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International "Noah and Judi Mountain" Symposium 27-29 EYLÜL 2013 ŞIRNAK

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International ULUSLARARASI HZ. NUH VE CUDİ DAGI SEMPOZYUMU International "Noah and Judi Mountain" Symposium 27-29 EYLÜL 2013 ŞIRNAK Editörler Doç. Dr. Harndi GÜNDOGAR Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ömer Ali YILDIRIM Yrd. Doç. Dr. M. Ata AZ Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah's Ark as a Deity? Gordon FRANZ* Introduction Rabbi Papa (ca. AD 300-375) recounts a story in Tractate Sanhedrin about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, finding a piece of wood from Noah's Ark. It states: "He [Sennacherib] then went away and found a plank ofNoah's ark. 'This: said he, 'must be the great God who saved Noah from the flood. Ifi go [to battle] and am successful, I will sacrifice my two sons to thee: he vowed. But his sons heard this, so they killed him, as it is written, And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house ofNisroch his god, that Adram-melech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword" (96a; Epstein 1935: 647, citing 2 Kings 19:37). This story is recounted in Louis Ginzberg's dassic work, Legends of the ]ews, and implies that this is a legendary .account. One reason it rnight have been considered a legend is because Sennacherib was never on, or near, the modern-day Mount Ararat (Agri Dagh). Yet there are plausible histarical reasons to believe this story is true and not legendary. There are three lines of arguments that support the histarical plausibility of this 419 event. First, at one point in his life, Sennacherib was on the mountains in the Land of Ararat where tradition and ancient history say No ah's Ark land ed (C ro use and Franz 2006). Second, he learned of the story ofNoah's Ark from some Israelites or Judeans with whom he had contact. Third, the teniple ofNisroch was dedicated to a plankof wood from Noah's Ark. Sennacherib Saw Noah's Ark Sennacherib could have seen Noah's Ark during his fifth campaign carried out about 697 BC (Russell 1991:164, 308, footnote 24). This campaign was precipitated by the rebellion of seven cities located on Mt. Nipur, the Assyrian name for Cudi Dagh, which were not subject to the Assyrian yoke (ARAB 2: 139, 140; para. 294, 296; 144, para. 316; Parker 2001: 98). The fiat area to the south of Mt. Nipur, to day called the Cizre Plain, was a "buffer zone between the Mesopotarnian lowlands and the Anatolian highlands" (Parker 2001: 40). During the Assyrian period, the Cizra Plain was called the province of Ulluba (Parker 2001: 43). The province probably gave its name to the mountain ata later period when it was called Mount Lubar. * Assodates for Biblical Research, Akron, PA, USA ULUSLARARASI HZ. NUH ve CUDİ DAGI SEMPOZWMU Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah's Ark as il Deity? 11 In the year 739 BC, after annexing Ulluba, Tiglath-Pileser III built and fortified a city named Ashur-ipisha (Tadrnor 1994: 127, 129). The surveyors of the Cizre Plain project have tentatively identified the site located in the center of the plain, Takyan Hoyuk, as the site of Ashur-ipisha (Parker 2001: 78, 82, 277, 281, Site #49). Tiglath­ Pileser III also built a royal residence in the territory ofUlluba. Unfortunately the text describing this construction is partially damaged so the name of the city where the residence was located is not known. Most likely it was at Ashur-ipisha (Tadrnor 1994: 167; Parker 2001: 54, footnote 229). Tiglath-Pileser III also repopulated the area with 1,223 people deported from elsewhere (Tadrnor 1994: 63). Again, unfortunately, it is not clear where these people were deported from because the text is broken. Some have suggested Phoenicia and north Syria, atlıers have suggested Tushan (Parker 2001: 54, footnote 233). The Assyrians used this agriculturally rich province to supply food for Nineveh and other cities in central Assyria. They would float grain and other foodstuff down the Tigris River on crafts called kalakku. These crafts consisted "of a raft supported by inflated animal skins" (Parker 2001: 81; Newman 1876: 233; for a picture a kalakku on an Assyrian relief, see Barnett, Bleibtreu and Turner 1998: Plate 104, #144a, top left). There is one text that deseribes a grain shipment that most likely originated from the Cizre Plains (Parker 2001: 82, 86-88; LanfrJ.Ulchi and Parpola 1990:202-203, 420 text 289; CT 53 323). The Assyriologist Julian Reade, suggested that the "original cause of the Mount Nipur expedition [Sennacherib's fifth campaign] ... judged by the poorly preserved stela texts, was to punish the inhabitants for sinking loads in transit" (1978: 60; King 1913: 88, line 31; ARAB 1989: 2: 139, para. 295, "... they sankin the river.. :'). The inhabitants of Mt. Nipur were apparently attacking and sinking these kalakku's with either grain or the stone sphinx colossi on them. Others have suggested that the mountain villagers were attacking the Assyrian farms on the Cizre plain (Parker 2001: 98). · Sennacherib successfully campaigned against the seven cities on Mt. Nipur (Tumurra, Sharim, Khalbuda, Kipsha, Esama, Kua and Kana). To commemorate his victory he placed eight sculptured panels near the top of the mountain. Six of them were found near the village of Shakh - five contained the figure of Sennacherib with an inscription, and one was prepared, but left unfinished. Two atlıers were found ne ar the village qf: H;:ısanah - one with the figure of the king and an inscription, and the other one prepared, but left unfinished (King 1913). Recently anather inscription was discovered near Salı [Shakh] (Nogaret 1984; 1985). Olmstead has suggested that Tummurra, the chief city of the region, lay under the village of Shakh because of its close proximity to the bulk of the inscriptions ULUSLARARASI HZ. NUH ve CUDİ DAGI SEMPOZYUMU ııı Gordon Franz (1975: 314). Nogaret points out that this identification is insufficiently established (1985: 64, footnote 3). Nogaret goes on to conjecture that the city of Esama should be identified with Hasanah, located at the fo ot of Cudi Dagh, because the toponym is preserved in the name of the village, and there too, the village is in close prox:irnity to the.inscriptions (1985: 64, footnote 3). The exact location of these Iran Age cities can only be determined by a thorough survey of Cudi Dagh and eventnal excavations of the sites. The inscriptions were placed in elevated places and in such a way as not to be seen from a distance. King observed that Sennacherib "did not anticipate any lively feeling of gratitude among the survivors on his withdrawal after sacking and destroying the mountain villages" (1913: 67). King alsa gives detailed directions to each of the panels (1913: 70-71). The inscriptions on the sculptured panels reveal the ego of Sennacherib. After attributing his victory to the Assyrian gods, he deseribes himself as "the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, and the exalted prince!" (ARAB 1989: 2: 139; para. 294). He goes on to deseribes himselfas aı;ı. ibex, leading the charge up the mountain, through gullies and mountain torrents to the highest summits (para. 296). The impression one gets from his inscriptions is that he elimbed all over the mountain in his conquest of the seven cities. If the Ark was stili intact, 421 or at least partially intact, it would have been difficult for Sennacherib to miss such a large object on top of the mountain. After the Assyrians "devastated, destroyed and burned with fire" the seven cities on Mt Nipur, they pressed their campaign against King Maniye from Ukku in the land ofDaie (Grayson and Novotny2012: 117-118, Inscription 16, lines 5:11-40; 163, Inscription 19, lines 2:7-13; 210, Inscription 26, lines 1:14-17). They were successful against this royal city as well as the thirty-three cities that belonged to this kingdam (lines 29-37). Ukku has been identified with the city of Hakkari on the Greater Zab river (Radner 2011: 255-258; Jeffers 2011: 100). On at least one of his inscriptions he states: "I destroyed, devastated, (and) bur[ned] with fire his cities, (and) made (them) like ruin hill(s) (created by) the Deluge (Inscription 19, lines 2:12-13)! Sennacherib used the same Akkadian word in this text for Deluge that is used elsewhere in the Assyrian accounts of the Great Flood. Recently, Davide Naclali has suggested slabs 1-7 in Sennacherib's throne room depict the fifth campaign to Mt. Nipur and Ukku (2008: 473-493; Russell 1998: 223; Plates 41, 42, 238). Joshua Jeffers has argued that slabs in Rooms XXXVIII andXLVIli alsa depict images of the Fifth Campaign (2011: 87-116). When Friedrich Bender visited Cudi Dagh in the spring of 1954 he obtained ULUSLARARASI HZ. NUH ve CUDİ DAGI SEMPOZl'UMU Did Sennacherib, King of Assyria, Worship Wood from Noah's Arkasa Deity? 111 wood samples from an object that might be Noah's Ark at a level of about 2,000 meters, just below the summit of Cudi Dagh {1956: 154). When he published the results of the carbon-14 dating, he includedamapin the report (1972: 20; 2006: 112- 113). He located the remains ofNoah's Ark near one of the sumrnits of Cudi Dagh. This j.s consistent with the ancient sources that place the landing site ofNoah's Ark on Cudi Dagh (Crouse and Franz 2006: 99-111). There were visible sightings of an intact or nearly intact Noah's Ark on Mt. Nipur 1 Cudi Dagh up until at least the ıoı1ı century AD.
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