Sargon II 2002

1This text provides the only attestation of the title sukkalmaḫḫu in the Neo-Assyrian period. Since Sîn-aḫu-uṣur is also called sukkallu rabû in text no. 2003, H. Baker has suggested that the two titles were interchangeable (PNA 4/1 p. 135). Lines 1 and 7: A. Bartelmus argues that talīmu, which is tentatively translated here as favorite (brother) and favorite, was “the official designation of the highest possible rank among the king’s relatives, but obviously of lower position than the king himself” (SAAB 16 [2007] pp. 287–302, esp. p. 299), while N. May suggests that Neo-Assyrian scribes gave it the meaning “‘somewhat special’ brother” when referring to Assyrian royal siblings (SAAB 19 [2011–12] pp. 153–174, esp. p. 168).

2The line arrangement is different to the master line in ex. 3, with the last line of the exemplar beginning with ⸢GAL^? LU^? ša ^md⸣EN.ZU-ŠEŠ-⸢ú-ṣur⸣ and the end of the previous line of the exemplar appearing to end with ⸢ik-tar^?⸣-x-⸢bu-ma⸣. The identification of the first two signs as GAL and LU seems fairly clear, but their meaning in the context (qal-lu, “slave”?) is not.