Since the majority of these texts are in fact royal inscriptions, it is not surprising to find royal titles and genealogies as well as a number of royal epithets in them. Most of them, however, are quite businesslike and lack the rodomontade that characterizes most building and dedicatory inscriptions. The exceptions are mostly to be found among the texts in Chapter 6, the votive dedications, but the land grants of the Sargonid kings, both to private individuals and to temples (Chapter 2), have their share. Further, at least two texts are paralleled by other royal inscriptions that recount in fuller detail the event of which the decree or donation was a part (nos. 19 and 86), and although the text has been edited and condensed for the present purpose, the flavour of royal dedicatory inscriptions still comes through.
Conversely, there are royal inscriptions where the terminology of the grants and decrees is used to describe a more general situation rather than making a specific grant. The use of the familiar taxation exemption clauses is found in the inscription of Bel-Harran-belu-uṣur,[[3]] the so-called "Aššur Charter" of Sargon[[4]] and a building inscription of Esarhaddon.[[5]] No. 49 may very well be a fragment from this type of inscription rather than a grant. Another inscription of Esarhaddon, which perhaps might have found a place in this volume, makes use of the terminology of the decrees (rakāsu) in describing donations to temples following that ruler's return from Egypt.[[6]]
There are two main points, however, that tie the grants and decrees together and make them distinct from other types of royal inscriptions, even votive donations. One is the use of the title uklu (OA waklum), "overseer," which is always written PA-lum and always occurs last in the sequence of titles. This is a very ancient title, used already by rulers of Assur in the Old Assyrian period. We will not discuss its possible significance here,[[7]] but will merely note that it is always used when the king is acting as head of state, not as an individual. Thus it occurs in grants, edicts and decrees (nos. 1, 6, 10-13, 25-26, 29, 35-36, 43-44, 46, 69, 71, 76, 78-79, 82), but not in votive donations or other dedicatory inscriptions.
The other feature that is peculiar to the grants and decrees is reference to an oath by a series of deities, beginning with Aššur, including the obscure god Ber, and ending with "the Assyrian Ištar." This reference is usually introduced simply by nīš, "by," and the list of deities (nos. 13-14, 25-26, 29, 31, 34-36, 40-41, 69, 75, 85). Following this, a future ruler is enjoined against revoking or rescinding "the wording of this document."[[8]] The explanation of this is probably to be found in no. 85 r. 19-21: "The king swears that GN, which he assigned to PN, he will never take away."[[9]] The reference to the oath and the adjuration to a future ruler occurs earlier in the text (ll. 13-17), but this additional statement helps clear up the significance of this regular feature of grants and decrees. The expression should probably be understood as: "(I have sworn never to revoke this document) by DN's — future prince (do likewise)." Like the use of the title "overseer," the oath statement occurs when the king is acting as head of state, but not in a private capacity. Usually, if a text uses one of these features it also has the other, and, although there are grants and decrees without them, they are an excellent means of distinguishing these documents from other types of royal inscriptions.
A feature of other royal inscriptions (and literary and "scientific" texts in general) that a number of these texts share is multiple copies. Thus no. 69 existed in at least three (and possibly four [no. 70]) copies while no. 82 is a stone inscription with two duplicates on clay (nos. 83-84). No. 73, which may contain part of the text of nos. 71 and 72, is apparently a fragment of a clay prism. That other texts are copies is shown by references to seal impressions where no sealings are found on the tablet (nos. 1 and 86) or by direct statements that they are copies (nos. 1, 71 and 68). The text of no. 90 may have been intended for or edited from a stela and no. 88 has the copyist's prayer,[[10]] indicating that it was copied (somewhat ineptly) from another source. There are also two collections of decrees of earlier kings each covering a period of over a century (nos. 76 and 77). On the possibility that there may have been duplicate copies of the private grants, see below under Legal Texts.
Finally, royal inscriptions make liberal use of curses, primarily directed against anyone who tampers with the inscription, and, again, it is not surprising to find curses in these texts against anyone who violates the royal command. What is surprising, however, is that the most virulent curses are generally not those in the grants and decrees of the kings, but in the private votive donations. The curses in these documents have a good deal in common with those in treaties and loyalty oaths and are discussed with them below.
3 See Fig. 15; cf. NARGD, p. 11 and TCAE. pp. 79, 184, and 240.
4 Iraq 37 [1975] 11-20; cf. TCAE, p. 132, 1.4.2.
5 Borger Esarh., § 2 iii.3-15; cf. NARGD, p. 132, 1.4.1.
6 Borger Esarh., § 64 (Smlt).
7 Cf. M. T. Larsen, The Old Assyrian City-State and its Colonies (Mesopotamia 4, Copenhagen 1976) 129-47 and Seux Epithètes, pp. 358-59.
8 The formulation of this injunction varies, but the verb used is regularly the Š stem of nasāku, "to revoke, rescind, take away." Only in the grants of Aššur-etel-ilani is the D stem of šanû, "to change, alter," used.
9 The verb is again the Š stem of nasāku.
10 A common feature of colophons (cf. Hunger Colophons, p. 15), normally written NIR.GÁL.ZU NU TÉŠ dPA = tākil-ka lā ibâš, Nabû, "Let the one who trusts in you not come to shame, O Nabû." This is meant to be a prayer to the celestial scribe, Nabû, for a clean, mistake-free copy, but the scribe of this text has let it go badly astray. First, he has attached the -a-ni that belongs to Bit-Amukanni of the previous line to the verb TÉŠ as a first person accusative suffix, and second, he has added -ka to NIR.GÁL.ZU, apparently not realizing that the ZU of this expression represents the same pronoun.
Laura Kataja & Robert Whiting
Laura Kataja & Robert Whiting, 'Royal Inscriptions', Grants, Decres and Gifts of the Neo-Assyrian Period, SAA 12. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1995; online contents: SAAo/SAA12 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa12/introduction/royalinscriptions/]