Datable Historical Events

It is clear that some of the oracle queries, those which can be dated with the help of other sources, are at least as early as 676/675. Possibly the earliest query in this edition is no. 1, referring to an alliance of Phrygia (Mušku, Biblical Meshech) with the Cimmerians, against the city Melid (Roman Melitene, modern Malatya on the upper Euphrates). This fact is of interest, because according to the Greek sources it was the Cimmerians who destroyed the kingdom of Phrygia.[[240]] In spite of the defeat which Esarhaddon claims to have inflicted on the Cimmerians early in his reign (ea. 679), they evidently remained active in Asia Minor and elsewhere in the peripheries of the Assyrian empire, either alone or in association with local populations. We should perhaps infer from this query that Phrygia, having been reduced to vassalage by the Cimmerians, joined the latter in that capacity against Melid. Whatever the case, the association of Phrygia with the Cimmerians brought to an end its peaceful relations with Assyria which date back to the year 709 B.C., in the reign of Sargon II.[[241]]



240 See Aro, loc. cit., p. 116, citing Julius Africanus (675-674 B.C.). The event should, most likely, be dated somewhat earlier. Aro's unpublished commentary elaborates on the issue as follows:

"Es wird in Übereinstimmung mit den klassischen Autoren, besonders Strabon I 3, 21, gedacht, dass die Kimmerier die Phrygier unterworfen haben. 'Die Kimmerier überliefen die Paphlagonen und die Phrygen und Midas beging Selbstmord, indem er Ochsenblut trank. Danach hat Lydamis (= Dugdammu) die Lydier überfallen und ist bis nach Jonien vorgerückt.' Dann wäre also auch Gyges gestorben. Tatächlich muss aber die Unterjochung der Phrygier in viel frühere Zeit (Anfang Asarhaddon) gesetzt werden als die der Lyder, da die Mušku sonst unter Asarhaddon keiner Rolle mehr spielen.
"Nach Eusebius, Kanon Abs. 1321 = 696 v.Chr. (Dies wäre aber schon zur Zeit Sanheribs!)
"Africanus: in der Zeit des Amos, 675-674 (6-7 Ash).
"Lehmann-Haupt glaubt auch ans spätere Datum, 'da die entscheidende Niederlage im Osten ers 677 erfolgte.'"

241 On Phrygian-Assyrian relations, see Saggs, Iraq 20 (1958) 202ff (especially 204f); Postgate, Iraq 35 (1973) 22ff. It should perhaps be pointed out that, theoretically, the events described in this query could also have occurred in the reign of Assurbanipal, since the name of Esarhaddon is not preserved in the extant portion of the tablet; as is well known, the Cimmerians remained very active in Asia Minor in the reign of Assurbanipal and fought several battles against the kingdom of Lydia and its king Gyges, e.g. in 664 and in the years following. In view of the chronological structure of the corpus, this is very unlikely, however, and the fact that no. 2 probably is part of the same tablet makes the assignment of the query to the reign of Esarhaddon virtually certain.

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'Datable Historical Events', Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria, SAA 4. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA04 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/chronologyandhistoricalbackground/datablehistoricalevents/]

 
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