Administration of Personnel

Lists of Court Personnel and Their Lodgings (Nos.1-12)

Like almost every group of texts in this volume, when attempting to define their purpose we are hampered not only by their broken state, but also by the general reluctance of the Neo-Assyrian scribes to give explanatory headings or colophons to their administrative documents. Our first group (nos. 1-7) includes texts with a similar format, that is, lists of names with or without professional designations. Some of them were (untypically) dated and were very close in time (cf. 16th Kanun for no. 3, 17th Kanun for no. 1; no. 5 was also dated). They give little indication of their purpose; but the numerous cases where the same person recurs in these texts and in the following group (nos. 8-12) suggests that they derive from the same administrative office, and perhaps refer to the same occasion.

In fact, it may well be that their purpose is also similar to that of those texts listing lodgings (mūšubu). In no. 1, which is unique in its content and unusual in being virtually intact, the Glossenschrift notations GAŠAN (i.e. "(to the house of the) Lady,") and GÙB ("(to the) Left (Palace)") taken with the phrases "to the Crown Prince" and "to the house of the Lady [ of the House]" in no. 4 r.ii.7' and 12' point in this direction. Nos. 3 and 4 are very similar, both texts having a left-hand column of ''1''s before the PN, but no. 4 writes NAM rather than (LÚ.)EN.NAM; the two texts list many of the same governors in the same order, but are not duplicates. No. 5 probably belongs with these because it too was dated (by day and presumably month; although now lost, the date could also have been 16th Kanun). This is a straightforward list of personal names with profession, in no order discernible to us; they are members of the royal guard, of the staff of the crown prince, the queen mother and of the chief eunuch, and probably therefore present within the palace. Nos. 6 and 7 are very similar to no. 5, giving just a personal name and profession in each line, and that they belong here is clear from some of the persons mentioned.

In our second group (nos. 7-12) officials in mixed groups of military, civilian and domestic staff, and listed by their name and professional designation, are assigned to lodgings. One might be inclined to understand the word mūšubu in a less concrete sense as "administrative post" or "position"; but when we look at no. 9, in which the various different lodgings are described (e.g.) "central," "of the scribes," "the governor," "the brewer(s)," the only satisfactory interpretation seems to be that these are strictly "Topographical" - lists of temporary "hotel rooms" for people, perhaps on the occasion of some major and populous ceremony at Nineveh. Perhaps we should think of "early 672, when Esarhaddon assembled' all Assyria' to take the oath of loyalty at the treaty ceremonies by which he regulated his succession" (Mattila, SAAB 4 [1990] 15, à propos the banquet text edited as no. 150 below).

This does not conflict with various indications pointing to the reign of Esarhaddon or of Assurbanipal for the date of this group and nos. 1-7. For instance, Marduk-šumu-uṣur LÚ.GAL-HAL in no. 7 is well known as a diviner (LAS 115-19; cf. LAS II 460-63), with a career stretching from 674 to 650 (pp. 469,471). He was already chief haruspex in 672, leaving open the possibility of dating this group to late Esarhaddon. A more precise dating may become possible, but cannot yet be proven, although Parpola has suggested a date for no. 1 of c.6 50 B.C. (LAS II, 456).N os. 3 and 4 must also belong in this time range for prosopographical reasons, such as the mention of the governors of Upumu and Kullimmeri, provinces created by Esarhaddon no earlier than 673 B.C.

Before leaving this group it is worth underlining its ephemeral nature: all the indications are that the lists of officials are drawn up, sometimes hastily, for a specific and transient purpose. Despite the temptation to see them as representative of some regular structure within the bureaucracy, and hence as providing a real insight into the hierarchy of Assyrian administration, they should not be viewed in this light.

F.M. Fales & J.N. Postgate

F.M. Fales & J.N. Postgate, 'Administration of Personnel', Imperial Administrative Records, Part I: Palace and Temple Administration, SAA 7. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1992; online contents: SAAo/SAA07 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa07/administrationofpersonnel/]