Manuscripts

Text 1

No. 1 (Rm 2,427) is a fragment of the lower left half of a polished black stone tablet measuring 4.4 x 12.5 x 8.6 cm. It was found in Nineveh by H. Rassam and is now in the collections of the British Museum. Judging from the curvature, which swells towards the centre, at least half of the slab's original height and about 1/6 of its original width has been lost. In its original shape, it probably measured about 14 cm (width) x 18 cm (height). See Diagram 1.1 on p. XLIV.

The extant portion is inscribed with 14 lines of text on the obverse, 5 lines on the lower edge, and 16 lines on the reverse. The script density is 1.7 lines to 1 cm on the obverse and 2 lines to 1 cm on the reverse. Assuming the estimate of the original height as 18 cm to be correct, this means that the obverse originally contained 30 lines and the reverse, if fully inscribed, 36 lines. The original line total would thus have been 30 + 5 + 36 = 71 lines, of which 35 lines, or a little less than 50%, are preserved.

Each line of the text is separated from the next by a horizontal dividing line. The script is clearly executed early NB cursive, not lapidary script.

Text 2

No. 2 is a fragmentarily preserved three-column clay tablet from Nineveh consisting in its present condition of three separate fragments, all in the collections of the British Museum. The largest one, K 15272 + Rm 120 + Rm 274, measuring 15 cm (width) by 10 cm (height), is the lower half of the tablet containing remains of two columns (I and III) on the obverse and the upper portions of three columns (IV-VI) on the reverse. Two small fragments, 79-7-8,195 and BM 134596, measuring 4.1 x 3.8 cm and 3.5 x 3.7 cm, contain portions of columns V and III-IV respectively.

Assuming that the ratio between the short and long axis of the tablet was 2:3, as normal in three-column tablets, the original tablet height would have been about 22.5 cm (see Diagr. 1.2). The script density is 3.75 lines to 1 cm in cols. I-IV, and 3.5 lines to 1 cm in cols. V-VI. This means that cols. I-IV were originally inscribed with c. 82 lines and cols. V-VI with c. 78 lines each. The original line total of the tablet would thus have been 82 + 82 + 82 + 82 + 78 + 78 = 484 lines, of which 35 + 0 + 28 + 33 + 27 + 26 = 149, i.e. less than 31 %, are actually extant.

The beginning of col. I, now lost, contained the treaty preamble and divine witnesses; the rest of the column is devoted to ceremonies accompanying the conclusion of the treaty. Col. II through IV 3, all together 167 Iines (= Il. 83-249 according to the above reconstruction), contained the treaty stipulations, of which only 31 fragmentary lines are extant. Col. IV 4 through VI 5, in all 161 lines (= Il. 250-411), contained the curse section, of which 38% (62 lines) is extant. The rest of the text (VI 6-end, about 73 Iines) was devoted to the adjuration and the colophon. The original structure of the text, compared with what is actually left, would accordingly appear as follows in table form:

DIAGR. 1. Outlines of nos. 1-5 and 7. Note: Broken lines indicate reconstructions, solid lines actual outlines and rulings drawn by scribes, shaded areas broken or obliterated portions of text.

DIAGR. 2. Outlines of nos. 6 and 8-12.

It can thus be seen that the state of preservation of the text rather seriously distorts our view of its original structure and content. Treaty ceremonies, curses, and adjuration, which now make up 80% of the extant text, originally constituted only 56% of it. On the other hand, treaty stipulations, which originally constituted more than 1/3 of the whole text, now make up only 1/5 of it, and only ten of the extant 31 lines (6.7% of the original line total) are complete.

In sum, the text may have resembled the other treaties, particularly no. 6, more closely that the extant text would suggest. The only major structural difference seems to lie in the relative positions of the adjuration and ritual sections, which appear in inverted order in Text 6.

Text 3

No. 3 (VAT 11449) is a small fragment from the middle of a one-column clay tablet, measuring 4.2 x 5.4 cm. It was found in the excavations at Assur and is now in the collections of the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. According to collation by D. Frayne, "the curvature suggests that the original tablet was very small, but it is difficult to say how much is missing."^[[22]] According to Ebeling's copy in PKTA pl. 31, the lower parts of both the obverse and the reverse extend all the way to the edges. If this is the case, then the first extant line of the obverse(?) would have to be the very first line of the text. Restoring it [a-de-e ša etc.], "[treaty of Senna]cherib" seems impossible, however, because it would leave no room for the other contracting party either in line 1 or 2.

It is therefore possible that the tablet did not contain the entire text of the treaty but merely excerpts from it, as in the case of no. 12. Since the curse section of the obverse is repeated in an almost identical form on the reverse, it is also possible that the tablet contained excerpts from two different treaties. However, as long as the original format of the tablet cannot be reliably determined, the question of the nature of the text is best left open.

The excavation number of the tablet is not known, and so nothing certain can be said about its exact provenance.

Text 4

No. 4 consists of three separate fragments, 83-1-18,420, 83-1-18,493 and Bu 91-5-9,131, which definitely belong to the same tablet and lightly touch each other at three points, but do not constitute a good physical join. Pieced together, the whole thing measures 7.8 cm (width) x 14 cm (height). Judging from the number of signs missing on each line, the original width must have been about 13 cm. The original height is more difficult to determine; using as a point of departure the ratio between the short and long axis of no. 8 (the Zakutu treaty), it would have been about 22 cm, but it may have been more. The length of the lines makes it evident that the tablet did not have more than one column of text on each side (see Diagr. 1.4). All three fragments were found in the excavations of Nineveh and are now in the British Museum.

The script density is 2.3 lines to 1 cm. Thus the original line total must have been at least 51 + 51 = 102 lines, of which 28 are extant. The extant lines, from the middle of the reverse, cover part of the loyalty vow (in first person singular), treaty violation clauses (in second person singular), and the beginning of the curse section (in third person singular). The obverse, which probably contained the preamble, divine witnesses, adjuration formula, and the beginning of the vow, is entirely destroyed.

Text 5

No. 5 consists of two separate pieces of a two-column tablet: a large fragment (K 3500 + K 4444 + K 10235) from the top of the tablet containing a few lines of cols. I and II and the ends of cols. Ill and IV, and a small chip (Sm 964) from the left half of col. I. The larger piece measures 19.4 cm (full width) x 14.2 cm (height), the smaller one 4.4 x 3.8 cm. Assuming cautiously that the ratio between the tablet's short and long axis was 3:4, the original height of the tablet can be estimated as about 26 cm (see Diagr. 1.5). If the ratio was 2:3, as in Texts 2 and 6, the height would have been about 29 cm.

The vertical script density is 2.75 lines to 1 cm. This means that each column contained about 71 to 80 lines of text, depending whether the original height was 26 or 29 cm. Accordingly, the original line total can be estimated as about 284 or 320, of which 12 + 5 + 30 + 21 = 68 lines are extant. In other words, as much as 3/4 or 4/5 of the text has been lost.

The extant fragments were found in the excavations of Nineveh and are now in the collections of the British Museum.

Text 6

No. 6 has been pieced together out of more than 350 fragments of baked clay tablets found in the British excavations of Nimrud (ancient Calah) in 1955.^[[23]] Subsequent joins have reduced the total number of separate fragments to 92, and many joins are still likely to be discovered. The different manuscripts and scribal hands hidden behind the fragments have so far not been subject to serious study, even though three of the manuscripts (ND 4327 = A, ND 4331 = F and ND 4336 = H) have been assembled so efficiently that their original shapes and dimensions are either known or can be accurately reconstructed (cf. Diagr. 2.6 = A).

A, F and H are all large four-column tablets showing the ratio 2:3 between their short and long axes; A measures 30 x 45 cm, F 28.4 x *42.5 cm, and H 28 x *42 cm. The script density in all three tablets is 2.5 signs to 1 cm, so that theoretically they could have accommodated 8 x 110 - 880 lines of text each, but because of an 11 cm (H: 10 cm) high seal space running across the obverse the average number of lines per column is only 80 on the obverse of A and 85 on that of B. The many dividing lines reduce the average number of lines per column to about 90 on the reverse of A; data for B and C are not available. The total number of lines in A was thus about 680.

While corresponding data on the other manuscripts are as yet not available, it is clear that they were all basically identical, though different in detail. Thus they all had the same (2:3) format, were all divided into four columns, had seal impressions across the obverse after the preamble, and (in contrast to normal practice) turned around their long axis like the pages of a book. On the other hand, their individual line totals differ depending on tablet height, column width, vertical script density, and other factors. The line count of the composite text (670 lines + 11 'ABC' lines not attested in all manuscripts) is an abstraction probably not having an exact counterpart in any of the manuscripts.

A further manuscript of no. 6, apparently basically identical with the Nimrud texts, is known from Assur (VAT 11534, excavation number and exact provenance unknown). This is just a small fragment (5.2 x 4.1 cm), but clearly part of a multi-column tablet and (save for orthographic variants and a superfluous dividing line ) an exact duplicate of lines 229-236 of the composite text.

Text 7

No. 7 (Bu 91-5-9,22) is a tiny fragment of the left half of a clay tablet, measuring 2 cm (width) x 4.4 cm (height). Neither the shape nor the size of the original tablet can be determined; the script density is 3 lines to 1 cm. The tablet was found in Nineveh and is now in the British Museum.

Text 8

No. 8 (83-1-18,45 + 266) is an almost complete one-column tablet from Nineveh in the collections of the British Museum. It measures 6.3 cm (complete width) x 10.2 cm (complete height); only a small fragment from the lower left corner is missing. The script density is 2.7 lines to 1 cm on the obverse and 3 lines to 1 cm on the reverse.

Text 9

No. 9 (82-5-22,130) is a portion of the left half of a one-column tablet, measuring 6.1 x 12 cm. The original width of the tablet can be estimated as about 10 cm on the basis of textual analysis. The script density is 3.25 lines to 1 cm. Since both the preamble and the divine witnesses are missing, it is clear that at least 3 cm (= 10 lines) are broken away from the top of the tablet. How much of the bottom is missing cannot be established with certainty. The reconstruction shown in Diagr. 2.9 is based on the ratio 1:2 holding between the short and long axis of most (but not all) one-column tablets. This reconstruction would imply that the tablet was originally inscribed with about 65 + 65 = 130 lines of text, of which 39 + 27 = 66 are actually extant.

The text was found in Nineveh and is now in the collections of the British Museum.

Text 10

No. 10 (Bu 91-5-9,178), from Nineveh and now in the British Museum is a potion out of the middle of a one-column tablet, measuring 5.9 cm (complete width) x 7.9 cm. Judging from the curvature, at least 5 lines are broken away from the top and at least 8 lines from the bottom of the tablet. The script density is 2.5 lines to 1 cm. Accordingly, the tablet probably originally measured 5.9 x 12.6 cm and was inscribed with about 31 + 31 = 62 lines of text, of which 16 + 11 = 27 (about 43%) are extant at present.

Text 11

No. 11 (MLC 1302) is the upper portion of a one-column clay tablet measuring c. 7.5 cm (width) x 8 cm (height). Very little of the original width is missing (cf. rev. 11'-14'). Assuming cautiously that the original proportions of the tablet were the same as in no. 8, the original height would have been at least 13.3 cm (see Diagr. 2.11). If the ratio between the short and long axis of the tablet was 1:2, as normal in one-column tablets, the original height was 15 cm. The script density is 3.5 lines to 1 cm. Accordingly, the original line total can be estimated as 46 to 52 lines, of which 20 lines (= 43.5 to 38.5%) are actually extant.

The tablet, now in the Yale Babylonian Collection, very probably originated in Nineveh since its first possessor, V. Scheil, says in his edition of the text (ZA 11 [1896] 47ff) that the tablet "provient de Mossoul". Tablets later acquired by Scheil in Mosul did include a number of legal documents from Assur (see K. Deller, BaM 15 [1984] 225ff), but Assur is for all practical purposes excluded as a provenance for the present text since systematic excavations in the city did not begin until 1903.

Text 12

No. 12 (Ass 13955z = A 2409) is a complete clay tablet measuring 7.2 cm (width ) x 3.8 cm (height). It was found in the excavations of Assur and comes from the archives of a family of exorcists attached to the Aššur temple; see Pedersén Archives II, p. 60. The original is now in Istanbul.

Pace Grayson, JCS 39 154, the text is not a school tablet. These are typically clumsily shaped and round or ovoid, whereas the present tablet has the standard format of excerpt tablets, showing the ratio 2:1 between its horizontal and vertical axis.

Text 13

No. 13 (K 4439) is a fragment out of the lower right-hand corner of a multi-column tablet, measuring 5 cm (width) x 8.2 cm (height). It was found in the excavations of Nineveh and is now in the Kuyunjik Collection of the British Museum. Only one column of text has been preserved on each side, but traces of two vertical inter-column rulings to the left of the column are visible on the other side. Judging from the curvature, no more than about half of the original tablet width seems to have been lost, which points to a two-column tablet originally measuring c. 9 x 13.5 cm; however, it is not totally excluded that the tablet originally had three columns, in which case the dimensions would have been something like 13.5 x 20 cm. The mutual order of the sides can be determined by textual analysis, which indicates that the extant columns are the last column of the obverse and the first column of the reverse, the text on the former being continued immediately on the latter.

The script density is 3 lines to 1 cm. This means that that the original line total was either about 4 x 40 = 160 lines (two-column alternative) or 6 x 60 = 360 lines (three-column alternative), of which only 20 + 23 = 43 lines survive.

Text 14

No. 14 consists of two fragments of a two-column clay tablet. The smaller one, BM 51098, is a fragment from the upper left corner measuring 5.5 cm (width ) x 5.25 cm (height), and contains the beginning of col. I (14 lines) and the end of col. IV (15 lines). The larger one, BM 50666 + 50857 + 53678 + 53728, measuring 7.5 x 9 cm, is from the lower portion of the tablet and contains parts of cols. I (18 lines) and II (27 lines). The original column width seems to have been about 6 cm. Both fragments are in the collections of the British Museum and were probably found in the city of Sippar.

The break separating the two fragments in col. I seems to have been very short, only a few lines at most; at least 7 lines, but not necessarily many more, are missing at the end of the column in BM 50666+. Consequently, the original column length seems to have been about 17 cm (= 5.2 5 + 1 + 9.5 + 1 cm). This would mean that the tablet originally measured about 12 x 17 cm, which seems realistic. Script density is 2.7 lines to 1 cm, and the original number of lines per column may accordingly have been about 45 (= 14 + 3? + 18 + 10?) lines. The original line total can be estimated as about 180 (= 4 x 45), of which 41% (74 lines) is extant.

22 D. Frayne apud Grayson, JCS 39 (1939) 133.

23 See in more detail M. E. L. Mallowan in the foreword to VTE (1958), and D.J. Wiseman, ibid. 1ff.

Simo Parpola

Simo Parpola, 'Manuscripts', Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths, SAA 2. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1988; online contents: SAAo/SAA02 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa02/thetreatycorpus/manuscripts/]