Texts Excluded from This Volume
Only a small number of contemporary Akkadian inscriptions are known from the short and poorly documented reign of Shalmaneser V (726–722). The extant corpus comprises nine short proprietary inscriptions that were written on bronze lion weights, all of which were discovered by A.H. Layard in the mid-nineteenth century at Kalḫu (text nos. 1–9). The weights were first thoroughly edited by E. de Vogüé in CIS 2/1 (pp. 1–13). These weights and the texts on them have remained a subject of scholarly interest. The comprehensive studies and editions of T.C. Mitchell (in Gyselen, Prix pp. 129–138) and F.M. Fales (Studies Lipiński pp. 33–55) provided a solid base for the editions published in this volume.
Six further inscribed objects have been thought by some scholars to be dated to his reign. These are two clay cones from Aššur (text no. 1001), a brick from Tell Abu Marya (ancient Apku) (text no. 1002), a bronze lion weight from Kalḫu (text no. 1003), and two unprovenanced clay ovals that are stamped with an image of a lion weight (text no. 1004). The assignment of these objects to Shalmaneser V is uncertain at best; the attribution of the clay cones (text no. 1001) to him seems especially improbable.
Two objects, a gold bowl and an electrum cosmetic container (text nos. 2001–2002), bearing proprietary inscriptions of Bānītu, queen of Shalmaneser V, were discovered in 1989 during Iraqi excavations of a tomb that was hidden under the pavement of a room of the North-West Palace at Kalḫu. These inscriptions, together with some inscribed objects belonging to other queens unearthed from the same tomb, were first edited by Kamil in Damerji, Gräber pp. 14–15.
| Object Type | Text No. |
|---|---|
| Bronze Lion Weights | 1–9, 1003 |
| Clay Cones | 1001 |
| Mud Brick | 1002 |
| Clay Ovals | 1004 |
| Gold Bowl | 2001 |
| Electrum Cosmetic Container | 2002 |
All of the other contemporary and later textual evidence relating to Shalmaneser V, including five letters written while he was crown prince, falls outside the scope of this volume. The letters written in the nickname (or birth name) of Shalmaneser V — Ulūlāyu, "(One born in) the month Ulūlu" — all addressed to the king (Tiglath-pileser III), were discovered at Kalḫu in the 1950s and published by H.W.F. Saggs in Iraq 18 (1956), Iraq 21 (1958), and Saggs, Nimrud Letters. These important texts were recently re-edited and discussed by K. Radner (AfO 50 [2003/4] pp. 95–104). A few chronographic texts (the Eponym Chronicle and two Babylonian chronicles) record the events of his reign. The relevant passages of these texts are translated below (pp. 17–18). For other scattered references, certain or uncertain, to Shalmaneser V in cuneiform sources, see H. Baker, PNA 3/1 p. 1077 sub Salmānu-ašarēd no. 5. He is also mentioned in the Bible (II Kings 17:3-6 and 18:9-11), as well as in later Aramaic and Greek sources; see Brinkman, PKB p. 244 for references.
Hayim Tadmor & Shigeo Yamada
Hayim Tadmor & Shigeo Yamada, 'Inscriptions of Shalmaneser V and Related Texts', RINAP 1: Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V, The RINAP 1 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap1/rinap1introduction/inscriptionsofshalmaneserv/]