Babylonia 689-627 Bc
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BABYLONIA 689-627 B.C. A Political History by GRANT FRAME NEDERLANDS HISTORISCH-ARCHAEOLOGISCH INSTITUUT TE ISTANBUL 1992 CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS XI TABLES XIII ABBREVIATIONS XV PREFACE XXXI CONVENTIONS xxxm 1. INTRODUCTION l 2. THE SOURCES 5 I. Written Sources 5 II. Non-written Sources 20 3. CHRONOLOGY 27 4. THE BABYLONIAN PEOPLE 32 I. "Akkadians" 33 II. Chaldeans 36 III. Arameans 43 IV. Other Population Groups 48 5. SENNACHERIB AND THE "KINGLESS YEARS" (689-681) . 52 6. ESARHADDON, KING OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA (681-669) 64 7. ASHURBANIPAL, KING OF ASSYRIA, AND SAMAS-SUMA-UKLN, KING OF BABYLONIA (669-653) 102 8. THE SAMAS-SUMA-UKIN REVOLT (652-648) 131 I. Northern and Central Babylonia 137 II. Uruk 157 III. Ur and Its Neighbours 162 IV. The Arameans 167 V. The Chaldeans 170 VI. TheSealand 175 VII. Ham 182 9. ASHURBANIPAL, KING OF ASSYRIA, AND KANDALANU, KING OF BABYLONIA (647-627) 191 X CONTENTS 10. THE BABYLONIAN STATE 214 I. The Monarchy 214 II. The Provincial Administration 217 III. TheMilitary 241 11. BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, AND ELAM 245 I. Babylonian "Foreign Policy" 246 II. Assyria and Babylonia 250 III. Elam and Babylonia 255 12. CONCLUSION 257 APPENDIX A. BABYLONIAN ECONOMIC TEXTS: A TABULAR SUMMARY 263 APPENDIX B. BABYLONIAN OFFICIALS 269 APPENDIX C. SOME NOTES ON DATING METHODS IN BABYLONIAN ECONOMIC TEXTS 284 APPENDDCD. THE BATTLE OF tJlRlTU AND ASHURBANIPAL EDITIONB 289 APPENDIX E. THE DATING OF ASHURBANIPAL'S CAMPAIGNS AGAINST GUMBAN-HALTAS HI 293 APPENDIX F. THE IDENTIFICATION OF ASHURB ANIPAL AS KANDALANU 296 BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 GENERAL INDEX 331 SELECTED TEXT REFERENCES 344 ILLUSTRATIONS BM 90864. Stela from Babylon depicting Ashurbanipal carrying a basket cover Mapl The Ancient Near East 349 Map 2 Babylonia 350 Figure 1. VA 2708. Stela from Zinjirli depicting Esarhaddon with two captives (front), and likely Ashurbanipal (right side) and Samas-suma-ukln (left side). ... 351 Figure 2. BM 90865. Stela from Borsippa depicting Ashurbanipal carrying a basket 352 Figure 3. BM 90866. Stela from Borsippa depicting Samas- suma-ukln carrying a basket 353 Figure 4. BM 124801 (upper left corner). Wall relief from the Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh depicting captives being forced to grinding up bones (time of Ashurbanipal) 354 Figure 5. BM 124945-6. Wall relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh depicting him receiving the spoils of war after the fall of Babylon in 648. 355 Figure 6. BM 124945-6 (centre). Detail of figure 5, depicting the surrender of Samas-suma-ukln's royal paraphernalia to Ashurbanipal 356 Figure 7. BM drawing Or.DR V,24 (lower register). Wall relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh depicting Babylonian captives 357 Figure 8. AO 19910. Wall relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh depicting Babylonian captives 358 Permission to publish the photograph on the cover and figures 2-7 was kindly granted by the Trustees of the British Museum. Maps 1-2 and figure 1 were made by L.M. James; figure 1 was prepared from the photographs of the stela in F. von Luschan, Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli 1: Einleitung und Inschriften (Berlin, 1893), pis. 1 and 3. Figure 8 (© Reunion des musees nationaux) was supplied by the Louvre Museum. TABLES 1. Chronological Table for the Years 689-627 30 2. The Samas-suma-ukln Revolt: A Chronological Outline . 188 3. Babylonian Economic Texts Dated by the Regnal Years of Esarhaddon 265 4. Babylonian Economic Texts Dated by the Regnal Years of Ashurbanipal 266 5. Babylonian Economic Texts Dated by the Regnal Years of Samas-suma-ukln 267 6. Babylonian Economic Texts Dated by the Regnal Years of Kandalanu 268.