A firm dating may be obtained only for a small group of letters. No. 216 mentions, in a fragmentary context, Azâ, who is almost certainly to be identified with the ruler of Mannea who was dethroned and killed by his governors under Urarṭian influence in 716.[[6]] No. 218 mentions Aššur-le'i as receiving horses from Ullusunu, the Mannean king. Aššur-le'i is certainly the king of Karalla, and the episode has to be related to the alliance of these kings (together with Itti of Allabria) instigated by Rusa against Sargon, which ended in Sargon's campaign to Mannea in 716 with the elimination of Aššur-le'i and Itti, and the reinstatement of Ullusunu as pro-Assyrian king of Mannea.[[7]] No. 218 also mentions "the widow," a woman whose son is mentioned in no. 217 also. In the light of our dating, this widow could be identified with the wife of the Mannean king Azâ; and since no. 217 recounts a military confrontation between an Assyrian governor (Adad-issiya of Mazamua) and "the son of the widow," this man could be identified with Ullusunu.
No. 164, written by Bel-iddina, who was most probably the king of Allabria, is a report to Sargon about military preparations of the Urarṭian king after the latter had heard of Sargon's advance against the countries of Andia and Zikirtu. The wording of the letter ("The Urarṭian king ... ordered his magnates: 'Organize your troops, I shall array myself against the Assyrian king'") corresponds perfectly with what is described in Sargon's letter to Aššur, and places this letter at the crucial point of the 'Eighth Campaign' of 714, immediately before the battle on Mount Wauš. The same date may be assigned to a letter of Sennacherib which, referring to a message from Aššur-rešuwa, informs Sargon that the Urarṭian king is marching towards Mannea: "He (Rusa) set out and entered the territory of the Manneans"[[8]] — a situation fitting that described in no. 164.
Another small group of letters may be attributed to the period immediately following the Eighth Campaign, although with no certain dating. The first (no. 88) is a letter from Aššur-rešuwa reporting that two Urarṭian governors with their army are on the march towards Muṣaṣir. This letter cannot be separated from a famous letter of Urzana, king of Muṣaṣir, who relates the arrival of the same governors[[9]] and their celebration of rituals in the temple of his city (no. 147). Another fragmentary letter (no. 11) refers to the arrival of the governor of Waisii in Muṣaṣir. A fragmentary letter of Bel-iddina (no. 165) further reports on sacrifices performed by the Urarṭian king in a town whose name is regrettably broken.
The clue for dating these texts, which all seem to refer to the same occasion, is given by two details in the letter of Urzana: the facts that he addresses his letter to the Assyrian nāgir ēkalli, quoting a prohibition issued by the latter against performing any ritual in the temple; and that he mentions a previous visit of Sargon to his city. The first detail points to the submission of Urzana to Assyrian dominion after the Eighth Campaign (when Muṣaṣir was administratively subordinate to the nāgir ēkalli), the second is an evident reference to Sargon's "visit" to Muṣaṣir during the Eighth Campaign. Urzana says: "Could I hold him back? He did what he did," evidently a thinly veiled reference to the sack of his city. In the light of this, the group of letters may be dated after 714.
However, the most important dating criterion in these texts is the possibility of comparing them with the bilingual Assyro-Urarṭian inscriptions of Rusa I of Topzawa and Mergeh Kervan.[[10]] They describe Rusa's sacrifices in a border town, his arrival in Muṣaṣir, the military opposition of Urzana, who barred the temple door and tried to flee to Assyria; the recapture of Urzana, and his reinstatement as king of Muṣaṣir, after which he remained in that city, offering meals to the inhabitants ofthe country. In Urzana's letter to the nāgir ēkalli, a question by the Assyrian official is quoted regarding the current whereabouts of the Urarṭian king and his likely intention to come to Muṣaṣir, to which Urzana answers that the king is coming, and will be followed by other governors. These indications seem to fit perfectly with the situation described in the Urarṭian bilinguals: frightened by the nāgir ēkalli's order, Urzana evidently tried to block Rusa, and fled towards Assyria. If these associations are correct, another historical problem, the much debated dating of Rusa's bilinguals, would be solved by our letters.
6 Lie Sar. p. 12: 78-82.
7 Lie Sar. p. 14: 83-90.
8 See, e.g., ABL 408 and NL 62.
9 SAA I 29: 31f. The letter became understandable in full thanks to two joins made by K. Deller: the attribution to 714 was advanced in Deller Zagros, p. 104.
10 Recently edited by Salvini Zagros pp. 79-95.
Giovanni B. Lanfranchi
Giovanni B. Lanfranchi, 'Datable Letters', The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces, SAA 5. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA05 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa05/warwithurartu/datableletters/]