Part 1 (1-9)

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001-008

On the stone slabs lining the walls of several rooms and at least one corridor in the inner part the palace of Sargon II at Dūr-Šarrukīn (Khorsabad) were incised versions of the king's Annals (text nos. 1–6) and two different display (or summary) inscriptions (text nos. 7–8), as well as sculpted reliefs depicting mostly military events, but also hunting, feasting, and the bringing of tribute. The Annals come from Rooms II, V, XIII, XIV, the throne room (=Court VII), and an unknown room (text nos. 1–6 respectively). Copies of Sargon's main Display Inscription were found in Rooms I, IV, VII, VIII, and X (the last actually a corridor leading from Court VIII to the northeastern terrace). Room XIV unusually had both a version of the Annals (text no. 4) and a display inscription (text no. 8) that was about half as long as the main Display Inscription. (For a plan of the palace indicating the various rooms, see Figure 4, although note that the room numbers are given as Arabic numerals.)

No version of the Annals is fully preserved, but the best-preserved versions are those from Rooms II and V (text nos. 1 and 2 respectively). Parts of the beginning of the Annals are preserved only in Room II and parts of the end only in Room V. Events are assigned from Sargon's accession year (722) through to his thirteenth regnal year (709). Following an account of Sargon's reconquest of Babylonia in his twelfth and thirteenth regnal years (710–709), the version of the Annals in Room V recounts events in Que (Cilicia) and Musku (Phrygia), Tyre and Yadnana (Cyprus), Kummuḫu (Commagene) and Melid, and Ellipi and Marubištu; the events in Kummuḫu are likely to be associated with events recorded in the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle for 708. The inscription in Room V then describes the building of the city Dūr-Šarrukīn and a festival that the king held when he took up residence there (text no. 2 lines 467b–494). This should indicate that the text was composed no earlier than 706, since the city's inaugration took place in Ayyāru (II) of 706 according to the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle. Both display inscriptions refer to the festival held after the king took up residence in Dūr-Šarrukīn (text no. 7 lines 177b–186a and text no. 8 lines 59b–69a), indicating that they were also composed after that event, unless they were all recording an event that was planned, but that had not yet taken place.

001 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006482/]

The version of Sargon's Annals in Room II, a large room measuring 35.5×9 m in size, probably extended over at least thirty-seven wall slabs — thirty-five in the room itself and two in Entrance H. P.E. Botta prepared copies of the inscriptions on twenty-eight of these slabs, twenty-six from the room itself and the two in Entrance H. It is likely that the end of the inscription continued onto two or possibly four slabs in Entrance C, although we might not have expected the text to end in a doorway rather than on a slab within the room itself (see below). As far as one can tell, each slab appears to have had thirteen lines, for a total of at least four hundred and eighty-one lines and a maximum of five hundred and thirty-three lines. Regrettably, not one single original sign of this inscription is known to be preserved today, although some parts may remain in situ at Khorsabad. In the edition of this text and the other texts where the inscription requires more than one stone wall slab, the slabs are given consecutive "section" numbers in order to facilitate use of the edtions.

This is the only version of the Annals for which the beginning is preserved, albeit in a fragmentary state. As currently known, the text breaks off shortly after the beginning of the description of events in Sargon's second regnal year (720; lines 1–26) and, after a gap of twenty-six lines (sections 3–4 = lines 27–52), recommences a few lines before the end of the account for that year (lines 53–57). Following accounts of the third through tenth regnal years (719–712; lines 58–234a), the text breaks off again at the very beginning of the eleventh regnal year (711; line 234b), and, after a gap of thirteen lines (section 19 = lines 235–247), recommences within the account of that same year (lines 248–261a). The account of the twelfth year (710) is particularly lengthy (lines 262b–299 and 313–390) although there is a gap of thirteen lines within it (section 24 = lines 300–312) and the end of the account and beginning of the account of the thirteenth year (709) are also missing (section 31 = lines 391–403). After twenty-six lines (two slabs) dealing with year thirteen (709; lines 404–416), the text breaks off again, still within the account of that regnal year, for a gap of twenty-six lines (sections 33–34 = lines 417–442). When the text recommences, it is still dealing with the thirteenth regnal year, or more accurately Upēri of Dilmun who, having heard of Sargon's victories, sent a gift to the Assyrian king (lines 443–444a). It then proceeds to describe events involving Mitâ of Musku, Silṭa of Tyre, and finally Mutallu of Kummuḫu, ending just after beginning the passage about Mutallu (lines 444b–468). The account about Mutallu of Kummuḫu is probably to be dated to Sargon's fourteenth regnal year (708) in view of the mention of the capture of the city Kummuḫu in the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle's account for that year. The inscription would presumably have continued onto slab II,1 (section 37) and possibly also onto slabs in Entrance C, none of which were copied by Botta. The lines are to be associated with Winckler, Sar. Annals lines 1–208, 214–261, 266–274, 280–284, 290–314, 319–340, and 370–389, and with Fuchs, Khorsabad Annals lines 1–26, 53–234, 240–279n, 283–286c, 288–291, 297–301, 307–321e, 331–351, and 384–399. (Note that A. Fuchs' line numbering is the same as that used for this inscription for lines 1–234, after which it diverges.) Since the scheme used for numbering the lines in this room is the same as that used by A.G. Lie (Sar.), the line numbers here are the same as those used in his edition (although see the commentary below for differences with regard to lines 1–13); Lie used separate line numbers for the individual sections not preserved in Room II.

F.H. Weissbach (ZDMG 72 [1918] pp. 171–172) originally thought that the inscription was also found on two slabs in Entrance G, two slabs in Entrance B, and perhaps two or four slabs in Entrance C, but according to F. Thureau-Dangin (RA 24 [1927] p. 75 n. 4), he later abandoned this view. J.E. Reade (JNES 35 [1976] p. 96) has noted that Botta stated that the slabs in Entrances B and C were inscribed and that E. Flandin drew line delineations on his depictions of the slabs in Entrance G. It is assumed here that any inscription in Entrance B and Entrance G was different to that in Room II. It is thought, however, that Entrance C likely did have part of the inscription (the very end of the text).

For a plan of the room, with the slabs numbered, and for sketch drawings of the slabs, see Figure 5; Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pls. 51–52; and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pls. 109–110. Drawings of the reliefs found in this room are given in Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 on pls. 53–71, and on pls. 76–77 for Entrance H₁ and H₂. With regard to the reliefs in the room, which are thought to depict Sargon's campaign to the east in his sixth regnal year (716), see Reade, JNES 35 (1976) pp. 96 and 102–104; and Reade, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) pp. 78–81.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006482/] or the score [/rinap/scores/Q006482/score] of Sargon II 001

Sources:

Plan of Room II of the palace at Khorsabad, whose wall slabs had a version of Sargon's Annals (text no. 1). Plan after Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 51.

Copy of the inscription on Room II, slab 2, published by P.E. Botta in Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 79^c top (text no. 1, section 1).

Commentary

Squeeze of Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 65.1 (text no. 1, section 21).
© Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN - Grand Palais / Christian Larrieu.

Squeeze of Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 65.2 (text no. 1, section 21).
© Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN - Grand Palais / Christian Larrieu.

Squeeze of Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 65.3 (text no. 1, section 21).
© Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN - Grand Palais / Christian Larrieu.

Squeeze of Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 65.4 (text no. 1, section 21).
© Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN - Grand Palais / Christian Larrieu.

Before publishing the copies that he had made in the field in Monument de Ninive, P.E. Botta collated most of them from papier mâché squeezes that he had made of the originals. These are marked with ^c after the Botta, Monument de Ninive 3–4 plate number in the catalogue; the same is done with the text numbers which Winckler is supposed to have collated from squeezes or originals. Botta did not make copies or squeezes of sections 3–4, 19, 24, 31, 33–34, and 37 (Room II slabs 4–5, 20, 23, 30, 32–33, and 1 respectively), or of any inscribed slabs that may have existed in Entrance C. Although he made copies of the inscriptions on sections 25, 27, and 36 (Room II slabs 24, 26 and 35 respectively), squeezes of these were not made. Squeezes were supposedly made by Botta of sections 1, 7, and 11 (Room II slabs 2, 8, and 12 respectively) and used by him when he prepared the final copies for Monument de Ninive, but these were already not available or extant in the time of H. Winckler. Thus, Winckler's copies of those three sections were totally based on those of Botta and provide no independent information on what was on those slabs. Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 79^c has copies of two slabs, sections 1 and 14 (Room II, slabs 2 and 15), and Botta indicates in his table of contents that he collated what was on that plate; however, a squeeze of only the latter piece is preserved today and it is possible that he did not have one of the former piece (slab 2) to check. A new copy of section 13 (II,14) was made in the 1920s by Ch.-F. Jean based upon an examination of the squeeze.

Since the inscription crossed over a large number of slabs and since none of the original inscription is preserved today due to the loss of most of P.E. Botta's and V. Place's finds in the Tigris in 1855, it has been thought necessary to divide up the text by slab (section) in the catalogue, provide information on the sources of information for each separate slab, and create a score edition for the text based on the different sources of information, even though there was only one original text. In the catalogue and in the score, these sources are presented in the following order and with the following notations:

Bt = copy by Botta published in Monument de Ninive.

Wi = copy by Winckler, Sar. 2 (when he states that he collated a squeeze of the original).

Sq = squeeze in the Louvre (examined primarily via photographs, but also via the original squeeze in places).

JA = copy by Botta published in Journal asiatique (1843–1845). Generally these copies are exact duplicates of the ones preserved in the Institut de France (see the next entry), but there are occasional differences.

IdF = copy by Botta made while at Khorsabad, sent to Jules Mohl (secretary of the Société asiatique), and preserved in the Institut de France in the file Botta-Cotta II 2976.

Je = copy by Jean published on pp. 79–80 of Thureau-Dangin, RA 24 (1927) pp. 75–80; these are copies of sections 12 and 13 (slabs 13 and 14 respectively).

T-D = copies and transliterations of selected individual words and passages by Thureu-Dangin in RA 24 (1927) pp. 76–78. For a detailed listing of which lines are mentioned, see the bibliography below.

BM = rubbing in British Museum (only for section 5 [slab 6]).

Botta states that some of the copies made by him at Khorsabad and published in Monument de Ninive had been collated by him from the squeezes and/or originals in the Louvre (including much of this text: Monument de Ninive 3–4 pls. 65–65^bis and 70–90 = sections 1–2, 5–18, 20–23, 26, 29–30, 32, and 35). Thus, those copies should be improvements upon those published in Journal asiatique and those preserved in the Institut de France, and it has not been thought necessary to include in the scores complete transliterations of the copies in Journal asiatique and the Institut de France, but only to note useful differences from the copies in Monument de Ninive, in particular when one or both of the copies has a correct form of a sign and the copy in Monument de Ninive is abnormal or when one or the other has major traces of a sign omitted in Monument de Ninive.

Section 1 (lines 1–13): As copied by Botta, lines 2–10 of the first section of the inscription (slab II,2) clearly duplicate parts of lines 6–16 of the Khorsabad Cylinder Inscription (text no. 43), and line 1, as far as it is preserved, could duplicate part of the third line of that inscription, but with insufficient room at the beginning of the line to restore what would be expected before that, namely the name of the king and several titles and epithets, even if that passage was a greatly abbreviated version of what was in lines 1–2 of the cylinder inscription. It is most unlikely that the inscription had begun on a previous, unpreserved slab, since slab 2 was located immediately to the left of Door C when entering Room II and the slab to the right of the doorway (Room II, slab 1), would have contained the very end of the inscription. The slabs in this room regularly have thirteen lines of text; however, Botta copied only eleven lines for slab II,2, indicating that nothing of lines 12 and 13 was preserved and that the depiction of a royal parasol protruded up into the inscribed area, taking up parts of what would have been the last four lines (lines 10–13 of the slab); see Figure 6 and Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 79^c top and note 1 pl. 53. (Winckler's copy follows Botta's in the arrangement of the lines.) A.T.E. Olmstead assumed that line 1 of Botta's copy was actually the second line of the inscription, thus presumably assuming that nothing was preserved of only the last line of the slab, i.e., Botta's lines 1–11 are actually lines 2–12 of the original thirteen lines. Olmstead then restored his lines 1–2 based on the cylinder inscription lines 1–3, although he added the god Nabû between the gods Aššur and Marduk in line 2 (line 3 of text no. 43). A. Fuchs (Khorsabad p. 19) also considers the problem and suggests that what Botta copied for line 1 was an isolated fragment that he placed wrongly and that it was the first and third lines of the text that were completely unpreserved, i.e., what is on Botta's line 1 was actually on line 2 and Botta's lines 2–11 were actually lines 4–13. However, Fuchs also notes that the parasol intrudes well into the inscription on both Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 53 and 4 pl. 79^c (top), suggesting that Botta's copy might have been accurate, and thus in his edition follows Botta's line arrangement. One should note, however, the drawing of the relief on Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 53 shows the parasol protruding into only two or at most three lines of text (assuming that the line rulings indicated by E. Flandin are correct) and that the parasols on Room II slabs 16 and 34 (sections 15 and 35) protrude into only the bottom two lines of the text, with only the top end of the stick of the parasol going just into the third line from the bottom (on both Botta's copies [ibid. 4 pls. 80 and 90] and squeezes). Flandin's drawings of those reliefs show the parasols protruding the same distance into the inscription as the one on slab 2 (see ibid. 1 pls. 63, 71 and 53 respectively). Botta's initial copy of the text preserved in the Institut de France has just eleven lines, with no indication of any damaged lines either above or below the eleven lines copied (i.e., the lines with no preserved text), and the same is true for the copy published in Journal asiatique (4/2 [1843] pl. 18). Thus, it is possible that in making the typeset copy and knowing that the slabs in this room always had thirteen lines of text he erroneously placed the two missing lines at the end of the text. Since nothing of slab II,2 is preserved today and no squeeze of it was made by Botta, no final conclusion can be made about the matter, although Fuchs' suggestion (one which he did not follow in his edition) that Botta's copies represent parts of lines 2 and 4–13 makes the best sense for the text, fits well with the drawings of the reliefs, and is followed here. Thus, lines 1 and 2–11 in Winckler's, A.G. Lie's, and Fuchs' editions are here lines 2 and 4–13 respectively. It should be noted that in his original handcopy of this slab and in the copy published in JA, there are traces of two or three unidentifiable signs to the right of the first line. Since these traces were not included in the copy published in Monument de Ninive and since it is not clear which line they would come from (presumably either what is considered here as line 2 or line 3) they are not included in the present edition. The author presented a more detailed paper on the first thirteen lines of the Annals from Room II at the 65^e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Paris on July 10, 2019 and this will published in the Proceedings volume of that conference.

Sections 3 (lines 27–39) and 4 (lines 40–52): Botta (followed by F.H. Weissbach) has two slabs (II,4–5) in the northwest corner of the room, unlike the other three corners where there is one corner slab; however, he provides no copies for the inscriptions upon these slabs. N. Naʾaman (Tel Aviv 34/2 [2007] pp. 165–170) argues that there was likely only one slab there, based partially upon what would have been recorded on those slabs. Thus line 40 would have begun on slab II,6 (section 5) and our lines 53-481 would be 40–468 (i.e., each line number being 13 lines less). His reasoning has merit, although it is not impossible that there were two slabs there, rather than one, with each slab being much narrower than the other slabs in the room. It has been thought best to maintain the traditional slab and line numbering for this area, which is also the same line numbering used by Lie.

Section 5 (lines 53–65): A rubbing of slab II,6 was presented to the British Museum on January 23, 1845 by Rev. G.P. Badger and has the designation ADD. Ms. 15441. This occasionally shows a bit more at the beginning of a line than Botta's copy and indicates that some areas of damage on Botta's copy do not exist.

Section 9 (lines 105–117): With regard to slab II,10, Botta's copy does not include a section at the right side of the slab (lines 107–113) that is visible on the squeeze and that was copied by Winckler.

Section 10 (lines 118–130): The squeeze of slab II,11 only has approximately the first sixty percent of each line; this was also the case when Winckler saw the squeeze and made his copy.

Sections 12 (lines 144–156) and 13 (lines 157–169): The copies of these two slabs (II,13–14) done by Jean (RA 24 [1927] pp. 79–80) are in general given preference in the edition over those of Botta when they are supported by an examination of the squeezes (although at times the current state of a squeeze might suggest the addition of half brackets to indicate a certain level of damage).

Section 20 (lines 248–260): Botta's copy for slab II,21 indicates a damaged area sufficient for several (ca. 4–6) signs immediately before the final sign(s) on a line; however, the squeeze indicates that there is room for far fewer signs per line in the damaged area.

Section 25 (lines 313–325): Botta's copy for slab II,24; (Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 92 top) has parts of nine lines and indicates damage both before and after those lines. Winckler's copy (Sar. 2 pl. 9 no. 19) presents those lines as the last nine lines of the slab and that view is followed here, as it was by Fuchs (see Fuchs, Khorsabad pp. 145–147), although this must remain uncertain.

Sections 27 (lines 339–351) and 28 (lines 352–364: As already noted by Fuchs (Khorsabad pp. 20–21), Botta's copy for Room II slab 26 (Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 92 bottom = Winckler, Sar. 2 pl. 10 no. 21; section 27), which has parts of twelve lines, presents problems if one attempts to edit it as one passage and in the order that the lines are presented. Botta provides no separate copy for slab 27 (section 28) and Fuchs proposes that the copy for slab 26 represents four fragments from the two slabs. Although there is no proof that this is correct, this suggestio is reasonable and is followed here. The text on Botta's copy is assigned to section 27 lines 339–340 and 350–351 (Botta lines 4´–5´and 2´–3´ respectively) and to section 28 lines 352–355 (Botta lines 8´–12´). Nevertheless, the exact line numbers for the fragment(s) must remain uncertain and parts of three lines copied by Botta have remained unplaced: 1´ ([...] AN [...]), 6´ ([...] A I MUNUS [...]), and 7´ ([...] x i-na [...]), although 6´–7´ could conceivably be from lines 341–342. See the on-page notes to lines 339–340 and 350–355.

Section 32 (lines 404–416): The squeeze for slab II,31 is faint and illegible for the most part; many of the legible signs are in the lower righthand section of the squeeze. Thus, only a few signs are noted in the score for the squeeze and it is particularly uncertain whether Winckler's copies can be relied upon or not when they deviate from Botta's copy.

Section 36 (lines 456–468): As already noted by Winckler, Botta's copy of slab II,35 is unreliable, with the right side of the copy indicated a line higher than it should be; Winckler corrected this in his own copy (Sar. 2 pl. 12 no. 26). Fuchs (Khorsabad p. 20) suggests that Botta had found the slab in two pieces and that he put them together wrongly, misaligning the lines. Thus, for example line 459 is made up of Botta's II,35 lines 4a and 3b. In the score, a double dagger (‡) indicates where the line shifts on Botta's copy. (This misalignment is found on Botta's copies in Journal asiatique and in the Institut de France Archives, as well as on the one in Monument de Ninive.)

Section 37 (lines 469–481): It is thought likely that the inscription continued after this unpreserved section (slab II,1) by going into Entrance C and continuing on two (C₃ and C₂) or four (C₃, C₄, C₁, and C₂) slabs there, for an additional 26 or 52 lines which would likely have been similar to text no. 2 lines 443–510. This would mean that the text would have ended within a doorway, rather than within the room itself, which would be most unusual; however, if it did not do so, the inscription would likely either not have had a final building section or only a much abbreviated one compared to that in Room V (text no. 2), since the end of slab II,2 is still dealing with political/military matters.

Bibliography

002 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006483/]

The version of Sargon's Annals in Room V probably extended over thirty wall slabs (twenty-eight in the room itself and two in Entrance O). P.E. Botta prepared copies of the inscriptions for twenty of these, but appears to have numbered four of his copies incorrectly, leaving the impression that the inscription did not move regularly from one slab to the next, in a clockwise manner. It was recently possible to prove that at least one of the four passages had been assigned to the wrong slab and to raise suspicions about some other assignments. (See Frame, Studies Grayson pp. 89–102 for a study of the order of the wall slabs in this room.) As far as one can tell, each slab appears to have had seventeen lines, for a total of five hundred and ten lines. The last sixty-eight lines (lines 443–510) are not preserved in any other version of the annals, as is the case for lines 403–426. Assuming that the reassignment of the inscriptions on the four slabs is correct, there are two major gaps and one minor gap in the text due to a lack of copies by Botta: The first four inscribed slabs are missing (sections 1–4 = lines 1–68), as are the seventh through eleventh slabs (sections 7–11 = lines 103–187) and the fifteenth slab (section 15 = lines 239–255).

As mentioned, the beginning of the inscription is missing (lines 1–68), with the preserved text beginning at the very end of the description of the king's fifth regnal year (717; lines 69–70a). After giving an account of the sixth regnal year (716; lines 70b–95a), the text breaks off part way through the description of the seventh regnal year (715; lines 70b–102) and recommences toward the end of the account of the eighth regnal year (714; lines 188–195a). Following an account of the ninth regnal year (713; lines 195b–235), the text breaks off again shortly after the beginning of the description of the tenth regnal year (712; lines 236–238) and then recommences part way through the description of that regnal year (lines 256–267a). The text preserves the accounts of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth regnal years (711–709; lines 267b–427). Following the description of the thirteenth year's campaign in Babylonia, and in particular the conquest of Dūr-Yakīn and the sending of a gift to Sargon by Upēri of Dilmun, are sections dealing with Mitâ of Musku, Silṭa of Tyre, Mutallu of Kummuḫu, and the sons of Daltâ of Ellipi (lines 428–467a). The text then describes the construction of the city of Dūr-Šarrukīn, and in particular its palace, and the festival that took place when the city was completed (lines 467b–494), in the second month of 706, as noted in the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle. The text concludes with blessing and curse formulae (lines 495–510).

Only one slab of the inscription is preserved today (section 6 = lines 86–102), on display in the Iraq Museum (Baghdad). This would have been slab 21 from the room, although Botta labeled it slab 17 on his copy (see commentary below). The rest of the inscription appears to have been lost in the Tigris disaster of 1855, unless some pieces were left in situ.

For a plan of the room and drawings of the reliefs in this room, see Figure 11 and Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pls. 84–100. With regard to the reliefs in the room, which are thought to depict Sargon's campaign to the west in his second regnal year (720), see Reade, JNES 35 (1976) pp. 96 and 99–102; and Reade, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) p. 82; cf. Tadmor, JCS 12 (1958) p. 83 n. 243.

Plan of Room V of the palace at Khorsabad, whose wall slabs had a version of Sargon's Annals (text no. 2). Plan after Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 84.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006483/] or the score [/rinap/scores/Q006483/score] of Sargon II 002

Sources:

Commentary

In the above Catalogue and in the edition below, P.E. Botta's numbering of the slabs (as indicated on the table of contents in Monument de Ninive 3 and on the plates in volume 4) for sections 5–6 and 12–13 is given in parentheses, while those proposed in Frame, Studies Grayson p. 91 are given as the primary reference, but placed within single quotes (e.g., for section 5 "Room V, slab '22' (Botta 16)." F.H. Weissbach (ZDMG 72 [1918] p. 173) assumed that there is only one slab missing in each of the two northeastern corners of the room, between his slabs V,19 and V,20 and between his slabs V,22 and V,23, but the catalogue follows Frame, Studies Grayson pp. 91–92 in assuming that there was one slab between Botta's slabs V,22 and V,23 and two slabs between Botta's slabs V,19 and V,20. Since Botta numbered the slabs in the room counterclockwise (unlike his normal procedure), these additional slabs are given the provisional numbers '22A,' '19B', and '19A' respectively (i.e., sections 4 and 8–9).

Botta did not make copies or squeezes of the inscriptions on sections 1–4, 7–11, and 15. Although he made copies of sections 12 and 13, he did not make squeezes of those sections. Squeezes of sections 14 and 30 were made and used by Botta when he prepared his copies, but these were not available in the time of H. Winckler. Thus, Winckler's copies of those two sections were solely based on those of Botta and are not taken into consideration as independent evidence of what was on those sections. The squeeze of section 30, however, is extant today and could be used here. The pieces which Botta collated either from the original or from squeezes before publishing his copies are marked with ^c after the Botta, Monument de Ninive 3–4 plate number in the catalogue; the same is done with the text numbers which Winckler is supposed to have collated from squeezes or originals.

Section 5 (lines 69–85): Winckler's copy of slab V,'22' (Botta 16) erroneously states that only the part of the inscription to the left of a line drawn on his copy was preserved on the squeeze (and thus collated by him); it is the section to the right of the line that is preserved. At times, however, his copy includes signs to the left of that line that are not found on Botta's copies and these have been noted in the score. In the score the point where the section collated by him begins is indicated with the siglum ‣.

Section 6 (lines 86–102): Botta's and Winckler's copies of slab V,'21' (Botta's V,17) have parts of only sixteen lines. Photos of the original in the Iraq Museum show that their copies are correct in indicating that it is the last line of the passage, and not the first line, that was not copied. The original was briefly seen in 1998, but in conditions that made careful examination of the inscription impossible. Photos of IM 60980 taken at that time are used in the score, but it must be acknowledged that they are not of high quality and combined with the fragmentary nature of the original are of only limited use. In the score only the relatively clear sections are noted, with the remaining sections indicated by "...".

Section 12 (lines 188–204): As already noted by Winckler and indicated on his copy (Sar. 2 pl. 17 no. 36), approximately the last quarter of each line on Botta's copy of slab V,'17' (Botta's V,18) (Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 120) is one line lower than it should be. (In the score, the point of the shift of line is indicated in the transliteration for Botta's copy with a double dagger [‡].) As result of this we have traces of only sixteen lines of text. It is not known whether it is the first line or the last line on the slab that is missing. Following Winckler's copy, it is arbitrarily assumed here that it is the last line (line 204) that is missing.

Section 16 (lines 256–272): Botta's copy (Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 115^c bottom) of slab V,13 only has parts of the right side of the slab and it is not always clear how much room for restoration is available to the left of what was copied.

Section 17 (lines 273–289): Botta's copy (Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 115^c top) of slab V,12 would suggest that this slab only had fifteen lines of inscription, with a gap of two lines between the first five and last eight lines. An examination of the squeeze, however, shows that the gap was four lines in length rather than just two. Thus, Botta's and Winckler's copies represent parts of lines 273–277 and 282–289. The squeeze shows traces of lines 279–281, as well as all or part of the very first sign in lines 283 and 284, which do not appear on Botta's copy; they are all situated to the left of what appears on the copy.

Section 18 (lines 290–306): The squeeze of Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 114^c, could be checked for only a few signs, thus in the score only a limited number of collations are noted where they help the reading of the signs.

Sections 20 and 21 (lines 324–340 and 341–357) come from Entrance O and are indicated as O₁ and O₂ respectively (Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 66^c). Winckler, followed by A.G. Lie and A. Fuchs, refers to them as C₁ and C₂ respectively, but Winckler was using C₁ and C₂ to stand for Côte 1 and Côte 2 of Entrance O, not to indicate that they came from Entrance C (see Frame, Studies Grayson p. 91).

Section 24 (lines 392–408): Botta presents two copies of slab V,7 in Monument de Ninive 4 (pls. 110^c and 116 top; designated here Bt₁ and Bt₂ respectively), although he does not indicate on which slab in Room V the latter copy was found; as a result, Winckler also presents two copies (Sar. pl. 21 no. 45^c and pl. 22 no. 46). Botta indicates that only the first copy was checked against a squeeze, and Winckler notes that he was not able to collate his second copy (no. 46). The second copy does not include a small section on the lower left side of the slab, a section that is also not currently preserved on the squeeze. As already noted by Fuchs (Khorsabad p. 22), is it likely that the latter copy was made first, before the section on the left of the slab was discovered. In the score, transliterations of both copies are presented; pl. 110^c (Bt₁) is given preference in the master line.

Bibliography

003 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006484/]

The texts on three wall slabs from the western end of Room XIII (slabs 4, 6, and 7) were copied by P.E. Botta and these preserve part of a version of Sargon's Annals. The room slabs were numbered in clockwise order and each of the three Annals slabs has 15 lines of text. The inscription describes events in Sargon's eleventh and twelfth regnal years (711–710): campaigns to Gurgum and Ashdod (lines 1´–13´a) and against Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-Baladan) of Babylonia (lines 13´b–60´) respectively. As far as it is preserved, the Annals inscription in this room largely duplicates the version of the Annals in Room II (text no. 1 lines 248–266 and 276/277–340) and Room V (text no. 2 lines 267–292 and 309/310–338), but with some major variations.

Botta had squeezes made of the inscriptions on all three slabs and they are still extant, stored in the Louvre (Paris). In addition, a small part of slab 4 (section 1´) is preserved today in the Louvre (Paris), on display in its galleries. The forty-five lines on the three slabs are to be associated with Winckler, Sar. Annals lines 209–232 and 250–278; Lie, Sar. pp. 38–39 lines 1–5, lines 248–266 and 277–280 (see also n. 9 to line 280), p. 48 lines 1–6, line 326 (see also n. 5 to line 326), lines 333–338, and pp. 50–53 lines 11–15; and Fuchs, Khorsabad Annals lines 235–258 and 269–295. For a plan of the room, see Figure 12 and Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 139; for drawings of the reliefs on the slabs in the room, see ibid. pls. 139–143, in particular 141–143 for the three slabs with the inscription edited here. With regard to the reliefs in Room XIII, see Reade, JNES 35 (1976) pp. 96 and 98; and Reade, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) p. 83. The slabs found in the room depict the campaign of Sargon's eighth regnal year (714) against Urarṭu and Muṣaṣir. Slab 4 has an epigraph upon it (text no. 36) identifying the scene depicted as being the capture of the city Muṣaṣir.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006484/] or the score [/rinap/scores/Q006484/score] of Sargon II 003

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Commentary

If one assumes that each wall slab with the Annals inscription in this room had fifteen lines of text and that the inscription was in general similar to that in Room II and V, there would presumably have been about fifteen or sixteen inscribed wall slabs before Room XIII slab 4 and about eleven or twelve after slab 7. The drawing of the reliefs in the room by E. Flandin in Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 140 indicates that slab 3 was inscribed; it likely preserved the section of the Annals immediately before that found on slab 4.

Section 1´ (lines 1´–15´): A small section of the inscription (parts of three lines, 13´–15´) on slab 4 is preserved today in the Louvre (AO 19892). The squeeze of section 4 does not include the last approximately ten percent of each line.

Section 3´ (lines 31´–45´): Although a squeeze of this section is preserved in the Louvre, it is particularly faint and, except in a few places, unhelpful.

Restorations in lines 1´–5´ are based on text no. 2 lines 267b–272a; in lines 6´–15´ on text no. 1 lines 248–266a and text no. 2 lines 272b–292; and in lines 31´–60´ on text no. 1 lines 276/277–340+ and text no. 2 lines 309/310–338a.

Bibliography

Plan of Room XIII of the palace at Khorsabad, whose wall slabs had a version of Sargon's Annals (text no. 3). Plan after Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 139.

004 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006485/]

Two separate inscriptions were incised on stone slabs lining the walls of Room XIV of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad: a version of Sargon's Annals (this inscription) and a summary inscription (text no. 8). Only a small portion of the version of the Annals inscription in this room is currently known, attested by P.E. Botta's copies of the texts on three wall slabs and by squeezes of two of them. Surprisingly, this inscription was not written on a continuous sequence of adjoining wall slabs, only separated by occasional doorways. The first two slabs whose Annals inscriptions are known were on adjoining slabs in the southwestern end of the room to the left of Entrance r as you enter the room from Room XIII (Room XIV slabs 1 and 2); the next several slabs had either the Display Inscription of Room XIV (slabs 3, 5, 7, and 9, as well as slabs 3 and 4 from Entrance p; text no. 8) or no inscription (slabs 4, 6, and 8) on them. The Annals text picks up again on the first wall slab (slab 10) to the left of Entrance p as you enter the room from the northeastern terrace (façade N). Parts of the next three slabs (slabs 11–13) were also found by Botta and at least the first two had inscriptions on them based on E. Flandin's drawings, but these were not copied except for an epigraph on slab 12 (text no. 39). Thus, information on only three of the slabs with the Annals text from Room XIV is known. The wall slabs in the room were numbered in clockwise order, beginning at Entrance r, and each of the three Annals slabs has 15 lines of text. As far as it is preserved, the Annals inscription in this room largely duplicates the version of the Annals in Room II (text no. 1 lines 63–99) and the version in Room V (text no. 2 lines 69–92), but with some major variations. The inscription describes events in Sargon's third through sixth regnal years (719–716): campaigns to help the Mannean ruler Iranzi against rebels in the cities Šuandaḫul and Durdukka (lines 1´–6´a), against Kiakki of the city Šinuḫtu in Tabal (lines 6´b–12´), against Pisīris of Carchemish (lines 13´–20´a), and against the Mannean ruler Ullusunu (lines 20´b–45´).

The forty-five lines on the three slabs are to be associated with Winckler, Sar. Annals lines 37–73; Lie, Sar. Annals lines 63–99; and Fuchs, Khorsabad Annals lines 63–99. For a plan of the room, see Figure 13 and Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 144; for drawings of the reliefs on slabs in this room, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pls. 144–147, in particular pls. 145 and 146 (top) for the three slabs with the text edited here. With regard to the reliefs in the room, see Reade, JNES 35 (1976) pp. 96 and 98–99, and Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) p. 84; he believes that the reliefs in this room depict the campaign of Sargon's seventh regnal year (715) into the Zagros. At least two or three of the wall slabs in the room with this inscription also had short epigraphs on them: slab 2 (text no. 37) and slab 10 (text no. 38); see also text no. 39 on slab 12.

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Commentary

Assuming that each wall slab with the Annals inscription in Room XIV had fifteen lines of text, there would have been four to six wall slabs with this inscription before slab 1 (presumably to the right of Door r when entering the room) and twenty-five to thirty after slab 10. The drawings by Flandin in Monument de Ninive 2 pls. 144 and 146 indicate that slabs 11 and 12 were also inscribed; it is likely that they preserved the section of the Annals immediately following that on slab 10 (section 3´).

J. Oppert, followed by J. Ménant and H. Winckler, believed that all seven wall slabs copied by P.E. Botta in Room XIV preserved parts of only one inscription and edited them accordingly. F.H. Weissbach (ZDMG 72 [1918] pp. 175–177) was the first to demonstrate that three slabs preserved a version of the Annals and that the four others (slabs 3, 5, 7, and 9), as well as two slabs in Door p, had a different inscription (text no. 8, the Display Inscription from Room XIV).

In the catalogue, the pieces which Botta collated either from the original or from squeezes before publishing his copies are marked with ^c after the Botta, Monument de Ninive 3–4 plate number; the same is done with the text numbers which Winckler is suppose to have collated from squeezes or originals. No squeeze of section 3´ (slab 10) was made by Botta, and so his published copy was presumably based solely on the copy he did on the site at Khorsabad. Winckler's copy is based on Botta's copy and thus does not provide any independent information of what was on the slab; it is not taken into consideration here.

In general, restorations are based on text no. 1 lines 63b–99a, with additional help in lines 19´b–45´ from text no. 2 lines 69–92a.

Bibliography

Plan of Room XIV of the palace at Khorsabad, whose wall slabs had a version of Sargon's Annals (text no. 4) and the Display Inscription of Room XIV (text no. 8). Plan after Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 144.

005 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006486/]

A fragment of a wall slab with both a pictorial relief and an inscription was found in the throne room (also referred to as "Court VII") of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. The piece is preserved in the Oriental Institute (Chicago) and the inscription appears to be a section from Sargon's Annals, in particular his actions against Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-Baladan) in Sargon's twelfth regnal year (710). Restorations are based on the Annals versions in Room V (text no. 2) lines 369–371; cf. Room II (text no. 1) lines 387–389. The lines preserved are also to be associated with Winckler, Sar. Annals lines 315–316; Lie, Sar. Annals p. 58 lines 13–14; and Fuchs, Khorsabad Annals lines 326–328.

The relief shows four men towing a boat and the excavator thought that it represented a scene in Babylonia, but this remains unproven. For a study of the throne room and its reliefs, see Blocher, AoF 26 (1999) pp. 223–50, especially pp. 231–232 no. 3 for this slab; see also Reade, JNES 35 (1976) pp. 96–97 "Unknown B"; and Reade, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) p. 84.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006486/] of Sargon II 005

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Commentary

The original publication of the fragments states that it was found "loose in the debris" of the throne room "in the proximity of doorway C´" (Loud, Khorsabad 1 pp. 58–60), but J.E. Reade states that it may have originally come from that room or from one of several other rooms that had contained wall slabs (JNES 35 [1976] pp. 96–97; see also Bagh. Mitt. 10 [1979] p. 84). Parts of the last three lines of the inscribed section on the slab are preserved. The inscription is edited both from the original and from a photograph (P28889) kindly supplied by the Oriental Institute Museum. It is not clear exactly how much is missing at the beginnings and ends of the lines. Thus, it is not known exactly where the restorations given in the transliteration should be split between the lines, and the division given below must considered extremely tentative. Since only parts of the last three lines of the inscription on the slab are preserved, it is not possible to determine how many lines of text the slab had originally.

A second inscribed fragment was found loose in the debris in the throne room, near Entrance C´. It "contains a very brief and badly damaged portion of text from the beginning of Sargon's annals." Nothing more is known of this piece; see Loud, Khorsabad 1 pp. 58–60 and Blocher, AoF 26 (1999) pp. 231–32 no. 2.

Bibliography

006 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006487/]

The inscription on a wall slab found in Sargon's palace at Khorsabad appears to be from an edition of the king's Annals. It describes events in Sargon's thirteenth regnal year (709): a campaign to Babylonia against Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-Baladan) and in particular the siege of the latter's stronghold Dūr-Yakīn. As far as it is preserved, the inscription largely duplicates the versions of the Annals in Room II (text no. 1 lines 409–415) and Room V (text no. 2 lines 385–402+), but with major variations to those two versions at the end of the passage. The fourteen lines on this slab are to be associated with Winckler, Sar. Annals lines 329–348/349; Lie, Sar. Annals lines 409–415 and pp. 62–63 lines 5–10, with p. 63 n. 6; and Fuchs, Khorsabad Annals lines 342–359 and 359a–c.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006487/] of Sargon II 006

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Commentary

It is not known in which room of the palace this slab was discovered. Since it duplicates (with variation) parts of the texts in Rooms II and V, it cannot come from those two rooms, nor is it likely to have come from Rooms XIII or XIV since the extant slabs with Sargon's Annals from those rooms have fifteen lines of text per slab and this one has fourteen. It may have come from the throne room (Court VII) since it is not known how many lines of text were on the slabs in that room (see text no. 5). P.E. Botta did not make a squeeze of this inscription so our knowledge of it comes solely from Botta's copy in Monument de Ninive. Since H. Winckler's copy of the text was totally based on that of Botta, it provides no independent evidence of exactly what was on the slab.

Assuming that this slab inscription comes from a version of the Annals reasonably similar to that in Rooms II and V, there would have been approximately twenty-three inscribed slabs before it and approximately eight inscribed slabs after it in the room.

As noted by J. Renger (see Borger, HKL 2 p. 322), the two short lines at the bottom of Botta's and Winckler's copies of this text are actually an epigraph that was presumably on the relief below the inscription. The epigraph is presented as text no. 40.

Restorations in lines 1´–5´a are based on text no. 1 lines 409–414 and text no. 2 lines 385–394a and those in lines 5´b–11´a are based on text no. 1 line 415 and text no. 2 lines 394b–402a. Restoration in lines 11´b–14´ receives some help from text no. 2 lines 402b–414, but text no. 2 is poorly preserved at this point and the two versions clearly are not duplicates. Since we are totally dependent upon Botta's copy for this text, all indications of † in the transliteration indicate an abnormal/incorrect sign on his copy.

Bibliography

007 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006488/]

This inscription, which is commonly known as the (Khorsabad) Display Inscription (Prunkinschrift), Great Display Inscription (Große Prunkinschrift), Grande inscription des salles de Khorsabad, or Fastes is inscribed on stone wall slabs lining Rooms I, IV, VII, VIII, and X of the palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad. After a brief introductory section giving the ruler's titles and epithets and mentioning the special privileges he had bestowed upon several Babylonian and Assyrian cities (lines 1–13a), the inscription describes his numerous military campaigns, which are arranged in a geographical or associative sequence, rather than in chronological order (lines 13b–153a). It then records the construction of the city of Dūr-Šarrukīn, and in particular its palace (lines 153b–186a), followed by an invocation to the god Aššur (lines 186b–194). The inscription refers to the ruler's fifteenth year (707) in line 23 and to various gods entering their sanctuaries in Dūr-Šarrukīn (lines 155b–157a), which the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle states took place in Tašrītu (VII) of that year. In addition, the text describes a great celebration that took place inside the palace that involved rulers from every land, as well as important Assyrians (lines 177b–186a); this likely refers to celebrations upon the completion of the city that the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle states happened on the sixth day of Ayyāru (II) in Sargon's sixteenth regnal year (706).

E. Frahm (Sanherib pp. 42–43 and ISIMU 6 [2003] pp. 145–149 and 157–160, especially p. 159 n. 63) notes several similarities between this text and Sennacherib's early cylinder texts (Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/1 pp. 29–40 no. 1) and suggests that the well-known royal scribe Nabû-zuqup-kēnu may have been the composer of all these inscriptions, as well as possibly other royal inscriptions of Sargon, in particular his Annals from Khorsabad. With regard to the reliefs in the rooms, see Reade, JNES 35 (1976) pp. 96–98; and Reade, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) pp. 78, 81, and 83. For some comments on the connection between the reliefs on the wall slabs and the inscription, see J.M. Russell, Writing on the Wall pp. 111–115.

Sources:

Commentary

The pieces which P.E. Botta collated either from the original or from squeezes before publishing his copies are marked with ^c after the Botta, Monument de Ninive 3–4 plate number (e.g., 136^c); the same is done with the text numbers which Winckler is supposed to have collated from squeezes or originals. Regrettably, some of the squeezes available to Botta are no longer extant and thus not available for consultation (ex. 4: Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 125^c; ex. 5: ibid. pls. 139^c and 143^c top). Most of the fragments still extant of this inscription are small, representing only a tiny portion of the inscription on a particular slab. Thus, even if they have been examined in the original or by means of photographs, for the most part the edition of the text on that slab is based on Botta's copy and/or Botta's squeezes.

In the catalogue, each slab for an individual exemplar has been given a section number, just as is the case for the Khorsabad Annals (text nos. 1–4 and 6) and the Display Inscription from Room XIV (text no. 8); however, since the exemplars all bear the same inscription and have different line arrangements, these section numbers are not mentioned in the edition itself. They have been given simply to facilitate the reader's understanding of where the respective lines of the inscription on an exemplar come from and where missing sections (i.e., sections not copied by Botta) would have been located.

Ex. 1: For the plan of Room X and sketches of the wall slabs, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 122 and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pl. 26. The inscription began on slab 1 (section 1), to the left of Entrance c when entering the room, ran in a clockwise order around the room, and presumably ended on slab 16 (section 16), to the right of Entrance c, although no copy of the inscription on slab 16 is preserved. Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 128 (relief) is mislabeled as being Room V 25; see table of contents to ibid. 1 p. III. The two slabs on ibid. 4 pl. 145 (sections 2–3) are mislabeled as being Room X slabs 1 and 2 instead of Room X slabs 2 and 3 respectively. For the unregistered pieces in the Oriental Institute (OI), Chicago, see Albenda, Palace of Sargon pp. 174–176; the exact placement of some of these may be uncertain. Two British Museum fragments, 47–7-2,32 and 47-7-2,34 (sections 11 and 2 respectively), are shown on BM photo 56550 and two others, 47-7-2,33 and 47-7-2,42 (sections 2 and 11 respectively) on BM photo 56551. The British Museum pieces with the registration numbers 47-7-2,1ff. are part of the Hector collection, items purchased from Mr. Hector, "a merchant at Baghdad, who had himself got them, it appears, by a gleaning made after Botta's excavations had opened up the ruins of the palace" (Gadd, Stones p. 160; for this collection in general, see ibid. pp. 160–163).

Ex. 2: For the plan of Room I and sketches of the wall slabs, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 48 and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pl. 106. Only a small part of the inscription in this room is known, copies for two wall slabs to the right of Entrance A when entering the room from Court I (slabs 1 and 2; sections 2´ and 1´ respectively). E. Flandin's sketch drawing of the room (Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 48) indicates that slabs 7 and 8 also had inscriptions on them, and may indicate that slabs 3 and 4 in Entrance A (A₃ and A₄) were also inscribed, but these were not copied by Botta. The inscription likely began on the northeast wall of the room and ran in a clockwise order around the room, moving to slab 2 and then slab 1; after slab 1 the inscription either carried on onto the two slabs in Entrance A (A₃ > A₄) or directly across the doorway to slabs 8 and then 7.

Ex. 3: For the plan of Room IV and sketches of the wall slabs, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pls. 79–80 and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pls. 79–80. The inscription began on slab 13 (section 1), to the left of Entrance T when one entered the room from Room VIII, and apparently carried on in a clockwise order, ending on slab 14 (section 5´), located to the right of Entrance T. Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pls. 96, 95, and 94 (sections 4, 5, and 6 respectively) are mislabeled as being Room IV slabs 9, 8, and 7 respectively; see Weissbach, ZDMG 72 (1918) p. 169 and look at Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 80. Botta's hand copies of seven slabs are preserved in the Archives of the Institut de France (Botta-Cotta II 2976 folio I sheets 318 [D₃; section 7], 320 [D₄; section 8], 324 [IV,8; section 6], 326 [IV,9; section 5], 327 [IV,10; section 4], and 330–331 [IV,2–3; section 10]). These copies and the copies published in JA 4/3–4 (1844) (pls. XXVIII [D₄] and XLVII–XLVIII [IV,2–3]) are occasionally referred to in the score and list of variants when they provide a better reading or a more extensive text than the copies in Monument de Ninive. The arrangement of the text as copied on Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 99^c — section 1; lines 1–15 of the inscription — is misleading. The text is in three fragments (left = A; middle = B; right = C) which are to be read C-A-B, with C having two lines instead of just one between its first line (GAL-ú) and the third line of the copy (]-⸢us⸣-su). On Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 100 (section 5´; lines 181–194), the section to the extreme right of the copy is placed two lines too high. See also Fuchs, Khorsabad pp. 21–22.

Ex. 4: For the plan of Room VII and sketches of the wall slabs, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 107 and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pl. 84. The inscription began on slab 1 (section 1), to the left of Entrance R when entering the room from Room IV, and then ran in a clockwise order around the room, ending on slab 13 (section 13), to the right of Entrance R. The museum number for slab 8 (section 8) follows P. Albenda (Palace of Sargon p. 178), rather than E. Guralnick (Assur 1/5 [1976] p. 2 n. 5). The Oriental Institute museum numbers for Room VII slabs 11–13 (sections 11–13) follow Loud, Khorsabad 1 pp. 76–77 figs. 88–89 captions (confirmed by R.T. Tindel, against Guralnick, Assur 1/5 [1976] p. 2). The sections preserved on the two pieces in the Iraq Museum have been collated, but IM 60971/2 (sections 7–8) and IM 60971/3 (section 1) only preserve parts of 3–6 signs each. A 58101 and A 58116 (section 1) also only preserve all or parts of only a few signs (10 and 21 respectively). One BM fragment, 47-7-2,44 (part of Room VII slab 5; section 5) is shown on British Museum photo 56550.

Ex. 5: For the plan of Room VIII and sketches of the wall slabs, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pls. 115–116 and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pls. 72–73. The inscription began on slab 9 (section 1), to the left of Entrance Q when entering the room from Court VIII, and ran in a clockwise order around the room, ending on slab 8 (section 25), to the right of Entrance Q. Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 137^c (section 3) shows two parts of inscription, an area on the left (lines 18b-20a) and an area on the right (lines 20b–23a); the two sections are separated by the large damaged section on the plate. Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 135 bottom (section 6) is said to be on slab 14 in the table of contents, but (correctly) on slab 16 on pl. 135. Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 141^c (section 11) appears to represent four fragments that are not properly put together. It is likely that the MEŠ of line 2 should go at the end of line 1 (line 67) or that it is a miscopy for ⸢šat⸣-t[i- of line 67 (a possible reading based on the squeeze). It is also likely that the MA at the end of line 3 should have more space between it and the KUR sign (line 69). Although the squeeze of pl. 141^c is almost totally illegible, it is clear that the signs at the beginnings of lines 4–7 on the copy should be moved up one line (lines 68–71), leaving a gap of one line between them and line 8, and that the new line 7 begins with a-⸢di⸣ of line 71. Botta, Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 133 bottom (section 22) shows three sections of the text (parts of lines 149–156); the section on the right should be raised by one line in relation to the other sections. Botta Monument de Ninive 4 pl. 134^c bottom (section 25) shows three sections (parts of lines 173–194); the section in the middle must be raised by one line in relation to the other two sections and the first line of this section (line with no signs preserved) must be deleted. See also Fuchs, Khorsabad pp. 24–25.

Parts of the reliefs on exemplars 1, 4, and 5 are preserved today in the British Museum, Iraq Museum, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Musée Borely (Marseille), and Oriental Institute (Chicago). The museum numbers for these have not been included in the catalogue unless the piece also included part of the inscription.

A small stone fragment of an additional exemplar may be an item offered for sale as lot no. 660 on September 26, 1998 by Hanzel Galleries (Chicago). Information on this fragment and a photograph of its inscription were kindly provided by J.A. Brinkman. The piece measures 5(+) inches (height) × 14.5(+) inches (width) × 5.5(+) inches (thickness) and the individual signs have an average height of 1 3/8 inches. The inscription reads:

The placement of the signs does not fit Botta's copies for exs. 1, 3, or 4. No copies of this section exist for exs. 2 and 5, but, rather than assuming that this piece comes from a new exemplar, it is possible that the fragment was so small that it was simply not copied by Botta with the other more substantial pieces that he found in Rooms I (ex. 2) and VIII (ex. 5).

Note that while ^c in the catalogue may indicate that the original of a section has been collated, the original may only preserve a tiny portion of the inscription originally on a slab (e.g., ex. 3 IM 60971/3 [Room VII,1] actually only preserves and can be relied upon for all or parts of three signs).

While the basic text of this inscription is clear, as noted in the introduction to this volume, there is no completely satisfactory way to edit this inscription and indicate the variously clear and/or possible variants (in particular possible abnormally written signs) in the various exemplars without providing lengthy notes for numerous signs. This is because most of the original slabs no longer exist (or exist in only a very fragmentary state) and there are varying (and at times contradictory) sources of information for the individual exemplars, with the reliability of some of the sources being open to question. The transliteration for each individual exemplar in the online score is based on the author's assessment of the various sources of information, although it would have been possible to produce a score for each exemplar in itself, as is done for text nos. 1–4 and 8, where, however, each text is represented by only a single exemplar. The master line is based upon ex. 1, but at times makes use of other exemplars.

Bibliography

008 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006489/]

This inscription is found on a series of wall slabs from the southwest end of Room XIV and Entrance p in the palace at Khorsabad. (A version of Sargon's Khorsabad Annals is found on other wall slabs in the room [text no. 4].) The number of lines of text on an individual slab with this inscription varies from twelve to eighteen. After the introduction with the king's titles and epithets, and the mention of his grant of special privileges to selected Babylonian and Assyrian cities (lines 1–5) and a summary description of his numerous military successes (lines 6–27a), the inscription describes the construction of the city Dūr-Šarrukīn, and in particular its palace and city wall (lines 27b–69a). The text then concludes with blessing and curse formulae (lines 69b–87). Since the text mentions the celebration held upon the completion of the city (lines 59b–69a), it must have been composed after that event, which took place in the second month of the king's sixteenth regnal year (706) according to the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle. The inscription is sometimes referred to as the Display Inscription of Room XIV (Die Prunkinschrift des Saales XIV), the Small Display Inscription (Die Kleine Prunkinschrift), the Small Summary Inscription, and the Annals of Room XIV. With regard to the reliefs on the slabs in the room, which are thought to depict events in the king's seventh regnal year (715), see Reade, Bagh. Mitt. 10 (1979) p. 84.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006489/] or the score [/rinap/scores/Q006489/score] of Sargon II 008

Sources:

Commentary

For a plan of Room XIV and Door p, see Figure 13, as well as Botta, Monument de Ninive 2 pl. 144; and Albenda, Palace of Sargon pl. 135; the latter two also have drawings of the reliefs on the relevant slabs. H. Winckler thought that all of the wall slabs in Room XIV preserved parts of only one inscription and edited them accordingly (Sar. 1 pp. 80–95). F.H. Weissbach (ZDMG 72 [1918] pp. 175–177) was the first to demonstrate that the slabs represented two different inscriptions (this text and text no. 4) and he divided the slabs correctly between the two.

Two fragments of this inscription are found in the British Museum: BM 115034 (47-7-2,41; 34.3×21.3 cm), which preserves a small part of the first slab (XIV,3; parts of lines 1–8, and a trace from line 9), and 47-7-2,46+51 (15×15 cm), which preserves a small part of the second slab (XIV,5; parts of lines 18–24 and traces of line 25). These pieces are part of the Hector collection in the British Museum and were apparently found by an English merchant in Baghdad by the name of Hector, who carried out some digging at Khorsabad, likely after P.E. Botta had finished work at the site in November 1844 and before A.H. Layard began work in November 1845 (see Reade in Fontan, Khorsabad pp. 121–122). The fragments have been collated in the British Museum and are also shown on BM photos 56549 and 56545. (Background information on these pieces was furnished by C.B.F. Walker.)

Botta indicates that he either collated his copies of the passages on five of the slabs (sections 1–3 and 5–6) from squeezes or from the originals. Squeezes of sections 1–2 and 5–6 are preserved in the Louvre and photographs of these squeezes have been examined. Some spot-checking of the original squeezes was also carried out. These squeezes are at times damaged or unclear and they do not always cover the whole section copied by Botta, in particular the edges. Winckler indicates that he examined squeezes of sections 1–2 and 5–6 when he made his copies of these; he also states that the right end of section 1 is not preserved on the squeeze. Since he could not collate sections 3–4, his copies of these sections (Sar. 2 pl. 29 nos. 61–62) are solely reliant upon Botta's copies and Winckler's personal judgment of what should have been on those sections, and therefore they provide no independent evidence of what was actually on those slabs.

It has been thought advisable to provide a score for this text on Oracc, with the sigla "Bt" (Botta, Monument de Ninive copy), "Wi" (Winckler, Sar. 2 copy), "Sq" (Louvre squeeze), and "BM" (original fragments in the British Museum) being used to denote the various sources of information. Since there are no squeezes or originals available for the text on wall slabs 7 and 9 of the room, the master line for that section (lines 28–52) is totally based on Botta's copies.

Unusually, the slabs with this inscription do not all have the same number of lines; they may have 12 (XIV,9), 13 (XIV,3 and XIV, 7), 14 (XIV,5), 17 (p,4), or 18 (p,3) lines each. The slabs in this room with a version of the Annals all have fifteen lines each (see text no. 4). Restorations are based primarily upon text nos. 9 and 43 and, for the most part, mirror those given by Weissbach.

Bibliography

009 [/rinap/rinap2/Q006490/]

Numerous bull colossi from Khorsabad bear an inscription recording the construction of that city by Sargon II. In most cases the inscription is found split between two bulls, one bull placed on either side of the same doorway, but the two bulls (exs. 4–5) from Entrance M (the middle doorway leading from the northeast terrace at the back of the palace into Room VIII) each appears to have had (at least originally) the full inscription. After a brief section giving the ruler's titles and epithets (lines 1–5a) and mentioning the various Babylonian and Assyrian cities to which he had granted special privileges (lines 5b–10), the inscription gives a summary of his conquests, arranged in a geographical rather than chronological sequence (lines 11–39a). It then describes at length the construction of the new city Dūr-Šarrūkīn, and in particular its palace and city wall (lines 39b–97a), and records a celebration that took place when the gods came to the city in the seventh month of 707 (lines 97b–99a) and the king's receiving gifts from various (vassal) rulers (lines 99b–100), which occurred during the festival when the city was inaugurated in the second month of Sargon's sixteenth regnal year (706). The inscripton ends with a brief section giving blessings and curses (lines 101–106). With regard to bull inscriptions in Sargon's palace and in Assyria in general, see J.M. Russell, Writing on the Wall pp. 103–108 and Senn.'s Palace pp. 10–16.

Access the composite text [/rinap/rinap2/Q006490/] or the score [/rinap/scores/Q006490/score] of Sargon II 009

Sources:

Commentary

Each bull had two rectangular inscribed panels, one below the bull's belly and the other between its two hind legs. Two bulls were normally required for each inscription, with each bull having one half of the inscription and being placed on one side of a doorway. Each bull has been given a separate exemplar number, but the various pairs have been cited one after the other when they can be identified (exs. 1–2, 6–7, 8–9, 10–11, 12–13, 14–15, 16–17, 18–19, 20–21, and 24–25). For the bull that would have been paired with ex. 3, see Albenda, Palace of Sargon p. 130 and pl. 51. Two bulls (exs. 4 and 5) would have each had the complete inscription and these were placed opposite one another in Entrance M of the palace. For a plan of the palace showing the original emplacement of most of the exemplars, see Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pls. 6 and 6^bis. Flandin's drawings indicate that several bulls had inscriptions not copied by Botta (e.g., façade n, 54 and 56; see ibid., pl. 1 pl. 30); some of these may be exs. 26 and 29–31.

When making his copies for exs. 1–15 and 18–21 (Monument de Ninive 3 pls. 22–51 and 54–61), P.E. Botta states that he collated them either from the originals or from paper squeezes ("estampages"). There are at present in the Louvre squeezes for the following exemplars: 1, 2 (first section), 3–7, 10–11, 12 (second section), 13–14, 15 (first section), and 18–21; these are Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pls. 22–31, 36–39, 41–46, 48–50, and 54–61. As with most of Botta's squeezes, they often do not cover all the inscription copied by Botta or are so damaged in places as to be unreadable; as a result, the transliterations in the score must often rely on Botta's copy.

As was mentioned, the inscription on any one bull was divided into two sections, a larger one placed under the belly of the bull and a smaller one placed between the hind-legs of the bull. In the scores for this text, // has been indicated in the scores where the inscription on an exemplar begins a new section. When the inscription required two bulls, the inscription began on the bull on the left side of the doorway (the bull facing into the room) with the first section located under the belly of the bull and the second section between the hind legs of that bull. The inscription then moved to the section between the hind legs of the bull on the right side of the doorway and ended in the section under the belly of that bull.

Under the column "cpn" in the catalogue, p indicates that the exemplar was collated from a photo of a squeeze; however, it must be noted that a squeeze may not be fully preserved today or cover all of an inscription copied by Botta. Since the inscription on each exemplar is generally split up into two sections, this column often has two entries. For example, ex. 12 has "n, p"; this indicates that the first section (Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 40^c) has not been collated, while the second (ibid. pl. 41^c) has been collated from a photograph of the squeeze. The second section of ex. 15 (Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 47^c) has the indication "p". Pieces comprising about eighty percent of this section are preserved in various museums and the pieces in Geneva, the Vatican, and (formerly) Jerusalem have been collated by means of published photographs. The transliteration of the remaining parts of the section is based on Botta's copy.

Ex. 2: The squeeze in the Louvre identified as being Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 51^c (i.e., the second section on this bull) is actually a squeeze of the inscription on the back of the bull (see text no. 41 ex. 21).

Exs. 4 and 21–22: As noted by Fuchs, Khorsabad pp. 16–17 and 60, Botta's copies of exs. 4 and 21–22 are wrongly put together. The left and middle portions of the 16th–34th lines on Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 25^c (ex. 4) must be moved one line down. On Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 60^c (ex. 21), the lower portion of the copy (the last four lines) must be moved up five lines; thus, for example, the line marked 85 on the copy is actually the right-hand portion of the line numbered 80. On Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 62 (ex. 22), the lower portion of the copy must be moved up one line.

Ex. 5: The squeeze for the first section of ex. 5 (Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pl. 26^c) is torn in several places and the photo shows that parts of the squeeze are misaligned. The upper right portion is positioned one line lower than the upper left portion.

Exs. 10 and 14–15: Photographs of the four pieces in St. Petersburg were kindly supplied by the State Hermitage Museum. C. Bezold published collations of the inscription on ex. 10 (Literatur pp. 86–88), but examination of the squeeze and of a photograph of the original indicates that at times Botta's copy must be accepted over Bezold's readings. The section of ex. 15 once belonging to the Convent of Les Dames de Sion (Jerusalem) was stolen and thus its current location is not known (information courtesy M. Sigrist). R. de Vaux reports that the piece had supposedly been found in 1859 (or possibly 1857) "au cours des travaux du Père Ratisbonne à l'Ecce Homo" (JPOS 16 [1936] p. 129; cf. Lewis, PEFQ [1890] p. 266).

Ex. 12–13: J. Oppert's copies of exs. 12–13 are based upon Botta's copies; thus, Botta's copies are used here and no references are made to differences between the two sets of copies.

Ex. 22: Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 p. II (table of contents) indicates that ex. 22 is Façade n, 48, but on pl. 62 of that work it is said to be Room N, bull 47; the piece must be Façade n, 47 since there is no Room N, since Façade N has no slabs or bulls 47 or 48 (see Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pls. 24–28), and since Façade n, 48 is not a bull, while Façade n, 47 is (see Botta, Monument de Ninive 1 pl. 30).

Exs. 24–25: The museum numbers for these two exemplars given on Albenda, Palace of Sargon figs. 3 and 4 must be interchanged. The pieces were "obtained from Khorsabad by Sir H.C. Rawlinson in 1849" (BM Guide p. 41).

Exs. 29–30: In Borger, HKL 2 p. 7, the two fragments of this inscription in Florence published by A. Archi (OrAnt 11 [1972] pl. X nos. 10a and b) are identified with parts of Botta, Monument de Ninive 3 pls. 44^c–45^c (ex. 14), following a suggestion by J. Renger. A comparison of the published photos of these pieces to the photos of the squeezes of the Botta piece in the Louvre (see also the photos of the squeeze published by Ménant in Notice Lottin, pl. 3 and by Fontan in Khorsabad p. 179) indicates that this identification cannot be maintained. The signs on the pieces in Florence are spaced in a different manner to those on the bull seen by Botta. Thus, these fragments are kept separate and presented as exs. 29–30.

Ex. 31, now in the Musées d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva was purchased in Paris in 1897.

V. Place (Ninive et l'Assyrie 2 pp. 266 and 268) states that the bull colossi from city gate 6 had the inscription painted on them in black paint and he proposes that this was a preliminary step to having the inscription incised in the stone and thus that the work on these bulls had never been finished. No further information is known about these exemplars of this inscription.

As is the case with most of the inscriptions found upon wall slabs in the palace at Khorsabad, many of the exemplars of this inscription found and copied by Botta either no longer exist or their whereabouts are unknown (exs. 3–9, 12–13, and 16–22). Thus, they are unavailable for collation. Although squeezes of some of these (as well as some of those exemplars still existing) made by Botta can be examined in the Louvre (exs. 3–7, 10, 13, and 18–21, as well parts of exs. 12 and 15), the exact reading of the text on these exemplars is at times in question due to the unreliability of Botta's copies and due to the poor state of preservation of the squeezes and/or the originals from which the squeezes were made. Nevertheless, the basic text of the inscription is clear due to the large number exemplars and it is really just a matter of the variants on the individual exemplars that remains at times uncertain.

The line arrangement is based upon exs. 1 and 2. The master line is, for the most part, based upon exs. 1 and 2, though there are slight deviations from these in lines 1, 19, 21, 23–24, 26, 28, 32, 38, 41, 44, 62, 67, 70–73, 75, 81, 92–93 98–99, and 105–106. The signs are generally Neo-Assyrian, but at times Babylonian or archaizing forms appear.

Large portions of this inscription either duplicate or are very similar to passages in other inscriptions of Sargon II. For example, lines 39b–98a are similar to text no. 8 lines 28b–54a.

Bibliography

A 7369 (text no. 9 ex. 23), inscription between the legs of a winged bull colossus found in the palace at Khorsabad.
Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Grant Frame

Grant Frame, 'Part 1 (1-9)', RINAP 2: Sargon II, Sargon II, The RINAP 2 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap2/rinap2textintroductions/dursharrukin162/]