 1970. Omen Series iumma alu: A Preliminary Investigation,Ph.D. r?2)The relevant serieshas recently been re-edited by dissertation,University of Pennsylvania 1978, see S. M. Freed- BarbaraBock, Die babylonisch-assyrische Morphosko pie, AfO man, If a city. Beih. 27. Wien 2000. 134 JeanetteC. Fincke

omensr73,and two are Sammeltafeln with omens fol- though the texts of the library tecords were acquired lowed by epigraphsfor sculptures. from both Babylonian and Assyrian scholars,while 18 fragments,or 2.8 Yo of all reports, cannot be this part of the AshurbanipalLibrary Project is only identified accordingto astrological,terrestrial, or ex- focused on the Babylonian texts, the comparisonof tispicy reports.Another six fragmentscannot be clas- datareveals a remarkablecorrespondence between them sified as either library texts or divination reports. (seeFig. 7). The largest group among both library records and , Babylonian library texts is the divination corpus. Ac- X.3. Comparison with the data of the library cording to the library records,this corpuscovers 82 %o records of all identified tabletsand almost 60 o/oof all writing- boards. Among the Ninevite Babylonian texts, this The library records from the early part of the year corpushas a smallernumber but still consistsof 46.8o/o 647 BC (seeabove VIII) list divination texts of various of all library texts. content,religious texts like the exorcists'(aiiputu) and Most of the texts within the divination corpus in- lamentationpriests' lore (kalfttu), medical and lexical clude astrologicaland terrestrialomen texts as well as texts, one tablet of the Gilgame5-epic,and some rare extispicy and physiognomic omens and their series. compositions.Nearly all of thesetexts are also repre- The numericalweighting of thesedifferent divination sented within the corpus of the Babylonian library seriesdiffers in the library recordsand the Babylonian texts of Nineveh. Therefore,one can comparethe data library texts. The library records have the sequence of these compositionsin detail, even though we only terrestrial(43.3 %\ extispicy(no tablets,but 50.4 % of know the titles of 25.3% of all tablets summedup in all writing-boards,all acquiredin Babylonia from Bit- the library records and therefore the given percentage IbA),astrological (19.6 %io),and physiognomic (10.5 %) must be consideredas a hint of the ratio of these texts, whereasin the Babylonianlibrary texts the rela- compositions to each other rather than as a real and tive order of the omen seriesis as follows: astrological reliablepicture of the acquisition.rTaFurthermore, even (22.5%), extispicy (6.5%), terrestrial(4.6o/o), and

Figure 7. The data of the four library records (SAA VII 49-52) in comparisonwith the data of the Babylonian,,library" texts of Ashurbanipal'slibraries.

Compositionsand serres Four library records from Nineveh: Asnurbanlpal's lrbranes: tablets (W : writing-boards) Babvlonian librarv texts astrologicalomens (enuma anu enlil) 73 (3 w) re.6% (2.2%) 359 225 % extispicy (barfrtu) 0 (6ew) - (50.4o/o) 104 6.5% terrestrialomens (iumma alu) 161 (l w) 43.3% (0.7%) 73 4.6% physiognomicomens (alandimmfr) 3e (l w) rO.s% (0.7%) 2 0.r% dream omens(iikar zaqrqu) 16 (0 w) 4.3% (-) 0 birth omens(iumma izbu) e (7w) 2.4% (s.r%) 5 0.3% omen seriesiqqur Ipui 4 (0w) r.r% (-) 6 0.4% hemerologies(ume fibuti) 1 19y)...9'9i/v....(:)....I 0.r% total:divination texts 30s (8r w) 82.0% (59.r%\ i46 q6'.8VA religious texts 29 (16w) 7.8yo (lt.7 %) 585 36.70 of which exorcists' lore (aiiputu) l8 (4 w) 4.8% (2.e%) 303 19.0% of which lamentations(kalfttu) 2 (12w) 0.syo (8.8%) 80 5.0 o/o medical texts (bultre) 7 (27w) 1.9% (19.7o/o) 8l 5.1o/o lexical series 6 (0w) 1.6 o/o (-) J4 2. | "/o syllabaries in archaic characters 22 t.4% hlstorlcal texts 27 1.70 "/o "/o epics, myths, etc. l (0w) U.5 {- T] | mathematical text U.l "/o vanous composltlons 24 (r3 w) 6.s% (e.s%) 2l 1.3Yo not identified frasments 60 3.8 o/o total: 372 (137W) 100.0% (100.0%) t594 IUU.U7o

r?3)For the diagnostic handbook, see N. P. HeeBel, AOAT 43, with further bibliography. r74)The titles of at least 1097 tablets (74.7 %) are lost. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh 135

physiognomic(0.1%) texts. This result may change The following observations can be drawn from slightly in the future by identifying more fragmentary comparisonof the Babylonian literary texts with the Babylonian omen texts as belonging to one of these library records. series,keeping in mind that 26.3 o/oof all divination Both groups indicatethe samepriority, namely the texts have not yet been identified. assemblyof a large collection of divination texts for There is another difference between the library the recognition and correct interpretationof omens, records and the Babylonian texts. The library records and of tablets from the exorcists' lore which provide mention 16 tablets of dream omens (4.3o/o), whlle instructionsfor rituals,which were vital to protectking none of these has been identified so far within the and country from misfortune predictedby omens. In Babylonian divination corpus of Nineveh. The other addition,medical texts with therapiesfor the health of divination texts are representedwith smaller numbers the king and his relatives,and lexical texts for learning of tablets. the vocabulary of the scholarly texts were of major The secondlargest text group of Babylonian texts concernfor the collection. and library records is the religious corpus. ln the The difference in the number of texts in question, records,7.8o/o of all identified tablets and ll.7 oh of for example in the different methods of divination, all writing-boards are certainly of religious content. partly dependson the fragmentary state of the data and Comparedto this, the Babylonianlibrary texts are of a is partly due to the fact that the library records refer to much higher number,namely 36.7%. This high num- both Assyrian and Babyloniantexts. It might be pure ber of Babylonianreligious texts unearthedin Nineveh coincidencethat the rather small number of Babyloni- might reflect Ashurbanipal'sorder to assembletablets an terrestrialomens was completedby a rather high with instructionsfor rituals and incantationsin Baby- number of texts from private scholars, while, vice lonia and send them to him. In that case,the acquisi- versq,the high numberof astrologicalomen texts - the tion of religious texts from private scholarsmay have largestgroup within the Babyloniandivination texts - been simply intendedas supplementaryto the existing was completed by a rather small number of tablets collection of original tablets. from private scholars.However, the large percentage As in the caseof the library records,the Babylonian of divination and exorcists'texts also reflectsthe main texts show a much higher number of tablets of exor- intention of Ashurbanipal'sorder for collecting Baby- cists' lore (Babylonian literary texts: 19 o/o; library lonian tablets (see above sectionVII). recordS:4.8 %) comparedto those of the lamentation priests' lore (Babylonian literary texts: 5.0 oh; library records:0.5 %). X.4. The Babylonian archival texts The third largest group of the Babylonian literary texts is the medical texts corpus,totalling 5.1o/o.The Almost one third of all BabylonianNineveh texts - number of medical texts is just slightly smaller than 1085 tabletsand fragments- belong to the group that the numberof lamentationtexts (8.2%).In contrastto was said to have been stored in archives (see above this, the number of medical texts (1.9 %) within the sectionX). The vast majority are letters (1009); some Library Recordsis more than three times higher than are contracts and related texts (32), administrative the number of lamentationtexts (0.5 %). As for the texts (38), or archival texts of an otherwiseunidenti- writing-boardsof the library records,the number of fied nature (6).'75 medical texts (19.7 %) is even higher than the com- The group of lettersr?6(1009) can be divided into bined total of religious texts (11.7 o/o).The writing- letters to the king or members of the royal family board thus seemsto have been the regular medium for r75) private scholarson which to write medical texts. For divination reports see above section X.2. 176)Major groups of Babylonian Ninevite letters are pub- The lexical texts make the fourth largest group lished in cuneiform by R. F. Harper, ABL, and M. Dietrich, among the Ninevite Babylonian literary texts (3.5 %), CT 54, London 1979. ln general, the letters are edited in as well as in the library records(1.6%). No writing- transliteration and translation by L. Waterman, RCAE I and boardsare mentionedas belongingto lexical texts and II, R. H. Pfeiffer, State Letters (see above note 79), M. so the latter compositionsmight instead have been Dietrich, SAA XVII, F. Reynolds, The Babylonian Corre- written on clay tablets.Epics, myths, and relatedtexts spondence of Esarhaddon, SAA XVIII, Helsinki 2003 and make up a very small group among the Babylonian others. Some of the Babylonian letters are (re)edited within literary texts (1.1 o/o)and library records (0.3%o\, al- studies on officials; see e. g. J. M. C. T. de Vaan, Ich bin eine Schwertklinge des Ki)nigs. Die Sprache des Bel-ibni, AOAT though this total may change as soon as more frag- 242, Kevelaer - Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995, or studies on other ments of library records are identified in the Kouyunjik aspocts,see e. g. S. Parpola, SAA X, and F. W. Vera Chama- collection of the British Museum and rejoinedto pub- za, AOAT 295. This list of publications and editions is by no lished examples. means exhaustive. r36 JeanetteC. Fincke

(681), unidentified letter fragments(193), lettersfrom stored in the South-West Palace, the principal royal the king or the king's son (62), lettersto officials (53), residence.rsrIt is conceivablethat Sennacherib.who private letters (16) and Old Babylonianletters (4). replacedthe old South-WestPalace by a new one(bttu "letters "the Nearly all of the from the king or the king's eiiu new house"), might not have returned the son" (62) written in Babylonianscript were addressed whole of his temporarily-evacuatedarchive to its origi- to Babylonian officials at Nippur, LJruk, Borsippa, nal home. This would explain the small number of , and other Babylonian cities, or to Babylonian letters dating to his reign, although there is no evi- tribes like the Gambuleansor Ra5aians.rTTEven some denceto support this assumption.rs2 letters to Elamite kings were written in Babylonian The Babylonianletters written to the king or other script. We do not know whether the original letters members of the royal family date to the reign of the sent to the addresseeshad also been written in Baby- following rulers:rE3 lonian script or in Assyrian, but it is clear that the Babylonianletters to theking <681> letters unearthed in Nineveh are duplicates of the lettersto Sargonll (721-705BC) <193> originals. The existence of these letters proves the letterto the king's son (: Sennacherib) acceptanceof Babylonianscribes at the Assyrian pal- lettersto Sennacherib(704-681 BC) <27> ace some of thesegarned sufficient trust to be allowed lettersto SargonII or Sennacherib<33> to deal with royal correspondence.rTsThe distribution lettersto the king's mother (king : Esarhaddon)<3> of Babylonianletters written by "the king or the king's lettersto Esarhaddon(680-669 BC) <109> <7> son" to the different rulers is as follows: lettersto SargonII or Esarhaddon lettersto Sennacheribor Esarhaddon<2> Babylonianletters from the king or the king'sson <62> lettersto the king's son (: Atltu.banipal)<3> lettersfrom Sargonll (721-705BC) <3> lettersto the crown prince Ashurbanipal lettersfrom Sennacherib(704-703 BC) <0> letter to the king's mother (king : Esarhaddonor Ashur- lettersfrom Esarhaddon(680-669 BC) <3> banipal) letterfrom the crownprince (: Ashurbanipal) lettersto Ashurbanipal{668- ca. 627 BC) <235> lettersfrom Ashurbanipal(668 - ca. 627 BC) <39> lettersto Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipal<54> letterfrom Ashurbanipal'sson (to Ashurbanipal) letterto the daughterof the king sendernot (certain)identified <15>. addresseeunknown .

Babylonians wrote 681 of the letters found in the Babylonian agents and scribes not only wrote let- citadel of Nineveh to the king or other membersof the ters to the king but also corresponded with officials of royal family. Most had beenaddressed to Ashurbanipal the Ninevite palace. There are 53 of these letters that (235), followed by letters written to Sargon II (193) date to the reigns of the following kings: and Esarhaddon(109) whereasonly a small number Babylonianletters to officials <53> were written to Sennacherib(27). This imbalancemight "archives" officialsof Sargonll (721-705BC) <15> be attributed to the fact that the of these officialsof Sennacherib(704-681 BC) <5> kings were stored in different places and were not officialsof Esarhaddon(680-669 BC) <8> excavatedto the same extent. There is evidencethat officials of Ashurbanipal(668 - ca. 627 BC) <6> Sargon's II archive originally had been stored in the unassigned<19>. North Palacebut after the restorationof the palaceof the crown prince (64617BC), called "Houseof Admin- A small group of Babylonian private (16) and Old istration" (btt ridhfi), the archive was returned to its Babylonian letters (4) have also been unearthed in place.rTeTablets from the archivesof Sennacheriband Esarhaddon/Ashurbanipalrs0,on the other hand, were rEr)See S. Parpola,CRRAI 30,232-233. rE2)See note 164. "Die r7?)For these letters see K. Watanabe, Briefe der r83)In general,the Ninevite lettersare not datedaccording neuassyrischenKonige", ASJ 7 (1985) 139-156. to king or limmu. G. Frame, CRRAI 30, 270, assessesthe r7t) G. Frame,CRRAI 30, 267, assumesthat someof the percentageof Ninevite lettersand letter fragmentsthat have "less Babylonians,who were trainedin Ninevehfor future occupa- beendated in antiquity at than three dozen" and gives "to tions, were employedby the Assyrianking aid him with a list of the datedones in note 64. Becauseof this situation. his Babyloniancorrespondence." dating of the letters is based on their content, historical r7e)See S. Parpola,CRRAI 30,232-233. eventsor individualsthat are mentioned.The datesproposed r80) Ashurbanipal'sarchive only containsthe correspond- by variousscholars do not alwaysmatch; in this case,every enceuntil 645BC; seee. g. S. Parpola,CRRAI 30, 235. R. C. ruler proposedis named.The given datesare basedon the Thompson- M. E. L. Mallowan,AAA 20 (1933)lll-112, informationgiven by the publicationsof the tablets(ABL and consideredthat becauseof the ElamitesAshurbanipal might CT 54), and on the following studies:G. Frame,Babylonia have shifted his residenceand archive to another place, 689-627 B. C. A Political History, PIHANS 69, Istanbul "further possibly to the north-west away from the danger 1992,M. Dietrich,Irdo 4 (1967-68)6l-103, 183-251,WdO zone,"possibly to . 5 (1969-70)51-56, 176-190, and the volumesof PNAE. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh t37

Nineveh. A rather large quantity of letter fragments general, the Hittite palace librariesr8econcentrated on (193) is not yet identified and may rejoin some of the religious texts consistingof descriptionsof rituals and above-mentionedletters. festivals, hymns and prayers which make up to 70- The Babylonianlegal texts consistof contractsand 80 % of the tablets whereas the omen texts. which relatedtexts (32). Most of thesetexts are rather frag- representthe largest proportion of the Ashurbanipal mentary but the date is preserved on some and these libraries (46 %), played a minor part in the Hittite were written during the reign of Sennacherib(2) and libraries. This is no surprisebecause the omen texts Esarhaddon(3). were importedfrom Mesopotamiaand Syriars whereas There are 38 administrativetexts written by Baby- the usedoraclesrer instead. lonians. In the palace administration(33), they either There is no royal library in Mesopotamiabefore the list the namesof individuals (17), sometimestogether Middle Assyrian period (ca. 1420-1050BC).r'2 Fur- with their professions(2), or list objects (4). In con- thermore,no royal library can be detectedin Babylo- trast, only five Babylonian tablets belonging to the nia. If this situationis not due simply to archaeological temple administrationhave been discovered. chance based on accidental discoveries of ancient remains,there shouldbe historicalreasons. In Babylo- nia, temple libraries have a long tradition, and there XI. Comparison with other Mesopotamian royal had been private libraries and schoolstoo where they libraries collectedreligious and scientificliterature and, in many cases,trained scribes.re3It seemslikely that the Baby- The earliest known palace libraryr8ahas not been lonian kings, in one way or another,always had access found in ,but in .There are three to the literatureof theselibraries and thereforehad no librariesin the palacearea of the Hittite capital LIattu5a need to createtheir own library. However, the hint at "tablets (Bogazkoy)'tt. In principle, these include texts from the of [...], the corpus of scribal ar[t ...]" as "the the beginning of the Hittite Empire in the late l Tth being abundantprofit ofthe secrets(or: treasures) century until the end of this period in the late l2th of the king of the Kassi[tes ...]" mentioned in the century BC.r86The other palacelibraries of the Hittite Tukulti-Ninurta I epic (1243-1207BC) (seeabove note kingdom date generallyto the l3thr87or more specifi- 108) suggeststhe existence of a Babylonian royal cally to the secondpart of the l3th century BC.r88In library during the Kassiteperiod, if this is not simply

te) O. Pedersln, Archives and Libraries in the Ancient Kugakhgefundenen Kultinventare," MDOG 128,Berlin 1996, Near East 1500-300,8. C. gives a good overview of these 95-104, V. Haas - I. Wegner, "Die Orakelprotokolleaus libraries. Ku$aklr.Ein Uberblick,"MDOG 128,Berlin 1996,105-120, rEs)See O. Peders6n,op. cit., 1998 48-49. The largest M. Giorgieri, "Ein Text iiber Tempelbediensteteaus Kugakh share of texts in the library of PalaceA have a religious (KuT 32)," MDOG 128,Berlin 1996,l2l-132, G. Wilhelm, content(213 of all tabletsof the library are rituals or descrip- KuSaklt-Sarissa.Band 1.1: Keilschrifttexteaus GebiiudeA, tions of festivals,followed by incantationsfbarfttu), prayers, Rahden1997. and other religious texts), but there are also omens and rEe)For an overview of the kind of texts that were oracles,medical texts, historical texts like annals,treaties, consideredas "texts of tradition" and thereforewere repre- and laws, horsetexts, and lexical texts.The library of Palace sentedby duplicatesin the Hittite librariessee Theo van den K contained religious texts in large quantity (rituals and Hout, "Another view of Hittite literature,"in: St. de Martino descriptionsof festivalsmake up more than 50 %, followed (ed.), Anatolio antica. Studi in memoria di Fiorella Imparati. by incantationsand related rituals, and prayers),but also Vol. II, EothenI l, Firenze2002,857-878. omen texts, epics,historical texts like royal annals,treaties, rm) For the paths by which Mesopotamianliterary texts instructions,and a library catalogue.The library of PalaceE were transmittedto the Hittites see e. g. G. Beckman,"Me- cannotbe entirely reconstructedbut religioustexts were the sopotamiansand MesopotamianLearning at Hattu5a,"JCS 35 most numerous. (1983) 97-l 14 with further literature. It6) The palace itself had most probably been built and rer)See e. g. Th. van den Hout,"Omina (Omens).B. Bei renovatedby Tutbalia IV in the late l3th century BC. den Hethitern",in RIA 10, 88-90. It7)See O. Peders6n.Archives and lihraries in the Ancient re2)The palace archive of (Ras Samra)in Near East 1500-300B. C., 56-57: The palacelibrary of the also contained25 library texts in room 81 and dating to the Hittite city Sapinpa(Ortak6y) contained religious texts and a l2th century.Nearly all of theseare of religious or literary smallerquantity of texts from the temple administration;the content (23); two of them are alphabets,see O. Peders6n, building with the library probablydates to the l3th century Archives and Libraries in the Ancient Near East 1500-300 BC. B. C.,1998,71.However, it is questionablewhether these 25 rE8)See O. Peders6n,Archives ancl libraries in the Ancient library tabletsshould be called a royal library. Near East 1500-300B. C., 59-60:In the palacelibrary of the re3)For the Mesopotamianschools, especially during the Hittite city SariSSa(Kugakh) religious texts including rituals late first millenniumBC. seeP. D. Gesche.Schulunterricht in and cultic inventories,as well as oracleswere unearthed.For Babylonienim erstenJahrtausend v. Chr., AOAT 275, Mtn- the publication of these texts see J. Hazenbos,"Die in ster 2000. 138 JeanetteC. Fincke

meant figuratively as the king being the owner of every reS-iSiI (1132-lll5 BC),20rif not Tukulti-NinurtaI.202 single object in Babylonia. Nevertheless,if there was There is no proof for the existenceof a Middle Assyr- a royal library in Babyloniaall their tabletswere taken ian library in A55ur203that had been assembledby a to Assyria in the late l3th century BC. king, nor that thesetablets had been acquiredfor the In Assyria the situation is different. After the As- palace.2oa syrians had been able to throw off the yoke of the The Middle Babylonian tablets from the A35ur tem- Mitannian occupationduring the l4th centuryBC, they ple in A55ur, however, most probably representTu- focusedon military and administrativematters relating kulti-Ninurta I's booty from Babyloniaand the remains to the recaptureof their empirerather than on scholars, of the tablet collection that this king acquired in literature,or temple libraries.reaAccording to the epic Babylonia in the late 2nd 8C.205Although of Tukulti-Ninurta I, this king took the opportunityto the number of Babyloniantablets from A55uris rather plunder the Babylonian libraries and carry away the small, thesetexts can be comparedwith those of the tabletsto Assyria to presentthem - as the epic says- Babylonian texts of Ashurbanipal'slibraries (see Fig. to the city god A55ur.re5In fact, the temple library of 8). A55urincludes Middle Babylonianand Middle Assyri- 16 tablets found at the ASSurtemple in A55ur are an tabletsre6,but we do not know whether Tukulti- written in Old or Middle Babylonianscript. Divination Ninurta I himself orderedthese tablets to be transferred texts have the largestnumber (7), of which nearly all to the temple or whether they were included subse- deal with extispicy (6).206In Ashurbanipal's library, quently. However, many of the Middle Assyrian tab- the Babylonian divination texts also have the largest lets of the A55ur temple that were fired in antiquity number(746: 46.8oA), but herethe astrologicalomens have a distinct appearance- a red core with an ivory- bear the largest share (359 : 22.5 %o)whereas the colouredouter surfacereT- which can also be observed corpusof extispicyrepresents the secondlargest group on Middle Assyriantablets from the Anu-Adad temple (104 : 6.5 o/o). in A55ur and from the area betweenthese temples.reE The next largest number among the Babylonian Thesetablets were thereforeregarded as having origi- texts unearthedat the A55urtemple in A53urhas those nally formed one library, known as the library of of lexical and explanatorynature (5). Within the Baby- Tiglath-pileserI (l ll4-1076 BC).'" However,the tab- lonian Ashurbanipallibrary tablets,these comprise the lets once belongedto severalprivate libraries,2mand fourth largestgroup (34 : 2.1%) after the corporaof someof them go back to as early as the reign of A55ur- divinatory, religious (585 : 36.7%) and medical texts (81: s.r%). t*) W. von Soden,CRRAI 39, 177. Among the Middle Babylonian tablets from the res) Seeabove note 108. Ai5ur temple in A55ur there is one Babylonian text re6) For the Middle Assyrianlibrary of the A55urtemple from each of the groups of religious, medical, and seeE. Weidner,A.fO l6 (1952-53)197-215, andO. Peders6n, historical texts, as is the case for the group of epics, Archives and Libruries in the City of Aiiur, Part l, 31-42 myths, and the like. (library M 2). The literary textsfrom A55urare the subjectof a project initiated by S. M. Maul, Heidelberg. Comparisonof the Middle Babylonian texts found le7)See e.g. E. Weidner,AfO 16 (1952-53)203. The at the A55ur temple in A55ur that most probably were colour of thesetablets is a resultof the methodof firing, see part of Tukulti-Ninurta I's late BC W. G Lambert,AS 16,283: "tabletsbaked to about 650" centigradehave a red colour as a result, a temperature zot)W. G. Lambert, Iraq 38 (1976) 85-86, 85 note 2. reachingabout 750oyields a whitish colour, and if still more 202)H. Freydank, SGKAO 21, 1991, 94-97. heat is appliedtablets are ruined becausevitrification and a 203)W. c. Lambert, Iraq 38 (1976) 86 note 2, doubts that greenishcolour result." all Middle Assyrian tablets from A55ur once belonged to one 'e8)This characteristiccolour of the clay is typical for and the same library. H. Freydank, SGKAO 21, 1991,95-96, Middle Assyrian literary texts of the time before Tiglath- also questions the existence of one Middle Assyrian library. pilesarI. It can be seenon tabletswritten about50 yearsprior 2e) O. Peders,En,Archives and Libraries in the Cily of to the accessionof Tiglath-pilesarI, and also on the Tukulti- A{iur. Part I, 37-38, describes this reconstructed library (M "Tukulti-Ninurta Ninurta I epic (seeW. G. Lambert, I and the 2) as originally either having been the library of a scribal AssyrianKinglist," Iraq 38 |9761 85-94); the literary texts family or that it had formed an official library which might "library from the reign of Tiglath-pilesarI have a different appear- have been the of the A55ur temple, of the Old Palace ance; see H. Freydank, Beitrrige zur mittelassyrischenChro- or perhaps of the Anu-Adad temple." nologie und Geschichle,SGKAO 21, Berlin 1991, 95 note 205)The present study is based on the data given by O. 245. Peders6n,Archives and Libraries in the City oJ AiJur,34-37. 'ee)E. Weidner,A.fO l6 (1952-53)199-203, 203 note 34. The results of S. M. Maul's project on the literary texts from 2m)None of the library textsbears a colophonbut someof A55ur, certainly, will change the given numbers in the future. the legal texts found together with the library texts were 206)This relation recalls the number of writing-boards dated. A large quantity of these tablets originate from the given in the four Ninevite library records early in 647 BC, royal scribe Ninurta-uballissu,whose three sons together where 69 of 8l divination texts are extispicy; see above Fig. wrote at least 16 tablets. 2. The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh r39

Figure 8. The data of the Middle Babyloniantablets from the A55ur temple in ASSur(O. Peden6n,Archives and libraries in the city of Aiiur,3l-42) that most likely came from Tukulti-ninurta I's booty in Babylonia in comparisonwith the data of the Babylonian "library" texts of Ashurbanipal'slibraries.

-s Uomposltlons ancl senes tablets trom the Asnurbanlpal llbranes f.'lt t.t".ryplqF. Asly1 in Nineveh: P*vls{el.terlr fJabvlonlan texts number | % number | % astrologicalomens (enumaanu enli[) 0 359 22.5% extispicy (barAtu) 6 31.50 o/o 104 6.5% terrestrialomens (iumma alu) 0 73 4.6% iqqur tpui 0 6 0.4% "astronomy" 0 l3 0.8% unidentified omens I Z*oro 6 0.4% (total divination texts 43.80% 746 46.8%\ religious texts (total) I 6.25Yo )65 36.| '/o of which exorcists'slore (aiiputu) 0 303 19.0 o/o of which lamentations(kalfitu) I 6.25% 80 5.0 o/o medical texts (bultre) 6.2s% 8l 5.1% lexical and explanatorytexts 5 31.20% 34 2.1% svllabariesin ancient characters 0 22 1.4% historical texts, laws, regulationsconcerning palace, etc. I 6.25Yo zl l"h eprcs, myths, and the llke I 6.25 o/o T7 l.l Yo mathematrcal 0 I 0.1Yo various compositions U zl 1.3Vo not ldentllled lrasments 0 60 3.8% total I6 t00.00% l)94 IUU.U7o booty with those of the Ashurbanipal's libraries of the nium BC. Lexical and explanatory texts also played a lst millennium BC leadsto the following observations. large part in the transmissionof literary texts from Extispicy seemsto have originatedin Babylonia20Tand Babylonia to Assyria in the late 2nd millennium, but the relevant texts were imported into Assyria during less so in the lst millennium BC when religious and the late 2nd and again during the lst millennium BC, medical texts were of greaterinterest. whereasBabylonian astrological omen texts only seem No other lst millennium BC Assyrianpalace library to have becomeof interestin Assvria in the lst millen- has been excavated,yet there is evidence that there once had been a royal library in Kal[u (Nimr[d), the 20?)The earliest record of extispicy dates to the reign of Assyrian capital of the 9th and 8th century BC. The Urnan5eof Laga5,in the 25th millennium BC; see H. Steible, ivory writing-boardsexcavated, which originally had Die altsumerischen Bau- und lleihinschrifien. Teil ll. Kom- been made for the earlier palaceof SargonII in Dlr- mentar zu den Inschriften uus Lagai. InschriJien au/Serhalb Samrkin (Khorsabad),208indicate the existence of a von Lagai, FAOS 5, Wiesbaden 1982, 7-8, commentary to library20eor at leasta collectionof literary texts with a no. 24 col. V 3-6. In the early Old Babylonian period, scriptorium in that area of the palace. These ivory different omens were arranged systematically in a compendi- writing-boardsalso imply the existenceof an intended um of at least 17 tablets, for the first time; see Th. Richter, "Untersuchungen zum Opferschauwesen I. Uberlegungen zur royal library which Sargon II wanted to create in his Rekonstruktion der altbabylonischen b arfttu-Serie," O rN S 62 new capital Dfir-Samrkin. SargonII certainly planned (1993) l2l-141. During the late Old Babylonian time, differ- to acquire literary tablets from his former capital Kallu ent compendia were used in Sippar, the longest of which had and include them in the library of his new palace. at least 90 tablets; see U. Jeyes, Old Babylonian Extispicy, However, it is questionablewhether Sargon II had text ll rev. l'-3'and U. Koch-Westenholz, Babylonian Liyer sufficient time to carry out theseplans as he died only Omens, 16. In the reign of Tiglath-pileserI (lll4-1076 BC) " year after he openedhis new capital and before the there must have been a more or less standardized series on city was completed.Later, after Sennacheribmoved extispicy of which the titlo is unknown; see E. Weidner, AfO 16 (1952-1953) 210 no.77. This series was a forerunner of the standardized series that is attested in Nineveh and fixed zot) See above note 123. from at least 750 BC down to the Seleucid period; see U. 2ue)See O. Peders6n, Archives and Libraries in the An- Koch-Westenholz, op. cit., 2l-27. cient Near East 1500-300 8. C., 150. 140 JeanetteC. Fincke

the capital to Nineveh, he might have sent all the on a late copy only. In addition to that, the library tablets onto the new site. Consideringthe number of recordsof the early year 647 BC prove the acquisition textsdiscovered in Ninevehwhich had beenwritten for of library tabletsand writing-boardsfrom various As- the library of Nabfr-zuqup-kena,son of Marduk-Sumu- syrian and Babylonianscholars. Wooden writing-boards, iqt5a2ro,who worked in Kall_lu2rr,it is likely that tablets of which a great number must have existed in the from the putative palace library of Kal[u were also libraries. are lost forever. brought to Nineveh. The Ashurbanipal libraries also incorporate a few tablets from Kall_ruand A55ur. Considering that the Neo-Assyrianlibraries of A55ur also included Middle Xn. Summary and prospectsfor further studies Babylonian tablets carried away by Tukulti-Ninurta I in the late l3th centuryBC, it is strangethat Ashurba- The fall of Babylon in autumn 648 BC and Ashur- nipal asked for tablets from Babylonia and only ac- banipal's accessionto the throne of Babylonia mark a quired a few from A55ur.He might haveconsidered the clear changein the king's relation to Babylonianwrit- tablets from Babylonia to be original documents,and ten literature and science: being king of Babylonia thereforemore reliable.2r2 enabledhim to indulgein his passionfor the scribal art According to his letter-order,Ashurbanipal's initial by collecting tabletsof various content.Ashurbanipal plan for his library was to collect as many tablets as gained accessto Babylonian libraries and used this possiblewith instructionsfor rituals and incantations opportunity to acquire literary tablets from private that were vital to maintain him on his throne and in scholarsas well as from templesfor his own Ninevite power, but he was also interestedin other scientific library. Even though it seemslikely that Ashurbanipal literature. It is remarkablethat thosetexts which Ashur- was not the first Assyrianking who tried to built up a banipal orderedhis agentsto collect in Borsippa and palacelibrary - seee. g. the assumedlibrary in Kallu, sendto him only representthe secondlargest group of and Sargon'sII library in Dlr-Samrkin - the political the Ninevite Babylonian literary texts (36.7 %). The situationenabled him to createa comprehensivelibrary same is true for the library recordsof early 647 BC. that was unique in his lifetime and became famous The largestgroup of Babyloniantexts in the Ninevite again two and a half millennia later, when Austin H. librariesis the divinationcorpus (46.8 %\ Omenswere Layard excavatedat Nineveh in the middle of the l9th used to learn about future events in order to be pre- century AD. pared properly or even to prevent bad situations before Ashurbanipal sent orders to severalBabylonian cit- they actually happened.This was effected with the ies to collect tabletswith clearly defined content and help of the rituals and incantationswhich are repre- send them to Nineveh. We know of his order to sentedin the secondlargest group within the Babylo- Borsippa from two contemporarycopies. The answer nian texts and the library records. The third largest of the Borsippeanson the other hand, who declared group among the Babylonian texts and the library their intention to carry out the order by sending wood- records were medical texts. These texts contain in- en writing-boardsinstead of clay tablets,is preserved structionsfor therapiesto heal diseasesand to restore the king's and his family's health. The king was 2ro)20 different colophons of this scribe have been iden- thereforewell provided againstevil of any kind. tified so far; see H. Hunger, BAK, 1968, nos.293-3 13, but Ashurbanipaldid not only ask for Babyloniantab- see also the list of tablets with his colophon given by S. J. lets but also employed Babylonian and Egyptian2r3 Lieberman, HUCA 58 (1987) 204-206 note 222. According to scholarsat his Ninevite palace to make use of their his colophons,-zuqup-k€na's tablet collection was pro- duced between 718 BC and 684 BC; see S. J. Lieberman, knowledge.Babylonian diviners had beenemployed in op. cit.,205-206. For an overview of this scribe's library and Nineveh sincehis father Esarhaddonruled over Assyr- activities, see S. J. Lieberman, op. cit.,204-217. H. Hunger, ia or possiblyeven earlier.2taThey inspectedthe sheep's "Neues von Nab0-zuqup-k€na," ZL 62 (1972) 10, assumes that Adad-5uma-u;ur, son of Nab0-zuqup-k€na, is identical with Adad-5uma-u$ur, the physician of Sargon II, Esarhad- 2r2) Another possible reasoi may be that the Middle don, and Ashurbanipal, and that he transferred some of his Babylonian tablets had already been incorporated into the father's tablets to Ashurbanipal's Ninevite, libraries. How- library of the A55ur-temple and Ashurbanipal did not choose ever, some of Nab0-zuqup-k€na's tablets remained in Kalbu. to appropriate objects from the temple of this god. zrt; S. J. Lieberman, HUCA 58 (1987) 217, declareshim- 213)Three Egyptian magicians (bartibD and three Egyptian self against the assumption that Nabi-zuqup-kena's tablets scribes are named in a memorandum of Ashurbanipal's reign had ever been part of the king's library, becausenone of them that lists all together 45 scholars of various professions who bears a royal colophon that could easily have been added to were employed at the palace,see ADD 851 (K. 1276): SAA the tablets in ink. On the contrary, the tablets must have been VIIno.lrev. l8-11 2. brought to Nineveh by the family of Nab0-zuqup-k€na and, 2'a) In Kallu, Babylonian diviners had already been em- later, were copied for Ashurbanipal's libraries. ployed in the early 8th century BC, and their number might The Babvlonian Texts of Nineveh l4l

liver and wrote reports on this procedure.2rsAbout the there are still many unclassified fragments in the col- time when Ashurbanipalbecame king, the Assyrian lection. A closer look at the ductus of the Ninevite diviners took over responsibilityfor the extispicy re- tablets might give an idea where in Babylonia the ports. In the first stage,they signed reportsthat were tabletsor the scribescame from. The so-calledfiring still written by Babylonianscribes but later they changed holes - the small or rather large round, rectangular, the format and the formula of the reports and increas- and triangularholes of the Babyloniantablets that are ingly wrote them themselves.2r6Esarhaddon had also visible on the obverseand reversewithin the lines or employed Babylonian astrologers,lamentation chan- betweenthe columns,and sometimesalso on the edges ters, exorcistsand physiciansat his palacein Nineveh, - should also be the subject of fuither examination. as did Ashurbanipal.These scholarsnot only worked Another problem that is not dealt with here is the for the king according to their profession but also relationshipbetween the Babyloniantexts and compo- wrote tabletsfor Ashurbanipal'spalace library. sitionsand the rest of the Kouyunjik Collection.In this The Babyloniantablets of the Ashurbanipallibrar- respect,one might ask what kind of Babyloniantexts ies, which make less than one seventh of the total were copied or reworked for the royal library by Nineveh collection in the British Museum (approxi' Assyrian scribes,as was the casefor most of the omen mately 26,000 tabletsand fragments),were partly im- series.Another task might be the searchfor texts that ported and partly written by Babylonianemployees in were representedby Assyrian tabletsonly. This is the the Ninevite scriptoria. Apart from the above-mention- case,for example,for someof the lexical seriesinclud- ed divination and religious texts, there are quite re- ing lir : ia2t8or an-ta-gal: iaqfi"n, for some of the markablequantities of medical (5.1%) and lexical or myths such as Atra-l3asis220or Etana22t,for the so- explanatory texts (3.5 %). Historical texts including called wisdom literature,222and others. Some of these treaties(1.7 y'), epics,myths and the like (l.l o/o),and compositionsare likely to have been brought to Nine- miscellaneouscompositions (1.3 Yo) make less than veh on woodenwriting-boards that arenow lost, where- 2 %oeach. There is even one mathematicaltext written as others,such as an-ta-gal: iaqft, are compositions by a Babylonian scribe. createdby Neo-Assyrianscholars in Nineveh. These The variety of these texts representsthe range of and other aspectsare subjectsfor further research.A literary and scientific skills of the Babylonians.These thorough comparisonof the Babylonian and contem- were the compositionsAshurbanipal wanted to include porary Assyrian texts must await further general re- within his libraries as original tablets,whereas Assyri- search on the Assyrian tablets of Nineveh which is an scribes had copied others from wooden writing- plannedas part of the British Museum'sAshurbanipal boards,2rTwhile further writing-boards,now lost, com- Library Project and representsanother stage of what pleted the collection.Considering the immensewealth George Smith (1840-1876) recommendedin July, "Most of texts which have been unearthedat Nineveh, one 1874:223 of the fragmentsof cuneiform tablets can only wonder at their original extent. which I havedescribed will join on to other portionsof The information about the Babylonian texts of the texts already in the Museum, and thus the new Ashurbanipal'slibraries presented here is basedon six inscriptionswill be to a great extent absorbedinto the months of researchfocused on the Kouyunjik collec- old collection,but very much more requiresto be done tion of the British Museum.It is thereforeobvious that in this direction before the cuneiform texts will be further researchon thesetexts will shedmore light on complete." various aspectsof the library. A more detailedexami- nation of tablets and fragments grouped together ac- cording to the different kinds of text will certainly 2r) See M. Civil, The Series lil : ia antl Related Texts, result in more joins to the different manuscripts.This MSL XII, Roma 1969. has to be done in addition to tackling the problem that 2re)See A. Cavigneaux- H. G. Giterbock - M. T. Roth, The Series Erim-frui : anantu and An-ta-gal : iaqfr, MSL even have been larger than the number of Assyrian diviners; XVII, Roma 1985. see J. V. Kinnier Wilson, The Nimrud lline Lists,75 (no. 40). 220)See e.g. W.G. Lambert- A. R. Millard,Atra-fiasrs. 2r5) None of the so-called oracle enquiries (see above The BabylonianStory of the Flood, Winona Lake 1999. sections IV and X.2) was written by an Assyrian scribe. 22r)For this myth see M. Haul, Das Etana-Epos.Ein 216)See above sections IV and X.2. One might guess that Mythos von der Himmelfahrt des Kdnigs von Kii, GAAL l, the Babylonian diviners of Esarhaddon's time trained Assyri- Gdttingen2000. an diviners in their skills until they had learned enough to 222)For these texts see W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wis- undertake this task by themselves and created something dom Literature, Oxford 1960 and the new edition Winona new. However, because of the lack of extispicy reports from Lake 1996. other Assyrian places there is no proof for this assumption. 223)G. Smith,"Account of recentexcavations and Discov- 2r7) Babylonian scribes also copied compositions from eriesmade on the Site of Nineveh"(read 7th July, 1874), writing-boards. TSBA 3. London 1874.462. t42 JeanetteC. Fincke

maqW-ritual (13): K. 2436+6006;3665; 5349+10l6l; XIII. Appendix: List of the museum numbers of 5350+5374+7610+747 6+7 63 1 +9635+ I I 567+I 9 I 54+Sm. the Babylonian tablets from Ninevch ac- 798b; 5376+8629+13445;7594+8882; 8879+Sm. 229+ cording to their genre 499+929+1194; 9l 88+l 197l+12916+13910+l 8609+Sm. 1866:13264; 18609; Sm. 388:741+2069:l90l Ad X. The Babylonian texts of the Ninevite Librar- mis pi-ritual (6): r. T61;3472: 10473;15534; 17091+ ies 20105: 19192 miscellaneousincantations (41): 79-7-8,95; 348; 8l-2-4, Unc I ass iJied texts (27 0) 440;; K. 949; 2132; 2883; 6179+82-5-22,496; 8732; ' unclassified astrological texts (6): 82-5-22, 1765; K. 10106+10276;12110; 12141; 13315; 13950; 14966; 15055; ll8l6: 12586:13345: 20930: 21116 15212;15535; 15943; 16681; 167Q2;16707; 16722; 16824; unclassified extispicy texts (15): 82-3-23,29; 95; 98; 122; 18992;21653;21689;Ki. 1904-10-9,301 (BM 99269); 82-5-22,498;E3-t-18, 572; 586;K. 4720;8731;8883; Sm. 249;6ll; 829;925;1343;1982; Th. 1905-4-9,19 12160;12686;12816; 17631; Sm. 1838 (BM 9E513)+23(BM 985r7)+35(BM 98524)+243(BM (BM 9878s)+292(BM lll (BM unclassified divination texts (6): 83-1-18,874+892; DT. 98737\+291 98786); 98605); 136 (BM 98630); 149 (BM 98643); 163 (BM 153;K. 5674:12723:21937:' Sm. 1495 98657); 199 (BM 98693); 200 (BM 98694); 326 (BM not at all classified texts (243): 8l-7-27,269; 83-l-r8, 98820) 528;855; BM 121079;134533; 134539; 134562; 134593; miscellaneousrituals (124): 79 -7 -8, 77 ; 80-7-19, 88 ; 9 I +8 I - 134825;134826; Bu. 91-5-9,228; K. 1626;1984; 3009; 2-4, 274; 108;81-2-4, 166: 233; 323; 334:81-7-27, 100: 3036;3339; 5554; 5602; 5747; 6145; 6175;7329;7365; 205; 82-3-23, 59; 82-5-22, 76+83-l-18, 295, 83-1-lE, 7855:8454;8699;8755; 10618; 11474l' 11528; 11540; 447;761;BM 123375;Bu.9l-5-9, 50;143+176;DT. 15; 12117;12203; 14248: 14594: 14618; 15096; 15343; 15665; 90;ll4; ll8; 126;169;258; K. l5l;888;2315+3125+83- 16873;16889: 16928; 17296; 17379; 17398; 17 533; 17693; | -l 8, 469 277 5 2993 3299 357 0; 3664+6125+8686+8 88 I 17802;17805; 18044; 18046; 18120; 18126; 18140; 18229; ; ; ; ; (+) 7677; 5328; 6117; 7677 (see 3664+); 8477; 8504: 18272;18325;18345; 18451; 18481; 18503; 18530; 18556; 8626; 8666; 8689+Ki. 1904-10-9,2 (BM 98973)+212 18592;18598; 18599; l86l l; 18623;18629; 18631; 18646; (BM 99180);8696; 8698; 8718+Sm. 1266;8734;8736; 18657;18661; 18682; 18686; 18697; 18698; 18706; 18707; 8E70+8908+Sm.668+721+1202; 8893; 8906; 8907; 9568; 18734;18739; 18752; 18758; 18759; 18760; 18768; 18776; 96ll; 9745;10366; 10555; I 1550;I l87l; I 1887;12076; 18785;18795;18796;18800; l88l l; l8El4;18877; 18887; 13428;14006; 14357 16365;16842; 17 085; 17780; l 805I 18889;18898; 18933; 18980; 18981; 18982; 18988; 18991; ; ; 18205;18251; 18683; 18695; l8'745;18778; 18871; 18901; 18994;18997; 19004; 19014; 19020; 19034; 19035; 19038; 18960;18985; 18996: 19025; 19101: 19132: 19169; 19342; 19039;19046; 19055; 19065; 19071; 19076; 19080; 19082; 19364;19838; 20145; 20394; 20973; 21071; 21623; 2183 I 19105;l9l l0; l9l 12;19125;19140;19148;19157;19167; ; 21909:21965;21978; 22021; Rm.247; 510; 534; 551; 19175;19180; 19182; 19186; 19198; 19221; 19223; 19226; Rm. II, 359;485; 519; Sm. 219;864; I I l8; I 138;1203; 19256;19264; 19273:' 19287 ; 19303;19320; 19332; 19333; 1396;1749;2056+83-l-18, 465; Th. 1905-4-9,67 (BM 19339;19351; 19352; 19354; 19362; 19376; 19381; 19392; 98561);72+73 (BM 9E566+98567);88 (BM 98582);94 19399;19402; 19434; 19554; 19584; 19662; 19808; 19897; (BM 98588);157 (BM 98651);204? (BM 98698);207 199 4 | ; 2006 6 ; 20072 ; 20087; 20 | 67; 20 | 75 ; 20206; 202| 5; (BM e8701);208 (BM 98702);209?(BM e8703);210? 20232; 20272 ; 20279 ; 20408; 20552 ; 20606;20 62 5 ; 2063| ; (BM 98704);2ll? (BM 98705);2r2-2r5 (BM 98706- 206 63 ; 20765 ; 2077 | : 20783 ; 20821 ; 20893; 20908; 20928; 98709);216?(BM 98710) 20933; 20935; 20938;20964; 21062; 21 086; 21 1 52; 21 194; 21299; 2137 3 ; 2144 1 ; 21468 ; 215 1 9 ; 21522; 21 53 | ; 21561 ; (41) 21609 ; 216 | 1; 2161 5 ; 21637 ; 21639 ; 21645 ; 2169 5 ; 21709 ; Akkadian bArfrtu 21717 ; 217 1 8 ; 2173 5 ; 21745 ; 21765 ; 217 68; 21 7 69 ; 217 92; ilvibu (7): K. 20; 128; 3030; 4733; 6070+19864;8723; 21804;2I 8 I 5; 21839;21920;21933;21941;21956;2197l; 17816 21994; 22006;22007 ; 22023;22028; 22038;22067; 2207 4; tamltu (2): r. 3340; 4721 22084;22095;Ki. 1904-10-9,295(BM 99263);306(BM varia prayers (32): 79-7-E,340; DT. 239; K. 1939+5552; 99274);307 (BM 99275); 319+347(BM 99287+99315); 5980+8746;6163+82-9-18, 7387 (BM 67391);10270; 329 (BM 99297);Sm. ll92; l8l5; 2000;Th. 1905-4-9, I 1783;14001; l4l4l; 15376;16713; 17859; 18719: 18974; 108 (BM 98602);279(BM 98773) 19009; 19089; 19348; 19367; 19711; 19776; 19948; 20275+20295;21030; 21866; 21974; 22045; Rm. 427; Ad X.1. The literary and scientific texts 518;Rm. II, 351;Sm. 3l; 533;901+1652

Religious texts (585) Akkadian religious texts, varia (116) Akkadian (366) 8l-2-4, 225; 309; 87-7-27, 202; 82-3-23, I l0; 83-I-18, 784; DT. 83; 210; 245; K. 69+3007; 120b+144+3265+ Akkadian aiiputu (209) 3298; 4741; 5402; 5587; 5744;5778;6073+Bu. 91-5-9, namburbi-ritual (26): 80-7-19,98+179+359; K. 157+27E8; 132: 6100+749 | +10526+1 I 734+1 3868+ I 39I 6+l 9 I 08; 2296+27 7 6; 2495 ; 277 3 +290 I +89I 0' 277 7 + | 387 6; 2782; 6132;615l; 6155;6160; 7546; 7612; 7639;8637; 8769: 2995; 2999+Sm.810; 3853+13287;6133; 6142; 8710; 8871; 8878; 8884; 8902; 9029; 9034; 9604; 9633; 11535; 12179;12556; 13229;16865; 18844; 1 9056; Sm. 9644+13993;10398; 10906;11246; I 1536; I 1902;12086; ll1; 386;810; 945; l5l3; 1704+80-7-19,181 13303;13734; 13939; 14036; 14154; 15 145; 17 186; 17528; The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh t43

18625;18630; 18653; 18677;18679; 18699; 18727:18730; various incantationsor rituals (49): 80-7-19"160; 81-7- 18742; 18749; 187 57 ; 187 6l ; 187 7 4; 18797 ; 1897 1 ; 19021; 27,261;282;82-3-23,7; 88; 101+82-5-22,1048 (BM 19023;19033; 19052.. 19067; 19095; 19097; 19116; 19337; 93014);82-5-22,565; 83-1-18, 490; 492; Bu. 89-4-26, 19410;19561; 19589; l 9880;20035; 20086; 2044E; 20948: 173;DT. 3E;K. l40lb; 4643;5132;5165+Sm. 1818; 21074;21922;21942;22035;Rm. 381; 602; Sm. 123; 5263;5334;5347; 5356; 5372; 5709; 6164;7613;7687; 139; 144:203;338; 489; 535; 661;910; 1183;l2E2; E455;9008+83-l-18, l4l; 11338;11534: 1202E; 12206; 1291: 1292; 1627; 1850; 1864; 1997;Th. 1905-4-9,140 12903; | 3922;1 4E27 ; | 51 89 ; | 5223; 167 53 ; 18628 ; 20274; (BM 9863a); l4l (BM 98635); 146 (BM 98640): r47 20952;Rm. 450;Rm. II, 290;Sm. 291; 487+750: 594; (BM 98641);l5l? (BM 98645);156 (BM 98650);158 614;1592; 1935; 1979; Th. l90s-4-9,93 (BM 98587); (BM 98652);159? (BM 98653);165 (BM 98659);170+174 245(BM 98739) (BM 98664+98668);177? (BM 9867r't;189 (BM 98683) Bilingual, varia (23) Sumerian (31) DT.255;K. 17989;18597: 186371 18639; 1E665; 18678; 18680;18787; 19003; 19041 19210; 19278; 19540; 19624; Sumerian kalfttu (9) ; 21079;21701; 21803; 21875; 22072; 22073; Rm. II, 372; K. 3001;3026; 4795; 5469;9767: I 1988;12020; 13918; Sm.1432 13927 Bilingual religious texts in archaicscript (3) Sumerian aiiputu (3) BM 134820;K. 2841+9141+16783;6697+8069 K. 9041; 13944;Th.1905-4-9, 9l (BM 9E585)

Medical texts (81') Sumerian religious texts, varia (19) BM 134571;K. 315; 5302;5978;5979;10284; 11162; medical compendia(71) 13932;13936;14818+18791; 18036; 18209; 18663; 18782; identified (27): 8r-7-27,75; K. 1930+11752;K. 2542+ 19133:19289: 19732:. 20356: 207 57 277 2+299 | +3300+6030+ I 0223+ 13382+DT. 85+ I 70: 258 I : 3010+6187+13346+DT.86;3304+8785+9217; 3350+Th. Bilingual (185) 1905-4-9,77 (BM 98571); 3550;6572;8248; 8685; 8716 (+) 18547;10212+13884+17205; 10535; 10567+13901; Bilingual kalfrtu(71) I l5l3; 11785;13242;13289; 18547 (see K. 8716);18667; balag (20): 8r-7-27,203; K. 41; 257+2997;2004; 18773:l9l3l; Sm.708; 1283+1947;1991; Th. 1905-4-9, 2875+5838+9930;3315+8706+9154+Sm. 1204; 3328; ll9 (BM986r3) 5 I 67; 5 I 68+5I 7 I +5 I 89+5354+6099+8728+ I 0728+ I I 2 I 9+ unidentified(43): BM 128042;128080; DT. 28; K. 263: 13412+13935+13949+16931; 5 I 74+10595+11 174+13941+ 1893;2779; 5176+Sm. I 107; 5843; 7306; 8678+16461+ (+?) l4l 10 I 8655;5188+8481 ; 5337+17424+18651+19380; 19344;8896; 9228; 9579: 10410; 10500; 10934; 11295; 5362+8898+11938+13410+Rm. 385; 7598+19304+Sm. 12587; 13343+13573; 13405+Sm. 804+926+2160; 13838; (see 1294; 8399+10077+13951;18059; 18655 5174); 13906;16132; 16433; 17502; 18343; 18762; 18918+ 18724; 18732; 19816; 19827 18977+20195;19017; 1908'l;19271; 19355; 19378; 19461; erialunga (14): K. 5364+5370+9051+11553+13937+ 19506; 20 137 ; 20254; Sm.233; 345 ; 460;666+923 ; 1 442; 18743+19092;5703a: 7498; 8733+1871l; 8899; 10591+ Th. 1905-4-9,122 (BM 98616) Sm. 306; 10617;11976; 14086:18726; l9ll3; 19786; commentary(l): DT. l13 21179;Rm. 514 hymns (17): 79-7-8,73;83-l-18, 488; 693; K. 879+2769+ commentary to SA.GIG(?)(l) 10527 3025+5982+8917 3658;5 I 58; 5200;5268+5333a; ; ; K. t9769 5742; 5970:11769; l39ll;13925; 13955;Rm. 373+79- 78.239:Sm. l4l vaia (20): 8r-7-27,r29; K.5160; 5190;5303; 5339; 6063; list of plants and stones(9) 9822+13957;10957;11173; 13308; 13380; 13494; 15139; lists of stones(8): 8l-2-4, 299;8l-7-27,281; 83-l-18, 324; I 18655(see balag 5174+7;18736; 18794; t9222; 19346; K. 8516;10519; Rm. 320; Sm. 914: l07l Sm.370+566;1099 list of plantsand stones(l): DT.89

Bilingual aiiputu (91) Lexicsl texts (56) UDUG.HUL.A.MES(37): x. lrt+27s4+s227+s2ss+ identified (17) 7525+7632+7633l'2758; 2853; 2873: 2893+301l+Sm. : (5): K. 55;2028;4249; 8404; 8894 1258+1346 (+) K. 22037 2900; 3021 4904+5294+5363+ HAR.RA ftubullu ; ; : (3): 12041;5169; 5194+5312+5355+Sm.2057; 5211: malku iarru K. 13593;13612; 13620 5237:' : 5286;5338; 5353+5369; 5360; 5368; 5373+10079+12039+ ALAM lanu (l): K. algl Sm. 438+1337;5378; 7451; 8472;8475+12040; 8488; IGI.DUH.A : tdmartu(1): K. 14890 8508;8635; 10274;21855;22037 (see 2893); 22171;R.m. SIG?.ALAN: nabnltu(l): r. 4580+14079 326; Sm. 132; 134+2184;271+299; 778; 1448: 1486: URU.AN.NA (1): K. e283 I 555 other explanatorytexts (5): 79-7-8,226;83-l-18,749; ordination of an Enlil priest (5): K. 2437+5177+9442+ DT.221:K.4714: Rm. II, 588 10518;8212; 9096; Rm. 11,242;Sm. 350 144 .IeanetteC. Fincke

unidentified lexical lists (15) Varia literary or library texts (21\ 83-r-18,899; BM 121073;K.4214;9133; 13636; 13663; (14) 13686;14473; 14798; 18486; 18546;19024; Sm. 593; colophons 803; Th. 1905-4-9,139 (BM 98633) Bu. 9l-5-9, 5l; 83-l-18,751; K. 3027; l5E2E;l5EE3; 15888; l 87l 8; 19012;19029; 19043; 19280; 19597; 2 l 068; Th. l90s-4-9,125 (BM 986r9) syllabaries or archaic sign lists (22) 8l-2-4, 266; 82-5-22,57 I ; DT. 16; K. 2835; 2839+2840: commentaries of unidentified compositions (4) 4228: 4372 ; 4582 ; 825| : 8252+8257 +82 5 9 + 14002+ | 4020+ K.2892+8397;7698; 14129; Rm. II, 536 2l 801; E253+8260+9058;8254; 8255; 8256; 825E; l40l 5; 21069;Rm. II, 35;42;204; Sm. 309+82-5-22,570; 1539 catalogue of texts (l) grammatical texts (2) K. 17585 K.8410:18600 prophecies(?) (l) Historical texts (27\ K. 19295 tablet inscriptions (14) Middle Assyrian laws (l) 80-7-19, 374; K. 2632; 2846; 7943; 8479; 8692: K. 10135 9881+l1657+11660+unnumbered; 10300(?); 13225; 16781; (BM 18967;19323;Sm. 1523;Th. 1905-4-9,210 98695) Unidentifiedliterary or library texts (60) cylinders(7) E3-l-18, 7E9; BM l2l1l2; l2lr24; K. 4432;7187;8672; 8l-2-4,174; Bu. 89-4-26,169; K. 1655;6364;6386; Ki. 8890; 10197+19134;12134: 12357; 13378; 13727; 13894; 1904-10-9,7l; Sm.486;2043 14395:15242; 15280; 17053; 17710; 18658; 18783; 18784; 18850;18979; 19005; 19044; 19057; 19062;19356; 19522; prism (2) 19636;20135; 20854; 20405; 20429; 20735; 2083l; 20942; BM 127994;K. 1660 21028;21053;21127;21287; 21291; 21467; 21494; 21520; 21590;21685; 21903; 21997; 22097;22099;22102; 22173; Ki. 1904-10-9,208 (BM 99176);Rm. 457; l0l5; Sm. 419; (OB cone Samsuiluna) 783: 1229: 1265 Ki. 1902-5-10,37(: BM lls039) Ad X.2. The divination corpus: library texts and treaties (2) divination reports 82-5-22,130; Rm. ll, 427 Astrologicql omens Epics, myths, etc. (17) library texts(359) epics (7) of celestialomens (327): 79-7-8, 116; l2l+125; 150; l5l; earlykings (Gilgame5)(3): BM 134s37.A,B+I, C, F, H; 2'71;80-7-19,100 (see K.2920+); 103; I 14;8l-2-4,223; 134537.8+G+l34538; Rm. 907 230;234;280; 387; 488; 8l-7-27, 60; 62;96; 137;219; Neo-Assyriankings (3): S3-1-1S,476+482+728; K. 2524; 238; 260; 267; 82-3-23,83 ; 82-5-22,7 5; 5 19; 577a (see 6177+8869 Sm. 253); BM 128124;134541; 134543; Bu. 89-4-26, unidentifiedkings (l): Binning2 174;Bu.91-5-9, 164; DT. 104;K.75+237;90;230;278; 800; 1957; 2073+9520; 2126; 213l+2283+11824 (+) 2932+14533(+) Rm. lI, 250; 2157; 2162+2206+4137; myths (8) 2194; 2228; 223| ; 2236+289| : 2246+2994+3578+3605+ Anzu (4): K. 3008;18740; 1936E;21072 3614+2324+6152; 227 8; 2294;23 10+61 54+ 12061 +12633; epic of creation(2): oT. 184;K. 12582 2321+3032:2326: 2328: 2341+2899 +81 -2-4 - 288 E. Rei- vaia (2): K. 534r;8742 ner: (+) BM 98744 (: Th. 1905-4-9,250) (+) 3575; 2342+2990+12422+19019;2345+12047 (+) 12189 (+) poetry (love poetry) (1) I 5098 (+) | 441 5 ; 2346+3 904a+3 904b +87 25 ; 2874; 2876; K. 20817 2884: 2885 : 2886+2929a:, 2887 : 2903+29 15+8659+87 47 + 10145(+) 10337;2904+3029; 2913+5820+22Q98; 2914: 291 6+3 1 l2+3 575 + t2063+ 12603+ 12787+ I 393 3+ I 397 8+ propagandatext of Assurbanipal (l) | 93 59+221 5 5 2920+3604+887 6+9 527 + | 2 | 17+ 12| 36+ K. r35l ; 12242+| 5 582+8 | -7-27, 208 (+) 80-7- I 9, 100;2932+ 1 4533 (see2l3l+); 2932+14533(see 2131+); 2933;2936+3103; Mathematical text (l'S 2992+3017+6146+11741+l1885; 3002; 3004; 3005; 3013; K. 870s 3016; 3033;3035+12605+16247+20596+22143 (+) 12675; 3099+18689(+) Sm.259; 3104; 3105; 3108; 3ll1+10672; 3ll5 (+) 12589; 3139; 3525; 3561+8025+9502(+) 6141+6148+6156+9108;3566; 3575 (see2341+); 3590; -=e.-rQh,\j

The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh 145

3601+Rm.103; 3609; 3619; 3858+5643+5971+10396+ 972; 1302;1306+E3-l-18, 316; 1309;1322; 1342: 1369: 12536; 3882; 391l; 3914+10215;3923+6140+81-7-27, 1384; 1389; 1399;4708+10298; 8861; 12367+13175; 149+83-l-18,479; 5689+17655; 5712: 5748; 5751; 5759; 1308'7+82-5-22,85; Rm. l9l; 194; 196; 197;Sm. 1062 5770; 5780b; 5787+9641+10153+12368+12627+12706;Ashurbanipal (20): 80-7-19,154; 8l-2-4, 14r;273; 82-5- 5790;5792; 5806; 5826; 5851; 5964; 5972;5977: 5985: 22,5t;72; 83-t-18,188;202 (+) 305;219;290;303; Bu. 6021+8611; 6062+6178;6098+l 1547; 6102:'6103; 6105; 9l-5-9,9; K. 699;744; 745;789; 933; 1329;1380; Ki. 6l12; 6ll3; 6114+11840'6ll6+9695; 6ll9; 6120; 1904-10-9,39 (BM 99010);Rm. 198 6121+6131+9126;6130; 6134; 6135; 6137; 6138+9646+ Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal (3): 80-7-19,l9; K. 1393; 12048;6141+(see 3561+); 6153; 6158; 6174; 6185+8901+ 2085 12567;6188; 6194:' 6195; 6595; 7277: 7621; 847l; 8484; unknown king (222):79-7-8,100;80-7-19, 58; 59; 6l;62; E497 8647 8656;8688; 8695; 8707+l Ol7 l+12218: 87 15l. ; ; 63; 65; 176;197:' 355; 8l-2-4, 82; 83; 85; 88; 105;106; 8735; 8'144;8749; 8885; 8900+8914;9052; 9098; 132;134; 135; 140; 142; 143; 145;321:344;483;82-3- 9l5l+10731;9l8l; 9225+9638+Sm.207E; 9505; 9519; 23, 112;E2-5-22, 46; 50;53; 56; 6l: 63; 64; 65; 66; 67: 9570: 9573:' 9632+1215l+14177+18656;9634; 9636: 6E;69;74; 89; 156;83-1-18, 7; 174;175; 176; 177; 178: 9637 + 1| | 75 + 14 | 87+ 187 28+8 | -7-27, 52 9 640 9642 9 ; ; : 645; 179;180; l8l; 182;194; 196;203:212;214;216;220; 9647;9679;l0l14; 10129;10196; 10337 (see 2903+); 225: 229; 230;242; 243; 245; 248; 293; 312; 313; 319; 10367; 10382; 10491:'10566+Sm. 1925+81-2-4, 305; 322;718; 774; 810; 834; 881; 883; 884; BM 134556;Bu. 10597+11854+12616; 10616; 10688; 10696;' 10714: 10872: 89-4-26,8;I l; 18;166; Bu. 9l-5-9,28;29;16l; DT. 53; 11247; 11257; 11270; 11721; 11740; 11839; 11894; 131;249; K. I l9; 172;178; 698; 714: 721; 723; 732; 735; I l9l l+1555E;l20l l; 12065;12067;12079:12080;12090; 737; 752; 753; 754: 755; 758; 759; 768; 769; 710; 776: 12099;12107; 12113; 12115; 12126;12129: 12142: 12147: 790;794; E05; 806; 807; 80E; 809; 8ll; 812;813; 815; 12157;12163; 12166; 12175+14404; 12178; 12189 (see E43;850; 851; 856; 861; 873; 874;875;900;904;921; 2345+); 12226; 12245; 12304; 12305; 1234r: 12366: 955;963; 964;967; 973;987; 1236;1300; 1305; 1307: 12403;12414; 12429; 12470; 1257 5; 12576;1 2583; 12589 1308;l3l0+14559; l3l l; l3l2; 1316;1324:' 1328; 1330; (see 3ll5); 12598(see 3ll5); 12601;12602; 126071, 1331;1332; 1338; 1339; 1340; 1341 (+) 1586;1343; 12610; 12611; 12614; 12615: 12666:'12674:' 12675 (see 1344;1345; 1346; 1373+83-l-18, 780; 1385;1392; 1394:, 3035+); 12690; 12733; 12796; 12803; t2817; 13748; 1395;1398; 1407; 1457; 1557; 1586; 1586; 1593; 1594; 13930;14162;14206; 14388; 14405;14415 (see 2345+); 1606;1909; l92l+3488; 1927;1952; 1955; 1971; 5453b; 14418;14448;14503; 14517;14561; 15098 (see 2345+); 5723;6077; 6149; 6182;6184b; 8391; 8393; E407; 8104: 15201 15329+Rm.l 5 l +82-3 -23, l 6: 15459 15 469 15 523 ; ; : ; 8711; 8729: 8748; 8872; 9042; 12013; 12017: 12211: 15577;15592; 15930; 16667; 17092; 17254; 17271; 17600; 12281 12283;12388+13 101 ; 13012;14150; 14564; 14565; 17660;18722: 18733; 19102; 19142; 19531; 19855; 19935; 14568;15086;16621; Ki. 1904-10-9,28 (BM 98999);36 2008l 20430;20635; 21626; 22057 22140:Ki. 1902-5- ; ; (BM 99007);ss (BM 99026);262(BM99230);321(BM 10,23;Ki.1904-10-9,217 (BM 99185);248(BM 99216); 99289);Rm. 193;201; Rm. 11,254;Sm. 86;231; 366+80- Rm. 308+79-7-8, ll7+79-7-8,223:546; Rm. Il, 122:250 7-19,371;694;885; 1232;1327 (see2l3l+); 293;302; 496;569; Sm. 45; 8l; l5l; 253; 259 (seeK. 3099+);442;445;503:676;751; 999; 1004; unclassified astrological texts (6) l014; 1088+1531;1130; ll87; 1260:1354: 1363: 1647: 1963; 1976; 1996;Th. 1905-4-9,100(BM 98594);127 82-5-22,1765; K. 11816;12586; 13345; 20930: 21116 (BM 98621);250(BM 98744) commentaries (18): 82-5-22, 572; DT. 5l; K. 148+2902+ Extispicy 5207+ 18378 ; 2329; 2906+10 I 08; 2907+I 2248;355 8 ; 3855 ; library texts(104) 5994;8067;I 1905;12068+Rm. II, 38+340;143 l8; 15033; liver omens(100): 79-7-E, ll4+120; 124; 347;80-7-19, 15202+15204;Rm. 855; Rm. II, 127;Sm. 1054 275+357;361; 8l-2-4,201; 335; 405; 439;82-3-23,106; catalogue of astrological and terrestrial omens (l): K. 83-l-18,730+805; BM 121056;134530; 134546;8u.89- 2848 -l "astronomy" 4-26, 1l9; DT. 18; K.2323+6157+8679;2877+80-7-19, (13): K. 2077+3771+11044+BM54619; 3020; 294; 2880; 2896; 2897; 2910; 2912; 2921; 2939: 3015: 3852; 8598; 8630; 9483; 10719;12376; 13254;15929: 3022+12792;3809;3839; 3849; 3877: 4084; 4ll3; 6058; 16255;Rm. 319;322 6l l5; 7608;8700; 9186; 9256;9678;9872; 101 15+13847; 10492;10571;10956;10976; 11556; I 1558;I 1712;ll9l2:, divination reports (333)written during the l2lll; 12130; 12210; 12257+79-7-8,59; 12279; 12300; reign of 12303;12335; 12448; 1487 0; 15 100; 15l 15; 16799;1 8750; SargonII (2): Rm. II, 345;Th. l90s-4-9,257(BM 98751) 18790;19053; 19328; 19365; 19496; 19700;20299;20303; Sennacherib(l): K. 8713 20313; 21150; 21229; 21641; Ki. 1902-5-10,24: Ki. Esarhaddon(85): 80-7-19,55; 66; 8r-2-4, 81; 84; 89; 102; 1904-10-9,207(BM 99175);Rm. 106+Rm.II, lll:.231; 300; 391; 547; 936; Rm. II, 102; ll5+79-7-8, 88; 134; I 03; I 04; 107: 136;138; 8l-7 -27, 23; 82-5-22, 48; 49; 57 ; 58;59; 1778; 83-1-18,48;171;172:173;186; 187;195; 308;506; 526;541;551; Sm. 210;647; l3Q9;1437; 1455; 200;208; 221; 232; 233;241; 244; 296;299; 301; 302: 1707;1759; 1932 775;Bu. 9l-5-9,7; DT. 304;K. l9; 188;700; 701; 702: commentaries (4): K. 13| 5+4702; 3786+ 1 0440+1 5496; 891 5; 722:729; 734;739; 741; 756; 761; 763;772; 783; 785: Rm.227 791;793; 799; 803; 840; 842; 869; 901; 902; 907; 960; 146 JeanetteC. Fincke

divination reports (289) unclassified extispicy texts (15) I oracle enquiries dated to Esarhaddon (93): S0-7-19,73; 82-3-23,29;95;98; 122;82-5-22,498;83-l-18, 572; 586; 74;77;78:'79;137;81-2-4, 436:'82-5-22, 136; 480; 484; K.4720;8731;8883; 12160; 12686; 12816; 17631; Sm. 489;83-1-18, 518; 531+568+Bu. 9l-5-9, 194;535; 538; I 838 540;552;557+563; 57 l; 576;580;697; 765; 799; Bu. 89- 4-26,148; Bu. 9l-5-9,201; K. 195;2663+12738;3051; Terrestrial omens 4668;6128;8622(+) Sm.295; 10149; I 1432;11473+82- 5-22, 986; 11475; 11476; 11477; 11479+80-7-19,70: Iibrary texts (73) 11480;11481; 11482+83-l-19, 898; 11483;11484; terrestrial omens (66): 8l-2-4,202; 41Oa;DT. 261; K. ll4E5+Srn.908; 11486;11487; 11488; 11489+80-7-19, 45+198+12600;19O+29874+3755+971 0+l 01 l0+l 0199+ 7l+75+83-l-18, 534; 11491; I 1492+Sm.412+684; I 0558+I l75 l+ 12512+l 4 I 99+I 5584+I 6658+DT.288 : I 96: I 1493+l1504; I 1494+12637(+) I 1501;I 1495+Bu.9l-5- 2285 +37 17 + 12709 (+) 27| 9+30 1 4 (+) 385 6+ I 0467 ; 23Q7: 9, l8l; 11496;11498+81-24, 190+290; I 1500;I 1502+Sm. 2312+257 6+357 2+3592+6123+869 | +9348+ I 3902+I 0324+ 705+Rm.432+521; I 1505+Sm. I 158+83-l-18, 551; I 1507; I 1755+ | 3295+ I 3902+ 1 8 654+ I E780+ I 85 9 1; 2376+8020+ ll5l4; ll5l5; ll5l7+Bu. 9l-5-9, 170; 11520;ll52l; 12167+82-3-23,8l; 2719+3014(see 2285+); 2720; 11523+11529;12201; 14590; Ki. 1904-10-9,4 (BM 2850+3023+Sm.327: 2888+8677:2898+8694+891 l+ 98975);l7+69 (BM 98988+99040);137 (BM 99108);173 12267; 2922+12197+6008+l0l 67; 2925+3534+5975+ (BM 99143);Rm. 43; Sm. 176;384 (+) 1053;433;524; 8719+9643+DT.155: 2930+3737+8875:2937+6136+ 608; 657+E3-l-18,545; 662; 663; 664; 665; 904; 1157; 8903+I 0 I 73+l2l 0 1+ 122| 4+ 12532+ 12853+ I 888 8 ; 2942+ 1320+83-l-18,537; 1358;l5l6; 1638;1880+83-l-18, E693+81-2-4, 203; 3019+610I +Sm. 392; 3028; 3698+79- 539; 2002+80-7-19, 162;2005; 2485+83-l -18, 555 7 -8, 230; 3E56+ 10467(see 22 85+) ; 6097+ 6693+ 127 24 (+) oracle enquiries dated to Ashurbanipal (5): S2-3-23,89; 7669+9450(+) Sm. 1406; 6l I l+Sm. 2080; 6144; Bu.89-4-26,46;K. 9106;11478; Ki. 1904-10-9,l0 (BM 6170+Sm.775; 7669+9450(see 6097+'1;7749+8675; 9898l) 8682+8891; 8703;8739; 8877;9703; 10250; 10251; 10291; oracle enquiries dated to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal 10381+12521;10484;10950; | 1551; I 1746;11862;11873; 12441;12498; 12520; 12529; (4): 83-1-18,790; K. 4270; 11499;Rm. 397 12188; 12538+21687;1 5484; 18962: 19061; 19 137 ; 194 12; 1979 | ; 21017 ; 21019 ; 21063 ; oracle enquiriesofunknown date (84): 80-7-19,l9l;81- 21945;22279; Rm. ll8+380; 456; 596; Sm. 1222;1406 2-4, 2E3; 342; 453; Er-7-27, 74; 82-3-23,42; 82-5-22, (see K. 6097) 73+83-l-18,383+570 (+) Sm. 656; 177; 486; 492;83-l- commentaries (7): K. l; 36+2917; 103; ll8; 2895; 18, 503; 553; 558; 565; 574;585; 588+720+850;589; 2919+2924+8422;4229 699;795;800;822;846; 860; 879; 891; Bu. 89-4-26,55; 69; 8u. 91-5-9,89; 168;216; K.2747+Ki. 1904-10-9,5 (BM 98976)(+) Sm. r2t4; | 1490; I 1497; 1l50l (see divination reports (l) 11494+,Esh); I 1503;1 1509; I 1510;I 1512;1 l5l8; 1l5l9; K. 18 11 522; 11 524; 1r 525; 11526 ; 12012;12684 ; 12692: 145 51 : 14594a;14955; 15479; 16626; 19018; 19047; 19077; Seriesiqqur ipu5 (6) 19847; 20214; 20216; 21080; Ki. 1904-10-9,3 (BM I 106;2219+2878+9639+5847; 98979;7 (BM 98978);r72 (8M99142);219(BM 99187); K. 2050+6150+l 5701;8737; Rm. 413; 420;490; Sm. I 19;205;295 (see Esh K. 8622); 12503;Sm. 315+Rm. 296 317; 591;656(see 82-5-22,73+); 659; 660+82-5-22,495; 661;956;1053(see 384, Esh); ll95; Sm. l2l4 (seeK. Teratomantic omens (5\ 2747+);1268; 1272; 1390; 1605; l81 l 79-7-8,127; K. 749;l9l3; 2918;19224 extispicy reports dated to Ashurbanipal (31): 82-3-23, 5223b;82-5-22,86;137; 178; K. 4;8;28+3960;37; 159; Physiognomical omens (2) 303;375;392;396;1360; l6l l; 3161;3742+4284;3791; 4537; 4728; 8674; 8738; 8880; 8904; 10882; 11506; K. 8730+79-7-8.107: 10346 11516:12213: 12360: 12593: 19Q60 extispicy report of unknown date (41): 8l-2-4,442; 477; Hemerologt (5) 82-3-23,27;5223a; 82-5-22,71; 83-l-18, 541; 547; 561; 564; 788; K. 1423; 1433; 3741a; 3747; 4717; 4725; library texts (l) 4766+1 4308+82 -5 -22, 70 ; 4802;8680; 8909; 921 5 ; | 075 4; K. 18645 10766;10783; 10789; 10864; 1 1665; 1 1669; l2l8l; 12809; 14146;17745; I 8595;18624; 19048;20959;21929:22303: divination reports (4) Rm. 213: Sm. 847:.1226 8u.89-4-26,19; K. 915;1336; 1599 oracle enquiries or extispicy reports (30): S0-7-19,72+76; 8l-2-4, 470; 82-5-22, 542; Btt. 9r-5-9, 167; K. 7471; Various divination I 1508;I 151l; 16283;17302; 17650; 17636; 18469; 18492; . 18706;18942; 19073; 19197; 19457;20062;20209;20218; library texts (196) 20219;20221 ; 20227; 20229; 20417; 21093;2 1469; Sm. 79 -7 -8, 328; 8l-2-4,3 1 5 ; 8l-7-27, 9 l ; E2-3-23, 75 ; 83-1- l02l: 1225 18,830; BM 134548;BM 134601;134831; DT.156:,246; K. 1442;2996;3006;3988; 4694; 5669; 5721; 5739; The BabylonianTexts of Nineveh t47

5809; 5824; 6023; 6075; 6104+15487;6124; 6129: 6176: 564; 588; 605; 684; 844; 906:'912; 939b; 982; I l3E; 6192;6193: 8702; 8874;8889; 8892; 8895+12223:8897: I 146; I 165; 1172; 1238; l24l; 1244+Sm.416; 1370; 9107+10193;9ll8; 9545;9715; 9878; 10146; 10186; 1546: | 559+5419a+5422c+5535+7 421+7 544+13125+ 10288; 1 0296; 1 0563; 1 0568; 1 0596; 10974: 1 1 662; l l 8l 3; 15692+15712;lE79;, 1890+5385+l1799+l3ll8; 1945; 11945; 12156; 12266; 12399; 12435; 12592; 12689: 12701:' 1968; 4287; 4682+81-2-4, 379 ; 4698;47 40+5559+1 4644; 12718; 13115;13947; 14454; 14472; 14489; 14493; 14874: 4745+5550+5614+rct19;4748; 4778; 5097; 5 I 70; 5304; 15468;15477; 15483; 15488; 15491; 15542; 15579; 16245; 54I 8b; 5423c:5426b+7459+ l 0408+ I 30I 8+I 54I 0+l 5696+ 16276;16291; 16299; 16316; 16338; 16659; 16660; 16845; I 6 I 38+l66 I 5; 5444b+14617+l 5388+ I 5688;554 l+56 I 7+ 16858;17077 ; 17203;17289; 17315; 17 412; 17654; 18086; 13173; 5594+l1425; 5607; 5626+7558:'5627: 7383: 18162;18590; 18593; 18608; 18613; 18627: 18660; 18676: 7 426+1 5695+1 6602+2 | 597; 743 5 : 7 526+| 998Q; 7530+Rm. 18688;18708; 18714; 18731; 18737; 18751; 18764: 18766; II, 483; 7880; 8379; 8389; 8409; 8412; 11694;12946: 18770;18775; 18777; 18779; 18801; 18868; 18875; 18970; 12954+13130;13045+14599; 13080; 13090; 13092; 18984;18987; 18989; 18990; 18993; 18995; 18999:19002; 13853+Sm.l9l5; 14603;15127: 15298; 15354; 15385; 19010;19022; 19026; 19028; 19031; 19063; 19070; 19072: 15702;15708+16592+16607; 161I l+l6l l5; l6l l3; 16581; 19075;19078; 19084; 19085; 19086; 19091; 19096; 19100; 16605;16610; 19564; Rm. 54; 215; Rm. II, 596; Sm. l9ll4; 19130;19138; 19189; 19191; 19193;19200;19209; 346; 563+2169;740; 764+1650 19212;19214; 19218; 19227; 19231; 19296; 19297; 1 93 1 9; letter to the king's son (: Sennacherib) (l): K. 9525 19330;19331; 19343; 19347; 19349; 19361; 19385; 19398; letters to Sennacherib(27): 79-7-8,312;82-5-22,1779; 19611;19666; l97lO; r9747; 19801;19842; 19934:20262: 83-l-18,79;254; DT. 138;K. 508;580; 597; 654;894: 20332; 20690: 2084 6 ; 2091 8 ; 2 | 09| ; 2 13 3 6; 2 | 528: 2 | 624: 1214+7313+7450;1225+15690+16582; 1898; 5433b; 21686;21693; 2 I 860; 21912;21999; 22026; 22121;R'm. 5447a+13038;553E; 7428; 12962;13100; 14680; 15003; 11,287; 391; 455; 517; Sm. ll08; ll2l; 1572;1616; 16l12+16586+16596; Rm. 64; 925; Sm. 549 (+) 12l3; 1950;Th. 1905-4-9,104 (BM 98598);Th. 1905-4-9,120 1243; l9l9 (BM 9861a);Th. 1905-4-9,155 (BM 98649) letters to Sargon II or Sennacherib (33): 79-7-E,256;81- 7-27, 31;83-r-18, 71; K. 145; 563; 923: 1045;1371: divination reports (18) 1887; 1936+16609:1942: 5264; 5406+14659+15699; 8l-7-27,95;82-9-18, 12483; 83-1-18, 819; Bu. 89-4-26, 5412b;5427b+5525; 5429; 5431b;5434a;5450b; 5471; 26; K. 5773; 7302; 8403; 8671; 9673; 11693; 12289; 5536;5591; 5595; 5605; 7326+EPHE 342:'9187:' BlAg: 15005;16236; Rm. 210;994; Sm. 703;1179;1463 15323+Rm.II, 408; 15714+15719;16613+Sm. 37+361+ 1794+1951+2158;Ki. 1904-10-9,37 (BM 99008);Rm. unclassified divination texts (6) ll. 495:.Sm. 1975 83-l-r8, 874+892;DT. 153;K. 5674;12723:21937; Sm. letters to the king's mother (king: Esarhaddon) (3): X. 1495 478:.523:.1355 letters to Esarhaddon (109): 80-7-19,27; 28; 362; El-2-4, Ad X.4. The Babylonian archival texts 70; 77; 91; 164;417; 485; 497;82-5-22, 106; 153: 1773; E3-l-18,l; 3; 32; 65;77; 7E;87; 124;135; 138; 253:' 285; Letters (1009) 394; 554;746;835;864;Bu. 89-4-26,164; Bu. 9l-5-9, -l letters from the king or the king's son (62) 33;39; 93; 133;D"l. 192;301+83-l 8, 276;K. 154;474: 479; 517; 545; 566; 644; 646; 905; 944; 1002; 1009; letters from Sargon II (3): K. 1159+4683;5610; 1055;1056; ll04; ll06; ll56; 1180;1202; 1353; 1459; 13047+131I 9+ I 3854+l54 I 7+16553+ I 6589 1905+2905+5410b:1919+7378+10489+12958+13081+ lettersfrom Esarhaddon(3): Bu. 91-5-9,2; K. 87; 13t35 15416+16116;1969; r973; 2889; 4670+Ki. 1904-10-9, letter from the crown prince (: Ashurbanipal)(l): Rm. 261 (BM 99229); 4684; 4716; 5393; 5397; 5401; 5439a: 72 5455b; 5463+22015;5467; 5522; 5553; 5579; 5590; lettersfrom Ashurbanipal(39): 67-a-2,1;E0-7-19, l13; 5638+ I 20I 5+1 3834; 6 I I 8; 7355;7 372; 7 396: 7 427 + | 6125; 8r-2-4,92: 378;509; 82-5-22, 91; 97;83-1-18,27; 3ll. 7455;8530; 8681; 10120+16127; 10736; 11687: 11790; 166;263; 8l l; Bu.91-5-9, 5; 88;l15; 126;K.17; 94; 951. 11924;13162; l3l9l; 14140;14142; 15078; 15101+83-l- 824; 828; 938; 1054+81-7-27,40; 1085;1139; 1162: 18, 47; 16122;16583; 19517;20917; Ki. 1904-10-9,l5 l27l; 1610;5446b; 5452b; 551 l; 5576+10399+Sm.529; (BM 98986);225 (BM 99193);Rm. 280;Sm. 16l; 179; 5635;12007+82-5-22, r29; 12984; 13725; Ki. 1904-10-9, 1028:l186: 1254 34 (BM 99005);206 (BM 99174);290(BM e92s}) letter to the crown prince (Esarhaddon) (l): 32-5-22, letter from Ashurbanipal'sson (l): K. aaag 105 sendernot (certain)identified (15): 79-7-3,63; E2-3-22, letters to Sargon II or Esarhaddon (7): 8l-2-4,114; t3- 1764;83-1-18, 129;709; Bu. 91-5-9,20;71:' K. 1164; 1-18,2E; K. 4775+5604;5400+13157; 14627l Rm. 78; 1245+83-l- I 8 , lO7l,5192;5388; 5625; 5634:7557:20897:' 217 Sm.1827+80-7-19.372 letters to Sennacherib or Esarhaddon (2): X. 16588;Rm. 561 Babylonian letters to the king (681) letters to the king's son (= Ashurbanipal) (3): K. 7433; lettersto SargonII (93): 79-7-E,153;257;80-7-19,45;81- 14661;Ki. 1904-10-9,49(BM 99020) 2-4, 76; 8l-7-27,32; 142;82-5-22, ll3; 144;83-l-r8, letter to the crown prince Ashurbanipal (l): Bu. 91-5-9, 696; Bu. 89-4-26,162; Bu. 9l-5-9, 124;K. ll41' 562; 148 148 JeanetteC. Fincke

letter to the king's mother (king = Esarhaddon or 15342; 15392; 15687; 15697; 15703; 15704: 15707; Ashurbanipal) (l): r. 825 l6l l0+82-5-22,1766;16126;16130; 16133; 16135; 16139; (+)? (see letters to Ashurbanipal (235): 48-ll-4, 282; 48-7-20, 16601;16606; 16608; 19037 19350;19350 199'15:19989; 19997; 117+120;79-7-8,3I 3; 80-7-19,153; 174; 338;81-2-4,78; 19037); 19627; 19966; 19974; 20898;20901; 21578; 21708; 21736; 21781; 2 1809; 124:313; 394; 459; 494; 499; 506; 8l-7-27,48; 151+83- 20570: Ki. 1904-10-9,45 (BM 99016);185+340 l-18, 123;82-5-22, l0l; lll; 116; 126+83-l-18,133; 2t841;21870: (BM Rm. 948; Rm. II, 4E9;Sm. 546; 131;132; 133; 154; 163; 165; 167; 1769; 1772;83-l-18, 99153+99308); |174:: 1220+1221..1479 4; 8; 29;30; 49;51;69; 9l; 105;108; ll6; 125;l3l; 137; 143;150; 158; 162;260;261;267; 581;712; 717;733; 736; 772; 824;849; 869; 872;886; BM 121053;134599; Babylonian letters to officials (53) Bu. 89-4-26,63+81; 156; Bu. 91-5-9,l9+107; 23+72+238; officials of Sargon II (15): 83-1-1E,57;92; K. 823; 830; 26; 56;87;90; I 13;125; DT.23; 129;K. l0; 13;79;81; 862; 986; ll77; l94l; 5399+7335+l6585; 5417b; 5474+ 82; 83; 462; 471; 473+1950;509; 524; 544: 599; 607; Sm.501; 8301; Rm. 563;Rm. 11,457;Sm. 267 615; 638; 647; 672; 680; 909; 961; 974; 1030;1066; officials of Sennacherib (5): BM 134587;K. ll58; 1074; 1089; 1095; ll07; 1122; ll67+81-2-4,468; 7314+15305:8395: 13071 1174+1210;l184+7467; I 185;I 196;1203+83-l-18, 753; officials of Esarhaddon (8): 8r-2-4, 129; 83-l-18, 132; l2l8; 1248; r25Q; 1303; 1374; l54l; l55O; 1560; 251;K. 965;5561; 13061: 16579; Rm. II, 491 1592+20912;1596;l6l6; 1895;1899; 1926;1929; 1958; officials of Ashurbanipal (6): 48-7-20,I l6; 83-1-18,1 l0; + -2-4, - 19 6 4 ; | 992; 2645; 2923: 2998I 2988 8 1 385; 3 | 02+82 Bu. 9l-5-9. 85: K.924'. 7454: 13822 3-23, 40; 4275+83-l-18,52; 4303; 4489; 4671+5396; unassigned(19): K. 990; 1226;l90l (+) 7545;1910;4779; 4673+4681+82-5-22,147; 4736; 4793; 4796; 4800; 5386+8304+13063+81-7-27,43:' 7409; 7545 (see l90l); 5062+8314+Ki.1904-10-9, 296 (BM 99264);5380;5384; 13051;13152; 13168; 14621; 14657; 15044; 15196; 5398;5404; 5407; 5413b; 5437a; 5441b; 5442b;5448b+83- 15705+Sm.407: 15706+21906;16136; 16600 l-18, 53; 5449b+13148+13176;5451b; 5456b;5457+ 13128;5461; 5473; 549a; 5504+6946; 5505; 5512+5575; 5558+7371;5567; 5585; 5588+5619+7475+15718; 5622; Babylonian private letters (16) 5637: 5639+7792;5807+13106; 6122; 7256; 7317; 8l-2-4,452;83-1-18, 39; ll2; 716;DT. 300;K. 831;835; 7324+A3-t-t8, 275; 7340:'7369; 7397; 7 404; 74r0; 7415; 882; 899; 926; ll35; 1228; 1237; 1239; 15286;Sm. 464 7417;7479; 7513; 7537:, 7540; 7541; 7543; 8381; 8440; 10319 ; 12944; 1303 1 + 16 12 4; 13107 ; 14130;1 427 8; 14593; unidentified letter fragments (193) 14649;15016;15045; 15058; 15129; 15304; 15324;15393; 80-7-19,336; 8l-2-4, 4rl; 8l-2-4, 498; 8l-7-27, 45; 221; 15397;15401; 15404; 15679; 16123; 16137; 16594; 19196; 255; 83-l-18,284; 505; 512; 797; 826: 877; 882; BM 20566;Ki. 1904-10-9,47 (BM 99018);184 (BM 99152); 134829;Bu. 89-4-26,310; Bu. 9l-5-9, 80; 198;226; 227; 276 (8M99244);283 (BM 99251);298(BM 99266);317 236: 237: 239: K. 233; 988; 1075: 1261; 1943; 1946; (BM 99285);337+346 (BM 99305+99314);Rm. 48; 60; 1978; 1983; 1985;1998; 3162; 5060b;5065b; 5408b; Sm.620;632;1066;1165; 1378; 1392+1831; l63l; 1735; 5409b;5415b; 5421b;5428b; 5520; 5529;5548; 5582; 1793;1954;2164;Th. 1905-4-9, 69 (BM 98563);83 (BM 5599+15622;5603; 5629; 5632; 5633; 5636; 5646;5708b; 98577\ 5805;5999; 7353;7425; 7461:7504; 7519; 8722; 8745; letters to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal (54): as-7-20, 9097;9588; 10854;12255; 12972; 13025+16584; 13050; 115; 80-7-19,35; 40; 46; 82-5-22,120; 161;83-r-18, 13062; 13934;1 4636; 14656; 14969;1 501 9; 15024; 15028; 56+Bu.9l-5-9, 73;74;93; 122+K| 1904-10-9,169 (BM 15068;15070; 15077; 15170+t5287; 15205; 15357; 15403; 99139);210;258;277;796;814; 837; Bu. 91-5-9, 75; K. 15406;15615;15625;15643; 15689; 15691; 15693; 15698; 22; 31; 470; 552; 559; 673; 895; llSl:' 1249; 1448; 15700;15701; 15709; 15710; l57ll; 15715;15716; 16086; | 62lb : 3024: 473 4+ 16 14 1: 4763 + 56 | 6+7422+7 44 5 +7 5 15+ 16109;l6l 14l'16117:'16l18;16129; 1613l;16134; 16140; l3l8l; 4789; 5198;5394+15686+16587; 5436b; 5524+ 16142;16580; 1 659 1; 16593;16597; 1 6598; 16599;16603; 16120; 5557; 5618; 7315; 8433; 9571; 10743; 13022; 16604;16612; 16614; 16935; 17889; 17962; 18061; 18610; 13144;137 44; 14613;14926; 15138; 157 13+16616; 157 17; 18704;18756; 18767; 18789; 18976; 19015; 19150; l99l; 16590;Ki. 1904-10-9,254 (BM 99222):Sm. 1430;1673 19345: 19969:' 199'7 8: 19998;20034; 20048; 20050; 20069; letter to the daughter of the king (l): K. 476 20567; 20568; 20569 ; 20607; 20890; 2089 I ; 20892; 20902; 20904; 209| 5 2091 6; 20946; 21035 2 | 077 2 1| 14 2 I I I 8; addressee unknown ( l l 0): 4E-ll-4, 283; 48-7-20, 11 9; E0- ; ; ; ; 129;21284; 21306; 21333; 2137 4; 21443;2147 6; 21537 7-19,69;341;81-2-4,93; 112; 481;81-7-27, 148; 82-3- 21 ; 217 2171 | 2 I 885 21923 21938;219 48; 21984: 23, 46; 82-5-22,I 34+Ki. I 904-I 0-9, 22; 83-r-r8, 46; 60; 21647 ; 02; ; ; ; '108;735;804; 22005; 22295; Ki. 1904-10-9,202 (BM 99170); 99; 308; 868;Bu. 89-4-26,12; 52;76; Bu. 22003; (BM 187; 452; 481: 91-5-9,30; 3l; 43;70;DT.270; K.467; l0l2; 1105; 284 99252);Rm. 961; Rm. II, Sm. 1626; ll4l; ll49; 12O6;1256; 1269; 1460; l9l2;3034+7655 545;642+Ki.1904-10-9, 171; l38l; 1615; 1700; Th. 1905-4-9, (+) 5440a+82-5-22,123; 4715; 4739; 4776; 5383; 5389; 1800; 1836; 1843; 1869; 1995:'2065; 71 (BM 5395;5403; 5405+7358; 5416b; 5438; K. 5440a+82-5-22, 98565) 123(see 3034+); 5501; 5510+7519+7527+8u.91-5-9, 30; 5551+7474+16595;5592; 5593; 5596; 5613; 5615; 5620; Old Babylonian letters (4) 6147; 7446+1661l; 7489; 8632+16121;9124+11849; BM 134534;134535; 134536; K. 18634 ,i:l:ii I 1674;13186; 14566; 14639; 14669; 15022; 15038; 15048; :l The Babylonian Texts of Nineveh 149 l,

Contractsand related texts (32) Administrative texts (38\ l' contracts(30) palaceadministration (33) written during the reign of Sennacherib (2): K. 389; Sm. names of individuals ( l7): 79-7-8, 20; 80-7-19,34; 83-l- 1037 18, 857;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;BM134561; Bu. 91-5-9,25; K. 1446+4285; written during the reign of Esarhaddon (3): DT. 34; K. 1997; 5414b+5514+10462;5549; 8400; 8750; 10426; 3790;Rm. 157 11673;Rm. ll,416; Sm. 726;859; l5l2 of unknown date (25): BM 121040;K.931; 3783;4274; names of individuals with their profession (2): K. 4726:4738;11800;12960; 13052; 13099; 13956; 14831; 18263;Sm. 47l 15159;l5 162: 15163;15288; Ki. 1904-10-9,140+l5l; list of objects(4): 79-7-8,123; K.934; 6072;8683+10329 Rm. 162; 164; 184;187; Rm. II, 599; Sm. 1655;Th. other administrativetexts (10): 8l-2-4,456;83-l-18,401; 1905-4-9,148? (BM 98642);162 (BM 98656) 833; K. 764; 13644:15029; 20004; 20258;20943; Sm. I 820 delivery note (l) . rh're's-4-e' 68(BM e8562) '"Tifrifil;;1:i!;llrtil ,ur,,,u, ownership label (l) K.3787 Not (certain) identiJi.ed legal texts (6) BM 134544:K. 5602:21201:21975:22136:22158