No. 5, addressed to the queen mother, parallels in content 1.8, 1.9, 2.1 and 2.6, and thus is likely to be contemporaneous with the oracles of Collections 1 and 2.
No. 6 opens with a promise to restore order [in Assyria] and hence may be contemporary with the oracles included in Collection 2. Note, however, that the promise "I will restore order" also occurs in no. 1 1, addressed to Assurbanipal.
No. 7 is addressed to Assurbanipal as crown prince (obv. 3) but before the official promotion ceremony, the girding of the royal diadem (obv. 7), so it must be dated before the prince's introduction to the Palace of Succession, which took place in Iyyar, 672. This agrees with the prophecies of lines 14 and r.5, which date the text between 674 (peace treaty with Elam) and Tammuz/July, 67 1 (the conquest of Egypt). The Cimmerians (obv. 14) are attested as threat to Assyria's eastern provinces at the time of Aššurbanipal's crownprincehood, see LAS II p. 1 93f; G. B. Lanfranchi, / I Cimmeri (Padua / 1 990), pp. 84-108, and A. lvantchik, Les Cimmeriens au Proche-Orient (OBO / 1 27, Fribourg 1 993), p. 82ff.
Note that the prophecy of line 6 may be echoed in SAA 3 3, Assurbanipal' s hymn to Mullissu and Ištar of Arbela, which reads (line 8): "I am Aššurbanipal ... whose kingship they made great even in the House of Succession. In their pure mouths is voiced the endurance of my throne."
No. 8 foresees an open military conflict with Elam leading to the complete subjugation of the country, and thus can only date from the reign of Aššur banipal. There are two possibilities: either the war with Teumman in 653 BC, which reduced Elam to a vassal of Assyria (see M. Waters, A Survey of Neo-Elamite History [PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania 1 997] 84-98), or the aftermath of the Samas-sumu-ukin war (647-646 BC), which reduced the country to an Assyrian province (see E. Carter and M. Stolper, Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archeology [Berkeley 1984] 5 lff). The former alternative is perhaps the likelier one, considering the irate tone of the oracle: note that the war was triggered by an Elamite raid undertaken while Assurbanipal was worshiping Ištar of Arbela - an insult provoking not only the anger of the king but of the Goddess as well (see above, p. XLVI).
No. 9 has an eponym date placing it squarely in the middle of the Šamaš-šumu-ukin rebellion: Nisan 1 8, eponymy of Bel-šadû''a = April 1 6, 650 BC. [[305]], The tone of the prophecy reflects the military situation. Six months before, in Elul II, 651, the Babylonian army had succeeded in capturing Cutha. [[306]] For the Assyrian king, this was an intolerable setback: a successful rebellion at the heart of the empire represented a serious danger to imperial unity and a direct threat to the emperor himself. Consequently, an Assyrian counteroffensive was launched immediately and Babylon was put under siege on Tammuz 1 1, 650, less than three months after the date of the text.
The oracle has many affinities with SAA 3 13 (the so-called Dialogue of Assurbanipal with Nabû), and it is likely that both texts emerged from the same historical situation; certainly the same scribe wrote and edited both tablets. SAA 3 13 shows Assurbanipal praying and having a dream in Emašmaš, the temple of Mullissu in Nineveh; the date of no. 9 implies that this took place in the course of or immediately after the New Year's festival of Nisan. The situation in general thus resembles that preceding the war against Teumman, which provoked the oracle and vision cited above, p. XL VI. Note that Mullissu ( = Lady of Nineveh) figures as the principal oracular deity in no. 9. It seems very likely that SAA 3 3, Assurbanipal's hymn to Mullissu and Ištar of Arbela, was written in response to no. 9, and it can not be excluded that SAA 3 1 2, the so-called Righteous Sufferer's Prayer to Nabû, records the prayer that Assurbanipal actually spoke in Emašmaš.
No. 10 cites on its left edge the prophetess who authored no. 9, and may thus date from the same time. Note, however, that Assurbanipal is not mentioned in this fragment; if the name of the prophetess is to be read Sinqiša-amur (see p. ILf), then a date in the reign of Esarhaddon also becomes possible.
No. 11 dates from the reign of Assurbanipal (r. 1 ), and the promise to "restore order in (all) the lands "may point to the time of the Šamaš-šumu- ukin rebellion (i.e., c. 652-650 BC). However, lines r.4f intriguingly remind one of the theophany reported to Assurbanipal before the war against Teumman (see p. XL Vlf). Could this be the original letter reporting it? Note the reference to a (previous) vision in r.6.
305 For the Julian date see LAS II, Appendix A.
306 See J. A. Brinkman, Prelude to Empire: Babylonian Society and Politics, 747-626 B.C. (Philadelphia 1984), p. 96f, and G. Frame, Babylonia 689-627 B.C. A Political History (Leiden 1992), p. 146.
Simo Parpola
Simo Parpola, 'The Dates of the Reports', Assyrian Prophecies, SAA 9. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1997; online contents: SAAo/SAA09 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa09/thehistoricalcontextsanddatesoftheoracles/thedatesofthereports/]