MASS DEPORTATIONS AND DEPORTEES
IN THE NEG-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
BY
BUSTENAY ODED
1979
DR. LUDWIG REICHERT VERLAG · WIESBADEN
CONTENTS
page
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IX-XI
Chapter I. Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation and
1-17
Deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Empire . . . . . .
18-32
Chapter II. "Facts" and Figures . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter III. The Implementation of Mass Deportation
33-40
Chapter IV. Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
41-74
75-115
Chapter V. Observations on the Position of Deportees
Appendix. A List of Geographical Names Relating to Deporta116-135
tions
136-142
General Index
Map and Plates
PREFACE
This study is an attempt to present the reader with a complete picture
of a well-known feature in the history of the ancient world, which attained particularly extensive proportions in the neo-Assyrian Empire.
The mass deportations employed by the Assyrians for political, military
and economic ends had a decisive influence on the fate of peoples and
states.
I had originally intended to confine myself to the factual aspect of the
phenomenon under discussion (Chaps. II, III). However, afl the work
progreflsed, it became clear to me that the method employed in studying
the subject (Chap. I) was highly relevant to everything connected with
the actual findings of the investigation and determined the whole presentation; it also became clear that, for its proper completion, the study
required an exposition of the aims of the deportations (Chap. IV), and
a detailed examination of the conditions of the deportees in the countries to which they were deported during the period of the neo-Assyrian
Empire (Chap. V). Such a research project naturally necessitated reference to a very large number of documents of various kinds, and alw
to numerous scholarly studies on various subjects relating to the Ancient
Near East as a whole, and to the Assyrian Empire in particular. The list
of references given under the heading "Abbreviations" constitutes only
a small part of the large quantity of material used in t.he preparation of
this work. Additional scholarly literature is mentioned in the footnotes
to the text.
In writing this research I was greatly helped by the many important
publications and articles which have appeared in recent years and which
have advanced our knowledge of the economic and social history of the
Ancient Orient. It is my pleasant duty to express my appreciation to the
institutions which generously provided the financial asflistanee required
for the execution of this project: the Alexander von-Humboldt f-Jtiftung,
the Israel CommisRion for Basic Research, the Editorial Commitee and
the Research Authority of the University of Haifa. Their kind support
enabled me not only to carry out my research in Israel and abroad, but
also to publish my findings in the present book.
I am greatly indebted to Prof. B. Mazar, Prof. A. Malamat, Prof. H.
Tadmor and Prof. D. J. ·wiseman, who introduced me to ancient Near
Eastern Civilization. I also take this opportunity of thanking all those
who kindly provided me with scholarly advice or technical a,ssistance, and
especially Prof. W. Rollig, Dr. H. Reviv and Dr. R. Zadok for their com-
X
Preface
ments and willing assistance. At the same time, the responsibility for the
contents of this work and for any errors is, of course, entirely my own.
I likewise wish to thank Dr. l\1:. Dagut for his help with the editing of the
English text and the publisher, Dr. Ludwig Reichert, for the conscientious care with which he has seen the book through publication.
The photographs in the book are reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees
of the British Museum.
As for the spelling of the Accadian words in this work, we use ia in
transliteration and ja in transcription and translation. The personal
determinative is generally omitted.
July 1978
B. Oded
ABBREVIATIONS
ADB
C. H. W. Johns, An As8yrian Doomsday Book, Leipzig, 1901.
[Assyriologische Bibliothek 17.]
ADD
C. H. W. Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents I-IV, Cambridge 1898-1923.
AHw.
W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handu:orterbuch, \Viesbaden
1959AKA
E. A. ·wallis Budge-L. \V. King, Annals of the Kings of
Assyria. London 1902.
ANEP
James B. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East in Pictures.
Princeton 1954.
ANE'J.'
James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Ea.stern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Second edition, 1955 and Suppl.
1969), Princeton 1955.
APN
K. Tallqvist, Assyrian Personal Names, Helsingfors 1914.
ARAB
D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia,
Vol. I-II, Chicago 1926-1927.
ARU
J. Kohler-A. Ungnad, Assyrische Rechtsurkunden, Leipzig
1913.
Aynard, Ashurbanipal J. M.-M. Aynard, Le Prisme du Louvre AO 19 ..939, Paris
1957.
Avigad, Ammonite
N. Avigad, "Ammonite and l\Ioabite Seals" apud J. A.
Sanders (ed.), Near Eastern Archaeology in the Twentieth
Century (in Honor of N. Glueck), New York 1970, pp. 284295.
A vi gad, Seals
N. Avigad, "Seals of Exiles", IEJ 15 (1965) pp. 222-231.
R. D. Barnett,
R. D. Barnett, Sculptures from the North Palace of AshurAshurbanipal
banipal at Nineveh (668-631 B.C.). London 1975.
Barnett-Falkner,
R. D. Barnett and H. Falkner, The Sculptures of TiglathSculptures
pileser Ill, London 1962.
Borger, Asarhaddon
R. Borger, Die I nschriften Asarhaddons, ](onigs von Assyrien.
AfO Beiheft 9. Osnabruck, 1956.
Brinkman, Kassites
J. A. Brinkman, A Political History of Post Hassite Babylonia
1158-722 B.C., Roma 1968.
GAD
The Assyrian Dictionary of the University of Chicago, Chicago
-Gluckstadt 1956Cogan, Imperialism
l\I. Cogan, Imperialism and Religion-Assyria, Judah and
Israel in the Eight and Seventh Century B.O.E., Mnntana
1974.
Dandamayev,
M. A. Dandamayev, "Egyptians in Lator Babylonia"
JCgyptian.•
lJrevnij ]!)gipet i 1Jre1mjaja Afrika, MoHeow I!Hl7, pp. 11>-26.
Dandamayev,
1\I. A. Dandamayev, Slavery in Babylonia in the 7th-4th
Slavery
Centuries B.C. (in Russian), Moscow 1974.
Deller, Sultantepe
K. Deller, "Neuassyrisches aus Sultantepe" Orientalia NS 34
(1965) pp. 457-477.
Diakonoff, Ancient
I. M. Diakonoff (ed.) Ancient :Mesopotamia, Socio-Economic
, Mesopotamia
History, Moscow 1969.
Diakonoff, Slaves
"Slaves, Helots and Serfs in Early Antiquity"-apud J.
Harmatta and G. Komor6czy (eds.)-TVirt.schaft und Gesellschaft im allen Vorderasien [Acta Antiqua, 22, 1974] Budapest 1976, pp. 45-78.
XII
van-Driel, Land
Eph'al, Exiles
Fales, Censimenti
Fales, WSem. Names
Freydank,
JJ,i itte lassy1·ischen
Gadd, Stones
Gelb, Approaches
Gelb, P1·isoners
Gibson, Textbook
Grayson, ABC
Grayson, ARI
Gry, Israelites
Hall, Sculptures
KAI
Kraeling, City
Layard,MN
Lio, Sargon
Lipinski, SAIO
Lyon, Sargon
Luckenbill,
Sennacherib
Malamat, Exile
Manitius, Heer
Maisler, Gozan
Michel,
Shalmaneser I I I
NWL
Oates, Northern Iraq
Oppenheim, Letters
Abbreviations
Abbreviations
G. van-Driol, "Land and People in Assyria," BiOr. 27 (1970)
pp. 168-175.
I. Eph'al, "On tho Identification of Israelite Exiles in the
Assyrian Empire." Excavations and Studies (Essays in Honour of S. Yeivin) Tel-Aviv 1973 (Hebrew).
F. M. Fales, Censimenti e Catasti di Epoca Neo-Assira, Roma
1973.
"\Vest Semitic Names from tho Governor's Palaeo," Annali
di Ca' Foscari 13/3 (1974) pp. 178-188.
H. Froydank, "Die Rolle dor Deportierton im mittolassyrisclwn Staat" apud J. Horrmann-I. Sollnow, Die Rolle de1·
T' olksmassen in der Geschichte der vorka.pitalistischen Gesellschaftsformationen. Berlin 1!!75 pp. 55-63.
C. J. Gadd, 'l'he Stones of Assyria, London 1!!36.
I. ,T. Golb, "Approaclws to tho Study of Anciont Society,"
JAOS 87 (1%7) pp. l-8.
"Prisoners of "'ar in Early Mesopotamia" JNES 32 (l!l73)
pp. 70-!l8.
John C. L. Gibson, 1'extbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions,
Oxford 1971A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, New
York, 1975.
Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, \Viosbadon, 1972L. Gry, "Israelitos on Assyrie, Juifs en Babylonio" Le
Mu.wion, 35 (1922/23) pp. 153-185; 36 (1923/24) pp. 1-26.
H. R. Halls, Babylonian and Assyrian Sculptures in the
B1·itish Museum, Paris and Brussels 1928.
H. Donner-\V. Rollig, Kanaanaische und ammdioche Inschriften. I-III, Wiesbaden, 1962-1964.
C. H. Kraoling and It. M. Adams (oris.), City Invincible
[Oriental Institute Special Publications] Chicago 1960.
A. H. Layaru, The Monuments of Ninveh, London 1848-1853.
A. G. Lio, Inscriptions of Sargon II, Part I-Tho Annals,
Paris 1929.
E. Lipi1'1ski, Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics,
I [OLA I], Len \'On l !!75.
D. G. Lyon, J(eilsclm:ftte,t'te Sargon's, Konigs von Assyrien
(722-705 v.Chr.). Leipzig 1883.
D. D. Luckenbill, 'l'he Annals of Sennacherib, Chicago 1924.
A. Mn.lamat, "Exile, Assyrian" Encyclopedia Jtulaica, VI,
I !!71, pp. JO:H-IO:l6.
\V. Manitius, "Das stehendo Heor dor Assyrorkonigo und
soino Organisation" ZA 24 (1910), pp. 185-224.
B. Maislor, "The Israelite Exiles in Gozan" BIES 15 (1949~
1950), pp. 83-85 (Hobrow).
E. Michel, "Die Assur-Texte Shalmanessars III (858-824),"
l-2, 4 (1947-1967).
J. V. Kinnier Wilson, The Nimrud Wine Lists, Hertford 1972.
D. Oatos, Studies in the Ancient History of Northern Iraq,
London 1968.
A. Leo Oppenheim, Letters from Mesopotamia, Chicago 1967.
wo
Page,
Adad-nirari I I I
Parpola, Toponyms
XIII
S. Page, "A Stela of Adad-nirari III and Nergal-eres from
Tell-Itimah," Iraq 30 (1968) pp. 139-153.
S.l'arpola, Neo Assyrian 'l'oponyms [AOAT 6], NoukirchonVluyn 1970.
"Paterson, Palace
A. Paterson, Assyrian Sculptures. Palace of Sinacherib, The
Hague 1915.
Paterson, Sculptures Assyrian Sculptures, Haarlem-Holland.
Piepkorn,
A. C. Piopkorn, Historical Prism Inscriptions of AshurbaniAshurbanipal
pal, I, Chicago 1953.
Postgate, Countryside J. N. Postgato, "Some Remarks on Conditions in the As·
syrian Countryside" JESHO 17 (1974), pp. 225-243.
Postgate, Fifty
Fifty Neo-Assyrian Legal Document~, \Varminster 1975.
Postgato, Governor
'l'he Governm·'s Palace Archive, Hertford I973.
Postgate, NARGD
Neo-ABsyrian Royal Grants and Decrees, Home I9G9.
Postgato, 'l'axation
1'axationandConscription in the Assyrian Empire, Horne I !!74.
XVIII RAJ
XV I 1 I llencontre assyriologique lnternationale, Munch on
l!J70 [1972].
RCAE
L. \Vatorman, Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire
I-IV, Ann Arbor 1930-1931.
Rost,
P. Rost, Die Keilschrifttexte Tiglath-Pilesers I II, Leipzig
Tiglath-pileser I I I 1893.
Schiffor, Spuren
S. Schiffer, Keilinschriftliche Spuren ... [OLZ, Beiheft] Berlin 1907.
Smith, Sculptures
S. Smith, Assyrian Sculptures in the British 11I useum, London
1938.
SLA
R. H. Pfeiffer, State Letters of Assyria, Now Haven 193i5.
Streck,
M. Streck, Assw·banipal und die letzten assyrischen J(onige
Ashurbanipal
bis zum Untergang Niniveh's [ V AB 7], Leipzig 1916.
Tadmor, West
H. Tadmor, "Assyria and the \Yost: The Ninth Century and
its Aftermath" apud I-I. Goodieko anrl ,T. J.l\1. Roberts (C'ds.)
Unity and Diversity, Baltimoro I ll75, pp. 36-48.
Ucko,Man
Peter J. Ucko et al. 1lfan, Settlement m1d Urbanism, HC'rtfordshiro l!J72.
Weidner, Gozan
J. Friedrich et al., Die Inschrijten von Tell-Halaj, [AfO,
Beiheft 6] 1940.
\Vinckler, Sargon
H. Winckler, Die Keilschrifttexte 8m·goJ18, Leipzig 1889.
w;scman, Chronicles D. J. \Visoman, Chronicles of the C!wldaean Kings (G25-5GG
B. C.), London 1!l5G.
Wiseman, Egyptians "Some Egyptians in Bn.bylonia" Iraq 28 (I \JGG), pp. I :34-I 58.
Yadin, Warfare
Y. Yadin, 'I' he Art of Warfare in JiiiJlicol Lonrls' London I !JG:l.
Zablocko.,
,J. Zabloclm, Agrarverhiiltnisse im Reich der 8rn·gonirlen,
Agrarverhiiltnisse
l'mma(t I !J7l (in l'oliHh).
Zablocka,
"Landarboitor im Hoich dor Sargoniden," XV I 1 I RAJ,
Landarbeiter
pp. 209-215.
Zablocka, Palast
"l'alast und Konig" Altorientalische Forschtmgen I, 1974,
pp. 9l-Il3.
Zadok, Egyptians
R. Zadok, "On Some Egyptians in First 1\Iillennium Mesopotamia" Gottinger Miszellen 26 (1977), pp. 63-68.
Zp,dok,
The Jews in Babylonia in the Chaldean and Achaemenian
Jews in Babylonia Periods in the Light of the Babylonian Sonrces, Toi-A\·iv 1976.
Zadok, WSB
On West Semites in Babylonia during the Chaldean and
Achaemenian Periods. An Onomastic Study. Jorusalom l9i7.
(Appeared after the present study was completed.)
CHAPTER I
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF .lliASS DEPORTATION
AND DEPORTEES IN THE NEO-ASSYRIAN ElliPIRE
A. The mass deportations carried out by the Assyrian kings-their
extent, methods, purposes and results, and the fate of the deportees in
the countries to which they were deported-have not yet been subjected
to a comprehensive and systematic study, despite the fact that, in
scholarly writings and researches on the ancient Ncar East, these mass
deportations are frequently mentioned as a typical feature of the policy
of the neo-Assyrian empire. 1 The majority of such studies as have been
undertaken on the deportees and their status, in the period in question,
are confined to IsraelitejJudean and Egyptian deportees. 2 The present
work, by contrast, is devoted to an investigation of the whole phenomenon
of mass deportation in the Assyrian empire and examines this question in
its various aspects, thereby providing the reader with a general idea of
the Assyrian system of deportation, based mainly on a comprehensive
study of the Assyrian documentary evidence.
Our discussion of the deportations is confined to cases of the uprooting
oflarge groups of people-principally civilians-as described, for example,
in Sennacherib's inscription recounting his Judean campaign against
Hezekiah in 701 B. C.: "200,150 people great and small, male and female,
horses, mules, asses, camels and sheep, without number, I brought away
from them and counted as spoil." 3 Cases of the deportation of individuals,
or of small clearly defined groups, are not included in this study. 4 Nor is
any reference made in chapters I-IV to refugees or emigrants who left
1 See e.g. Luckenbill, Sennacherib p. 6; Pestgate, Governor p. 25. In .J. Zablocka'A
monograph, Agrarverhaltnisse, mass deportation is studied from the point of view
of its connection with agrarian relations, as the title of the book shows, and is not
the central problem of the book; A. 1'. E. Olmstead, History of Assyria, Chicago
1951, p. 188; Tadmor, West, p. 41; G. Begrich, TLZ 102 (1977) p. 311.
2 A. Malamat, "Exile, Assyrian" and B. Porten, "Exile, Babylonian," in Encyclopaedia Judaica, VI, 1971, pp. 1034-1041, and the bibliography there; Eph'al,
Exiles; Wiseman, Egyptians; Dandamayev, Egyptians; Zadok, Egyptians.
! Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 32: 24-27. For the number 200, 150 see A. Ungnad,
ZA W 59 (1942-43) pp. 199--202 and note 2 to Chapter II.
• E.g. the deportation of Daiaukku the ruler of Manna, together with his family
to Hamath, ARAB II, 56; The capture of Sidqa, king of Ashkelon, together with
his family, Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 30: 63-64.
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
their homeland for one reason or another ar.d settled in some other
country.
The policy of mass deportation had already been put into operation by
Assyrian kings who reigned before Tiglath-pileser liP and the phenomenon of the large-scale deportation of a civilian population was long
since known in Egypt, 6 the Hittite Empire/ and Mesopotamia. 8 Under
the neo-Assyrian Empire, however, mass deportation became a regular
feature of Assyrittn imperial policy and the most important means of its
domination of other peoples, with far-reaching political, demographic and
cultural consequences. 9
The study of the mass deportations is not merely a matter of theoretical
research but is intended to reveal, as far as possible, the actual historical
picture of the method employed and the fate of the deportees. Such a
study must therefore start with the collection of clear, explicit, and unambiguous documentary evidence, such as the following statements:
3. ni8e 8atunu u8e~amma adi ... ana libbi miitija ubil8unuti ana nise
miitija amnu (Shamshi Adad V, KB I p. 184:5-8).
4. 800 nise adi mar8Ui8unu ... alpesunu ~enesunu a8lula ... 750 8allat
uruJ(urU{ja ... a8lula. (Rost, Tiglath-pileser II I, p. 34--36: 206-208).
5. kurBit Amukkiini kirna dajja8ti adis, pulJur ni8e8u, makkursu ana
kurAS.Sur ura (Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 44: ll-12).
6. 27,290 nise asib ina libbisu a8lula (Winckler, Sargon, p. 100:24).
7. 208,000 nise, ~elJer rabi zikar u sinnis, sise ... sa lii nibi sallatu
kabittu a8lula ana qereb AMur (Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 25:50-5 3).
8. nise miitisu alc8udma 8allati8 amnu (Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 91:
28).
9. nisesu rapsiite . .. alpe ~ene imere . .. abulca ana qereb kurAMur (Borger,
Asarhaddon, p. 48: 78-80).
10. nise Y,ubut qastija sa 8ade u tamtim ... ina libbi u8e.Sib (Borger,
Asarhaddon, pp. 48-49: 10-15).
11. ni8e zilcra u sinni8, ... assuY,ma alqa ana kurAMur (Aynard, Ashurbanipal, p. 32:52-55).
12. nise uruKirbit mala a8lulu assulJma qereb kur.Ll:fu~ur u8a~bit (Piepkorn,
Ashurbanipal, p. 48: 14--15).
Transcription
Translation
2
B. Explicit Documentary Evidence and I>lausible Interpretations
I. 2400 (var. 2500) ummiinatesuntt assulJa ina uruKallJi us~bit (Ashurnasirpal II, AKA p. 362: 53-54).
2. 22,000 ~iibestt assulw ana iilija Assur ubla (llfichel, Shalmaneser III,
TVO 1 p. 462: 8-9).
5 Adad-nara.ri I (1307-1275) deported tho people of Irridu to tho city Ashur,
ARJ 1, p. C. I; Shalmanosot· [ (1274--1245) carried off 14,400 captives, ARI I, p. 82;
'l'ukulti-Ninurta l ( 1244-1208) uprootod 28,800 Hittite people from "Beyond tho
Euphrates" and doportod thom to Assyria, ARI I, p. 118; Tiglath-pileser I (11141076) uprooted many peoplo from nwions countries ttnd brought thom to Assyria,
ARI 2, pp. 7, 9, 20, 21. Freydank, .Mittelassyrischen, pp. 55-63.
6 \V. Holck, Die Beziehungen Agyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend
v.Ghr. \Viesbaden 1962, pp. 359-390; S. Ahituv, in Beer-Sheva,Jerusa!em, 1973,
Vol. I, pp. 87-89 (Hebrew); Gelb, Pri.Yoners, pp. 92--93.
7 S. Alp, JJ{F 1 (1950) pp. 113-135; ANET, p. 319; Golb, Prisoners, p. 92. For
references to deportations in Hittite treaties see, e.g. H. Freydank, MIO 7 (1960),
p. 371; ANET, Suppl. p. 530.
8 Gelb, Prisoners. For this practice in the kingdom ofUrartu during the 9th_ 7th
centuries see F. W. Kiinig, A/0, Beiheft 8, 1967, passim.
• Th. Jacobsen, ZA 52 (1957), pp. 139-140; H. W. F. Saggs, in D. J. Wiseman,
Peoples of Old Testament Times, Oxford 1973, p. 161.
3
I. I uprooted 2400 of their troops and settled them in Calah (Grayson,
ARI II, p. 141).
2. 22,000 of their soldiers I uprooted and brought to my city Ashur.
3. Those people I brought out together ... to my land I carried them
and counted them with the people of my land.
4. I brought away as prisoners 800 (of its) inhabitants with their possessions ... their large anc:l small cattle. 750 prisoners from Kurussa ... (ANET p. 283).
5. Bit Amukkani I trampled down like a threshing (sledge). All of its
people (and) its goods, I took to Assyria (ARAB I, 783).
6. I led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it (i.e. Samaria, ANET,
pp. 284--285).
7. 208,000 people, great and small, male and female, horses ... without
number, a heavy booty, I carried off to Assyria.
8. The people of his land, I captured and counted as spoil.
9. His widespreading peoples . . . cattle and sheep and assess . . . I
transported to Assyria (ARAB II, 511).
4
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
10. The people, spoil of my bow, of mountain and sea ... therein I settled
(ARAB II, 512).
11. People, male and female ... I uprooted and took to Assyria.
12. The people ofKirbit, as many as I had taken, I took away and settled
(them) in Egypt.
Along with such clear pieces of evidence about deportation, we also
come across many sentences in the Assyrian royal inscriptions which,
while they may plausibly be interpreted as referring to mass deportation,
are also open to a different interpretation. The following are several
examples of information which may be interpreted as evidence of deportation, but is by no means certain as such:
1. ERJj}f.MES ({Jiibe) bal(iite ma'dute ina qiiti U{Jabbita. 10 "Many soldiers did I capture alive." Here it is not expressly stated that the Assyrian
monarch deported these soldiers, although it may reasonably be assumed
that he either added them to his own army or settled them outside their
own land. This sentence can serve only as a supplementary piece of
information, or as corroboration of an explicit statement, elsewhere, of a
deportation connected with the event in this example {see below).
2. In an inscription of Adad-nerari III found at Tell al-Rimah, reference
is made to 331 settlements which were rebuilt in the region under the
control of the Assyrian governor Nergal-eresh. According to S. Page, 11
"aliini ERl.MES ... probably refers to subject peoples who were
transported and 'settled' in the new towns", and further on (pp. 151-152)
she continues: "Since the text has just described campaigns against
Damascus and Nairi Lands, it is probable that the subject peoples were
transported from these lands to the new settlements to weaken centres of
resistance." Although this interpretation is logical enough-and Page's
assumption may well be correct--this stele cannot be regarded as explicit
evidence for the deportation of citizens from Damascus and Nairi to
settlements that were (re)built by Nergal-eresh. Not only is there no
reference either in this or in any other of Adad-nerari III's inscriptions to
any deportation of the civilian populace from Damascus and N airi to
the settlements in question; there is no mention, in this same inscription,
of people being brought to the new settlements from conquered lands.
3. In the lists found in Calah (Nimrud) from the reign of Adad-nerari
III, mention is made of people from various places, such as Arpad, Samaria, Carchemish, Kush and Egypt, who received quantities of wine
10
11
AKA, pp. 233-234: 25-26.
Page, Adad-nirari III, p. 147.
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
5
from the royal treasury.I 2 In J. V. Kinnier 'Wilson's opinion, these would
appear to be prisoners-of-war from the countries named. "While this conjecture may be correct, the lists in question cannot be regarded as explicit evidence of deportations from these countries in the reign of Adadnerari III. At the most, they can serve as corroborative and supplementary
information to explicit evidence in other inscriptions about deportations
from these places.I3
4. In Arslan-Tash (Hadattu) an amulet has been found containing an
incantation in Phoenician, written in Aramaic script. 14 This in itself is
no real evidence of the existence of an exiled Phoenician community in
Hadattu in the 7th century B. C.,I 5 particularly as we have no explicit
information about the deportation of Phoenicians to Hadattu.
From the examples cited above (pp. 2-4) as clear evidence for deportation, as well as from many additional sentences, we can extract a series
of words and expressions belonging to the terminology of deportation and
the various actions associated with it. The following are some of the verbs
and other terms which occur regularly in the descriptions of a deportation
(including sections of the Babylonian Chronicles relating to the neoA.ssyrian Empire) :16 abiiku; abiilu; 17 an1; 8ii{Ju; 8ii8ubu; 1 s ekihnu; 8urubu;
galU (galitu, 8aglU; 8aglutu); 19 l,yLbiitu (lmbtu, lmbut-qa8ti);2° kamu (kamutu); ka8iidu (ku88udu); kisittu; lequ; manu; nasiil~u (nasl~ute); 2 1 ramu;
{Jabiitu ( 8U{Jbutu, {Jabtu); 8aliilu ( sallatu, 8alliitu); turru. 22
12
13
NWL, pp. 89-94.
Cf. Kinnior vVilson, NW L, p. 93 "but thoro is some uncertainty as to the proper
interpretation of these entries." Tadmor, West p. 42 "I doubt that all these people
wore captives."
" KAI, No. 27; A. Caquot, JANES 5 (1973), pp. 45-51.
15
H. Torczynor, JNES 6 {1947), p. 28 {an Israelite d<;portoo); F.l\f. Cross-It. J.
Saloy, BASOR 197 {1970), pp. 42-49 (Phoenician incantations); A. L. Oppenheim,
JOS 21 {1967), p. 253 (Phoenician penetration into Mesopotamia).
" Soo L. W. Moran, OBQ 38 {1976), p. 22:3 on[wbrltu antl elcemu.
17
For this verb cf., KAI, No. 215: 14 ybl.
18
For this vorb cf. KAI, No. 26, I: 20 y.§bm and tho translation of H. L. Ginsborg, JANES 5 {l!J73), p. 144 "thoro uprooted 1,hom l, thoro rosottlrJd tholll I."
Soo also l'RU III, 15.147: 13 u8Mib8unu {= "colonisora"); 1£zra 4:10 hwtb.
19
Possibly Aramaic word. Soo vV. von-Sodcn, Orientalia NS :35 {lfJ66) p. 8 and
46 {1977) p.186; K. Deller, Orientalia NS 35 {1966) p. 194; AHw, I, p. 275. Postgato,
Taxation, p. 374. For URUQaliitu seeR. Zadok, in Beer-Sheva {above, n. 6), p. 178
a;nd there n. 53; id. WSB p. 14; Grayson, ABO, p. 77.
20
On the Egyptian parallel verb, see Ahitov, op.cit. (above, n. 6) p. 87, n. 6.
21
Cf. Deut. 28: 63; Psalms 52: 7; C. Saporetti ATTI della Academia Nazionale
dei Lincei, 25 (1970), pp. 437-444;J. Rengor, XV III RAT, p. 176, n. 30/12; GraysonLambert, JOS 18 (1964), p. 16; B. Landsberger, JOS 27 (1975), p. 44. For nast'ihu +
sursu soo AHw III, 1286.
22
W. F. Leemans, RA 55 (1961), p. 58; Tho Code ofHammurabi, paragraph 28.
6
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
C. The Sources of Information and their Character
1. The Royal Inscriptions
The sources at our disposal for the study of the subject in question are
many and varied: royal inscriptions, chronicles, administrative and leg~l
texts, reliefs, and the Old Testament. First in importance fo~ the top:c
which concerns us here are the royal historical inscriptions, wluch con tam
most of the explicit statements about mass deportations carried out by
the Assyrian kings, 2a together with very meagre informati?n about the
fate of the deportees and their condition in the lands to whwh th~y w~re
deported. However, despite the central imJ?Ortance of the roy_al mscnptions for the whole subject of the deportatiOns, we must not Ignore the
limitations of this material in providing us with a clear picture of the
mass deportations in the period of the neo-Assyrian empire.
(a) The extant royal inscriptions do not record all the cases o: dep~rta­
tion in the period under discussion. This is true of all the Assyrian kings,
not only of those for whose reigns we have little material. 24 Thu~, Sar?on
II's deportation to Gozan of part of the population of the Israelite Km~­
dom of Samaria, which is known to us from the Old Testament (2 Ki.
17: 6) and confirmed from various Assyrian sources (ABL 633; ADD 234;
documents from Tell-Halaf), is not explicitly mentioned in the royal
inscriptions. 25 Nor is there any reference in these inscripti~ns to deportations from various countries to Dur-Sin, 26 Cutha, Arzuhma, and many
other places, deportations which are vouche~ for by v~rious texts, particularly the administrative and legal material from Nmeveh and Ca~ah
(see below). Some of the gaps in the royal inscriptions can be filled With
the aid of the Biblical source (e.g. 2 Ki. 15:29; 1 Chron. 5; Ezra 4), 27 of
chronicles 28 and of administrative and legal texts.
(b) It is,well known that the one-sided material of the royal inscriptions
23 For a list of royal inscriptions soo Parpola, Toponyms, PP· XVIII-XXII;
Borger HKL III, pp. 23-29.
.
2• E.g. Shalmanosor V. Sec vV. Schramm, EAK II, Letden 1973, ~-- 140; Grayson
ABO, p. 242. For captives from Urartu and Mushku taken by Shamshulu, the turtan,
see Thureau-Dangin, RA 27 (1930) p. 16.
.
.
.
2s Adad-nerari II campaigned against Gozan but there 1s no mentwn of captives,
ARAB I, 373. In the inscriptions of Sargo~ I~ there are general remarks about
deportation from Samaria to conquered terr1torws, ARAB II, 4, 55.
2s Cf.KAI,No.233:I5.
. .
.
2' See also Is. 11: 11; 20:4, the historical background of whwh IS uncertam.
2a Parpola, Toponyms, pp. XXII-XXI!I; Gmyson, ABO_- There are, of course,
cases of deportations which are not montwned m tho chromclos, e.g. the dopoitation from Samaria.
7
is couched in hyperbole and is frequently inaccurate in detail. A quotation
from Ignace J. Gelb is apposite here: "The Mesopotamian picture is partly
obscured by great differences in reliability between the data found in the
royal ('historical') sources, with their well known exaggerations and even
misinformation, and those derived from the administrative texts, giving
straight cool facts of accounting." 29
In the matter of the deportations, there are sometimes discrepancies
between the numbers of deportees given in parallel inscriptions, and, in
many cases, details are lacking of their numbers, of the place to which
they were deported, and especially of what was done with them when
they arrived there.
(c) Often the royal inscriptions arc couched in such general terms,
formulaic sentences, or set expressions and phrases that it is difficult to
decide whether there really is a reference to an actual deportation. Here
are some examples: (1) The verb 8aliilu (with its derived forms 8allatu,
8alliitu) often denotes the deportation of human beings but there are
cases in which it is hard to decide whether the reference is only to captured property and livestock, or also to captured people. Esarhaddon
recounts that he conquered inhabited places in the land of Bazu, adding:
"a8lula 8allassun, appul aqqur ina dQira aqmtt" "I carried off their booty,
I destroyed, uprooted and burnt with fire." There is no way of knowing
whether the term 8allatu, here, denotes also the deportation of humans. 30
(2) In the prism of Ashurbanipal an account is given of the conquest of
settlements in the region of Paddira, in which the following expression
occurs: "a8lula 8allassun iilani 8atunu ana mi~ir kurAMur utir" = "I carried off their booty, annexing those cities to the border of Assyria." 31
From this stereotyped sentence it is hard to tell whether the statement
includes the deportation of the inhabitants. (3) In the description of the
booty taken in a war the term pitlwllu sometimes appears but not in
every case can it be determined whether the reference is to cavalrymen
(LU sa pitljalli), with or without their mounts, or only to the cavalry
horses ( ANSE pitljallu}. 32 (4) The investigation of the fate and status of
29
I. J. Gelb, Prisoners, p. 72. See also A. T. E. Olmstead, Assy1·ian Historiography, Missouri 1916, pp. 40-42.
3
• Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 33:27. In line 35 there is an explicit mention of the
transporting of inhabitants. On NAM.RA = 8allatu in Hittite texts designating
"nur Beute an Menschen" seeS. Alp, JKF I (1950) p. 115; G. Kestemont, Diplo'matie et droit international en Asie occidental (1600-1200 av. J. 0.), Louvain 1974,
pp. 85-88.
1
•
Piepkorn, AshU1·banipal, p. 52:55-5 6 and p. 56:5-6.
32
In addition to Accadian dictionaries s.v. pit{wllu (or pet{wllu) see e.g. l\Iichel,
Shalmaneser III, passim; Postgate, Taxation, index pit{wllu.
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
the deportees in the lands to which they were deported is bound up with
the understanding of terms and phrases appearing in the account of the
actual deportation or in relation to the deportees. Take, for example, the
regularly recurring expression "itti niSe kurAS.Sur amnusunuti" = "With
the people of the land of Assyria I counted them." 33 From this formulaic
sentence in the royal inscriptions it is hard to draw any definite conclusions about the status of the deportees.
Mesopotamia. 42 Letter ABL 349 refers to the people of Jadaqqu. In an
inscription of Sennacherib there is a statement about a deportation from
this tribe. 43 In an inscription of Tiglath-pileser III there is an account
of a deportation to the land of Ulluba but no mention of a deportation
from this land. Letter ND 2434 contains information about deportees
from the land of Ullu ba. 44
In the collection of administrative and legal texts there is also evidence
for cases of deportation from and to various places (and for the presence
in certain places of deportees) which are not mentioned at all in the royal
inscriptions.
Examples: Gozan-ABL 167; Tell Halaf, Nos. lll.ll7-120; ND 2619;
Halah-ARU 380, 45 ADD 755; Arzuhina-ND 2679, 46 ABL 306; Arrapha-ABL 306; the region of Harran-ADB 5; 6.
The administrative texts contain a wealth of detail which throws light
on the ways in which the mass deportations were carried out. Particularly
informative in this respect are the texts published by B. Parker, e.g. ND
2443; 2497; 2679.47 The administrative texts (particularly the letters) and
the legal texts have the great advantage of being extremely trustworthy.
But, at the same time, there are also difficulties in the interpretation of
the information found in them, which should not be ignored:
8
2. Administrative, Business, and
I~egal
Texts 34
Although the administrative, business, and legal texts found in principal
cities of the Assyrian empire contain little direct information about the
deportations, they can tell us a great deal about the ways in which these
were carried out, 35 about the presence of deportees (or foreigners) in
various places throughout the Assyrian empire, and about their conditions of life. From business and legal texts we may learn about the various
kinds of transactions in which deportees (or aliens) were engaged. The
administrative material contains information additional and complementary to that provided by the royal inscriptions. Some examples: In
letter ND 2381 mention is made of the captives (l~ubte) of the city of
Damascus. 36 Letter ND 2696 is connected with the deportation from
Unqi carried out by Tiglath-pileser III. 37 Letter ABL 572 contains information connected with deportees from the city of Sarrabanu in
southern Babylonia. 38 In texts ABL 284; 792; 794 there are reports about
deportees in the reign of Ashurbanipal from Elam and its capital,
Madaktu.39 In ABL 190; 207; 9G6 there are reports about deportations
from and to l\Iarqasi. 40 Sargon II claims that he deported inhabitants
from Tabal.H Many documents record persons from Tabal living m
See below, Chapter V, pp. 81-91.
Parpola, Toponyms, pp. XXIII-XXIV; Borger, FIKL III, pp. 50, 55.
35 H. \V. F. Saggs, Iraq 36 (1974), pp. 199-200 "Whilst there are, for example,
general statements in the annals about the transportation of captured populations,
it is left to the letters to give us an insight into the practical issues involved ... "
3< H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 17 (1955), p. 138, and cf. Rost, Tiglath-pileser III,
pp. 34-35; II Kings 16:9, and two letters from Nimrud, Saggs, Iraq 18 (1956),
pp. 41-43.
37 Saggs, Iraq 17 (1955), p. 133.
38 Tiglath-pileser III olaims that he deported many inhabitants from this
settlement. See ARAB I, 789, 806.
39 Cf. ARAB II, 804; ANEP, No. 204.
<o Cf. tho information in the inscriptions of Sargon II about deportations from
and to Marqasi and Gurgum. C. G. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), pp. 182-184.
n ARAB II, 55.
33
3<
9
(a) The administrative texts-particularly the epistolary texts-are
written in a terse style, and the details mentioned in them are detached
from the general context of the events connected with the subject-matter
of the text. Most of the neo-Assyrian letters are undated. It is therefore
difficult, in many cases, to discover the exact background and contents
of the letter, and we have to fall back on explanatory conjecture. The
same is true of various lists in which persons are referred to by name,
sometimes with geographical labels. Text ND 2679, mentioned above, is
such a list of men, women and children. B. Parker has plausibly surmised
that the reference here is to the transportation of the people in question
from one country to another. 48 But in the text itself this is not specifically
stated; and if they were in fact deportees, there is no indication of where
42
ABL 967; 878; ARU 125; 260; 413; 660; 665.
ARAB II, 234.
! H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 36 (1974), p. 204.
45
Parpola, Toponyms, p. 142, and note the Aramaic epigraph.
46
B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961), p. 43.
47
Iraq 23 (1961) and especially her notes on pp. 15-17. Seo also letters published
by H. W. F. Saggs, such as ND 2634 (Iraq 36, pp. 200, 203).
u See above, n. 47.
43
4
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
they came from, where they were deported to, or of the event with which
the deportation was connected. Similarly, we cannot be sure that the
fugitives mentioned in ABL 245 were deportees who were settled in a
place called Halziadbar, especially as there is no explicit information
from other sources about a deportation from Bit-Jakin to this land. 49
deportees (or those selected for deportation) was with Elam, on the one
hand, and Assyria, on the other. 65
10
(b) A large proportion of the neo-Assyrian letters were found in a
fragmentary condition, especially those from Nimrud (ND). This, of
course, makes the understanding and the proper interpretation of their
contents more difficult. The restoration of the missing words is usually
pure conjecture, as J. A. Brinkman has rightly noted: "These letters from
the archives of the contemporary Assyrian capital at Kalhu are unfortunately quite fragmentary, and their interpretation in any precise historical context is at best conjectural." 50
(c) The published texts of the neo-Assyrian letters (transliteration and
translation), particularly the Kuyunjik collection (K), are marred by
inaccuracies both in the transliteration and in the translation and interpretation, as has correctly been noted by S. Parpola 61 with regard to the
Harper collection.Forexample,inABL 1437: 8,Waterman 52 readsu8-ni-lj,a,
instead of the correct nit-tas-lj,a from nasiilj,u which designates uprooting,
taking captive, deporting. 53 In ABL 131, rev. line 6 Waterman reads
u-8a-[cal-na-8i-ni instead of u-.M-gal-na-si-ni. 54
(d) On account of these difficulties in connection with the study of the
epistolary material, one can not be certain of the full meaning of many
administrative texts which clearly relate to deportation and deportees.
Examples: Letter ABL 1437, mentioned above, certainly deals with a
deportation in consequence of a rebellion or war, as is evident from line
8, bnt it is not clear from where the people were deported, what was
their destination, how many of them there were and when the deportation
took place. In letter ABL 541 the verb galu appears twice and the verb
§abiitu once (see above. p. 5), but it is not clear who is being referred to,
when and where the event took place, and what the connection of the
•• Cf. Zablocka, Agrarverhaltnisse, p. 77.
5o J. A. Brinkman, "Merodach-Baladan II," Studies Presented to A. Leo Oppenheim, Chicago 1964, p. 10.
n S. Parpola, AOAT 5/1, pp. VII, XVII.
52 RCAE Vol. II, p. 500.
5a AHw, II, p. 750.
u AHw, II, p. 275; S. Parpola,ZA 64 (1975), p.l08 n. 25. For ga-li-te in ABL 387
see K. Deller Orientalia, NS 35 (1966) p. 194. For 8ag-li-a-8u in ABL 505 see
Grayson, ABC p. 77.
11
3. Assyrian Reliefs
A great deal can be learnt about the ways in which the deportations
were carried out from the reliefs found in the palaces of the Assyrian
kings. 66 Instructive examples of this kind can be found in the reliefs
depicting the captures of Hamanu, 57 Ashtaroth, 58 Hazazu and Lachish, 59
the transportation of captives overland and by boat, 60 the numbering of
the captives by scribes, 61 etc., etc. It is not surprising that one of the
salient motifs on the Assyrian palace relio£g is the portrayal of the
deportation of the civilian populace from a conquered city, seeing that
the aim of Assyrian secular art was to reflect the power of the Assyrian
kings who, proudly proclaiming themselves to be "kings of the earth,"
removed the boundaries of peoples (Is. 10: 13) and transported whole
populations from place to place.
Finally, mention should be made of the Old Testament, with its store
of important information about deportations and deportees in the neoAssyrian period, particularly in connection with the history of the Jewish
people. 62
D. The Onomastic Aspect
In taking full advantage of the administrative and legal material as a
source of information about deportations and deportees use has been
made of the onomastic-linguistic criterion, which consists in essence of
determining a person's ethnic affiliation and national origin from his
name. 63 Proper names are indeed a good indication of the geographical
55
See Waterman's interpretation of AJJL 541 in RCA/!} III, p. HJO. It should
also be noted "that tho NA dialect is still very imperfectly understood and that
tho letters written in it are among the most difficult of cuneiform toxts"-Postgato,
Taxation, pp. 3-4.
56
See the list of books in ANEP, pp. XV-XVI. M. \Viifler, AOA'l' 26, 1975, pp.
389-394.
57
BM 124931-7. See below, p. 34.
•• Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures pl. LXX.
59
ANEP, Nos. 358-359; 371-373.
6° D. Meissner, MAOG 8, 1/2 (1934), p. 32.
, 81 See below, chapter III, pp. 36-38.
62
See e.g. II Kings 17-18; Is. 11:11 and Ezra 4:9-10.
63
See above, n. 2; Tadmor, West, pp. 41-42; R. Zadok, JANES 8 (1976),
pp. 113-126; id, BiOr 33 (1976) pp. 227-231, 305-310, 387-389; id., Tro 9 (1077),
pp. 35-56; M. Fales, Or. Ant 16 (1977) pp. 41-68.
12
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
provenance of foreigners and of their ethnic identity. 64 But the use of the
onomastic criterion in any research into deportations and communities
of deportees is also fraught with difficulties which necessitate a cautious
approach and an awareness of the limitations of this method. First of all,
it is not always possible to determine a person's extraction from his name,
since there are many commonly shared elements in the stock of names of
the Semitic peoples. This is particularly true in view of the fact that a
considerable portion of the population of Syria and north-west Mesopotamia was Aramaean or strongly influenced by the Aramean language
and culture, 66 making it difficult to decide, in the West-Semitic onomastica, whether the name in question is Israelite, Aramean, Phoenician,
Ammonite, 1\Ioabitic or Arabian, etc. Names like Paqalw·, abdii, M inalLimu,
mnlfm, llujada', Yd'l, [:Ianunu, $idqii, Padi, Pdy do not reveal the
precise ethnic origin of their bearers. 66 Secondly, it is known that deportees or aliens settled permanently on foreign soil were given to adopting names of the type commonly found in the lands of their exile. We find
many instances of this, alike among exiled Israelites (despite their
monotheistic religion) and among other peoplesY Examples: Daniel 1:7;
the names Esther and Mordecai; Iranian-type names among the Jews
returning to Judah (Neh. 10; Ezr. 8); "Hofra the son of Eshmunjaton" was a man living in Egypt, whose father was of Phoenician
origin; 68 $illi-A88ur was an Egyptian t'Mu-:m-ra-a-a), who apparently
lived in Babylonia ;69 a local ruler, apparently from the region of Ararat,
adopted the Assyrian name A88ur-apla-iddina. 70 AM-ia-u (WSem.) gave
his son an Accadian name Man-nu-ki URU Ar-ba-tl (ADD 176 = ARU
630). Sama8-mukin-a!fi is the son of Sa-ma-ku (WSem. ADD 321 = ARU
659). 71 Ia-ta-na-e-li (Phoenician) is the father of Rem-a-na-Enlil (ADD
621 = ARU 118). Thirdly, there are cases in which a particular name
provides clear evidence of the precise ethnic origin of its bearer and of his
being an alien in the country where he was living, either on account of
the theophoric component of the name, or in the light of an analysis of
the name showing that, linguistically and etymologically, it belongs
exclusively to a certain ethnic group and has no exact parallel in the
languages of closely related ethnic groups. 72 However, the presence of an
alien (or aliens) in a particular country is not evidence of a mass deportation or of the existence of a community of deportees. This is equally true
of cases in which a person's ethnic or geographical origin is explicitly stated
in an inscription. Examples: (1) A 7th century seal (BI\I 116598) found in
Ur and bearing the name Km8fntn probably testifies to the presence of a
Moabite in Ur. 73 But in this case it is not clear how the man came to be
there, whether as a deportee or a merchant, as a political refugee or an
artisan; moreover, there is no contemporary information about a deportation of Moabites to Babylonia, still less to Ur. (2) Text ADD 148
contains, most probably, evidence for the presence of a man from Judah
in Nineveh, in the year 660 B. C. 74 Although there are records of the
deportation of Jews in Sennacherib's reign, apparently to Nineveh, this
document alone is not sufficient to prove the existence of a community
of Judean exiles in Nineveh. (3) It is reasonable to suppose that the
theophoric element Ia-u in proper names is usually an indication of a
person of Israelitic-Judean origin, on the plausible assumption that
6 ' On proper names as indication of ethnic identity see I. J. Gelb, "Ethnic Reconstruction and Onomastic Evidence," Names 10 (1962), pp. 45-52; M. H. Silverman, JAOS 89 (1969), pp. 691-709; id., Orientallia NS 39 (1970), pp. 465-491;
W. F. Albright, BASOR 149 (1958), pp. 33-36; Zadok, WSB, passim.
•• B. Mazar, BA 25 (1962), pp. 98-120; J. N. Postgato, RLA, IV, p. 124; id.,
JESHO 17 (1974), pp. 234-235, 239 "Unfortunately, since the population ... of
the area ... was Ararnaean ... it is difficult to make use of the onomasticon as a
guide to the composition of the population." On the Aramaic proper names as a
preponderant element in the onomasticon of the districts of Gozan, Harran and
Sultan-tepe, see Weidner, Gozan, p. 23; Fales, Cen81:menti, pp. l05-ll4; id., WSem.
Names, p. 179; K. Deller, Orientalia NS 34 (lll65), pp. 473-476; J. J. Finkelstein,
An. St. 7 ( 1957) p. 138.
66 APN, s.v.; Lipinski, SAIO pp. 105-106; 127-12\J; cf. e.g. 1l1enilfime from
Samaria, Mini!J,imu from Sarnsimuruna and mn[lm the Ammonite, N. Avigad,
BASOR 225 (1977) p. 63. See also Zadok, WSB pp. 237, 240.
67 See Wiseman, Egyptians, p. 156 n. 25; Coogan, BA 37 (1974), pp. 10-12;
Silverman, op.cit. (above, n. 64), p. 467; "Jews employed more than one language,
even in their personal names." The adoption of local names by aliens, can serve as
a partial explanation of the inconsistency between A BL 238: 6 and the fact that
"non-Akkadian names are not mentioned in the documents from NA Nippur, apart
from three West Semitic names," Zadok, WSB, p. 189.
6
' P.R. S. Moorey, Iraq 27 (1965), p. 39.
13
60
ADD 324 (ARU 36). See also ADD I 076 and l'ostgato, 'l'axation, p. II n. 2;
Tallqvist, N BN p. Ill a-b.
70
,J. N. Postgate, Iraq 35 (1973), pp. 35-36.
71
Lipinski, SAIO, p. 67 n. 10; APN, p. 191; N. Avigttcl, op.cit (above, n. 66)
p. 63.
72
See e.g. Eph'al, Exiles; id., JAOS 94 (1974), pp. lll-112; Silverman, op. cit.
(above, n. 64), p. 467; R. Zadok, WO 9 (11J77), p. 39, n. 25 on typical Phoenician
proper names, but cf. id., WSB pp. 196-197.
73
'
Avigad, Ammonite, p. 290.
" Eph'nl, liJxiles, p. 203 nnd cf. E. Lipi1lski, HiL·ista di Studi Fcnici 3 (1!17.)),
pp. 1-6. See also text B'r 105, year 687, which records the name Ia-u-da. B. Parker,
Iraq 25 (1963), p. 91.
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
]a-u
YHWH (Jahu). 75 However, even in this case it is not always
possible to assert dogmatically that the reference is to a deportee and to
the existence of a community of Israelite or Judean exiles, rather than
to an isolated individual or family which had happened to find its way
to the place or had settled there quite independently of any deportation.
(4) In texts from Tell Halaf (108; 110) there is mention of someone called
Ktl-sa-a-a. If the reference here is indeed to a man from Kush living in
Gozan,76 this detail in itself is not decisive evidence for the deportation
of EgyptiansJKushites to Gozan, since the man may have come to be
there in some other way (see below p. 15). (5) In a legal text found in
Nimrud (ND 216), 77 there is mention of a man by the name of $i-li
kurAr-ma-a-a, i.e. "Sili the Aramaean." There is no way of knowing
whether the reference here is to someone living in Calah in consequence
of the deportation of an Aramaean population or through some other
cause. 78
On account of the difficulties encountered in the use of proper names to
indicate cases of deportation and the whereabouts of deportees, 79 and to
avoid, as far as possible, being drawn into error and mere speculation, 80
only the following eases should, on the basis of onomastic and linguistic
criteria, be regarded as providing reliable evidence for deportation and
deportees:
(1) If, attached to the proper name or sometimes even without it,
there is also a geographical name indicating the man's origin, and at the
same time there is explicit evidence in another source of a deportation
from the same place to the country (or place) mentioned in the inscription, or in which the inscription was found. For example, in text ABL 633,
the contents of which are connected with the city of Gozan, there is a
reference to Jjal-bi-J.!£ uruSa-mi1·-i-na-a-a (Halbishu the Samarian) 81 and
we know from the Old Testament that people from Samaria were deported
to Gozan (2 Ki. 17: 6). Similarly, in texts from Nineveh individuals are
mentioned with their geographical origin or solely with their gentilic name
and we know that people were deported from these places to Nineveh or
to Assyria. Ab-di-sa-am-si kur$ur-ra-a-a 82 and JJfu-f}ur-a-a (ABL 512) are
examples of this category.
(2) The existence of non-Assyrian soldiers in the Assyrian army is not
in itself evidence of deportation and of deportees conscripted into the
Assyrian army, unless there is an explicit statement from another source
that there was a deportation from the native land of the soldiers mentioned
in the text. 83
(3) If, in a given text, non-local names are specifically mentioned and
we have information from some other source about people being brought
from another place (or other places) to the place where the people mentioned by name in the text in question are living. ADD 755 is a classic
example of this type of case. The name Alj,i-ia-qa-a-mu (Heb. A[~iqam)
cannot, in itself, be taken as proof that there is reference here to a deportee or to a community of deportees. But, since the city of Jjala!J[ti
(cf. 2 Ki. 17: 6) is mentioned in the same text, together with names apparently alien to the place (which lies to the north-east of Assyria), there
is substance to S. Schiffer's claim that the reference is to deportees. 84
Text ND 541, containing non-Assyrian names of families, including
children, can also be regarded as belonging to this same category. J. N.
Postgate has plausibly suggested that the text refers "to groups of
prisoners or deportees being handled by the administration." 85 As against
this, we do not regard the group of tablets relating to Kannu' as any real
evidence for the existence of Israelite deportees in the settlement of
Kannu' (cf. Ezek. 27:23. Canneh), if only because we have not found any
other evidence pertaining to a deportation to or from this place. 86 The
presence of Arabs in southern Mesopotamia from the 8th century B. C.
onwards, with toponyms and proper names peculiar to ancient Arabs, 87
shows that in every individual case it must be carefully considered
whether the reference is to a particular group of deportees or rather to
14
,. Malamat, Exiles; Eph'al, Exiles, p. 202, n. 7; M.D. Coogan, Journal for the
Study of Judaism 4 (1973), pp. 183-191; R. Zadok, Jews in Babylonia; M. W. Stolper, BASOR 222 (1976), pp. 25-28; M. Weippert, RLA V, pp. 248-250.
,. \Veidner, Gozan, p. 58; APN, p. 119 "native of Kus."
77 Postgate, Governor, No. 90.
78 See Postgate, Governor, p. 117, n. 11: "What exactly 'an Aramaean' would
mean at this date needs clarification."
10 SeeR. A. Bowman, Orientalia NS 39 (1970), p. 455: "That names are an in·
sufficient and dangerous criterion for judging race, can be seen from the names
Mordechai ... "; M. Weinfeld, IEJ 26 (1976), p. 62.
8° Cf. van Driel, Land, p. 168: "As soon as one starts forcing the texts to yield
results, either they remain silent or they answer ambiguously."
81 Albright, op. cit. (above, n. 64), p. 36 and bibliography there.
15
82 L. W. King, Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection.
Supplement. London 1914, p. 39, No. 283 and p. 227. For further instances seeARU
125, 509, 528.
8a E.g. ABL 1009.
84 Schiffer, Spuren p. 29.
85 Postgate, Governor, No. 113, and p. 25.
• 86 Schiffer, Spuren pp. 1-12; Malamat, Exiles, p. 1036; E. Lipiriski, Orientalia
NS 45 (1976) pp. 57-63.
87 Eph'al, op.cit. (above, n. 72, JAOS), and Zadok, WSB pp. 14-21 (Aramaean
tribes), pp. 210-215 (Arabian tribes).
16
Approaches to the Study of Mass Deportation
Approaches to the Study of Mass Dnportation
tribes and ethnic groups which had made their way into a new land by
raiding or infiltration, and had settled there.
(4) Non-loca1 names in texts found in Assyria or Babylonia written in
a foreign language and script (usually Aramaic) may be an indication of
deportation and deportees. The Aramaic Ostracon from Calah, 88 and
endorsements written in Aramaic language and script in several documents writt.cn in Accadian, 8 ~ arc classic examples of this catcgory. 90
As for the spelling of the personal names in this work, we use ia in
transliteration, and ja in transcription and translation. The personal
determinative is generally omitted.
clear territorial designation in the neo-Assyrian period, such as the land
of Ratti, the land of Amurru, 93 Quti (Gutium), 94 Bazu, Aribi, Arumu,
etc. To these place-names must also be added the names of tribes, like
Marsimani, Qedar, and others whose actual area of habitation it is hard
to identify with any exactitude: apparently some of these tribal groupings
were nomadic and therefore appear in the textf; in various regions. 95
The identification of most of the places marked on the accompanying
map is either certain, or at least accepted by some scholars. Districts
whose exact location is unknown, but the general area of whose site can
be conjectured from the sources, have been roughly indicated on the map.
The names in most cases have been written as they appear inS. Parpola's
Toponyms. 96
17
E. The Geographical Setting (and Comments on the 1\Iap)
A cursory reading of the documentary material about the mass deportations in the Assyrian period is sufficient to show that their geographical framework comprises the whole of the ancient Near East, from
Egypt in the south-west to the land of Andia, close to the shores of the
Caspian Sea, in the north-east; from the lands of Jadnana and l\Iushku
in the west and north-west to the cities of Media and Elam in the east
and south-east. 91 The number of inhabited places connected with the
Assyrian system of deportation which are mentioned by name is close to
500. However, a considerable portion of these places has not yet been
identified, e.g. Abitikna in Ararat, Akkuddu in Ellipi, Bit-Kiblate in
Babylonia, Hatatirra in Unqi, Irmaja in the territory of Damascus,
Marqana in the Arabian desert, and many more. Various suggestions
have been put forward for identifying some of the places and districts,
e.g. for Madaktu the capital of Elam, for Musasir in Ararat, 92 for the
district of Parsua, and others. Furthermore, the Assyrians sometimes
make use of geographical terms, some of them archaic, which had no
88 Albright, op. cit. (above, n. 64); S. Segert, Asian and African Studies. Bratislava 1 (1965), pp. 147-151.
89
F. Vattioni, Augustinianum 10 (1970), pp. 493-539; A. R. Millard, Iraq 34
(1972), pp. 131-137; J. N. Postgare, Iraq 35 (1973), pp. 34-35; S. J. Lieberman,
BASOR 192 (1968), pp. 25-31.
90 E.g., BM 134551, Postgate, Iraq 32 (1970), pp. 144-145. This deed of sale
mentions \VSem. proper names such as Zabdi, Ilu-simki, and in Aramaic script
mt'hdd.
91 Cf. Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 58:20; KAI, No. 215:14.
92 For Musasir seo H. M. Boehmer, Baghdader Mitteilungen 6 (1973), pp. 31-40,
and for the Zagros in the Neo-Assyrian Period see L. D. Levine, Iran 11 (1973)
pp. 1-29, and 12 (1974) pp. 99-124.
93
Cf. ABL 629: 4-24, and the translation of S. Parpola, op. cit. (above, n. 51)
pp. 226-227.
•• For this toponym see W. W. Rallo, RLA, III, p. 718.
95
.E.g. the Gurumu tribe, mentioned by several kings in various regions.
•• I am grateful to Dr. K. Kessler for some suggestions concerning the map.
"Facts" and Figures
CHAPTER II
"FACTS" AND FIGURES
This chapter aims to provide the factual framework of the study, and
in order to arrive at a true picture-as far f1S possible-of the extent of
the neo-Assyrian systematic deportation of conquered populations, it discusses the following major problems:
l.
2.
3.
4.
How many were deported and by which kings ?
What part of the population was deported?
From where did the Assyrian kings deport populations ?
To what places were the deportees brought?
The most significant information pertaining to the above questions
comes from the royal historical inscriptions. This source contains most of
the evidence about deportations by the Assyrian kings.
The accompanying table, based on the collected unequivocal evidence,
shows a total number of 157 1 cases of wholesale deportation. The royal
historical inscriptions record 145 cases, of which only 36 are known from
other sources.
There were, no doubt, more instances which are not clearly and explicitly recorded in the sources. However, we have reason to believe that,
on the basis of the material in our possession, it is possible to give a
satisfactory answer to the main questions which we have posed. As a
prefatory note we would like to remark that by the word "facts" we refer
to the data in the sources themselves. How to approach these data in
terms of their validity, i.e. whether to take them at their face value or to
suspect distortion, exaggeration, or downright invention by the scribes,
is a different question. If Sennacherib claims that he deported more than
200 000 inhabitants from the cities of Judah, we take the number of
de;ortees given in the document to be a "fact." For the present, we have
no evidence either controverting this statement or definitely confirming
' At least there is one case in which it is clear that we are dealing with a total
number of several deportations. The annals of Shalmaneser III record 110,610
captives (liallutu) taken during 20 years. See E. Michel, WO 2 (19~4), p. 40:34-~0;
p. 41 n. 10. According to H. Tadmor, the figure 13,520 re.corded m one of the lll·
scriptions of Tiglath-pileser III, is the total number of captives taken fr~m northern
Palestine. H. Tadmor, in H. Z. Hirschberg (ed.), All the Land of Naphtalt, Jerusalem
1967, p. 66 (Hebrew).
19
it. 2 Thus, we must admit that the picture obtained by us is a "factual
picture" as drawn by the records, i.e. by the royal scribes. \Ve can never
be certain whether this picture reflects or distorts (to a certain degree)
historical reality.
1. How
~Iany
Were Deported and Under Which Inngs?
The documents, as we can see in the tabulated summary, clearly show
that most of the instances of mass deportation are from the reign of Tiglathpileser III up to that of Ashurbani pal ( 124 cases, constituting about 80%
of the total). From the data it is also clear that the system of deportation
did not develop gradually, starting from the time of Ashur-dan II.
Rather, the widespread and consistent use of mass deportation began
systematically and with great momentum in the reign of Tiglath-pileser
III, and continued during those of Sargon II and Sennacherib, after which
we notice a drop in the number of deportations during the time of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. The widespread use of the system of mass
deportation starting with the reign ofTiglath-pileser III is not fortuitous,
but is completely in accord with the fact that Tiglath-pileser III was the
king who laid the firm foundations for a real empire. 3 The deportation
system was thus one of the cornerstones of the construction and development of the Assyrian empire. 4
In 43 cases of deportation all the deportees are enumerated and total
1,210,928 persons. In nine other instances the numbers are partial: their
total is l07,705+x persons. In 105 cases we do not hear how many were
deported, but rather the following formulae are usually employed: ana/ina
lii mini (miini); sa niba lii i8u; mala ba8u. The fact that in two thirds of
the cases the number of deportees is not known complicates the task of
producing a reliable estimate of their total number in the cases which we
have identified. What can be said, albeit not without hesitation, is that
2
Ungnad's proposal to read "x thousands" wherever in the NA inscriptions
"x hundred thousands" is written, is in contradiction to the explicit wording of the
text. A. Ungnad, ZA W 59 (1942-3) pp. 201-202. The fact that the numbers in the
administrative texts are smaller, does not refute the data in the royal inscriptions
since the former deal with a certain group of deportees under the authority of the
official/officer who wrote or received the document. On the other hand, the numbers
in the royal inscriptions generally pertain to the total number of deportees in a
particular campaign or country.
3 J3. Oded, ZDPV 40 (1974), p. 38; N. Na'aman, BASOR 214 (l9i4), p. 36.
• See chapter IV.
20
"Facts" and Figures
"Facts" and Figures
1\'Iass-deportation in the Neo-Assyrian Empire
(Tabulated Summary)
the data at our disposal it is noteworthy that (a) Sennacherib deported
the largest number of inhabitants (469,150+x souls in 20 acts of deportation), and after him come Tiglath-pileser III with 393,598+x deportees,
and Sargon II with 239,285+x deportees. (b) It is clear from the data we
possess that, with regard to both the number of instances of deportation
and the number of deportees, the system of mass deportation was carried
out intensively and on a very large scale during the reigns of Tiglathpileser III, Sargon II and Sennacherib. (c) From the figures provided by
the royal inscriptions the largest number of people in any one deportation
is the 208,000 that Sennacherib deported from Babylonia to Assyria. Of
the 43 complete enumerations which we possess, in each of thirteen cases
30,000 and more persons were deported, in eight cases between 10,000 and
30,000, and in twenty-two cases less than 10,000 persons. 6 (d) The estimated
number, based on the figures given by the royal inscriptions, of four and a
half million deportees in the neo-Assyrian period, of whom about SO%
were deported from the time of Tiglath-pileser III to the destruction of
the Assyrian empire, attests to mass but not total deportations. Not all
the residents of a certain city or area were deported, but only a proportion of them. Sargon II, for example, did not deport all the residents of
the city of Musasir. A provincial governor was appointed over those who
remained, and they paid taxes. 7 It is true that many times the inscriptions
use a general term, such as "all," "all who were found in," or a sentence
like nise matisu zikra sinni8 {5elwr u rabt edu ul ezib use{iamma 8allati8
amnu = "The people of his land, male and female, small and great,
without exception, I led them forth. I counted them as spoil." 8 But an
Number of deportees
Ruler
Ashur-dan II
Adad-nerari II
Tukulti-Ninurta II
Ashurnasirpal II
Shalmaneser III
Shamshi-Adad V
Adad-nerari III
Shalmaneser IV
Ashur-dan III
Ashur-nerari V
Tiglath-pileser III
Shalmaneser V
Sargon II
Sennacherib
Esarhaddon
Ashurbanipal
Total
Number
of deportations
2
I
2
13
8
6
complete
totals
known from
sources
incomplete cases with
totals known number of
from
deportees
sources
not given
2
I
2
5
3
2
1
12,900
I67,500
36,200
1
37
I
38
20
I2
I6
368,543
(x)+ 25,055
2I7,635
408,150
(x)+ 2I,650
(x)+ 6I,OOO
I9
I
24
I7
12
16
I 57
I,2I0,928
(x)+I07,705
I05
through statistical calculations based on the numbers (some of them probably exaggerated) we do have, we arrive at an estimated total of four
and a half million deportees for a period of about three centuries.• From
I am grateful to Dr. B. Eichhorn who made the statistical calculations and
sent me the following statement: "We have knowledge of 157 different oases of
deportations. Only for 43 of these do we have information about the number of
people involved. These 43 oases are not a random sample from the population of
all the 157 deportations, yet we cannot find any special features characterizing
these 43 oases for which we have complete numbers. Therefore, keeping in mind the
reservation that we do not have a random sample, let us treat these 43 cases as a
representative sample and estimate the total number of people involved in all 157
deportations. Simple calculations lead to the following results (in round numbers).
The total number of deportees in the 43 oases is 1,210.000. The average number of
5
21
people per one deportation in tho 'samplo' is x = 28,000. An estimate for the total
number of deportees is x = 4,400.000. The standard deviation of the number of
deportees in the 'sample' is a = 45,000. The standard deviation of our estimate for
the total average given by x is obtained by tho equation:
43-1
y43 1/
v1-157-1
=
a* = - a -
6,000
Tho estimate of the average (plus minus its standard deviation) is 28,000 ± 6,000.
The estimate of the total number is x = 4,400.000 ± 900,000." Cf. W. von-Soden,
AO 37 (1938) p. 38, assuming the transplantation by the Assyrians of ,mehreren
Millionen Feinden". Of course, because of problems of historical and textual tradition, all statistical calculations are suspect. In any case, the misgivings occasioned
by our intuitive awareness that certain figures are unrealistic, should not deter us
from the attempt to obtain an idea of the total number of deportees as it emerges
from the documentary evidence.
8 In case of internal inconsistency in the number of deportees involved in the
same event I prefer the smallest number.
7 Sargon II, The Eighth Campaign, lines 408-410.
8 E.g. Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 70:37-38. A relief from Nimrud depicts a con-
23
"Facts" and Figures
"Facts" and Figures
internal inspection of the Assyrian documents themselves and of other
evidence clearly shows that this is no more than stereotyped scribal
exaggeration. For example, Tiglath-pileser III claims that he deported all
the men ( pu!Jur nisesu) of the land of the House of Omri, 9 but it is clear
that not all the people of the House of Omri were in fact deported. 10
"all the craftsmen." 12 The two instances cited above show clearly that
the deportation was partial as well as selective.l 3 At the same time it
should be stressed that the Assyrians deported men together with their
families 14 and they even tended to maintain the community framework
of the deportees by transporting and resettling them in groups, according
to common geographical provenance, and/or in rather small units according to national and cultural affinities.l 5 This procedure finds expression in three kinds of documentary evidence: (a) in the stereotyped
phrase used of mass deportation: . . . nise §e!Jer rabi zikar u sinnis ...
"people, great and small, male and female ... ;" 16 (b) in reliefs depicting
rows of deportees, consisting of men, women and children 17 (c) in
various administrative texts, which include detailed lists of deportees
according to their geographical or ethnic provenance and the exact
enumeration of their dependants. As for (c) some examples should be given.
(1) ND 2497 "A register of people according to profession or age." 18 As
the list records females, sons and young men, together with the adults it
seems that this register counts the souls in family groups. B. Parker
surmises that this text is one of "a whole group of lists dealing with
captives and subject people which are an echo of the extensive transportation and resettlement schemes ... " 19 Three other texts of this
group are ND 2485; ND 2443; ND 2440 20 which list men, women, children
and even slaves, being transported, probably, to Calah. 21
(2) ABL 167 (SLA 103). A letter to the king from an official who was
in charge of a column of deportees on their journey from Gozan to Shabirishu, a town situated near the border of Ararat and Shubria. 22 The
22
2. What Part of the Population Was De}wrted?
This question is, of course, intimately connected with the aims of mass
deportation (chapter IV). Here we shall briefly note that the information
found in the documents shows that, in the majority of cases (about 80%),
the deportees are described in general terms: hiERJM.MES ({liib'U);
UKU.MES (nis'U); ZI.MES (napsiiti), the reference being usually to
population, people, inhabitants. In 19 cases the deportees, or some of
them, are described as members of the royal family and men of the court
(such as ministers, army commanders, and various high officials); in 28
cases the deportees, or some of them, are described as soldiers; in 8 cases
some of the deportees are called craftsmen; in two instances some of the
captives are called slaves. It is therefore clear that the Assyrians did not
restrict themselves to a particular class or social group, but deported
various elements of the population of a conquered country,JThis procedure
finds expression in the inscriptions of Esarhaddon mentioning the deportation from the land of Shubria in Elam: "(I enlarged the army) with
charioteers of the guard, horsemen of the guard, men in charge of the
stables, sa-resi-officers, service engineers, craftsmen, light troops, shield
bearers, scouts, farmers, shepherds, gardeners ... " 11 Ashurbanipal deported various kinds of officers and officials, as well as gimir ummiine
quered city which was emptied of its inhabitants. Rising above the wall from inside
stands a palm tree, while outside the inhabitants march on their way to captivity.
See S. Smith, Sculptures, pl. XI.
• ARAB I, 816.
10 II Chronicles 30:6; 34: 9; Jer. 41 :5; ANET p. 285. An Hebrew seal from
the 7th century B.C. was found at Shechem, Qadmonioth 3 (1971), p. 131. For an
Israelite settlement in Beth-Shean seeN. Zori,BIES 30 (1966) pp. 94-95 See also the
ostracon from Samaria with the Israelite name Ab0y, G. A. Reisenor et. al., Harvard
Excavations at Samaria, 1924, Vol. I, p. 247 and the deed of sale from Gezor with
the name Na-tan-ia-u, R. A. S. Macalister, The Excavations af Gezer, I, London 1912,
pp. 27-28; H. G. May BA 6 (1943), p. 58 who claims that only 1/20 of the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom were deported.
11 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106: 15-23, and translation CAD, K, p. 77, and see
also CAD, s.v. aritu, kallabu, kiskattu. On deportation of artisans see also Borger,
Asarhaddon, p. 102:26-27 and p. 114, par. 80 (= ANET p. 293).
12 Aynard, Ashurbanipal, p. 56:57-65. In lines 30-33, there is mention of Elamite priests, together with their gods, taken to Assyria.
13 Tho Nco-Babylonian system of deportation was more soloctivo than tho NA
system. Cf. e.g. II Kings 15:29; 17:6 with II Kings 24:14-16, Jor. 52:28-30.
14
See Weidner, Gozan, p. 6.
15 Zablooka, Landarbeiter, p. 211; id., Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 83. See also Chapter
III, p. 37.
16 See also cases in which the ruler was taken into captivity with his family, e.g.
Winckler, Sargon p. 106:55-56.
17 E.g. ANEP, Nos. 10, 358-359, 373.
18 B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961), pp. 15, 35.
1• Ibid., pp. 15, 25-26.
20 InND 2440 (Iraq 23, 25-26) mention is made of a certain Handalarim (WSem.)
together with his dependants. SeeR. Zadok, BiOr 33 (1976), p. 227.
21 B. Parker, op. cit (above, n. 18) pp. 27, 32 and ND 2497 in p. 35. See also ND
451 (Postgate, Governor, No. 113 and p. 25). On slaves taken as booty, see ARAB
II, 869.
22 The text does not explicitly mention deportees, but the intention is apparent
from the context.
24
25
"Facts" and Figures
"Facts" and Figures
official reports by name on persons who had run away together with their
dependants. ABL 304 also mentions 1119 men together with their
families, amounting to 5,000. 23 This "order of the king" probably refers
to deportees. 24
(3) Tell Halaf 23. 25 This text lists men and sons, all together 25 craftsmen (nap!Jar 25 ummiine), who were brought to Gozan. 26
(4) ND 6231. An Aramaic ostracon from Nimrud, 27 which contains a
list of \VSem. names, probably of deportees from southern Syria or Palestine resettled in Calah. 28 According to Albright, "This list is surprisingly
homogeneous, and four nmncs . . . appear eleven times, a fact which
strongly suggests close ties of kinship among members of the group." 29
(5) In ND 2715 (I rag, 17, 127) there is an order to settle ten Jasubaean
families in Kashpuna.
The deportation of men together with their families had a twofold aim:
(a) to prevent deportees from escaping to their homeland, whether on the
way to their destination or after being settled (or taken into the army)
in exile, and (b) to improve the prospects of the deportees' settling down
and striking root in the new place, whether in a city or in the countryside. There is indeed information about escapes and attempts to run
away. 30 In ABL 920 there is a report about prisoners of war (!Jubtu) who
fled to their relatives at Ekush. 31 Letter ABL 537 mentions a group of
persons that "do not do the work (dullu), they are here, the families are
there" (rev. lines 13-15) and the order given by the king: "let them give
their families back to them, so that the men will continue working; their
mind is (attached) to their families." 32
The deportation of the whole family was in accord with one of the main
aims of the mass deportation system viz. to restore and/or to build
settlements in Assyria proper and in the provinces. 33 This undertaking
had a good chance of success, if the new settlers were not separated from
their families, but their wives, sons and aged parents were living with
them. For the same reason, the Assyrians did not tend to split up transplanted communities into individual families, dispersing them throughout the empire, but, on the contrary, were anxious to preserve the community life of the deportees by resettling them together as homogeneous small groups, as far as kinship, religion and culture were concerned.
Preserving the communal organization of the deportees in exile, even
in its contracted form, helped the individual deportee to feel that he
"dwells among his own people," to retain his ancestral customs and to
enjoy the freedom to conduct his own community life as long as it did not
conflict with the imperial interests. 34 ABL 175 mentions "the permanent
residents from Sidon" in Calah. 35 In each of the texts ND 5550 (Iraq
19, 135); ND 2307 (Iraq 16, 37); 36 ADD 513 (ARU 392); BlVI 123384
(Iraq 32, 142-143), more than one Phoenician is listed. ABL 815 deals
with "inhabitants of Uruk who are in the land of Assyria." ViTaterman
interprets this text as "a kind of community letter to deported captivcs." 37
uruGambuliija-"the town of the Gambuleans," situated in the district of
Harran, was inhabitated by !Jubte kurGambuli. 38 ADD 307 (ARU 37) 39
records several Egyptians in Nineveh. 40 Two Aramaic inscriptions from
Luristan possibly hint at the existence of a deported WSem. community
in the Zagros mountains in the middle of the 8th century.U
Oppenheim, Letters, No. 123.
" RGAE III, p. 119. See also ABL 212.
26 Weidner, Gozan, p. 24, text No. 21.
•• \Veidner, Gozan, p. 6.
27 B. Segal, Iraq 19 (1957), pp. 139-145.
28 Ibid., p. 145, and above, Ch. I, n. 88.
29 Albright, op. cit. (above, Ch. I, n. 88) p. 34.
30 Texts which might be interpreted as dealing with the escape of deportees are:
ABL 121, 140, 245,252,258,422,430, 600, 645, 760, 1117, 1322; ND 2477 (Iraq 36,
207), ND 2680 (Iraq 17, 141-142).
31 See also Oppenheim, Letters, No. 124. On deportation from and to Ekush see
Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), p. 186; ARAB II, 41 (Bit-Jakin).
32 Oppenheim, Orientalia NS ll (1942), p. 132; id., JAOS 61 (1941), p. 263;
GAD, Aj2, p. 67a, s.v. ammakam; Postgate, Iraq 35 (1973) p. 25 n. 9, and p. 29,
suggests that ND 27 59, which deals with deported prisoners resettled "in a strange
part of the empire," is connected with ABL 537.
23
33 See chapter IV, pp. 59-74.
•• On transplanted communities, especiaUy toponyms like Bit.Suraja, Ishgalunu,
Imer, in the Chaldcan and Achemenian Periods see It. Zadok, .Jews in Babylonia;
id., Iran, 14 (1976) pp. 65-66; id., WSB pp. 11-15, 43; Dandamayev, Egyptians, pp.
20-21; B. Oded, "Exile and Diaspora," Israelite and Judaean History (eds. J. H.
Hayes-J. M. Miller), London 1977, pp. 480-488. For this issue see also the biblical
narrative describing the return to Zion, expecially Ezra 2 = Neh. 7.
•• GAD, D, p. 58b s.v. dalu.
36 Postgate, Fifty, No. 14.
37
RGAE III, pp. 241-242 and see also RGAE IV, p. 212.
38 ADB, No. 5 col. II: 26 and No. 6 col. VII: 4. See also ADB, p. 55. Cf. I. l\I.
Diakonoff on the social meaning of alum, XV III RAJ, p. 44. It seems that ABL
915 also deals with captives from the tribe of Gambulu.
39 Postgate, Fifty, No. 13.
40 See also ADD 763 which lists several Egyptians; Postgate, Fifty, No. 18
(Museum No. 8612); G. Cardascia, Recueils de la Societe Jean Bodin 9 (1958) pp.
ll4-115.
n Gibson, Textbook, 2, pp. 57-59. According to Gibson "the people ... migrated
to Luristan." For the Assyrian involvement in the area ofLuristan see A. K. Gray·
son-L. D. Levine, Iranica Antiqua ll (1975) pp. 29-38.
26
"Facts" and Figures
"Facts" and Figures
3. From Where did the Assyrian Kings Deport Populations 1
4. To What Places Were the Deportees Brought?
The Assyrians carried out deportations throughout the Assyrian empire, from Egypt in the south-west to Audia in the north-east; from
Jadnana42 and Mushku in the north-west to the shores of the Persian Gulf
in the south-east. Of 157 clear cases of deportations, in 35 instances it is
not known from what places the inhabitants were deported, for one of the
following reasons: (a) the scribe used a very general geographical term,
such as Amurru, Ratti; (b) the place (or the region) cannot be identified ;43
(c) the scribe used the general and common formula miitiite kisitti qiiteja =
"lands my hands had conquered," "conquered territories." Of course, the
more the Assyrian empire expanded, the more the geographical scope of
the deportations grew. Until just before the reign of Tiglath-pileser III,
populations were deported from areas of northern Syria down to Unqi on
the Mediterranean coast, which were to the west of Assyria; from the
lands of Nairi and Ararat, which were to the north; from the lands of
Manna, Zamua, Namri, Ellipi and other areas east of Assyria; and also
from the northernmost areas of Babylonia and Elam, which were south
of Assyria. However, starting from the time of Tiglath-pileser III, deportations were carried out from remote regions in the east (mainly
Media) and south-east (Elam, southern Babylonia) to Jadnana "in the
midst of the sea" in the west, and even Ni' (Thebes) in Egypt in the
south-west.
As regards the places from which populations were deported, it is
striking that Babylonia, especially its southern part, with its urban
residents and various tribes, stands first with regard to both the number
of times populations were deported from it (36 instances) and the number
of people that were deported, most of them from Chaldaean and Aramaean tribes. The kings who frequently uprooted people from Babylonia
were Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II and Sennacherib. Other countries
from which the Assyrians frequently carried out deportations were: Media
(18 instances), Elam (13 instances), and Manna (12 instances). It is thus
clear that the Assyrian kings used the deportation system to a much
greater extent in areas to the south and east of Assyria than in areas to
the north and west. 44
In 74 cases it is impossible to locate the place of destination. The fact
that in approximately 50% of the cases we do not know where the deportees were transported to makes it hard for us to discover the main
directions taken by the deportations. The Assyrian kings vaunted their
ability to move people over great distances, from one end of the known
world to the other. Esarhaddon boasts of his command that people
living by the coast be settled in a mountainous area and thoflc in the
mountains be transported to the coast; .Sa tamti ana sad£ sa sadi ana tamti
a8iib8unu aqbi. 45 This meant moving populations from the west to the
east and from the east to the west, a very interesting parallel to what is
written in the inscription of Panamuwa II from Sam'al about Tiglathpileser III: wbnt mwq' 8m8 ybl m'rb wbnt m'rb ybl mwq' sms = "and the
daughters of the east he brought to the west, and the daughters of the
west he brought to the east." 46
There are indeed many examples of population being transported over
enormous distances from east to west and vice versa, and from north to
south and vice versa. Tiglath-pileser III deported several tribes from
Babylonia and from the regions adjacent to the Lower Zab in the east,
and brought them to Unqi and to Phoenician cities in the westY Sargon II
took inhabitants from Samaria and transported them to Assyria and to
the "cities of the Medes," while at the same time he settled people from
Mesopotamia in Samaria. 4s
After Sargon II had conquered Ashdod and its towns, he settled in them
"people from the (regions) of the East" which he had conquered. 49 Similarly, Sargon II carried off the captives from Kammanu and Gurgum in
the west to Assyria, and those countries, he claims," I settled anew, people
dwelling in my land to the east (nipi!J ctSam8i), conquests of my hand, ...
I made to dwell therein." 50 Esarhaddon built a new city near Sidon, called
•• Probably Cyprus, Luckenbill, Sennacherib p. 73: 60-61.
43 See above, Chapter I, p. 16.
u This was, we believe, for security reasons. See Chapter IV, pp. 43-47.
27
•• Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 58:20.
•• Gibson, Textbook 2, pp. 80-81; KAI, No. 21.5:4. See Schiffer, Spuren, p. 28
and the inscription of Azitawadda of Adana, ANET, Suppl. p. 654 [218]: "I have
brought them (their inhabitants) down and established them at the eastern end of
my borders, and I have established Danunites there (in the west)." For the same
practice in Egypt see K. A. Kitchen, apud J. B. Payne, New Perspectives on the
Old Testament, London 1970, p. 6,
47 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 24:143-146; Brinkman, Kassite, pp. 230, 232,
276-277.
48 II Kings 17:6, 24; ANET pp. 284-285; G. R. Driver, Eretz.Israel, 5 (1958)
pp. 18-20; R. Zadok, JANES 8 (1976) pp. 113-126.
•• ANET p. 286; ARAB II, 30, 62. See also ABL 158.
5 ° C. J. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), pp. 182-183: 68-72.
28
"Facts" and Figures
"Facts" and Figures
it Kar-Esarhaddon, and, he claims, nise lj,ubut qastija sa sade u tamtim ?it
dSamsi ina libbi 1t8e8ib = "I settled therein people from the mountain
regions and the sea (-shore) of the East, (those) who belonged to me as my
share of the booty." 51 People from Uruk, Susan and Babylon were brought
to the province of Samaria by Asnappar (Ashurbanipal). 52 Ashurbanipal
carried away Egyptians to Assyria and Elam, and settled inhabitants
from Kirbit (in Elam) in various cities of Egypt. 5 3
(b) "Two-way" deportation. Along with the practice of directing a
considerable proportion of deportees from all over the empire to Assyria
and the adjacent areas, the Assyrians also used to bring people from "conquered lands" to a place which had previously been captured and from
which there had already been deportation. There are many examples of
population exchanges, from which we shall single out only a few:
However, it is clear that the direction of a deportation and its destination was not decided arbitrarily to be from east to west and vice versa, but
rather by the purpose of the particular deportation, the kind of persons
involved and the empire's needs at the time. As regards the directions of
deportation, we note three salient phenomena:
(a) The main movement of deportees in the reigns of all the Assyrian
kings was to Assyria proper. In 59 instances (which comprise about 85%
of all the cases where the destination of deportees is known), the deportees
were brought to Assyria, mainly to its principal cities-Ashur, Calah,
Nineveh and Dur-Sharrukin. 54 The deportation to Assyria was from "the
four corners of the earth. " 55 In spite of our awareness that in some cases
the figures are probably exaggerated, and in spite of the formulaic language, the reports about deportees brought to Assyria prove by their
very abundance: (1) an Assyrian aim of enlarging the population (i.e.
manpower) of Assyria, mainly that of the principal cities; and (2) that in
spite of the "two-way" deportation system employed by the Assyrians,
the number of deportees from a given region outside of Assyria far exceeded the number of those who were deported to that region. 56 Directing
a large number of deportees to Assyria created an imbalance between the
number of people removed from a certain area and the number of people
brought into it, an imbalance to the benefit of Assyria.
51
52
63
Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 48-49: 10-11; ANET p. 290.
Ezra 4:9-10.
ARAB II, 771,850,894, 908; Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 14:9-10; ·wiseman,
29
( 1) Tiglath-pileser III uprooted inhabitants of Nikkur, rebuilt the city
and settled therein people from conquered territories. 57
(2) Sargon II deported inhabitants from Samaria, and brought to
Samaria people from countries he had conquered, and also Arabian
tribes. 58
(3) Sargon II carried away people from Hamath to Assyria, and resettled in Hamath inhabitants of Karalla (in Manna), in addition to 6,300
Assyrians. 59
(4) Sargon II deported inhabitants from Ashdod and towns in the kingdom of Ashdod, reorganized these towns and settled in them people from
conquered lands. 60
(5) Sargon II took captives from Kummuh and brought them to BitJakin and transfered people from Bit-Jakin to Kummuh. 61
(6) Sennacherib, in his second campaign, deported inhabitants of Bit
Kilamzah and other regions and brought to these places people from conquered territories. 62
(7) Esarhaddon deported the residents of Sidon to Assyria and brought
to Kar-Esarhaddon inhabitants from the east. 63
(8) Ashurbanipal exiled people from Egypt to Assyria, and brought to
Egypt people from Elam. 64
While it is true that not every settlement whose population was
deported was reconstructed and resettled, in a wider geographical framework it can be seen that the Assyrian kings brought people from the outside into every area from which people had been deported. An exception
was the region which bordered on Assyria to the south (but which was
Egyptians.
54 It seems unlikely that the numerous captives were brought to tho Assyrian
capitals solely for religious ceremonies and triumphal processions. At the same time
we admit that not all ;of the captives who were brought t.o the Assyrian capitals
immediately after the campaign, were settled there.
55 E.g. Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 86-87: ll-14. Zablocka, Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 155
claims that about 70% of the deportees were brought to the centre of the empire,
including Harran and Rasappa.
56 Exceptional cases are insignificant, e.g. Damascus. We know about one case
of deportation from Damascus, but about three cases to Damascus.
67
58
Rost, Tiglath-pileser I I I, p. 8:28-36.
ANET, pp. 284, 286. See also deportations to the proYince of Samaria by
Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal in Ezra 4:1-2, 9-10.
69 ANET, p. 285: ARAB II, 183; Winckler, Sargon, p. 106:49, p. 108: 55-56.
.. ANET, p. 286.
6t ARAB II, 41, 45-46, 69.
62
ARAB II, 236.
63
Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 48-49.
64 ARAB II, 778, 850.
"Facts" and Figures
"Facts" and Figures
north of Babylonia), concerning which we know of seven cases of deportation, but have no knowledge of deportation to it. This is in contrast to the
areas which bordered on Assyria to the west (some of them unsettled) to
which deportees were brought from captured countries, but where we do
not know of deportations from them. In this respect they were like Assyria
proper. 66
(c) Deportees from a certain city or country were usually scattered in
several settlements and countries, and conversely deportees from several
settlements and countries were brought to one place or country. Here too
the examples are numerous, and we shall mention only some of them. 66
In letter ND 2634 there is mention of dispersing 6000 prisoners throughout 105 scttlements. 67 The people of Samaria were deported to Assyria,
Media and northern Syria, while people from northern Syria, Babylonia,
Elam, and Arabia were brought to Samaria. 68 People from Kummuh were
resettled by Sargon II in Assyria, in Bit-Jakin and in towns on the border
of Elam. 69 Esarhaddon dispersed the deportees from Shubria among the
cities of Assyria, and resettled some of them in Uruk. 70
As for the practice of bringing many deportees belonging to different
peoples and countries to one place, we shall note first of all the fact that a
large portion of the deported peoples were brought to the big cities of
Assyria i. e.-Ashur, Calah, Dur-Sharrukin and Nineveh. Ashurnasirpal
II brought soldiers from Laqe to the city of Ash urY Shalmaneser III
deported to Ashur inhabitants from Bit-Adini and Hubushkia. 72 Sargon II
resettled in the city of Ashur deportees from Tabal, Karalla, Til-Garimmu,
Gurgum and Hamath. 73 People from various countries were brought to
Calah by Ashurnasirpal II. 74 Sargon II brought to Calah deportees from
Kummuh. 75 Esarhaddon dispersed captives from Shubria among the
citizens of Calah. The documents found in Calah-Nimrud indicate that
many aliens (some of them probably deportees or their descendants) from
various countries such as Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, Anatolia, Phoenicia,
Palestine and Aram resided in Calah. 76 To Dur-Sharrukin people
were brought, in the words of Sargon II, "from the four corners of the
earth, who speak a strange tongue and different languages, dwellers of
the mountain and the plain ... " 77 To the great city ofN inevch deportees
were brought from Hilakku (Cilicia), Manna, Philistia, Babylonia, Arabia,
Egypt, Shubria and other places. 78 The administrative and legal documents reveal that some of the citizens who lived in Nineveh originated
from Egypt/Ethiopia, Babylonia, Kummuh, Elam, Judah, Tabal and
other places. 79 Even if we reject as unrealistic the numerical data concerning the deportees brought to the Assyrian cities, the information
itself clearly attests to the "international" character of the principal Assyrian cities-a phenomenon which forced the Assyrian kings
to take various steps to overcome the ethnic-cultural pluralism of the
population in these cities. Mention should be made here of the w·ords of
Sargon II concerning the population that he brought to Dur-Sharrukin.
He says that he made the foreign settlers of his new capital into "one
mouth" ( pa isten u8a8kin) with the help of Assyrian scribes, and disciplined them to fear the god and the king (palal; ili u 8arri). 80 With
regard to cities and regions outside of Assyria too, the Assyrians deported
populations from different countries to one place, especially in cities and
new settlements in the provinces. Sennacherib deported inhabitants from
Nippur. 81 There is no information in the royal historical inscriptions about
deportees being brought to Nippur. Nevertheless, we may note the cosmopolitan character of Nippur, which was, in great measure, due to the
•• See J. N. Postgate, JESHO 17 (1974), p. 236.
•• On this issue much information can be obtained from legal and administrative
texts. See Chapter V.
• 7 H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 36 (1974), pp. 200-203.
•• II Kings 17:6; 18:ll; H. Tadmor, JOS 12 (1958), p.10; ABL 633, 1009; the
documents from Gozan and possibly an ostracon from Nimrud (above, n. 28).
•• ARAB II, 41, 45, 69; C. J. Gadd, IrCUJ. 16 (1954), p. 179; ARU 268; ND 2495
(Iraq 28, 183), ND 2442 (Iraq 23, 27), ND 6218 in NWL p. 130.
70 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106:15-20 and p. 124.
" AKA, p. 358.
12 ARAB I, 607, 621.
7 • ARAB II 26, 137, 183, and in many legal and administrative texts such as
ND 2449 (Iraq 18, 40); KAI Nos. 234, 236.
7< D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 14 (1952), p. 34:78-81; AKA p. 362: 53-54; Oates
Northern IrCUJ., pp. 43-44, 56.
76 ARAB II, 45; ND 2442 (lrCUJ. 23, 27).
76 ND 5457 (Iraq 19, 132), ND 5550 (Iraq 19, 135-136), ND 2440 (Iraq 23, 25),
ND 2489 (lrCUJ. 23, 33), ND 2485 (Iraq 23, 32) ND 2629 (Iraq 23, 39), ND 2442 (Iraq
23, 27); A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972), pp. 131 ff.; NWL, pp. 92ff.; Postgato, Governor,
Nos. 113, 119.
77 D. G. Lyon, Sargon, p. 38: 72-74; S. Paul, JBL 88 (1969}, pp. 73-74. See also
ABL 1065.
78 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, pp. 60, 73; A. Heidel, Sumer 9 (1953}, p. 154; ARAB
II, 606, 771, 778, 870; ADD 763 (Egyptians in Nineveh). Jonah, 4:11
79
Documents such as ABL 175, 447; ADD 763; ARU 36, 64, 81, 116, 125, 219,
220, 268, 352, 376, 509, 512, 528; BM 123369 and BM 123384 (Iraq 32, 141-144};
BM 121043 (Iraq 34, 133).
80 Above, n. 77. Cf. II Kings 17: 24-41. These phrases suggest conformity,
obedience rather than assimilation. For the religious aspects see Cogan, Imperialism, pp. 49-61. I fully agree with his conception of "the liberal Assyrian
religious policies" pp. 107, 110, 113.
8t ARAB II, 234.
30
31
32
"Facts" and Figures
Assyrian deportation system. 82 In letter ABL 238, an Assyrian official
writes to the king: lisiiniite rna'diite ina Nippur, ina ~illi sarri belija "people
of many tongues (live) in Nippur under the aegis of the king my lord." 83
People from various lands were deported at various times, according to
the Old Testament and extra-Biblical sources, to Samaria. 84 In most of·
the cases where reference is made to deportation from "conquered lands"
to a certain place, it means that people from various countries were collected together in one settlement. Such are the deportations to Til-Karmi
in Babylonia by Tiglath-pileser III, 85 to Harhar (Kar-Sharrukin) and
Ashdod by Sargon II, to Elenzash (Kar-Sin-ahhe-eriba) and Illubru by
Sennacherib, and to Kar-Esarhaddon by Esarhaddon. 86 In connection
with Kar-Esarhaddon we find the following sentence: "People who were
my share of the booty a~ubut qa8tija) taken in the mountain(s) and sea
of the East I settled in it." This sentence appears several times in the
inscriptions of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. 87
82 The documents pertaining to this issue are ABL 238, 572 and texts from
Nippur with Aramaic epigraphs, e.g. Vattioni, Augustinianum 10 (1970), pp. 493532; M.D. Coogan, BA 37 (1974), p. 7.
83 GAD,$, p. 192a, s.v. ~illu. It is quite plausible that the phenomenon of many
languages spoken in one city derives not only from deportations but also from other
factors, such as migration and trade. See e.g. ARAB II, 659 E; \V. F. Leemans,
Iraq 39 (1977), pp. 2, 7. Cf. also Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 16:9-10.
84 See notes 48, 58, 77, 80.
85 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 26:149. As for Babylon as "the melting pot of
the nations," see SLA 62 (ABL 878).
86 ARAB II, 30, 62, 183,237, 289; Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 48-49:10-15.
8 7 See GAD, l:f, p. 216b, s.v. !Jubtu.
CHAPTER III
'filE
IlUI,LEl\U~N'fA'l'ION
01•' 1\'IASS DEPOR'fA'l'ION
The mass deportation of populations of conquered countries was, from
the 8th century B. C., a regular feature of the expansionist policy of the
neo-Assyrian empire. This cruel and oppressive policy of uprooting masses
of human beings from their homeland was motivated by political and
economic considerations; it served to consolidate Assyrian rule in every
part of their expanding empire.
The efficient implementation of these deportations made it necessary
to set up a vast staff of army and civilian personnel operating in all parts
of the expanding empire and centrally administered from Assyria. In this
way the kings of Assyria were able to coordinate the complex operations
and overcome the problems involved in transferring masses of people
from one place to another and over vast distances.
How did the Assyrians carry out these mass deportations ? The numerous Assyrian reliefs from the time of Ashurnasirpal II down to the time of
Ashurbanipal are an important source of information concerning the
methods employed in implementing these deportations. And this is no
accident. The desire of the kings of Assyria to perpetuate their greatness
was a prime factor in the development of Assyrian art. And since war was
the main occupation of the kings of Assyria, the conquest of fortified
towns and the deportation of their inhabitants became a dominant motif
in the Assyrian reliefs and one of the principal means of glorifying the
king and extolling his deeds.
Sargon II states more than once in his inscriptions that he ordered the
artists to carve on great slabs of limestone the story of his conquests and
deportations from the conquered countries. Also, that he had these
reliefs placed round the walls of his palace as a decoration to celebrate his
glory. 1
A second source of information concerning the implementation of the
deportations is provided by administrative documents and royal inscriptions.
1 Lie, Sargon, p. 78: 4-7; Lyon, Sargon, p. 45: 77-79; see translations in GAD,
D, p. 19a s.v. dadmu, and B p. 138a s.v. ba8iimu. See also D. J. \Viseman, Iraq 14
(1952) p. 33:30-32 (Ashurnasirpal) and Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 62:28-29. The glory
of the Assyrian state was based on wars and submission of peoples, see J esaia I 0:
12-14; W. G. Lambert, Iraq 36 (1974), p. 104.
34
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
As a starting point for the investigation of the methods employed in the
deportations we may examine six reliefs which describe in detail-but
sometimes, also, in a rather general and stereotyped way-the conquest
of a fortified town and the deportation of its inhabitants.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Layard, lf{N II, 37
(Plate I). 3
Layard, MN I, 68
(Plate II). 3
BM 124907-124908
(Plate III). 4
Bl\1 124928
(Plate IV). 5
Barnett, Ashurbanipal, LXVII (Plates V/1, V/2). 6
BM 124931-7
(Plates VI/1, VI/2, VI/3). 7
The typical feature of these reliefs, as well as of many others, is the
portrayal of the captives being deported: the hands of the men (and some·
times their feet too) are bound in chains, each man separately or in pairs.
Their hands are tied behind them, or sometimes stretched up or down in
front of them. 8
The custom of binding the hands and feet of the captives with iron
chains or leather straps or ropes was an ancient one, which is already
mentioned in documents from the third millenium B.C. 9 In the royal
Assyrian inscriptions there are some depictions of captives being led away
in chains. Sargon II took a defeated king and his warriors into captivity
bound in chains (biritu parzilli}. 10 In the records of Esarhaddon mention
is made of Asuhili, the king of Arza, and his courtiers who were taken in
chains to Assyria. 11 Amuladi and the rest of his people were bound hand
and foot with iron fetters and brought to Nineveh. 13
However, the captives are not always described as bound in chains,
nor do all the reliefs portray the male captives plodding along with their
hands and/or feet chained. 1 a
Sennaoherib. See also Paterson, Palace, 17-18.
Sennaoherib. Paterson, Palace, 15.
• Sennaoherib. The siege of Laohish, Layard MN, II, 22; ANEP, 371-374.
6 Ashurbanipal. A captured Egyptian town. Hall, Sculptures, pl. XL; ANEP,
10; Barnett, Ashurbanipal, pl. XXXVI, slab 17.
8 Ashurbanipal. The capture of the Elamite city of Din-sharri. Gadd, Stones,
34-35; of. J.Reade, AMI, NF 9 (1976) p. 103 n. 24.
1 Ashurbanipal. The city of Hamanu. Barnett, Ashurbanipal, pis. XVII-XIX.
8 See Plates I, II, IV, V/1, VI/1; Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures, p. 73; Hall,
Sculptures, pl. XXXVII.
9 Gelb, Prisoners, p. 73.
10 Lie, Sargon, p. 34:212. Cf. Nahum 3:10; Jeremia 40:1.
11 Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 50-51. Cf. ibid, p. 105: 19.
12 Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 84:46--51.
13 See e.g. Plates I, II, III, IV, VI/1-3 in which some of the males are not bound;
2
3
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
35
It would seem that the Assyrians bound only those captives who were
men of rank and status, such as the king and his courtiers, either in order
~~ puniRh an~ humiliate them or to prevent them from eRcaping or organlzmg a rebellion. All the other captives, we may assume, were not bound.
The kings of Assyria were interested that the captives should be delivered
to them in good condition, so that they could bring the greatest possible
economic, military and political benefit to Assyria. l<'or this was the whole
purpose of the deportations. If, nevertheless, captives were sometimes led
away barefoot or even naked, 14 tlris was an exception and not the rule.
Representations in reliefs of barefooted and naked captives were often
~ot based on r~ality, but were rather the work of the sculptor's imaginatwn, a symbolic expression of subnrission and a result of the conventional
character of many of the reliefs. 1 5
In a number of reliefs, deportees are in fact portrayed wearing shoes/
16
sandalS. The deportees could take only the bare minimum in provisions
with them. As a rule, they (usually the women) are depicted carrying a
sack or box on their shoulders, and a leather waterbag or clay or metal
vessel in their handY The sacks most likely contain food for the journey
(or, rather, part of the journey) and the vessels contain drinking water. Is
The deportees could take at best only a few of their belongings and a small
quantity of food and water, either because the food supplies had been
~epleted as a result of the long siege, or because they had no way of carrymg any more. Most of the captives made the long journey on foot. However, some of the reliefs depict women and children riding on donkeys or
horses, or in carts drawn by animals, while the menfolk plodded along on
19
foot. The carts were sometimes also laden with provisions. Infants were
Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures, p. 120 (BM 118908); Gadd, Stones pl. 36· Layard
MN I 83; II 30.
'
'
'
" Plates III, IV; ANEP, Nos. 358-359; Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures, p. 73;
M. E. L. Mallowan, Nimrud and its Remains, London 1966, Vol. I, p. 61 (ND 1045).
15
A~so tho practice of mutilating the prisoners was exceptional. On the practice
of gougmg out eyes seeS. I. Feigin AJSL 50 (1933-1934), p. 218 n. 3; Gelb, Prisoners,
P· 87; AHw, na.palu, pp. 733-734; Grayson, ARI, Vol, I, p. 82 n. 177; F. E. Deist,
JNSL 1 (1971), pp. 71-72. See also Paterson, Sculptures, pls. CV1-CV11; ARAB I,
445; II, 606.
16
Plato II; Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures, p. 120; Laya~d, ]1JN II, 18, 19 and
cf. a letter from Nimrud, ND 2643 (Iraq 18, 41).
17
Plates I, II, III, IV, V/1, V/2, VI/1-3 and in most of the reliefs depictina
prisoners/captives. Cf. Ezek. 12 : 13 "stuff for removina".
"'
16 E
.
. .g. L ayard, MN II, 35; Barnett, Ashurbanipal,"' pl. XXX slab 12. See e.g.
fpntu m ND 2643 (Iraq, 18, 41) and (unt in Genesis 21:14.
19
Plates I, III, IV, V/2, VI/3; Layard MN I, 58, 83; II, 35; Paterson, Palace,
pls. 81-82; ANEP, Nos. 167, 367 (BM 118882); Paterson, Sculptures, pl. XII.
36
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
carried on their mother's or father's shoulder, when no other form of
transport was available.2o In regions of swamps or rivers the captive
deportees were transported in boats. 21 It is difficult. to tell w~1ethcr the
men who are shown carrying bows and arrows, very hghtly eqmpped, and
who are sometimes also barefooted, are archers captured together with
the other deportees with whom they are marching, or whether they are
soldiers of the auxiliary units attached to the Assyrian army to help guard
the column of deportees. 22 In the reliefs there does not appear to be any
segregation of men, women and children. On the contrary, the impression
gained both from the reliefs and from various inscription~ is that the
deportees were grouped in families, and men, women and ch1ldren appear
together. 23
. .
.
The royal inscriptions repeatedly mention large quantities of ammals
"without number" (sa la nibi) taken as booty along with the captiveS. 24
Numerous reliefs depict animals (sheep and cattle) in the column of
deportees.2• Part of these animals, it may be assumed, provided ~eat for
both the soldiers and the captives during the long and arduous JOUrney.
An important feature of these deportations was the registration o~ ~he
booty, human as well as animal, and the regular reports on the condition
of the deportees during the march to their destination. Numerous records
of this appear both in pictorial form and in writing.
A relief from the time of Tiglath-pileser III (BM 118882) portrays a
captured city which has been emptied of its in~1abitan~s .. Th~ whole
population is being deported, the women and children sittmg m carts
drawn by oxen, while two scribes count the spoil.2 6 A relief (BM 124774)
from the time of Sennacherib portrays the counting of captives from the
20 Plates I, III, IV, V/2, VI/1-3; Layard, MN II, 18, 30; Paterson, Sculptures,
pl. XII.
21 Layard MN II, 27. Nagel, Reliefstile Tf. 17, Tf. 19 No.1; Barnett, Ashurbanipal, pis. XX, XXII; ARAB, II, 246.
22 Layard, l'viN I, 83, II 33, 34. See below, n. 51.
23 Plates I, II, III, IV, V/1, V/2, VI/1-3; Gadd, Stones; 36; and see chapter II,
pp. 23-24.
.
. . d
,. E.g. Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 25:52. Ashurbampal relates that he divide
the camels he took as booty from the Arabian tribes among his officers, see ARAB
II, 827.
M
2• Plates I, Vf2; Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures, p. 53 (BM ll8882); P· ll9 (B
ll8908).
d.
26 Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures, p. 53 (BM 118882). The gen~rally accep~e
m~erpretation is that an Aramaean scri~e, wri~ing on. ~archment (u~ alpha?etiC scnpt)
appears side by side with an Assynan scribe, wr1tmg on cl.ay (m c~n.eifor~ Accadian script). On Aramaean scribes employed by the Assynan admm1stratwn, see
B. Mazar, BA 25 (1962), pp. 1ll-112; Tadmor, West, p. 42.
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
37
swampy areas north of Babylon.27 Another relief (BM 124782) from the
time of Sennacherib shows two officials counting the spoil. 2s From certain
records, mainly those containing correspondence between the royal court
in Assyria and the king's officers in the provinces, we gather that the
scribes classified the captives according to sex, trade, and the number of
souls dependent on each captive. The letter ABL 304 (SLA 100) tells of a
group of 1119 males and their dependants, numbering altogether about
5000 souls. From the contents of this letter we gather that it refers to
captivcs. 29 In another letter ABL 280 (SLA 40), Bel-ibni reports to
Ashurbanipal concerning 150 male captives. 30 Document ND 2497 contains a list of captives with details of their age and trade.a1 ND 264732
also contains an inventory of captives and animals taken as booty. In
letter ND 2381, an official reports on booty (l;ubtu) taken from Damascus.33 The Assyrian king was not satisfied with a single initial inventory
giving the number of the captives, but required his officials and army
officers to submit regular reports on the condition of the captives up to
their arrival at their destination. Letters discovered at Nimrud (Calah)
contain, as B. Parker has rightly pointed out, a report to the king on the
condition of captives at a stopping place where their journey was broken. 34
ND 2485 contains a list of captives classified according to age and trade,
and also gives the numbers of those lost, probably on the way to Calah. 35
From letter ND 2645 we gather that a detailed inventory of the spoil was
made, which included a list of captives who had escaped during the journey. 36 Letter ND 2679 contains a list of 179 sick persons: women, young
people and children. These appear to be captives who fell ill in the course
2
'
28
Smith, Sculptures pl. LV and pis. LIII-LIV.
Smith, Sculptures, pl. XL VII and p. 18. On this point see also Yadin, Warfare,
438 (BM 124956).; Pl!~.tes I, VI/1 (BM 124931) and the relief depicting the siege of
Lach1sh; K. Gallmg, m H. Goedicke (ed.), Near Eastern Studies in Honor of TV. F.
Albright, Baltimore 1971, pp. 212-214.
29
See CAD, Z, pp. 153-154, s.v. zuku: "1ll9 able-bodied men, roughly 5,000 of
thorn (mcludmg dependents), not taking into account how many of them are (at
th1s moment) dead or ahve, have been assigned to the palaeo infantrv," soo also
CAD, A/2, p. 69 s.v. ammar, and cf., Oppenheim, Letters, pp. 176-177; 'RCAE III,
p. 119.
30
See also another letter of Bel-ibni, ABL 520.
31
B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961), pp. 15, 35. See also ABL 167.
32
H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 17 (1955), p. 136.
33
Ibid., p. 138.
3
• Op. cit. (above, n. 31), p. 15.
~· Pa.rker, op. cit. (above, n. 31), p. 32 and page 15: "ND 2485 is a list of people
whwh giVes the number missing, no doubt on the road to Calah." On escapes of
deportees see Chapter II, p. 24.
36
Saggs, op. cit. (above, n. 32), p. 137.
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
38
of the journey. 37 Letter ABL 556, which gives a report about captives,
including fugitives, also appears to refer to the dcportntion of cnptives
(to Dur-Shnrrukin) from territory cast of the Tigris. 38 The following
documents too, may reasonably be assumed to relate to the registration
and description of deportees either at the beginning of their journey, or
at some halting-place, or on arrival at their destination:
ABL 121, 164, 167 (SLA 103), 39 212, 280,284 (SLA 29), 306,317,387,
520,564,599,600,031, 701, 40 !)()6, 1002, 1:301, ADD 7H3, 41 ND 2680 (Iraq
17, p. 142), ND 2379 (Iraq 27, pp. 25-26), ND 2448 (Iraq 27, p. 23), ND
424, ND 451 (Ir-aq 13, pp. 108, 112), 42 ND 6231 (Iraq 19, pp. 139ff.), 43 ND
2803 (Iraq 23, pp. 55-60), ND 2707 (Iraq 23, p. 45).
All these data go to show that the central imperial authority in Assyria .
exercised control over the deportations, in order to prevent any abuse of
authority or exploitation of the captives by the officials, soldiers and
various governors charged with carrying out the deportations. 44 Since
the deportees were only able to take a limited stock of food with them
and their journey to the destination or stopping-place prescribed by the
king was a long one, the problem of feeding them was a matter of serious
concern both to the imperial administrative authorities in the Assyrian
capital and to those in charge of the deportations. The governors of the
territories through which the deportees travelled were instructed to ensure
their safety and to supply them with provisions. 45 Letter ABL 792 contains a request to the king to send an official, who bore the title of 111 qurbutu, with provisions to sustain the captives on their way to their new
Parker, op. cit. (above, n. 31) p. 17.
RGAE III, p. 194 dates this document to the time of Sargon II.
See GAD A/2, p. 421 b s.v. asaru, $, p. 192b s.v.1Jillu, L p. 157b s.v. le'u.
4° See especially lines 1-2 "no one has died (and) no one has escaped after I made
a census/inventory of them" S. Parpola, ZA 64 (1975), p. 109 n. 28. Cf. another
letter of Nabupashir to Sargon II (ABL 131) where use is made of the verb galil
(u-8a-gal-na.8i-ni). As for ga-li-te in ABL 387 seeK. Deller, Orientalia NS 35 (1966)
p. 194. For a census of deportees in Mari, see ARM V, 35.
•1 ADD III, pp. 536-537.
42 Postgate, Governor, Nos. 194, 113 and p. 25.
43 See J. Naveh who assumes "that the ostracon was written in Nimrud by an
Aramaic scribe, who listed foreign people, probably captives, as they introduced
themselves in their own tongue," BASOR 203 (1971) p. 30; K. Deller, Orientalia
NS 35 (1966) p. 194.
.. From ABL 212 one may gather that officers sold deportees as slaves, probably
without the permission of the king. See RGAE III, p. 87. As for ND 424 compare
the explanation of D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 13 (1951), p. 108 to that of Postgate,
Governor, p. 193.
4 5 See ND 2696 (Iraq 17, 133); ND 2379 (Iraq 27, 25-26).
37
38
39
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
39
destination, 46 since it was difficult to secure food along the route they were
taking. Document ND 2634 speaks of the supply of food to 6000 captives
t"1;ubtu) on their journey to their place of exileY In letter ND 2643 an
official informs the king that he has supplied a group of Aramaean deportees with clothes, leather water-bags, shoes and oil, and that the captives have set out on their journey. 48 In this connection mention should
be made of certain relief.g which depict captives making a halt to eat•9
and sleep (or rest ?) beside a bonfire. so
The deportees were accompanied by Assyrian soldiers and auxiliary
troops, as well as various officials. Some reliefs depict soldiers, usually
archers or lance bearers, harshly driving the deportees on. 51 In letter A BL
792, mentioned above, reference is made to an official bearing the title
Nqurbutu, who was responsible for providing food for the captives during
their journey. This title also appears in other documents pertaining to
deportees, deportations, and prisoners of various kinds. 52 Another title in
the Assyrian administrative hierarchy, which is mentioned in connection
with the deportations, is lumusarkisu. 53 According to Postgate one of the
functions of these officials was that "they went round the villages in the
territory from which the deportations were to be made, and after having
assembled the people, were responsible for getting them to their destination. " 54
" See especially rev. lines 13-14: hiqw·butu l£8puramma akale £na harrani ana
lU!Jubte liddin, GAD [f., p. 216b s.v.!Jubtu: " ... let him give food forth~ journey to
the prisoners." See also ND 2803 (Iraq 23, 56-57).
47
H. \V. F. Saggs, haq 36 (1974), p. 200 and see also ABL 306.
48
Id., Iraq 18 (195G), nn. 41-42.
49
BM 124919-Hall, Sc.ulptttrM, pl. XLIV; Yadin, Warfare, 446; Louvre, AO
19913-Gadd, Stones, 29; Barnett, Aslwrbanipal, LXIX, slab B. See also Gadd,
Stones, 44; Barnett, Ashurbanipal, LXIX slab A and pl. XX slab 10.
so Gadd, Stones, pl. 4 7 a.
•
61
Gadd, Stones, 36; Plate IV; Nagel, Reliefstile, Tf. 18, No. I. Yadin, Warfare
p. 296, claims that the auxiliary foot-soldiers may be identified by their light
weapons.
52
ABL 127, 167, 306, 336, 552, 556, 564, 794, 860. On the connection of this title
with captives see E. Klauber, Assyrisches Beamtentwn, Leipzig 1910, pp. 107-108,
122. The common translation is "(royal) bodyguard," "Leibwiichter." It seems that
we have to do with a high officer performing various tasks, and recei,·ing orders
directly from the king. See Postgate, Taxation, p. 1\J4, and discussion in NTrL pp.
48-50; S. Parpola, JSS 21 (1976), p. 171; cf. Ezek. 23: 5-6, seo l\L Weinfeld, Shnaton
II, 1977 p. 251 (Hebrew).
53
See ND 2386, col. III, lines 14-15 mnsarkisani sa saglute. See Postgate, Taxation, p. 373, and pp. 135-145, 374. On bel piqitti, seo Lipinski, SAIO, p. 81 and cL
A. L. Oppenheim, Gentaurus 14 (1969) p. ll7.
54
Postgate, Taxation, p. 145. It is difficult to define the post of musarl.oisu. See
Klauber, op. cit. (above, n. 52), pp. 98-IJ9 n. I; AHw, mu8arkisu p. 681; S. Parpola,
40
The Implementation of Mass Deportation
Legally the deported captives were considered to be the property of
the king. This is expressed in the reliefs which depict the captives as
filing past the king immediately after the conquest of their city and just
before setting out on their journey, or in the course of their journey, or
at the end of it. 5 5 It was the king who decided the fate of the captives,
where they were to be taken to, and where they were to be settled. 56 It
was also the king who issued orders to the officials and the army officers
concerning the civil or military tasks to be allotted to the captives_57 The
fate of the captives was, of course, determined in accordance with the
basic aims of the deportation policy of the neo-Assyrian empire.
CHAPTER IV
AUIS AND OllJJW'l'IVES 01~ l\IASS DEl'OltTA 'l'ION
The aims and objectives of the deportations carried out in the neo-Assyrian empire are revealed not only in the records of the Assyrian kings
but also in the treatment of the deportees and the use of them, for actions
throw light on intentions. While Chapters II and III sought to present the
factual framework of the research, this Chapter (like the next one) offers
interpretation of the data and is, therefore, of a more speculative nature.
1. Deportation as a Form of Punishment for Rebellion against
Assyrian Rule
op. cit. (above, n. 52), p. 172; NWL pp. 55-56; B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961), p. 17 (ND
2386).
55 E.g. Plate V/1; Gadd, Stones, 19, 36; Barnett-Falkner, Sculptures p. 66;
Plate III, and the epigraph thoro: "Sennachorib, king of tho world, king of Assyria,
sat upon a nemedu-throne and passed in review the booty (taken) from Lachish
(La-ki-su)", ANET, p. 288. See also Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 64, Episode 24 lines
54-62; Kestemont, op. cit. (above, Ch. I n. 30) pp. 87-88.
56 On this point see ABL 306, ABL 966; ND 2696 (Iraq 17, 133).
57 ABL 164, ABL 304 (SLA 100); It is not accidental that the qurbutu and
mu8arkisu were under the direct command of the king. See Postgate, Taxation,
p. 143.
The Assyrians used deportation as a punishment for the population of
a state which, after recognizing Assyrian rule, rebelled against it. The
deportation of the people of Samaria, for example, came after Hoshea,
who had served the king of Assyria, rebelled against him (2 K.i., 17).
Among the steps taken by Sennacherib to subdue the hostile population
of Babylon was the deportation of large numbers of Babylonians, who
were subsequently dispersed in various countries. 1 In a letter to Esarhaddon (ABL 58) mention is made of deportation as a punishment for disloyalty to the king. 2 Ashurbanipal, in a message to the king of Elam,
threatens to deport him: "Because you have not sent (back) these people,
I am coming to destroy your cities. I will carry off (the people) of Susa,
Madaktu (and) Hidalu." 3
Deportation was one way of punishing a king and his people who broke
their convenant with the king of Assyria. The treaty between Samsi-Adad
V and Marduk-zakir-shumi included a warning that if Marduk-zakirshumi did not keep the terms of the agreement, his people would be deported and dispersed. 4 The treaty between Ashur-nerari V and Mati'ilu of
Bit Agusi states: "If Mati'ilu sins against (this) treaty ... l\lati'ilu
1
See the words of Esarhaddon about tho restoration of Babylon, Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 25, Episode 37: 12-24.
2
S. Parpola, AOAT 5/1, p. 158, text 213; and cf. Ezra 7:26. For the deportation
of 6300 Assyrians "bel l~i-if-!i" to Hamath by Sargon II, see A. Finet in La voix
de l'opposition en Mesopotamie, Bruxelles 1973, p. 12 n. 48.
3
Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, p. 142: 55-57; ARAB II, 878. See also ARAB II,
172 (Sargon II) and 604 (Esarhaddon).
• E. F. Weidner, AfO 8 (1932-1933), p. 27:17.
42
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
together with his sons, daughters, officials, and the people of his land [will
be ousted] from his country, will not. return to his country, and not. behold
his country again." 6
Among the curses that. would come upon Baal the king of Tyre, if he
failed to observe the terms of his treaty with Esarhaddon, was deportation
of the inhabitants of Tyre: "May JVIelqart and Eshmun deliver your land
to destruction, your people to be deported." 6
The use of deportation as a punishment, either for breach of treaty or
for some other misdeed, was not only an Assyrian practice, but. one that
was common to all the peoples of the ancient. Near East. The epilogue to
the Code of Hammurabi contains a warning that any king who ignored
the laws would be punished by the deportation and dispersal of his
people. 7 The Hittite and Egyptian empires punished rebellious states by
deporting their inhabitants. 8 Among the punishments which judges imposed on inhabitants of the Hittite state convicted of lawbreaking
was banishment. i.e, being forced to leave their birthplace. 9 Citizens
of Ugarit who were guilty of disloyalty to the king were exiled; one
such case was that. of the two sons of the queen, who were banished
to Cyprus. 10 In the Book of Deuteronomy there is a list of the curses
that would come upon the Children of Israel if they did not observe
"all the words of this law that are written in this book" (28: 58), and
there too it is said "ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou
goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from
one end of the earth even unto the other (ibid, 63-64)." 11 The prophets
of Israel constantly threatened the Children of Israel and other nations
with the punishment of exile. 12 The Chaldaeans deported the inhabitants
of Jerusalem and Judah to Babylon as a punishment for rebelling against
Babylonia. 13 In the book of Ezra 7: 26, deportation is one of the punishments inflicted on those who did not keep God's commandments or
failed to observe the laws of the Persian king.
Deportation was a very serious punishment, an individual and collective calamity for the people expelled from their homes and their homeland. H is only natural, therefore, that captivity and deportation are
listed in the apodoses of the omens.14
• ANET, Suppl. p. 532. Cf. Jer. 22: 10-13; Ezek. 12:6, 12.
• Borger, Asarhaddon, p.109: 14-15; ANET, suppl. p. 534. See also the "VassalTreaties of Esarhaddon," D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 20 (1958) p. 52:291-295; H. Freydank, MIO 7 (1960), pp. 364, 371.
• ANET, p.179: 74. For evidence of deportation and resettlement inMari archive
see Kitchen, op. cit. (above, p. 27 n. 46).
8 See e.g. tho clauses in tho treaties concerning the handing over of fugitive
deportees, ANET, p. 204; ANET, suppl. p. 530. As for Egypt, see S. Ahitov, in
Y. Avishur et al., Beer-Sheva, I, Jerusalem 1973, pp. 87-89 (Hebrew); G. A. Reisner-l\1. B. Reisner. ZAS 69 (1933), p. 28 "I carried off as booty all their people,
brought as living captives." As for the kingdom ofUrartu see Konig, op. cit. (above,
Chapter l. n. 8) e. g. pp. 88-89; 120-121.
9 ANET p. 211; H. J. Houwink ten-Cate, Numen 16 (1969), p. 93; E. H. Sturtevant, A Hittite Chrestomaty, pp. 73, 77; K. K. Riemschneider, JESHO 20 (1977),
pp. 122-123.
10 PRU IV, p. 121 (17.352); G. Duccollati, Cities and Nations of Ancient Syria,
Roma 1967, p. 36.
11 S. Gevirtz, VT l l (1961), p. 145; See also Dent. 4:27 and 29:28.
43
2. Uquidation of IUval Powers and Weakening of Centres of Resistance
The political ambition of Assyria, as explicitly stated in the roval
tablets, was to dominate "the four rims of the earth." This mad; it
necessary to eradicate rival powers and to weaken national and political
centres that could impede the establishment and threaten the existence
of a large Assyrian empire. The policy of deporting large sections of a
conquered population served this purpose in several ways.
Mass deportations from states and regions such as Nairi, Babylonia,
Bit Adini, Unqi, Hamath, Damascus, Samaria, Judah, and the Philistine
cities were intended to weaken recalcitrant countries and sources of
potential danger, and to remove obstacles in the way of Assyrian expansion. It is not by chance that most of the deportations were from the
areas south and east of Assyria, since these regions represented the most
serious threat to Assyria. It is also no accident that the wide use of mass
deportation in the time of Tiglath-pileser III coincides with the great
upsurge of the Assyrian expansionist policy in his reign. This policy involved the liquidation of political bodies and national groups, the annexation of large territories as provinces of Assyria, and the setting up
of a permanent and efficient imperial administrative organization in the
occupied areas.1s
The uprooting of populations from their homeland served in some
12
E.g. Amos 1:5; 5:27; 7:17; Hos. 9:17; Jer. 20:4. On banishment as a form
of punishment in Israel, see also A. Phillips, Ancient Israel's Criminal Lmcs, Oxford
1970, p. 29; G. Mendenhall, in J. M. Myers, Biblical Studies in Jlfemory of H. C.Alleman, New York 1960, p. 100 and n. 38.
13
II Kings 24-25; Jer. 43:3, where exile is alternative to the death penalty.
14
See e.g. E. Leichty, The Omen Series summa izbn [TCS IV] 1970, pp. 39:
78; 104:33; 115: 12; 125:48; 125:48; S. I. Foigin, An. Or., XII, 1935, p. 92.
"D. Oded, JNES 29 (1970), pp. 177-186; N. Na'aman, BASOR 214 (1974), p.
:16; N. Postgate, The First Empires, Oxford 1977, pp. 123-IU.
45
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of :Mass Deportation
degree to weaken their national spirit and their link with their homeland.
which dominated the highway from Mesopotamia to Syria, as well as to
the sea coast. He turned into royal cities the major cities of BitAdini, changed the names of some of these cities and settled Assyrians
there. 23 Sargon II deported inhabitants from Bit Burutash in the land of
Tabal and settled there Assyrian citizens and deportees from conquered
countries. 24 In the year 720 Sargon deported people from Hamath and
brought there 6300 Assyrians, as well as deportees from other conquered
territories. 25 Carchemish, on the river Euphrates, a very important
strategic city which was also a centre of international trade, was populated
with Assyrians after Sargon had conquered it in 717 and deported its
inhabitants. 26 Dur-Ladini was similarly depleted of its inhabitants and
resettled by Sargon with Assyrian soldiersY The population of l\Iarubishtu in the laiJ.d of Ellipi suffered the same fate. 28 Sennacherib conquered settlements on the Elamite border, plundered them, ( aslula sallassun) and set up Assyrian garrisons there. 29 Esarhaddon deported the
people of "Kush," courtiers and artisans in particular, from the city of
Memphis, in lower Egypt, and settled Assyrians there, as well as in other
key Egyptian sites. Ashurbanipal settled Assyrian soldiers and citizens in
Memphis, as his father Esarhaddon had done. 30
The Chaldaeans who took over the Assyrian empire adopted this
system of deporting local inhabitants and replacing them with Babylonian soldiers. Nabopolassar, the father ofNebuchadrezzar II, evacuated
the inhabitants of the city of Kimuhu on the Euphrates and brought in
Babylonian garrisons. 31 It is probably not a mere coincidence that both
these empires made systematic use of deportation, for this was one way
of holding and controlling territories far vaster than either Assyria or
Babylonia proper.
44
It also reduced the possibility of a national revivaP 6 The exchange of
populations and the dispersal of ethnic and national groups in various
places was a way of breaking up separate nationalistic entities. It also in
some cases brought about--without any intention or planning on the
part of the Assyrian rnlers-a blending of ethnic and national groups in
various parts of the empireY Although the deportations were only partial, the carrying away of leading citizens and high-ranking civil and
military officials, as well as of skilled workers (see below) sufficed to convulse the structure of the defeated state, to fragment and weaken the
people, and greatly reduced the likelihood of a fresh uprising against
Assyria.ts However, the deportation even of a small but important section of the population provided the Assyrians with hostages, whose
family and compatriots would be deterred from any attempt to rebel
against Assyria.t9 Also, the transportation of subjects from urban centres,
or from settlements in strategic areas, meant that these places could be
populated with Assyrian soldiers and citizens. In this way the Assyri~ns
were able to put an end to the domination and influence of local bodws
while at the same time setting up Assyrian strongholds and establishing
provincial centres, logistic bases and colonies. 20 This was particularly important in border regions. Some instances of the settlement of Assyrian soldiers or civilians, in places from which the inhabitants had been deported,
are given below:
Ashurnasirpal II conquered the city of Aribua, the royal seat of
Lubarna king of Pattina, and settled Assyrian citizens there. 21 He also
22
rebuilt the city of Tushhan and settled Assyrian citizens there. Shalmaneser III conquered the state of Bit-Adini, an important kingdom
1s See J. S. Holladay, HT R 63 {1970), pp. 37-39, 41, 44, 49, according to whom
the method of mass deportation was used extensively in the first milleium B.C.,
since the people had considerable influence in directing the state's foreign policy.
11 H. G. Giiterbock, in Kracling, City, p. 169. Nevertheless, one should stress that
the systematic deportations did not create a cosmopolitan society. See Oates,
Northern Iraq, pp. 56-57.
. .
1s See S. Page, according to whom the deportations from Damascus and Na1n
were intended "to weaken centres of resistance," Iraq 30 {1968) p. 152.
u S. Smith, CAH III, p. 18.
.
.
2o On Assyrian citadels, fortresses and colonies along the mam roads m subjugated territories see B. Oded, op. cit. (above n. 15), pp. 181-185; Tadmor, l~est,
pp. 36-40. For a similar policy in the Kingdom of Judah, seeS. Talmon, Beth-lv!tqra
12 {1967) pp. 38-39 {Hebrew).
.
21 AKA, p. 371: 82-83. On Aribua and Pattina, J.D. Hawkms.~LA IV p. 160.
Shalmaneser II settled Assyrians in fortresses on the border ofNatrL See Grayson,
ARI 2, p. 162.
22 AKA, p. 297:7-8.
23 ARAB I, 602-603. Some of these towns are Nampigi, Hugguliti, Mutkinu,
Pitru, Til-Barsip and Alligu.
24 From ND 2759 {Iraq, 35, 29) it may be gathered that Sargon II brought
deportees from Babylonia to Bit-Burutash.
•• ARAB II, 55, 137, 183 and above, n. 2. In the inscriptions ofTiglath-pileser III
there is 'mention of the deportation of 30.300 persons from 19 districts of Hamath.
Rost, Tiglath pileser II I, p. 22: 130-132; p. 85:49.
28 Winckler, Sargon, p. 10:49-50.
27 Winckler, Sargon, p. 50: 287-288.
28
\;vinckler, Sargon, p. 70:412.
29
Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 39:55-61.
30 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 124; Strock, Ashurbanipal II, p. 10; 87-8\J; p. 14:
24-25; ANET, pp. 293-294; H. Lewy, JNES 11 {1952), p. 280 n. 83; A. Spa!inger,
Orientalia NS 43 {1974), pp. 306-307.
31 Wiseman, Chronicles, p. 64: 14-15; cf. Grayson, ABC, p. 98: 15 and AHw II.
p. 1236 s. v sillatu II.
46
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
3. Deported l\Iinority Groups and their Tendency to be Loyal to the
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
I~mpiro
The system of mass deporta.tion, which the Assyrians practised throughout their empire, created a large number of exiled communities, each
forming a minority group in the local population among whom they lived.
These minority groups inclined to be loyal to Assyria, since their right to
sett.le in the country to which they had been deported derived from tho
king of Assyria, who had them brought there. 32 The indigenous population
naturally did not welcome the intrusion and settlement of foreign elements
in their cities and villages, 33 by order of the conquering king, particularly
as their own fellow-citizens had, in many cases, been deported to make
room for the newcomers. They looked upon these newcomers as usurpers, who had taken possession of their compatriots' property, not by
right, but by order of the conquering king. The fields and vineyards
which Rabshakeh promised to give the people of Jerusalem in a country
like their own land-to which he would deport them if they surrenderedwere presumably the property of other people who had themselves been
deported. The hostility between the deportees and the local population
increased, whenever the national sentiment of the local population, and
their desire to east off the Assyrian yoke, grew. The deportees did not
share the national aspirations of the local population. Liberation from
Assyrian rule could only be detrimental to them, since they had been
brought to the country and settled there by the king of Assyria. These
deportees were therefore compelled to support the local Assyrian governor,
not out of gratitude to the king for the fields and property he had bestowed on them, but out of fear for their lives.
The Assyrians knew from experience that deportation was not a
complete safeguard against rebellion. They had learnt this from the
great rebellion of the provinces in the year 720, in which Damascus,
Samaria, Simirra and Arpad had participated. They therefore sought to
strengthen Assyrian rule by bringing deportees from conquered territories
to the new province. The Assyrian king then became the protector of
these deportees from persecution by the local population, and the deportees, for their part, served the king's purpose, which was to strengthen
See e.g., Ezra 4:2. D. J. vViseman, Iraq, 18 (1956), p. 120.
Entirely groundless and actually contradicted by the evidence, is Smith's
claim that "in no case would the new inhabitants differ entirely in speech
and customs from the peoples amongst whom they were planted." GAil, III,
p. 42. Cf. H. Schmokel, Ilandbuch der Orientalistik, Vol. 2{3, 1957 p. 260.
32
33
47
Assyrian rule in all parts of Assyria's expanding empire. 34 Moreover, the
Assyrian system of dcportntion was, generally speaking, sclcctivo.35 The
deportees were ehosen mainly from among the leaders of the eommunity
and from the artisans (see below). And they were deported to countries
which had been depleted by deportation, of their own elite, so that the
new arrivals formed a separate national and professional stratum in the
population, foreign to, yet living in the midst of the indigenous inhabitants. 36 This not only ha,d the effect of sharpening the difference between
the deportees and the local population, but it also meant that, in all the
Assyrian provinces, the part of the population best qualified to serve the
imperial Assyrian administration was composed mainly of deportees. 37
Accordingly, the exiled communities played a role very similar to that
of the Assyrian garrisons stationed in all parts of the Assyrian empire,
or to that of Assyrian citizens who wore settled in conquered countries
either as city dwellers, farmers, or officials. 3 s This explains tho favourable
treatment the deportees generally enjoyed, and the gre~J,t concern shown
by the Assyrian rulers for their welfare. 3 9
The security aspect of the mass deportations, together with the tendency of the deportees to be faithful to Assyria, explain why so many of
the latter were settled in border towns rend sensitive border areas.4o
Tiglath pileser III settled deportees in border areas between Urartu and
34
See the expression inn {Iilli sarri in ABL 238, ABL 456; \Yo assume that ABL
915 is a letter from deported Gambulaoans to the king. Tho deportees apply for
help and protection against the enmity of tho local i!tlmbitants; It is no accident
that national revival and restoration could not have been possible in Samar·;a, tho
centre of the Northern Israelite Kingdom before 722 B. C., and 'ms possible in
Judah ~fter 538 B. C. Tho Assyrians resettled in Samt1ria people from conc1uorotl
territor10s, whereas the Chaldaeans did not bring now settlers to Judah after 586
B.C. See Chapter III, pp. 28-29.
35
Albeit less selective than tho deportation system of tho Chaldaeans.
36
A. Alt, KS II, p. 320.
37
See e.g. ADD 234; ABL 633. See Chapter V.
38
See S. Talmon, in J. Aviram (ed.), Eretz-Shomron, Jerusalem, l!)/3, p. 2()
(Hebrew), according to whom the deportees served as the representatives of tho
empire in the administrative and military sectors. vYe believe that the Assvrian
empire collapsed, not because of the deportee communities, but because of nat.ional
movements in the vassal countries and among the local inhabitants in the provinces,
and because of the rise of new powers like the Chaldaeans. See also Postgatc, To:ra·
tion, pp. 200-202 for the economic factor in tho empire's collapse.
39
See H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 18 (1956), p. 55: "The central government was most
anxious that the groups of people concerned should be efficiently and contentedlv
resettled." On the same policy toward deportees in the Hittite Empire see S. Alp,
JKF I (1950) pp. 118-119.
40
J. E. Reade, Iraq 34 (1972), p. 105. For Egypt see Giveon, op. cit. (below,
Ch. V n. 322). R. Labat, Fischer Weltgeschichte, 4, 1967, p. 57.
48
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Assyria. The city of Kashpuna in Phoenicia was conquered by Tiglathpileser III, who fortified it and brought deported families of the tribe of
Jasubu from the areas north-west of Babylonia, and settled them thcrc. 42
Sargon II took Til-Garimmu, a town on the border of the land of Tabal,
deported part of its population, rebuilt it and brought in deportees from
the east. 43 He also built additional fortresses in the region. Letter ABL
966 refers to an order from the Assyrian king to settle deportees in Marqasi, which is in Gurgum. Sargon also settled deportees from Kummuh
and from other conquered territories, in the southern part of Babylonia
and on the border with Elam. 44 In similar fashion, he settled deportees
from various countries in Samaria, in Philistia and on the Sinai border. 45
Information contained in certain state letters may be interpreted as
referring to the settling of deportees in border areas, fortified towns,
strategic points on highways, and on the borders of the empire. 46
A prominent feature of the system was the settling of large numbers
of deportees in the main cities and large towns of Assyria itself, such as
Calah (Nimrud) Dur-Sharrukin, Ashur,· Nineveh and others (see above
p. 28). The intention behind this policy may have been, inter alia, to
provide a counterweight to local urban elements hostile to the kingY
(ii) to secure the boundaries of the Assyrian empire,
(iii) to strengthen Assyrian domination in the conquered territories and
vassal states,
(iv) to ensure the safety of highways connecting the Assyrian capital
with all parts of the empire.
41
4. lUilitary Conscription of depmtees as a l\Ieans of Enlarging the Assyrian
Army
The defence policy of the kings of Assyria had four main objectives:
(i) to protect Assyria's borders,
D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 18 (1956), pp. 119-120, 124-125.
H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 17 (1955), p. 127; S. Parpola reads Ia-u-na-aia (Greeks),
see Parpola, Toponyms, pp. 186-187 and cf., Postgate, Taxation, p. 392 who roads
inlinos 40-41: "and send 30 Shinaean troops to koop guard."
43 Lio, Sargon, p. 34:213-214; \Vinclder, Sm·gon, p. 112:81-82.
44 C. J. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), pp. 192-193; Lie, Sargon, p. 64: 15-16; Winckler,
Sargon, p. 124:136-139. It seems that ABL 541, which is too fragmentary to give
a clear picture, also deals with settling deportees near the border of Elam. Note the
verb galu in rev. line 4, and see AHw I, 275b (galU II).
•• II Kings 17; Lie, Sargon, p.40:260-262; ARAB II, 4, 17; H. Tadmor, JCS 12
(1958), p. 34; id., BA 29 (1966), pp. 91-92.
•• See e.g. ABL 208,414, 443, 541, 868; ND 2437 (Iraq 17, 139), ND 2766 (Iraq
25, 79), ND 2495 (Postgate, Taxation, pp. 381-382).
47 See Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia, Chicago 1964, p. 83; id., in I. M. Lapidus
(ed.), Middle Eastern Cities, Berkeley 1969, p. 10. The Philistine mercenaries in the
army of David and Solomon, i.e. the Cherethites, Pelethites and Gittites were used
41
42
49
To achieve these objectives, it was necessary to set up fortified cities
and fortresses and to populate the settlements on the borders and highways with inhabitants who would be loyal to Assyria. 4 s From various
documents we know that the Assyrians fortified their eastern and northern
borders against invasion by foreign armies and various tribes from the
east and the north. Letter ABL 197 mentions a number of fortresses at
key-points along the border between Assyria and Urartu. 49 Assyrian
farmers were resettled in the region ofKakzu (Kalzi), on the eastern border
of Assyria. 5° In letter ABL 424, the commander of a fortress on the Assyrian-Urartu border requests permission to strengthen his defence forces
with soldiers from the tribe ofltua. From ND 2437 (Iraq 17, 139-141) we
are given to understand that there was a shortage of Assyrian military
and civilian personnel in Supite, a strategic point in southern Syria.
Sargon II states that he fortified the area around Kar-Sharrukin, in order
to subjugate the land of Media. 51 Esarhaddon states that he fortified a
certain city and posted armed forces in it, to make it a barrier against
infiltration from the land of Elam. 62 The citizens ofUr complain, in letter
ABL 1241, that there are not enough Assyrian forces to protect the city,
and they ask for re-inforcements. Sargon II took Til-Garimmu, deported
part of its population, brought in new inhabitants from other conquered
territories, and built additional fortresses in the area. 53 Documents ABL
for the same task, to protect the king against local rivals, see II Samuel 8: 18;
15:18; 20:7; I Kings 1:38. See also H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 25 (1963), p. 145; Gelb,
Prisoners, p. 92.
48
Oates, Northern Iraq, pp. 56-58; On ~]arran sarri "King's Highway" in tho
NA Empire see E. Weidner, A/0 21 (1966), pp. 43-46; Oded, op. cit. (above, n. 1.5),
p. 184.
49
•
Cf. the a~nals of Sargon II about erecting fortresses (maf~artu) on the border
With Elam. Wmckler, Sargon, p. 32: 190-192; Lie, Sargon, p. 36:216-218.
•• ND 2449 (Iraq 18, pp. 40-41, 55). On Apku (Tell-Abu-1\Iaria) rebuilt as a
strategic and administrative centre on the Assyrian north-west frontier see .J. N.
Pos~gate, JESHO 17 (1974), p. 237. For similar actions see ANET, suppl. p. 654
(Az1tawadda) and KAI, No.181: 13-14 (Mesha, king of Moab); Konig, op. cit.
(above, Ch. In. 8), p. 90 (Argishti I, king of Urartu, with regard to Erebuni).
61
Winckler, Sargon, p. IIO: 65-66.
•• Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 53, Episode 13:82-83. Cf. ABL 541. See also ARAB,
II, 248 (Sennacherib).
•• See above, n. 43.
50
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
414, ND 2644 (Iraq 17, 142-143) relate to the fortification of strategic
points on highways in southern Syria and in border areas by the desert. 5 4
Security needs, above all the need to man the numerous fortresses
and fortified cities in all parts of the empire in order to gain permanent
control over conquered regions, made it necessary to maintain a large
army. The responsibility for the defence of the empire was shouldered
mainly by the very efficient and well equipped Assyrian n,rmy. However,
the Assyrian army was not large enough to supply forces to guard all the
numerous strategic points. 55 The population of Assyria was relatively
small and could not provide an army large enough for the needs of the
expanding empire. Moreover, each war entailed a loss of manpower and
a resulting need to fill the ranks. This was done by recruiting auxiliary
forces of foreign origin, mainly from conquered countries or vassal states. 66
Ashurnasirpal II relates that he added to his army regiments from the
armies of various states through which he had passed without actually
making war on them. 57 This is simply an indication of the need felt to
reinforce the Assyrian army with foreign troops, a need which grew with
the expansion of the Assyrian empire.Tiglath-pilescr III appointed Idibi'lu,
the head of an Arabian tribe, "Warden" t""atutn) on the Egyptian border,S8 as part of the policy of involving border tribes in the defence of
the empire. 59
The recruitment of foreign manpower to strengthen the Assyrian army
was carried out in three ways: (a) conscription from tributary vassal
states or conquered territories as a form of tribute to Assyria; (b) employment of mercenaries ;60 (c) conscription of deportees, some of whom had
served in the army of the conquered country. 61 The third method was a
•• Oded, op.cit. (above, n. 15), pp. 184-186.
55 W. G. Lambert, Iraq 36 (1974), p. 106.
•• Tadmor, West, p. 41; Hall, Sculptures, pl. XXXIV. See Wiseman, Chronicles,
p. 64:15 for the Chaldaean Empire.
57 AKA, pp. 363-368.
" ANET p. 282; H. Tadmor, BA 29 (1966), p. 89.
59 Another title for governors who performed a similar function to that of
Idibilu is Iuqepu, see H. Tadmor, JOS 12 (1958), pp. 77-78.
•• On (a) and (b) see Postgate, Taxation, pp. 218-226; P. Garelli, RA 68 (1974),
pp. 139-140. The vassal kings were enforced to take part in the Assyrian campaigns,
like the campaign of Ashurbanipal to Egypt in 667 B. C. See also tho treaty between
Ashur-nerari V and Mati'ilu of Arpad, ANET suppl. p. 533.
61 It is quite understandable that, in many cases, it is impossible to distinguish
between mercenaries, troops of a vassal king, and soldiers that were incorporated
into the Assyrian army after having been taken captive. See, for example, the
Persian bowmen, Barnett, Ashurbanipal, pl. LXII (BM 124923-4). It seems that
the ltua troops were mercenaries, since there is no information about captives from
the Itua tribe. See ABL 424; ND 2715 (Iraq 17, 127:20).
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
51
permanent feature of the Assyrian recruitment policy. 62 The commonest
expressions used to describe it arc; ana ki§ir sarrutija alc§ur; eli lci;sir
sarrutija uraddi; ana ki§ir alc,surma, eli ununiiniiteja uraddi. 63 These conscripted deportees, whether trained by the Assyrians or themselves professional soldiers of a conquered army, were particularly suitable for being
moved rapidly to any place and at any time. Their bonds with their own
country and homes had been severed. They had no sentimental attachment to the country where they were posted, which was usually far from
their homeland. Consequently, they were loyal to the king of Assyria,
who had brought them to this country for military service. 64 The conscription of deportees was not peculiar to the Assyrians. The Egyptians
also conscripted captives from among the Sea Peoples and posted them
in fortresses. 65 And in the Hittite and Chaldaean armies too there were
regiments of different national groups both from conquered territories and
tributary states. 66
It should also be noted that deportee manpower was used for a variety
of purposes. Deportees employed in building, for example, could, if the
need arose, be used for service in the armyY There are very numerous
instances of conscription into the Assyrian army of foreign nationals who
had been defeated in battle and deported. This practice is closely connected with the growth of the Assyrian empire: it is hardly surprising that
it first became common and was particularly widespread in the time of
Tiglath-pileser III who was one of the founders of the neo-Assyrian
empire.
(l) Tiglath-pileser III made war in Babylonia against Chaldaean and
62
On the permanent need to defend the Assyrian realm against the pressure of
external enemies see Giiterbock, op. cit. (above, n. 17), p. I 67.
63 GAD, K, pp. 437-438 s.v. kifru.
6 • See on this question Oates, Northern Iraq, pp. 56-57; Gelb, Prisoners, p. 93
and there also on the foreigners and captives as "a movable force which the king
could transfer rapidly from one corner of the kingdom to another;" ABL 158 according to which deportees from the Ru'ua tribe were posted to Damascus and
Ashdod. On deportation of Ru'ua people, see ARAB I, 783, 795, 8I I; II, 234. On
the loyalty of the Jewish military garrison in Egypt (Elephantine) to the Persian
crown see G. Windengren, in Israelite and Judaean History (ods. J. H. Hayes-J. M.
Miller) London 1977, p. 533.
•• R. D. Barnett, OAH• Vol. II/2, p. 377; Breasted, ARE IV, 403. For the
practice of taking prisoners into the Egyptian army, see also Gelb, Prisoners, p. 93;
M.S. Drower, OAH•, vol. II/1, p. 482.
•• A. Gi:itze, Die Annalen des Mursili8 [MVAG 38] I933, pp. 22-25; 30-33;
136-137:25-27; S. Alp, JKF 1 (1950) p. 115; Gelb, Prisoners, p. 93; C. J. Gadd,
"The Harran Inscriptions of NabunidWI, [An. St. 8] I958, p. 60:5-10 and p. 85;
J. Lindsay, PEQ 108 (1976), p. 39. II Kings 24:2.
67
P. Garelli, XVIII RAJ, p. 75; J. Brinkman, Kassite, p. 313.
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
other tribes. He relates that he took captives from Bit-Amukani, from
Bit-Sha'alli and from the tribes of Ru'ua, and deported them to Assyria. 68
From documents ND 2619 (Iraq 23, 38), ABL 158 we gather that some
of these deportees were conscripted into the Assyrian army as charioteers
and cavalry, and were posted in various places, such as Gozan, Damascus
and Ashdod. 69
(2) Sa.rgon II took Sama.ria., deported 27,280 (or 27,290) of its inhabitants and added a contingent of 200 (or 50) chariots to his army. 70
Samarians are also mentioned in ABL 1009 as serving in the Assyrian
army. Sargon II likewise conscripted 300 (or 200) chariots and 600 pit!Jallu
into his army from the people of Hamath. 71 After the conquest of
Carchemish he added to his forces 50 chariots, 200 pit[Lallu and 3000
infantrymen. 72 He also brought archers of the Sutu (tribes from southern
Mesopotamia) to Til-Garimmu and to Gurgum. 73 He formed regiments
of charioteers, cavalrymen, and archers from among the prisoners taken
from Bit-Jakin in Babylonia and brought to Kummuh. 74
(3) Sennacherib recruited 30,500 archers and 30,500 shield-bearers from
among the captives he had taken from various towns in Elam. 75
(4) Esarhaddon deported part of the population of Shubria, which
borders on Urartu. Among the deported there were some regular soldiers,
as well as members of other professions, and in Esarhaddon's own words:
"I enlarged the army with charioteers of the guard, horsemen of the
guard, men in charge of the stable, sa-resi officers, service engineers,
craftsmen, light troops, shield bearers, scouts, farmers, shepherds, gardeners."76
(5) Ashurbanipal conscripted into his army captured soldiers (archers
and shield bearers) from Elam,17
(6) After the suppression of the rebellion at Acre (Acco), Ashurbanipal
put a large number of the rebels to death and deported the remainder to
Assyria. There he formed a contingent out of them which he added to
the Assyrian army.78
The above instances prove that charioteers, cavalrymen, 79 infantry
regiments and, above all, companies of archers and shield bearers were
formed from among the deportees, most of whom had served in the armies
of the conquered countries. 80 Some of them were taken to serve as personal bodyguards of the king, 81 and many were posted in citadels and
fortresses. 5 2 It should be noted, however, that many of the captives who
were conscripted into the Assyrian army did not serve as fighting men,
but were employed in service units in army camps and fortresses. From
a letter to the god (and from other royal records), we learn that deportees
of various trades who had been taken captive from Shubria and from areas
bordering on Urartu were conscripted into the Assyrian army.sa A relief
from the time of Sennacherib depicts some men (who appear to be deportees from Arabian tribes) engaged in servicing duties in an Assyrian
army camp. 84
All this evidence goes to show that the Assyrian army was composed of
various nationalities. This heterogeneous character of the Assyrian army
also emerges from numerous administrative documents such as: ABL 218,
631, 1009, ND 2619 (Iraq 23, 38), ND 2631 (Iraq 28, 185-187),8 5 ND 2646
52
•• Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 44:11-12; p. 48:14-15; ARAB I, 790; From ND
2470 (Iraq 18, 53) it may be gathered that people from Puqudu tribe were transported to the province of Barhalzi.
69 See also ABL 1009. It is not impossible that ABL 887 deals with conscription
of people from Puqudu tribe. It seems that the people from Bit-Adini mentioned in
ND 2619 were from Bit-Adini in Babylonia; cf. KAI II, p. 285-286 and II Kings
19:12 (=Is. 37 :12) Tellasar (Til-Assuri ?). See also Fales, BSOAS 40 (1977) p. 598
for the WSem. name PAP-sa-nu in ND 2619:31.
70 ANET, pp. 284-285; Tadmor, op.cit. (above, n. 59), p. 34.
11 ANET, p. 285; ARAB II, 183. See also ND 2646 (Iraq 23, 40).
7 2 Lie, Sargon, p. 12:75; Gadd, op.cit. (above, n. 44), p. 179:21-24.
73 Gadd, op.cit. (above, n. 44), pp. 182-184; ARAB II, 60.
74 Winckler, Sargon, p. 118:115-117; Gadd, op.cit. (above, n. 44), p. 179:1-12;
ARAB II, 45-46.
16 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 76: 102-103; GAD A/2, p. 270 b s.v. aritu "I incorporated 30.500 bowmen and 30.500 shield carriers (from the prisoners) into my
standing army."
76 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106: 15-20; GAD K, p. 77b s.v. kallabu, and see also
GAD A/2, p. 270b s.v. aritu: "I added shield-bearers (and other captured military
53
personnel) in great number to the massive armies of Ashur and the regular troops
of my ancestors."
77
Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, p. 60: 1-5; GAD A/2, p. 270b s.v. aritu "the bowmen
and shield-bearers whom I had taken from Elam I added to my standing army."
See also Hall, Sculptures, pl. XXXIX no. 2 (probably bowmen from Asia l\iinor).
78
ANET p. 300; in ND 5550 (Iraq If), 136) there is mention of a commander of
a unit of 50 persons, whose name was Baal-halusu.
79
Onpit!JalluseeaboveChaptor I, p. 7; B. Parker, Iraq23 (1961),pp.l5, 38
on ND 2619.
8
° Concerning infantry conscripted from subjugated peoples, sec Yadin, ·warfare,
Vol. II, p. 296. See also ABL 304; Reade, op.cit. (aboYe, n. 40), p. 105; id. AMI
NF 9, 1976, pp. 97-99.
81
Reade, op.cit. (above, n. 40), pp. 106-107; Gclb, Prisoners, pp. 92-93.
82
H. Tadmor, BA 29 (1966), p. 92; Oates, Northern 11-aq, p. 56; ABL 158, 208,
218,685, 760; ND 2680 (Iraq 17, 141), ND 2437 (Iraq 17, 139-140). ABL 314 may
be interpreted as dealing with a group of deportees at a certain fortress (birtu), and
it is said that "each should build his house, move in and live there" see GAD, B,
p. 286a s.v. bitu.
83
Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106:14-20.
8
• Paterson, Palace, pl. 101 b.
86
Postgate, Taxation, pp. 383-384.
54
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
(Iraq 23, 15). As long ago as 1910 W. Manitius published a very comprehensive study of the Assyrian army, in which he pointed out its multi-national character. 86 Another scholarly work on this subject, which deserves
to be mentioned, by J. E. Reade, describes the multi-national character
of the Assyrian army as revealed in the Assyrian reliefs. 87
documents, but also in the Assyrian reliefs. Some reliefs depict groups of
workers engaged in construction, and carrying building materials and
large objects. A careful examination of the workers depicted in the relief
reveals their mixed ethnic and national origin. This appears from their
hair-styles, dress, and facial features. 93 Most of the artisans were it
seems, brought to the Assyrian cities, and to the Assyrian capitai in
particular. The ivory carvings discovered at Nimrud, for example, appear
to support this theory, and it has been suggested that they were made
by Phoenician deportees who had been settled in Nimrud. 94 The Assyrian
reliefs, dating from the time of Tiglath-pileser III onward, show signs of
the influence of foreign artisans. 96 But most of the evidence regarding the
presence of foreign artisans in Assyria comes from royal inscriptions and
administrative documents.
5. l\lass Deportation as a Source for Craftsmen and Unskilled Labourers
The population of Assyria was too small to provide all the manpower
required to maintain and n,dminister the growing empire. This labour
force-which had to be both ln,rge and varied, in order to fulfil the various
civilian, military and religious needs of the empire-was recruited by the
kings of Assyria in various ways:
(i) a corvee was levied on the population of Assyrin, and the provinces; 88
(ii) vassal kings were compelled to supply labour gangs, as required by
the king of Assyria;B 9
(iii) by deportations, which supplied at least part of the empire's essential
needs in skilled and unskilled workers. 90 These were mainly required
for building cities, temples, and palaces. 91 Shalmaneser I (1274-1245)
already tells how he chose the younger captives for service in various
ficlds. 92
Evidence for the recruitment of deportees in the service of the empire
is to be found not only in the royal inscriptions and administrative
86 Manitius, Heer, pp. 220-224. The multi-national character of the Assyrian
army involved the need of translators within the army. See Zablocka, Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 82.
8 7 Reade, op.cit. {above, n. 40), pp. 101-108.
88 See e.g. the words of Esarhaddon: "I dispatched all my workmen, all of the
land of Babylon, and made them use mattocks and {construction) baskets, I had
{them) make bricks in the brick molds of ivory, ebony, boxwood" etc., GAD L,
p. lOb s.v. labiinu. See also ABL 705. On this question, see Postgate, Taxation,
pp. 62, 80-83, 226-228.
89 E.g. Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 48: 80-82; ARAB II, 527. On withholding tribute
and corvee as the cause of an Assyrian punitive campaign see Grayson, BiOr 33
{1976), p. 136.
9o Oates, Northern Iraq, p. 57; Tadmor, West, p. 37; T. J. Winter, Iraq 38 {1976),
pp. 18-19; Grayson, op.cit. {above, n. 89), p. 135.
91 On the common practice of the Assyrian kings to build palaces, see R. D.
Barnett, Assyrian Palace Reliefs, London 1970, pp. 11-12.
92 Grayson, ARI, I, p. 81; GAD A/2, p. 253a, s.v. ardutu. On deportee artisans
in the Hittite empire, see A. Goetze, in Kraeling, Oity, p. 173.
55
a. The Royal Inscri}Jtions
(1) Ashurnasirpal II required skilled and unskilled workers to rebuild
the capital city Calah and, in particular, the city wall.9 6 From the king's
records we gather that foreign artisans and cmftsmen participn,ted in the
work. Some of them were deportees from conquered countries who
remained in Calah and settled there after completing the work of rebuilding the city. 97 It seems that many of the foreign artisans mentioned in
the Nimrud \Vine Lists were descendants of deportees brought to Calah
in the time of Ashurnasirpal II, and of deportees settled in the capital
by Shalmaneser III or by Adad-nerari III. 9 ~
(2) Tiglath-pileser III deported from Tyre senior officials (silt rMe) and
singers (both male and female). 99
93
See e.g. Paterson, Palace, pis. 32-35. On non-Assyrians in the NA reliefs see
M. Wiifler, Nicht-Assyrer neuassyrischer Darstellungen. AOAT 26, 1975; B. Hrouda,
Die Kulturyeschichte des assyrischen Flachbildes, Bonn 1965, pp. 61, 75.
94
R. D. Bar~ett, A Catalogue of the Nimrud Ivories, London, 1957, p. 52; l\1.
Mallowan, Ugantwa VI, p. 545; id., Ivories from Nimrud, III, 1974, pp. 38-39.
96
T. Madhloom, in J. Ha.rmatta--G. Komor6czy, TYirtschaft und Gesellschaft im
alten Vorderasien, Budapest 1975, p. 385-386.
96
M. Mall?wan, Nim_rud and its Remains, London 1966, Vol. I, pp. 75-76 "A
large proportiOn of captive labour was required for building tho walls."
97
D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 14 {1952) pp. 29-35; Grayson, ARI II, p. 173; AKA,
P· 279:73 and pp. 219-220; Oates, Northern Iraq, pp. 44, 56; Tadmor West pp.
40-41.
,
,
98
NWL, pp. XI-XII and p. 91.
99
D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 18 {1956), p. 125:8 cf. Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 34:4647. Cf. ANEP, Suppl. no. 796.
56
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
(3) Sargon II, in building his new capital city, Dur-Sharrukin, employed
not only Assyrian citizens but also craftsmen and labourers from conquered count.ries. 100 The inscriptions recounting the capture of Ramaria
mention that Sargon II conscripted some of the deportees into his army
(see below). Concerning the rest of the deportees one of the inscriptions
(Prism D) states: "sittatesunu ina qereb kurAMur usa{!bit" that is, "the rest
of them I caused to take their dwelling in the midst of Assyria." 101 w·ith
regard to the deportees referred to as "the rest," another inscription
states: "sittflte inu81~n1~ usiildz" = "I allowed the others to exercise their
craft." 102 :From these two documents we may deduce that those inhabitants of Samaria who were deported, but not conscripted into the army,
continued in Assyria to practice the trades they had practised in their
own country, or else were taught new trades for which there was a need
in the Assyrian empire.1oa
(4) Sennacherib rebuilt and enlarged the city of Nineveh. For this
purpose he employed captives from various countries. 104 One of his inscriptions states: "The people of Chaldaea, the Aramaeans, the Mannai
(the people) of Kue and Hilakku, who had not submitted to my yoke, I
snatched away (from their lands), made them carry the basket and mould
bricks. I cut down the reed marshes which are in Chaldaea, and had the
men of the foe whom my hands had conquered drag their mighty reeds
(to Assyria) for the completion of its work." 106 In another inscription on
the same subject, Sennacherib states that he also employed captives from
Tyre and from Philistia to carry out these projects. 106 With reference to
his sixth campaign, against the city of Nagitu in Elam, it is stated that
Scnnacherib settled in Nineveh deportees referred to as "Hittites"
( l]atti }, who built him a fleet of RhipR. TheRe RhipR were built in the manner of the Phoenician vessels and were manned by captive seamen from
Tyre, Sidon and Cyprus. 107 Jhom this we deduce that craftsmen and
sailors were brought from the city-states in the west to Nineveh and other
Assyrian cities, 108 and were employed for various tasks, among them building and sailing ships. Earlier, too, in his first campaign against .Merodachbaladan, Sennacherib deported a large number of artisans and craftsmen.Io9
100 E.g. Lie, Sargon, p: 74:8-10; ·winckler, Sm·gon, p. 128:153-154; ND 3406
(Iraq 16, 197-198).
101 Gadd, op. cit. (above, n. 44), p. 179 col. IV: 35-36; and cf. Ashurbanipal,
Ra.ssam Cylinder, col. IX: 125: sittfttesunu alqa ana kur dA88ur.
102 Winckler, Sm·gon, p. 100:24; CAD Ajl, p. 182b s.v. aO,lizu "I allowed the
other (natives, those ·who have not been placed in the Assyrian army) to exercise
their craft" and cf. CAD I, p. 152a s.v. inu: "and tho rest (of the captives) I had
trained in the exercise of their (particular) callings."
103 See CAD 8u[luzu and imt (above, n. 102) and cf. H. Tadmor, in J. Aviram
(ed., see above, n. 38). pp. 69-70, according to whom the words inusunu usliO,iz
refer not to the deportees from Samaria, but to tho deportees to Samaria; and also
M. Cogan, Imperialism, pp. 49-50. However, in both cases we have to do with
exploitation of deportees for the needs of the empire. Hence, it is plausible that,
sometimes, the Assyrians changed the occupation of a deportee, see e.g., Johns,
ADB p. 24; Fales, Censimenti, p. 17:32-33,41-43, 123-124.
104 Paterson, Palace, pis. 27-28, 31-33, 34-35, 87; E. Weidner, AfO, Beiheft 4,
p. 21, Abb. 20-21.
105 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 95:71-72; p. 117:6-7.
106 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 104:54-5 6. On the various works in connection
with the rebuilding of Nineveh see Luckenbill, Sennacherib, pp. 80-81, 95; CAD L,
p. lOa, s.v. labanu.
57
(5) Esarhaddon carried out a large number of building projects, both
inside and outside Assyria. 110 His primary concern was the repair and
restoration of cities and temples in Assyria and Akkad. Two of Esarhaddon's inscriptions contain a list of professional soldiers and various
skilled workers whom he took captive in Egypt after defeating Tirhaka.m
To build his palace at Nineveh and enlarge the city, Esarhaddon employed
a large number of captives as well as labour gangs from conquered
countries. In one of his records he states: "The people of the lands, the
conquered enemies, the plunder of his bow, which he presented to me as
my royal gift, those I caused to carry the basket and headpad and to
mould bricks." 112 This also applies to the restoration of Calah: "At that
time I repaired the wall ... using the prisoners from lands which I had
conquered with the aid of Assur my lord."na
Esarhaddon similarly employed numerous captives (ki8itti nakire
8adlflte) to rebuild and restore temples in Assyria and in Akkad,114 and
deported large numbers of scribes, artisans and craftsmen from Shubria
and Egypt to Assyria. 116
107
L;wkenbill, Sennacherib, p. 73:57-61; see also Barnett, Ashurbanipal, pl.
LIV; Dwdorus II, 16, 6-7; Josephus Flavius, Ant. IX, 285-286.
108
Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 87:23-24 and p. 104:67-69. See also below, n. 124.
109
Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 24:32-35; 52: 32-33.
110
A. R. Millard, Iraq 23 (1961), pp. 177-178.
111
Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 101-102, 114; ANET, p. 293; A. Spalinger, Orientalia
NS 43 (1974), pp. 305-306.
112
ARAB II, 615; Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 116, II; and p. 59:47-48; A. Heidel,
Sumer, 12 (1956), p. 28:44-45; CAD A/1, p. 357 s.v. allu, ib., K, p. 452a, s.v.
ki8ittu, and cf. The Moabite Stone, lines 25-26: "and I eut beams for Qarhoh with
Israelite captives" ANET, p. 320.
113
Millard, op.cit. (above, n. 110), p. 178; Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 34:40; D. J.
Wiseman, Iraq 14 (1952), p. 57:40-43.
114
Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 59:36 and 3-4: 11-16, Episode 19 in p. 20; Heidel,
op.cit. (above, n. 112), p. 26:21-31.
116
Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 106: 14-22; 114 (Frt. J).
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
(6) Ashurbanipal. The kings of Arabia and their subjects, who rebelled
against Ashurbanipal, were defeated and taken captive. They were
brought to Nineveh and were forced to do the heavy manual work in the
building of "bit riduti." 116 In his eighth campaign, which was directed
against some towns in Elam and various tribes, Ashurbanipal took many
captives from members of the royal family, courtiers, military men, and
craftsmen. The best captives Ashurbani pal dedicated to the gods, i.e.
to temples that were in need of a work force to carry out various operations in the temple and on the temple estates. 117 Singers, both male and
female, were among the captives taken from Madaktu to Assyria. 118
Smiths and artisans, "the bond of city and country," were deported and
counted as spoil. 119
the Lebanon valley. 122 Some letters from the Harper collection appear to
provide evidence for the use of labour gangs made up of deportees and
captives: ABL 1065 which mentions captive ( 1"!Jubte) craftsmen engaged,
it seems, in building the city of Dur-Sharrukin. 123 In letter AJJL 795
Bel-Ibni requests Sennacherib to send twenty Sidonians to the Persian
Gulf to build ships. 124 These Sidonians, as appears from the inscriptions
of Sennacherib, were deported to Nineveh and other cities, and sent to
various places, as directed by an order from the king's court. 125 As regards non-Assyrians, some of whom were deportees or descendants of
deportees in the bureaucratic apparatus of the Assyrian empire, see
Chapter V.
58
6. Populating Urban Centers and Strategic Sites in Assyria
Proper and in the Assyrian Empire
b. Administrative Documents
Administrative documents from the time of Shalmaneser III and
Adad-nerari III discovered at Nimrud reveal that many foreign nationals
skilled in various trades were settled in Calah and provided for from the
king's treasury/ 20 Not all of them were deportees, but it may be assumed,
in the light of all that has been said above, that the majority had been
brought to the capital from conquered countries. Since foreign craftsmen
residing in Assyria were paid wages or given rations from the state
treasury, they were presumably under supervision and had a special
status on account of their connection with the royal court (and not because they were deportees). Among documents discovered at Nimrud
(corpus ND) it is possible to pick out some that can be interpreted as
implying the use of foreign manpower for various projects in different
parts of the empire. Document ND 2497 (Iraq 23, 25) contains a list of
deportee craftsmen, together with their families. 121 Document ND 2666
(Iraq 25, 73-74) mentions persons brought from Rasappa, Arzuhina and
perhaps also from Gozan, apparently to Dur-Sharrukin in order to help
built the city. In letter ND 2437 (Iraq 17, 139) a governor appeals to the
king to send men to work in the fields in the area under his control in
An examination of the available evidence concerning the places chosen
by the kings of Assyria for settling deportees reveals three objectives:
(i) Urbanization of the empire through the settlement of deportees in
the older cities as well as in new and rebuilt cities ;126
(ii) Settlement of deportees in strategic towns and villages;
(iii) Settlement of deportees in deserted areas and barren regions.
The Assyrians' aim in this intensive drive to increase the population
of cities and to repopulate ruined sites was to strengthen their economy,
to keep trade routes under their control, to ensure the security of their
realm, and to facilitate the management of the complex, ramified administrative system that held the empire together. 127 The connection
between the rebuilding of a ruined city and economic development is
implicit in Esarhaddon's remarks concerning the rebuilding of Babylon
from its ruins, its repopulation, and the stimulation of its trade by the
opening of the (trade) routes leading to the city. 128 Sargon II "opened" the
Cf. this letter to ABL 414, ND 2381 (Iraq 17, 138).
RCAE, Vol. III, p. 291.
124 See above, n. 107 and M. Dietrich, AOAT 7, p. 197 [145]. See Borger, Asar·
haddon, p. 114:15 for deported Egyptian shipwrights.
125
For the Chaldaean empire see e.g. ANET, p. 308.
126
Zablocka, Agrarverhdltnisse, p. 155; Oppenheim, op.cit. (above, n. 47), p. 118;
id., in Kraeling, City, pp. 174-175.
127
Oppenheim, op.cit. (above, n. 47, Lapidus, ed.) p. 5.
128
Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 25, Episode 37: 12-42; vV. F. Leemans, Iraq 39 (1977),
p. 7. For a family from Anatolia or Syria in Babylon, see Zadok, WSB p. 13.
122
123
Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, p. 88: 89-95.
Streck, Ashurbanipal II, pp. 58-60: VI, 125--VII, I; van Driel, The Cult of
A88ur, Assen 1969, p. 188.
11s M. Rutten, Syria 22 (1941), pl. XIII.
119 Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 70:31-34.
uo Above, n. 98.
m B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961), p. 15.
116
11 7
59
60
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
kiiru on the Egyptian border and there he "mingled together" the Assyrians and the Egyptians and made t 1wm " tra d c WI'th
· cach oth
· er. "129
A. l'opulating Cities in Assyria Proper
'l'he kings of Assyria were renowned as builders of royal cities, both
within and outside Assyria. The system of deportations provided the
Assy-rian kinas with manpower for building new cities or rebuilding old
. . Iao Th e b'Igges t
ones as well "'as with inhabitants to populate these Cities.
and best known projects of this kind are the royal cities built in Assyria
proper. 131
(1) Assiir. Tiglath-pileser I brought to the city of Ashur many deportees
from the mountainous regions by the Lower Zab, and from areas on the
western bank of the Euphrates. 132 Ashur-dan II brought captives a~ub~
tiinu) from areas east ofthe 'I'igris to the city of Ashur.I 33 Shalmaneser III
deported 22,000 (or 17,500) captives from Bit-Adini to the city of As~ur
and "counted them as Assyrian citizens." He also brought to the capital
3000 deportees (8allut1t) from the town of Silaja in Hubushkia. 134 Sarg~n
II mentions in his inscriptions captives from Shinuhtu, Karalla, 'filGarimmu and Httmath. 135
Administrative documents and legal texts provide evidence of the
settlement of foreign nationals in the city of Ashur. 136
(2) Kalhu. Ashurnasirpal II restored the city ofCalah and settled (sul}butu) the;e Assyrian citizens and deportees from conquered countries. 137
129 Tadmor, op.cit. (inn. 82), pp. 91-02; cf. Grayson, ABC, p. ~65: 36-37. ~or
the expression "to open up a country" as reflecting trade interests m the Egyptian
inscriptions see D. B. Redford, VTS ~0 (1970), p. Hl7. For an Assyrian karu near
the Egyptian border in the days ofT1glath-pileser III eee D.J. Wiseman, Iraq 18
(1956), p. 126:16.
.
.
.
.
.
13o Guterbock, op.cit. (above, n. 17), pp. 168-169; Oppenhmm, m Kraelmg, G~ty,
pp. 79-81. H. Tadmor, in Town and Community, Jerusalem 1967, PP· 199-203
(Hebrew).
_
. _
.
_.
131 vVe shall mention only oases of mty bmldmg winch are connected \Hth
deportation.
132 E. Weidner, A/0 18 (1957/58), p. 344:34-35.
133 E. F. Weidner, A/0 3 (192()), p. 156:19-21; GAD lj, p. 215b, s.v.!Jubtu.
134 Michel, Shalmaneser III, TVO I, p. 462:8-9; id., WO 2, p. 30: 5-<l; vV. G. Lambert, Anatolian Studies 11 (1961), pp. 148:64-65.
.
135 Winckler, Sm·gon, p. 170: 11; Lie, Sargon, p. 34:209-215; L. D. Lev me, Tw~
Neo-Assyrian Stelae from Iran, Ontario 1972, p. 34: ll; 38:31-32.
. _
1as See for example ND 2449 (Iraq 18, 40); KAI I, Nos. 233-236; F. Vattwm,
Augustinianum 10 (1970), pp. 493-532; A. L.Oppenheim, JNES 19 (1960), PP·
133-147. VAT 8241 (Pi-li8-ta-a-a), See E. Werdner, AfO 21 (1966) P· 69.
137 On this question, see above, n. 96.
61
Some of the captives from the city of Melid were brought by Sargon
II to Calah. 138 Esarhaddon brought to Calah some of the captives
he had taken from the land of Shubria. 139 Administrative and legal
documents mention the presence in Calah of large numbers of foreign
nationals from Phoenicia or from the lands of Israel, 140 Aram, 141 Sidon, 14 2
Elam, 143 and Hamath. 144 Further evidence of the presence of foreign
nationals (deportees, or their children) in Calah is to be found in the
Nimrud Wine Lists, in the Governor's Palace Archivc 145 amlin Aramaic
epigraphs on tablets written in Accadian. 146
(3) Diir 8arrukin. Sargon II settled inhabitants from conquered countries
in Dur-Sharrukin. 147 Some administrative documents a.ppear to refer to the
presence of foreigners in the city, some of whom were probably deportees. 148
(4) Ninua. Sennacherib brought deportees to Nineveh from various
countries, from Cilicia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Babylonia, and l\Ianna, and
also Aramaean tribes. 149 Esarhaddon dispersed among the citizens of
Nineveh some of the captives from the land of Shubria. 150 It is also likely
that Ashurbanipal brought captives from Egypt to Nineveh.I 51 Numerous
administrative and legal documents mention the settlement of foreigners
in Nineveh, some of whom, it may be assumed, were brought there as
captives. 152
The kings of Assyria settled deportees in other parts of Assyria too.
Lie, Sargon, pp. 71-72:7-9; ND 2442 (Iraq 23, 27); ND 2485 (Iraq 23, 32).
Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106: 15-22.
140 E.g. ND ()231 (Iraq 19, 139-145) and for this ostmcon see also Chapter II,
p. 24; ND 2629 (Iraq 23, 39) in which mention is made of an Israelite U-si-'
(Hoshea); The WSem. name mn~m (but in Accadian form) is mentioned in ND
2079, ND 2095, ND 2328, see B. Barker, Iraq 16 (1954), p. 49.
141 ND 5457 (Iraq 19, 132); ND 2303 (Iraq 23, 19).
14 2 ND 5550 (Iraq 19, 135--136). ND 5447 (Iraq 19, 127), in which there is men·
tion of a Phoenician called A-du-ni-i.
143 ND 2489 (Iraq 23, 33).
14 4 ND 478 (Postgate, Governor, p. 36).
145 NWL, pp. 64, 91, 94; Postgate, Go~:ernor, pp. 24--25 (Nos. 113, 119, 120).
146 R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972), pp. 131-137; id., JSS 21 (197G), pp. 1-2 and bibliography there.
147 Winckler, Sargon, 1<l6: 25-26; R. Campbell Thompson, Iraq 7 ( 1940), p. 87: 11.
14s ABL 190; 1065; ll77.
149 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 62:81-88; p. 73:5 7-58; p. 95:71, p. 104:52-5 6;
p. ll7:6-7; Tadmor, West, p. 41. For Sidonians in NinO\·eh see ABL 175; ADD
513; BM 123384 (Iraq 32, pp. 142-143). Of course, it is difficult to know, especially
as far as Phoenicians are concerned, if the aliens in Assyria arrived as deportees or
of their own free will.
150 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. lOG: 15-22.
181 Streck, Ashw·banipal, II, p. 12:ll6-ll7; p. 1():39-48.
182 ABL 175; ll03; ADD 148; 160; 207; 229; 234; 250; 513; 625; Bl\1 121043
(Iraq 34, 133). See Chapter V.
138
139
62
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
It may reasonably be assumed that in many cases where the documents
under Assyrian control, it was necessary to resettle depopulated localities
with Assyrian citizens and deportees. 161 In certain cases, the Assyrians
found it expedient-for political as well as economic reasons-to grant
an amnesty to populations that had rebelled and been deported, and to
restore them to their countries and their homes.t 62 The following is a
partial list of the places to which deported populations were brought.1sa
This list is based on Assyrian records, mainly royal inscriptions:
Abdadani. A region bordering on Media and the land of Namri, in
which Tiglath-pileser III conquered settlements. He also overran many
territories and cities in the extensive mountainous region between Assyria and Media. After completely destroying this wide area and deporting 65,000 of its inhabitants, he rebuilt the settlements and populated
them with deportees from conquered countries_Is4
mention the bringing of deportees "to the land of Assyria," 163 this is to
be interpreted as referring not merely to the four cities listed above but
also to other cities and settlements in Assyria. Tiglath-pileser I brought
20,000 deportees from the land of Kumani to "the upper and lower
regions" of Assyria. 154 Tiglath-pileser III relates that he rebuilt certain
towns in Assyria which l;ad fallen into ruins, and it seems that he settled
deportees in these newly created settlements/ 56 as he did in the city of
Dur-Tiglath-Pileser which he had built and populated with deportees
from conquered countries. 156 Esarhaddon brought to the Assyrian city
of Arbailu captives from the land of Shubria.l 57 To conclude: all the
evidence appears to indicate that a large number of deportees were
brought to Assyria and were settled in its cities.
63
111
B. The Restoration and Repopulation of Urban Centres and
Strategic Settlements in Conquered and Vassal Countries
The establishment, development and expansion of the Assyrian empire
was accompanied by numerous wars resulting in the destruction of many
cities and settlements. 158 Furthermore, an economic recession in the
conquered or tributary countries could seriously affect the economic and
military strength of Assyria, since her economy was largely based on the
various forms of taxes which flowed in from all parts of the empire. 159
The wars, and the destruction they brought in their wake, must have
interfered with international trade as well as industrial and agricultural
production. 160 Hence, in order to revive the economy and develop trade
153 E.g. E. Michel, Shalmaneser III, WO 2, p.l52:94-95; Streck, Ashurbanipal,
II, p. 28:61-67. In some cases this phrase means "into Assyrian territory" see Cogan,
Imperialism, p. 26.
164 AKA, p. 120: 18-19; The archaeological surveys in Nuzi and Tell al-Fakhar
(kurruhani) reveal that those cities had been destroyed in the 14th century B.C.
and restored in the first quarter of the first millenium. See Y. 1\L Al-Khalesi, A.Mur
1{6 (1977), p. 17. Zablocka, Agrarverhaltnisse, pp. 154-158.
166 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 4:19-20. In the same inscription he relates that
he brought captives from Babylonia to the borders of Assyria.
158 ARAB I, 765.
157 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106:22. See also Barnett, Ashurbanipal, pl. XXV (a).
168 See e.g. II kings 19:11-12.
159 Cf. W. G. Lambert: "There is every reason to suspect that areas chosen for
military attack were often chosen with economic advantage in view"-Iraq 36
( 197 4), p. 103.
180 On the economic crisis in northern Syria because of the Assyrian campaigns
see I. J. Winter, Iraq 38 (1976), p. 19; T. Zablocka, OLZ 72 (1977) p. 582.
Arumu. These are Aramaean tribes that lived in Babylonia ("Eastern
Aramaeans"). Sargon II and Sennacherib waged war against these tribes
and deported large numbers of them. Their lands were repopulated by
Sargon II with deportees, 165 in order to ensure Assyrian domination of
the Babylonian border.
Asdudu. Sargon II waged war in the year 712 against Jamani, who had
seized the kingdom of Ashdod. He deported part of the population of
Ashdod, Ashdod-Yam and Gimtu, and-so he claims-rebuilt these cities
and repopulated them with people from conquered countries.1ss
Bab-duri. On the border of Elam. Sargon II captured this fortified
city, together with the fortress Sam'una (Bel-Iqisha). He also captured
other cities in the area, and deported 7,500 of their inhabitants. He rebuilt
these cities and settled there deportees from Kummuh.I67
Bit-Jakin. In Babylonia. Sargon II and Sennacherib waged several
181
For the same practice in the Hittite Empire see E. H. Sturtevant, A Hittite
Chrestomathy, Philadelphia 1935, p. 73:56 and p. 77.
182
Winckler, Sargon, p. 42:262 (ARAB II, 31}.
163
The instances I have chosen here are only a selection from a mass of evidence.
184
. Rost, Tiglath-pileser I I I, p. 64: 33-36. Some of the places that were restored
by Tiglath-pi!eser III in addition to (Bit) Abdadani are: Nikkur, Bit-Sangibuti,
B1t-Harnban, Parsua.
186
Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), pp. 192-193; Lie, Sargon, pp. 50:332-52:15; ARAB
II, 39-42.
188
~inckler, Sa~gon, p. 38:227 (ARAB II, 30). It is possible that ABL 1307
deals ~1th deportatiOn to Ashdod, see ROAE III, p. 342; Lie, Sargon p. 40:261.
According to ABL 158 a military unit consisting of people from the Ru'ua tribe was
posted at Ashdod.
167
Winckler, Sargon, p. 48:278-281; ARAB II, 33, 41, 69. In ABL 774 there
is mention of Shamauna in the land of Rashi as a fortress under the control of
Assyria.
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
64
wars against Bit-Jakin. From the cities of Bit-Jakin, among them the
city of Dur-Jakin, and from several tribes in the area, Sargon II deported
90,580 people. To settle the depopulated cities of Bit-Jakin, he brought
in people from the land of Kummuh. 168
Bit- J{ilarnza!J,. A ei ty east of the Tigris, in the land of Kashi. Sennacherib
captured this and other cities in the area. He rebuilt Bit-Kilamzah as a
walled city "stronger than it had been," and repopulated it with people
from conquered countries. 169
Dirna8qa. The capital of the Aramaean kingdom in southern Syria.
Tiglath-pileser III captured Damascus and deported a number of its inhabitants. Sargon II brought to the city inhabitants from east of the
Tigris.l7°
Dur-Tukulti-apal-Esarra. A city east of the Tigris, which appears to
have been in the land of Namri. 'l'iglath-pileser III built the city, called
it after himself, and populated it with people from conquered countries. 171
Elenza8. The capital city of the land of Bit-Barrua, south of Assyria
and bordering on the land of Elippi. Sennacherib conquered the country,
rebuilt Elenzash as a royal city and fortress, and renamed it Kar-Sinahhe-eriba. Here he settled people from conquered countries. 172
ijamat. In central Syria, on the highway linking Mesopotamia with
Palestine and Egypt. Tiglath-pileser III had already deported 30,300
people from the districts of Hamath. Sargon II conquered Hamath and
brought to the city Assyrians and deportees from conquered territories. 173
flarJ.jiir. An important fortified city on the road from Assyria to Media.
Sargon II conquered the city and deported its inhabitants. He rebuilt it
as a royal city, called it Kar-Sharrukin, and resettled it with people from
conquered territories. 174
Winckler, Sargon, p. 60:364--367; ARAB II, 39, 41, 69.
Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 27: I 80-II I. L. D. Levine "the foreigners were
installed in Bit Kilamzah because it was in a remote area difficult to keep a close
reign on from Assyria proper" JNES 32 (1973), p. 315.
17o II Kings 16:9; Amos I: 5; Winckler, Sargon, p. 10:50-5 2; p. 108:57; See also
ND2381 (Iraql7, 138) andABL 158.Streck,Ashurbanipal,II,pp. 72, 199whichmay
indicate the deportation of Arabian tribes, together with their gods, to Damascus.
111 ARAB I, 765.
1 7• Luckenbill, Sennacherib, pp. 28-29:28-32. For toponyms of the type Kar+ X
see J.Lewy, HUGA 27 (1956), p. 43.
173 Rost, T1:glath-pileser III, p. 22: 131-133; Winckler, Sargon, p.106:49; p.108:
56. For deportation from Hamath see also ND 2646 (Iraq 23, 40); ND 2645 (Iraq 17,
137). On ijmt in II Kings 17:24, Isaiah II: II see R.Zadok, JANES 8 (1976), p.1l.7
114 Winckler, Sargon, pp. 14:70-16:72; ARAB II, 183; W. H. F. Saggs, Iraq 20
(1958), pp. 191-192, 210 in regard to ND 2655.
1os
189
Aims and ObjectiYes of Mass Deportation
65
[latatirra. A city in Unqi. Tiglath-pilescr III deported part of the
population of Babylonia and settled them in this and other citim; in Unqi,
such as KinaluajKullani.m
flilakku. Sargon II deported part of the population from Hilakku
(Cilieia) and replaced them with, it would seem, deportees from BabyloniaY6 Scnnacherib conquered Illubru, deported a number of its inhabitants, rebuilt it and repopulated it with captives from conquered
countries. 177
. I~alzi i~ the land of Shubria. Esarhaddon conquered this city, deported
Its mhabitants to Assyria, rebuilt it and populated it with peoples from
elsewhere in the empire_I7s
_Kiir-Assur-A!J,u-iddina, bordering on the important Phoenician city of
Sidon. Esarhaddon destroyed Sidon and built a new city beside it, which
he named after himself. To this new city he brought deportees from the
mountainous regions in the eastY 9 Kar-Esarhaddon was a link in the.
chain of trading posts which the Assyrians set up along the eastern coast.
of the Mediterranean.rso
Kirbit. East of the Tigris, on the border of Elam. It was conquered
by Ashurbanipal who deported part of its population to Egypt, and
brought people from conquered countries into the city and its surrounding.lBI
JJ1iidiija. Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II waged several wars in the
land of Media. Both kings deported a large part of its inhabitants. Sargon
II brought deportees from the land of Ratti into the various cities and
villages of the .M:edes.1s2
Marqasi. A royal city in Gurgum. Sargon II conquered the land of
Gurgum and its royal city :M:arqasi, and brought in deportees from
countries east of the Tigris, including people of the Sutu tribes.Isa
176
Rost, 'I'iglath-pileser III, p. 24:142-145. On Kinalia see J.D. Hawkins, Iraq
36 (1974), pp. 81-83; K. Kessler, WO 8 (1975-1976) pp. 50-52.
176 w·
kl
,
me er, Sargon, p. 30:176--178; J. N. Postgate, Iraq 35 (1973), p. 29 with
regard to ND 2759.
117
Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 62:87-88.
178
Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 107:6--11.
179
Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 48:7-49: 13.
180
See B. Oded, in B. Oded et al. (eds.), Studies in the History of the Jewish People
and the Land of Israel. Haifa 1974, pp. 34--35 (Hebrew).
181
Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, p. 98: l-15; p. 156: c) 1-10; ARAB 850, 894, 908.
See also Zadok, WSB pp. 11, 43.
182
ARAB II, 183, II Kings 17:6.
183
C.~· Gadd, Ir~q 16 (195~), pp. 183:-184; In letter ABL 966 the king orders
tho settlmg of certam yeople _m Marqas1. ABL 190 possibly deals with settling
deportees from Marqas1 m various places, including Dur-Sharrukin.
Aims and Objectives of :Mass Deportation
66
.Melidi (Malatya). Sargon II deported its inhabitants in the year 708,
. J a k'm. 184
rebuilt it and brought in deportees from the land of B ItJli empi. In Egypt. Esarhaddon captured the city of Memphis. Later, it
was again captured by Ashurbanipal, who settled Assyrian soldiers .there
and appears also to have brought to this city deportees from the City of
Kirbit.l 85
Nahal JJiusu1·. A city bordering on the Sinai peninsula, by the brook of
El-Arish or Gaza. Sargon II deported a number of the inhabitants of a
certain country and settled them in the neighbourhood of "the city. of
the river of Egypt," a border area dividing Palestine from Egypt whiCh
had great strategic value. 186
Nikkur. Tiglath-pileser III deported part of the populati?n .of thi~ city
on the border of the land of Namri, rebuilt it, and brought m mhabitants
from conquered countries. 187
Nippur. Animportanttrading city inBabylonia,from whichSennacherib
deportedArabians,Aramaeans and Chaldaeans .. From doc~~entABL 238
we gather that Nippur was inhabited by a mixed, multdmg~al population,lss some of whom, it would seem, were deportees or then descendants.189
Niqqu. On the border of the land of Nairi. Tiglath-pileser III captured
it, deported its inhabitants, rebuilt it, and repopulated it with deportees.l 90
Siimirina. The capital of Northern Israel. Sargon II deported 27,280
(or 27,290) of its inhabitants, rebuilt it, and brought in deportees fro~
various countries, including Arabian tribes.l 91 The town of Samana
became the capital of the province of Samaria. Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal brought further batches of deportees to Samaria.l 92
Winckler, Sargon, p. 66: 398-399 and pp. 116:112-118:117; Gadd, I.raq.16
(1954), p. 179 col. IV: I-12; Hawkins, op.cit. (above, n.l75), pp. 75-80. Arg~shtll,
the king of Urartu (789-766), had already deported inhabitants from :Mehd, see
Konig, op. cit. (above, Ch. In. 8), p. 89.
.
185 ARAB II, 771, 850; H. Lewy, JNES 11 (1952), p. 280 n. 83. Cf. Isamh 11:11.
186 H. Tadmor, JGS 12 (1958), pp. 77-78.
187 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 8:36-37.
.
188 See translation of rev. line 6 in GAD$ p. 192a, s.v. ;nllu.
.
189 See also ABL 572, 960 and the Aramaic epigraphs in legal texts whwh were
found inNippur. Vattioni, op. cit. (above, n. 136); :M.D. Coogan, BA 37 (1974), p.7.
190 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 30:176-179.
. ,
.
191 II Kings 17; and note verse 24 "in the towns of Samaria . Wmckler, Sargon,
p. 4: 11-17; p. 20:94-97. Tadmor, op. cit. (above,. n. 186), pp. 33-40; W. L. :M~ran,
GBQ 38 (1976), p. 224; On:Megiddoas aprovmmalcentrerebml~bytheAssyrmns,
seeR. Amiran et al., BASOR 149 (1958), pp. 25-32. For II Kmgs 17 see Cogan,
Imperialism pp. 105-108.
192 Ezra 4:1-2, 9-10.
184
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
67
. $imirra. On the Phoenician coast. Tiglath-pileser III brought to this
City and other cities in Syria inhabitants from Babylonia and from east of
the Tigris_19a
Tasa. A city on the Assyrian-Urartu border. Tiglath-pileser III deported part of the inhabitants of this place, rebuilt it, annexed it to the
province ofNairi and brought in inhabitants from conquered countries.I94
Til-Garimmu (Togarma). An important city-fortress that dominated
several highways in the land of Kammanu on the border of Tabal.
Sargon II captured it in the year 712 from Tarhunazi, king of l\Telid, and
deported a number of its inhabitants. He brought into the city deportees
from east of the Tigris, including people of the tribe of Sutu.I9s
Tu'immu. A city in northern Syria, in the country of Pattina. To this
and oth~r cities in the ~rea Tiglath-pileser III brought deportees from
Babyloma and from terntory to the east of the Tigris.t9s
Zamua ( M azamua). From this region, on the eastern border of Assyria
Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III deported a number of inhabitant~
197
to Assyria.
Tiglath-pileser III replaced the deported inhabitants with
deportees from Babylonia.I9s
7. ltepopulating Abandoned or Desolate Regions
and lUaking them l''it for Agriculture
~h.e planned restoration and resettlement of cities and villages in key
pos~t10ns or on .the bor~ers of the empire 199 accorded with the Assyrian
agncultural policy, whiCh was to increase the areas under cultivation.
The _PUrpose of .this activity was to ensure economic stability, to provide
and mcrease reliable sources of food, and to enrich the state treasuries.
, The econom_ic exploitation of conquered territories was a perfectly
Ieasonable pohcy, smce no benefit could be derived from ruined cities
an~ desol.ate areas. The rebuilding of a city necessitated the development
of Its agncultural surroundings, since the existence of the city depended
193
.
Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 24:145-146. It is possible that ABL 190 deals
with deportees living in Simirra.
<
194
Host,S 'I'iglath-pileser I I I, p. 30: 176-179 ·, p. 46: 34-36 .
uo L.
Ie, ar~on, p. 34:210-214; Winckler, Sargon, p. 112:81-82.
196
Rost, Ttglath-pileser III, p. 24:148.
197
E. Michel, Shalmaneser III, WO 2, p. 410· D. J. Wiseman Iraq 14 (19~2) p
33:34-36.
,
'
'J
198
199
ARAB, I, 764. For Aramaeans in Zamua see Zadok, TVSB p. 26i
J. E. Reade, Iraq 34 (1972), p. 105.
11
•
5.
,
•
68
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
on this, just as the villages were in turn dependent on the city for various
services, such as marketing, administration and defence. 200 The rebuilding of Til-Kamri, east of the Tigris, on the border of Elam, 201 and the
restoration and repopulation of the city of Ashur-Iqisha in the land of
Ulluba, north of Assyria 202 are examples of this interrelationship. In both
cases, the surrounding lands were prepared for cultivation and the
neighbouring villages were resettled. 203 The expansion of the Assyrian
empire brought vast territories under its domination, some of which were
inhabited and others abandoned or barren. This created a need for manpower to cultivate the land, in order to achieve the objective of Assyrian
agricultural policy. 204 It is therefore no coincidence that cornlands and
granaries are frequently mentioned in connection with conquered territories and strategic settlements. 206
When Rab-shakeh, the captain of Sennacherib's army besieged Jerusalem, he tried to persuade its inhabitants to rebel against their king,
Hezekiah, surrender, and open the city gates to him. He said: "Do not
listen to Hezekiah; these are the words of the king of Assyria: Make
peace with me. Come out to me, and then you shall each eat the fruit of
his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink the water of his own cistern,
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land
of grain and wine, of corn and vineyards, of olives, fine oil, and honeylife for you all instead of death" (2 Ki. 18: 31-32).
These words express Rab-shakeh's intention to deport the inhabitants
of Jerusalem; they also contain a promise to settle them in a land like
their own, "a land of corn and vineyards." Rab-shakeh's words may be
compared with Sargon II's boastful remarks in the Bull Inscription:
2oo On the interdependence of the city and the villages around it see D. Grove, in
Ucko, Man, p. 560; R. McC. Adams, in Ucko, Man, p. 735. ~ee. also p~rases_h~~---:
alu Kirbit u alanisu, Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 14: 10; alam dannute ad~. al_am
sehrute sa lirnetisunu, Luckenbill, Sennacherib p. 68: 14; and Cf. also the Btbhcal
~;pression "the city and its daughters," Jos. 15:47 which means the pity and its
hamletsftownsjoutlying villages.
201 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 2:8-10; p. 42:6--7. Tiglath-pileser III called the
new city Kar-Ashur.
.
202 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 52:41-45; D. J. Wtseman, Iraq 18 (1956), p. 119,
and below, n. 215.
2oa In ND 2664 (Iraq 23, 42) there is an official report that "t~e harve~t ~s ripe
and cut" in several towns, among them Ka.r-Ashur. The restoratiOn of Ktrbtt was
connected with the restoration of the villages in the vicinity, ARAB II, 894;
Piepkorn Ashurbanipal, p. 14:10. See also ABL 456.
2o• ADB, p. 25. On the agrarian policy of the Assyrian kings see Zablocka, Agrarverhiiltnisse; id., Landarbeiter.
oo• N. B. Jankowska, in Diakonoff, Ancient Mesopotamia, p. 256.
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
69
"~h~ king who ha~ se~ his mind to resettling the abandoned outlying
diStncts and to culttvatmg land left fallow (also) to planting orchards."2oa
In the context of the Assyrian deportation policy, which was based
on a two-way traffic of deportees, 207 it is clear that both Rab-shakeh
and Sargon II were intending to settle the deportees in the areas ravaged by war or depopulated by conquest and deportation. In the reign
of Sargon II, large tracts of land in Babylonia had been abandoned for
several years as a result of the wars against the cities of Babylonia and
nomad herdsmen. Thorns and thistles covered the land, wild animals
multiplied, and nomad tribes made their home there. Sargon II claims
that he drove out the nomad tribes, prepared the soil for cultivation
restored the ruined settlements, and brought in inhabitants from con~
quered countries. 208 Sargon II also says that he brought deportees from
Kummuh and settled them in the "destroyed" land of Bit-Jakin while
the inhabitants of Bit-Jakin were deported to Kummuh, to the ~itv of
l\1elid which he rebuilt. 209 The city Sur-marrati, situated on the bank of
the Tigris in Babylonia, had been in ruins for many generations. Sennacherib rebuilt it and repopulated it. 210 Esarhaddon speaks of the restoration of the city of Babylon. 211 From letter ABL 942 we are given to
under~tand that many parts of Babylonia were in ruins and many cities
a_nd :dlages were abandoned and desolate. The Assyrian policy of cultivatmg ~eserted are~s and repopulating territories by bringing in deportees, m order to mcrease agricultural production, and the national
~evenue from taxes, was not confined to Assyria and Babylonia but
mcluded several other countries in various parts of the empire.2t2 In 2
.~yon, Sargon, p. 42:36-39; CAD Z, p. 52b, s.v. zaqiipu; CAD Aj2 p. 408b,
s.v .. asabu, As ~orrepopulatmg abandoned regions in the light of 4D.D.8!.19. and the
Cylmder Inscnptwn of Sar?o~ II, see Po~gate, NARGD, pp. 62-69; ll'I:::ll8. It
sho?-ld be noted that the brmgmg ?f deportees to Assyria andtheir empioyment in
agnculture made It possible to enlist more Assyrian citizens in the army
207
See Chapter III, p. 28. The very system of two-way deportatio~ acted to
prevent, to some degree, the desolation of conquered territories.
208
.
C. J. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), pp. 192-193; cf., Jer. 50: 39; 51:37-38. Cf. D. H.
Htllers, Treaty-Curses and the Old Testament Prophets [Biblica ct Oricntalia 16]
Ro.~e 1964, pp. 44--45; F. C. Fensham, ZA W 75 (1963), pp. 166-168.
'
Lte, Sargon, p. 64: 16; Winckler, Sargon, p. 124:137-139; and p. 66:398-399 ·
Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), p. 179.
'
210
A. K. Grayson, A/0 20 (1963), p. 94:115-118.
2
• "
See abov_e n. 128. On the destruction of Babylon by Sennacherib see Luckenbill, Sennachenb, P- 84: 51-54.
212
As for A~syria proper see e.g. ND 2449 (Iraq 18, 40-41). Zablocka, Landarbeiter,
P· 21_1, accordmg to whom most of the deportees were settled in the centre of the
emptre, e.g., Assyria and its immediate surroundings. As for Babylonia cf. settlements
named after peoples and places e.g. Ellipi and Qatna, see above, Ch. II n. 34.
206
70
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
Ki. 17: 6, we read that the king of Assyria (Sargon II) conquered Samaria
"and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in
Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Modes" (cf. I Chron.
5: 26). These regions and phwes are situated on or near the borders of
Assyria: "the cities of the Medes" on the eastern border, Halah on the
northeastern border, and the river Habor and the city of Gozan beyond
the western border. The mountainous areas east and north of Assyria
(Kurdistan) were particularly vulnerable, and the kings of Assyria waged
numerous wars in these regions. 213 As a result many cities were destroyed,
arable land was laid waste, and large numbers of people were deported. By
bringing in deportees, mostly from the west, to these newly created settlements, the kings of Assyria intended to strengthen the eastern and northern borders of the empire and protect them against invasion by tribes
and foreign armies. Also, they were able to restore the ravaged areas
and increase the imperial revenue by rebuilding towns and making land
available for cultivation. 211 In the seventh year of his reign (739) Tiglathpileser III set out on a campaign to the north against the country of
Ulluba on the northern border of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser III relates that
he captured 29 cities and that the Ullubaeans fled to the hills. In these
captured cities he settled people from various conquered countries. He
215
also built in the land ofUlluba a new city which he called Ashur-Iqisha.
There are no clear statements in the royal Assyrian documents concerning
the deportation of the Children of Israel to the region of Halah, nor of
the deportation of any other population to this region. But we gather
from administrative and legal documents that foreign nationals were
settled in this region. In a legal document, ADD 755, mention is made of
a man by the name of A-M-ia-qa-a-mu. In a contract concerning the sale
of a vineyard we find a short note (just two words) in Aramaic script
(ADD 522 = ARU 380). From letter ABL 421 216 and document ~BL 480
we may infer that some of the fields in Halah belonged to the kmg, who
distributed part of them to the temples or to high ranking officials. From
the above data, together with evidence from the Old Testament, we may
21a Mainly in the regions between Media proper and the Tigris, like Bit Hambm1,
Parsua, Namri, Kamulla, Zamua (Lullume), and in regions on the border of Assyna
with Urartu, like Manna, Nairi, Ulluba, Qumanu, Hubushkia.
21• J. N. Postgate, Countryside, p. 237; On the widespread settlement ~nd popul!~,­
tion growt.h in the Diyala valley in tho NA and NB perwds as a result o~ systematw
settlement of conquered population" see R. McC. Ada~s, Land Beh~nd Baghdad,
Chicago 1965 pp. 58-59; id., The Uruk Countryside, Chicago 1972, p. 55.
,.
21• See above n. 202; J. N. Postgate, Sumer 29 (1973), pp. 51-54; Rost, 'l11Jlathpileser III, p. 22: 133; p. 46:28-29.
210 See also S. Parpola, AOAT 5/1, p. 80, No. 114.
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
71
infer that deportees were settled in Halah and worked the lands they
received from the king or the temples or various officinls. '.Yhilo thoro is
evidence of deportations to Hnlah, there is no evidence of deportations
from Halah. The same situation prevailed in the region of Barhalzi on
the south-western border of Halah. Tiglnth-pileser III settled deportees
from the cities of Babylonia and from Babyloninn tribes in the region of
Barhalzi. 217 'West of Assyria, there is a wide steppe ("Jnzira") which
includes the river Habur. On the bank of one of the tributaries of this
river stood the town of Gozan. This wide region extends up to the river
Balih, beside which the town ofHarran was situated. The kings ofAssyria,
from the days of Ashur-dan II, were very active in establishing settlements in this unpopulated region, which wns the main corridor linking
Assyria with the western states. They settled deportees here and gave
them land, vineyards, orchards and pasture, and supplied them with
ploughs, draught-horses and livestock. The deportees cultivated that
land and made it fertile, thus increasing the agricultural produce, as well
as the imperial revenue through taxes. 218 The memorial stele from Tell
al-Rimah (some 80 km. south of Mosul) erected by Adad-nerari III may
be considered as an additional source of evidence. 219 After a short description of his campaign against the land of Ratti and the surrender of Damascus, we read the following: "At that time I ordered Nergal-eresh the
governor of Rasapa, Lake, Sirqu( ? ), A nat, Suhi and x to (... ) ... a total
of 331 towns of subject peoples which Nergal-eresh founded and built in
the name of his lord." 220 The province of Rasappa extended over a wide
area, from the Euphrates valley up to the river Habur. S. Page has
rightly assumed that the people who were brought to inhabit these rebuilt
and new cities came, most probably, from the land of Hatti. 221 The large
number of cities and villages that were rebuilt is evidence of a deliberate
217
ARAB I, 764; see also ND 2470 (Iraq 18, 53) which probably deals \rit.h the
resettlement of people from the Puqudu tribe in the district of Ba.rhalzi. In KD
2679 (Iraq 23, 43) mention is made of sick wonwn and children, perhaps deportees,
in relation to Barhalzi. It seems that also ABL 1371, ND 2671 (Iraq 27, 20) mav
hint at deportations to Barhalzi.
·
218
Postgate, op.cit. (above n. 214), pp. 236-239; Tadmor, West, p. 40. Oates. in
Ucko, Man, pp. 803-804. On the archaeological evidence for the resettlement of
this wide area see D. Oates, Iraq 30 (1968), p. 130.
219
S. Page, Iraq 30 (1968), pp. 139-153; On the campaigns of Adad-nerari III
see A. R. Millard-H. Tadmor, Iraq 35 (1973), pp. 57-64.
220
Page, op. cit. (above, n. 219), p. 143; see also Postgate, Countryside, p. 238
and a reference there to K. 764 concerning areas of cultivated land in the desert of
Rasappa (mudabiri sa mat Ra:;appa).
221 Page, op. cit. (above, n. 219), p. 147.
72
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
((c.'l~ E:
policy of settling the extensive region w,eilt of the Euphrates. 222 Further
evidence of this policy is supplied by the information engraved on a stele
erected by Bel-harran-beli-usur. This stele, found at Tell Abta, 223 tells of
the foundation of Dur-bel-harran-beli-usur in a desert region, apparently
the region of Jazireh. In the Bible there is mention of a deportation from
among the Children of Israel to Gozan (Tell-Halaf), on the bank of one
of the northern tributaries of the river Habur. 224 Information concerning
the deportations of Israelites and other nations to Gozan may be gathered
from administrative and legal documents found at Nimrud, Nineveh, and
Tell-Halaf.2 25 Such are ABL 633, ND 2619 (Iraq 23, 38), and in particular,
the documents from Gozan itself. 228 From document ND 2800 (Iraq 28,
191) we learn of the existence of crown land in Gozan or in the vicinity.227
Further west, on the banks of the Balih river stood the famous city of
Harran, which was situated on the road linking Mesopotamia with Syria.
There is no evidence in the royal texts of deportations from or to Harran.
But from a collection of documents ("census lists") found at Nineveh,
relating to parcels of land in and around Harran, 228 we gather that deportees were settled in the province of Harran. These lists "represent part
of a census of property in the area of (and probably the province of)
Harran, listing the people, animals, houses and land in each farm or
village." 229 A considerable part of these lands were royal estates or land
granted to high officers which was cultivated by local people and deportees.230 Two of the tablets mention families from the land of Gam222
D. Oates, Iraq 30 (1968), p. 130 "our survey of sites in the plain around
Tell-al-Rimah has shown a remarkable intensity of Late Assyrian settlement, including a number of large, though apparently unfortified, sites". See also above,
n. 220.
223
ARAB I, 823-827; ANEP, No. 453; ''~~·Schramm, Einleitung in die assyrischen Konigsinschriften, II, 1973, pp. 122-123. The official who erected the stele
served under Shalmaneser IV and Tiglath-pileser III.
2
"
II Kings 17:6; 18:ll; I Chron. 5:26.
225 Malamat, Exile, and bibliography there. R. Degen, in R. Degen et al. (eds.),
Neue Ephemeris fur Semitische Epigraphik, I, Wiosbadon 1!)72, pp. 49-57.
226 See above n. 225; "'eidner, Gozan, p. 6. For Arabians in Gozan see Zadok,
WSB, pp. 220-221.
227 Text K. 535, published (only a portion of it) by S. Parpola, attests to the
existence of crown land as well as fields granted to high-ranking officials by the king
in the province ofGozan. S. Parpola, ZA 64 (1975), p. 109 n. 28.
••• ADB: Fales, Gensimenti; S. Parpola, ZA 64 (1975), pp. !J6-ll5, For bibliography see Fales, Oriens Antiquus 14 (1975), p. 328 n. 6.
229 Postgate, 'l'axation, p. 39.
230
van-Driel, Land, p. 175 according to whom ADB, No.5 deals with "parcels
of land distributed among deportees"; and so Postgato, Countryside, pp. 232, 242,
and Taxation, pp. 34-35 (a portion of these fields belonged to high officials).
Zablocka, Palast, pp. 100-101 (crown-land); A.R. Millard, BSOAS 38 (1975) p. 424.
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
73
bulu. 231 These "collected" Gambulaeans were probably only some of the deported families to whom the authorities alloted "unclaimed and previously
uncultivated areas, thus bringing more land into cultivation."232 The
Assyrian agrarian policy was also applied to areas further away from the
centre of the empire. As stated above, the city was surrounded by and
connected with a number of villages which constituted its agricultural
environs. The inscription from Tell al Rimah, mentioned above, contains
a list of names of the cities built, as well as the number of satellite villages,
such as: uruDur d I nanna 12 urukapri.inisu = "the town of Dur-In anna
with its 12 villages." 233 The restoration of cities in various parts of the
empire, e.g. Damascus, Samaria, Illubru and Kirbit, and the process of
repopulating them with deportees, thus involved the rebuilding of the
villages in their vicinities and the preparation of the soil in the surrounding
agricultural area for cultivation. 234 From a damaged text, we gather that
Ashurbanipal proceeded in a similar way in the area around Memphis
in Egypt. zas
Document ND 2671 (Iraq 27, 26-27) speaks of field crops under the
supervision of the Assyrian governor, in the neighbourhood of Arpad in
Syria. These lands, it appears, were the property of the king of Assyria,
and were cultivated either by the local population or by deportees who
had been settled there.
To conclude this topic, we should mention a number of documents
which appear to imply the application of the Assyrian agrarian policy to
parts of southern Syria. Letter ABL 414 mentions the city of Hiesa which
was situated at a crossroad in southern Syria, but was abandoned. An official
by the name of Bel-liqbi writes to the king concerning the repopulation
of the city and the allocation of land to its new inhabitants. 236 Letter ND
231
ADB, No.6, VII, 4: nap!Jar !Jubte kurGambuli; ADB, No. 5, II, 25--28. For
more aliens, probably deported families, being mentioned in the Census Lists see:
ADB, No.1, II:41 mentions mku-sa-a-a, probably an Egyptian; ADB 5:16 mentions Ka-ku-us-tu mar Ar-ta-la-nu, possibly an Iranian name; ADD 741:14 men·
tions A-a-u-id·ri ( = Iau-idri), possibly an Israelite, see Fales, Censimenti, p. 68;
Zadok, Jews in Babylonia, p. 4, and p. 23 n. 35: ADB No. 5: 22-23 mentions
Chaldaoans "probably sottled as ploughmon," van-Driel, Land, p. 17!). For Arabians
see Zadok, WSB, p. 220.
••• Postgate, Taxation, p. 35; id., Countryside, pp. 238-239. See also, ADB p. 59;
van-Driel, Land, p. 175. Deportations of Gambulacans are known from the reigns
of Sargon II, Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal. See ARAB II, 32, 33, 234, 788 and
also ABL 541; ABL 846.
233
Page, op. cit. (above, n. 219), p. 142:15.
••• See e.g., the restoration of the city Kirbit and the sites in the vicinity, Piepkorn, Ashnrbanipal, p. 14:9-10.
236
Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 10:20-21; above, n. 185.
••• A. Alt, ZDPV 67 (1945), pp. 153-15!); B. Oded, JNES 29 (1!J70), pp.181-186.
74
Aims and Objectives of Mass Deportation
2437 (Iraq 17, 139-140) stresses the need for manpower to man the castles
and fortresses in southern Syria and cultivate the surrounding lands. This
document also mentions ten fortified settlements in the desert. 237 From
ND 2495, 23 8 one may infer that 2000 inhabitants ofKummuh were brought
to settlements in the desert (ina madbar ), possibly in southern Syria.
• Document ND 2644 (Iraq 17, 142) contains an order from the king of
Assyria to his officer about grazing land and field crops in southern Syria
and in the province of Damascus.
To sum up, the investigation of the system of mass deportation in the
Assyrian empire reveals a complex of aims and objectives, but all the
available evidence makes two points fairly certain: (a) The deportations
were not used as a means of acquiring or trading in slaves. The Assyrian
kings did not sell the deportees as slaves, and only seldom did they
reduce them to slavery (see next chapter). 239 (b) The Assyrians had no
overall ideological programme of merging nations and uniting mankind
culturally and spiritually, in contrast to the aim attributed (by historians,
ancient and modern) to Alexander the Great. 240 The purpose of the Assyrian mass deportations may be described as imperialistic and-to use the
actual words of the inscriptions-to dominate "the four rims of the
earth". 241
Postgate, Taxation, p. 382.
Postgate, Taxation, p. 381-382; id., Countryside, p. 238.
239 Gelb, Prisoners, p. 60 " ... eYen in the NA period, at the height of the Assyrian
military power, captured populations were not enslaYed, but deported and resettled
throughout the Empire." Zablocka, Landarbeiter, p. 212 who rightly differs between
sale of captives as slaves, about which there is no evidence in the NA records, and
making a present of captives to various institutions and private individuals, e.g.,
Esarhaddon with r(1gard to the deportees from Shubria. See Chapter V, pp. 111-112.
Sennachorib's treatment of tho citizens of Babylon was exceptional, and oven in
this case there is no mention, in the inscriptions of Sennachorib, that the Babylonians were sold, or reduced to slavery (Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 83: 43-54). But
cf. Borger, Esarhaddon, p. 25: 18-19, which may be a matter of exaggeration. It
seems that ABL 212 deals with the sale of captives, but not as a result of a formal
order from the king. ND 2707 "may be a distribution list of slaves, i.e. captives of
war" (Parker, Iraq 23, 45) but, in any case, not a sale of captives.
240 Oates, Northern Iraq, pp. 56-57.
241 At the same time it i~ worthwhile to point out that the Assyrian kings are represented in their records as acting with moral and legal justification, according to the
will of the gods and with divine assistance. See e.g. ARAB II, 935; ABL 139 and
B. Albrektson, History and the Gods [Coniectanea Biblica, OT Series 1] Lund 1967.
•37
238
CHAPTER V
OBSERVATIONS ON 'l'IIE J•OSI'l'ION OF DEI•ORTimS
1. General
Chapter IV comprises the normative aspects of the policy of mass
deportation. In Chapter V we intend to investigate the actual situation of
the deportees, both as individuals and as communities. It would indeed be
perfectly natural to devote this last chapter to a discussion of the socioeconomic and legal status of deported peoples. Nevertheless, we prefer the
general terms observations, position and conditions in referring to the study
of the actual socio-economic state of the deportees, to categorical definitions
pertaining to their legal, social and civic status. The reason for this is that,
on the basis of the extant information, it is not possible either to lay down
precise definitions in regard to the formal or "theoretical" status of the
deportees, or to offer a comprehensive solution of the problems concerning their status, in the framework of the social structure of the population in the territories of the Assyrian empire. This is the fundamental
and salient fact that one must take into consideration from the outset and
"as soon as one starts forcing the texts to yield results, either they remain
silent or they answer ambiguously." 1 Many essential questions directly
relating to the social and legal status of the deportees and their descendants cannot--as we shall see below-be unequivocally answered. Did all
the deportees have identical legal status? Did they constitute a separate
and distinct category of inhabitants with special duties or rights amidst
the indigenous population ? To whom did the land on which the deportee
was made to settle belong ? Could the deportees move freely from place to
place ? All these questions, and others not posed here, confront the researcher with the problems involved in the use of the terms "slave,"
"servant," "serf," "glebae adscripti," "pseudo-slave," "helot," "unfree,"
"semi-free" and "fully free." These, and a series of Accadian terms (see
below) which are very important in reconstructing social, economic and
legal situations, have given rise to controversy since each one has a wide
range of meanings. The confusion becomes still greater when we try to
delineate the social structure of the population of the ancient Near
East using classical, medieval (see above) and modern terms, such as
1
van-Driel, Land, p. 68.
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
"social classes" "social estates" "social strata," the definitions of which
are hotly disputed. 2 Moreover, the social stratification of the population
of Assyria and of the Assyrian empire, whether urban citizens or rural
inhabitants, is not clear, since we do not know for certain how the Assyrians
themselves defined the various components of their own society in socioeconomic and legal terms. It is therefore no accident that cautious scholars,
when dealing with social classes and land tenure in the ancient Near East,
deem it their duty to note or rather to stress the superficiality of our
knowledge in the matter of social classes, 3 and consequently propose
various contradictory hypotheses. Hence, even the most perceptive conclusions must be subjected to a critical re-examination.
A few remarks should be made here about the onomastic criterion as a
prominent factor in our method of investigating the topic of this chapter.
In the royal inscriptions there is hardly any information as to what
happened to the deportees after they had been brought t~ their d~stina­
tion by order of the Assyrian king. The main sources of mformatwn on
this question are the neo-Assyrian administrative and legal-business texts
found in the great cities of Assyria and outside Assyria. In many cases we
come across non-Accadian personal names. 4 vVhen using these proper
names as a guide, we have to take into consideration that it is impossible,
in many cases, to be sure whether the foreigner (if he is such) came to be
where he was by coercion as a deportee, or of his own free will. Nevertheless,
we consider it legitimate to exploit the onomastic material for the study
of the situation and conditions of deportees for the following reasons:
(1) We have already come to know that deportees in very large nu:nbers, from ''the four quarters of the earth,'' were brought to Mesopotamia.
Similarly, many others were dispersed throughout the empire. Hence, it
is highly probable that a considerable number of the foreigner~ w_ei:e
deportees or their descendants. One can reasonably assume that l~~Ivl­
duals in Assyria and Babylonia bearing Israelite, Judaean, Phoemcmn,
Trans-Jordanian, Egyptian or Iranian names are more likely to be exiles
than those bearing Aramaic, Elamitc or Arabian names. (2) In the discussion of the aims of the mass deportations it became clear that the
captives usually were not reduced to slavery, but continued to be employed in their professions and trades according to the needs of the empire.
Therefore it is plausible that many foreigners engaged in various occupations or transactions, or serving as soldiers or officials, were actually
deportees. (3) Most of the administrative and legal material comes from
royal and public archives (Nineveh, Nimrud, Ballawat, Gozan, SultanTepe). Thus, very many of the persons listed in such records are not just
"private" individuals, but had a certain connection with the state. A
large number of foreigners in such a category were deportees, although
the degree of their dependence is uncertain. However, it must be conceded
that this chapter goes beyond the specific discussion of deportees and
takes in a wider population of aliens bearing non-Accadian names or nonAccadian patronyms.
76
• See V. A. Jacobson, Bi Or 33 (11l76), p. 1\ll; Diakonoff, XVIII RAJ, p. 42.
Zablocka, Landarbeiter, p. 209 "Uber den Aufbau der neuassyr!schen Gc~ell­
schaft, spez. zur zeit der Sargoniden, ist unser \Vissen auserordenthch obcrftach·
lich"; van-Driel, Land, p. 170 "One of the most vexing proble~s. concerning ~he
social stratification of NA society is the scarcity of evidence clanfymg the pos1t10n
of its lower ranks"; Postgate, Countryside, p. 240 "Next to nothing is kno';n. of
the conditions of land tenure in the Assyrian Empire," and on p. 227: "It IS mevitably about these subjects that opinions must diverge." See also Gelb, XV Ill
RAJ, p. 90; 0. Klengel, OLZ 69 (1974) pp. 437-443; W: Rolli~g, RLA III, p. 233;
Fales, Oriens Antiquus 14 (1975) pp. 325--326; M.D. Elhs, Agnculture and the State
in Ancient Mesopotamia, Philadelphia 1976, p. 145.
• See Chapter I, pp. 11-16.
3
77
2. The Non-Uniformity in the Status and Position of the Deportees
As a starting point for our investigation, let us look at some documents in which there is direct information relating to the fate of the deportees. (1) Sargon II deported, so he claimed, 27,290 persons from
Samaria and settled in the city people from conquered territories. s From
the complex of texts dealing with this event, we learn that (a) some of the
deportees were taken into the Assyrian army; (b) others continued to
"exercise their craft," i.e. those who were craftsmen, administrators or
peasants continued to be engaged in their specific occupations; (c) those
brought to the land of Samaria (nise miitiite kisitti qiiteja) were put under
the control of an Assyrian officer: 1usilt resija h1bel piihiite elisunu a.skunma;
(d) With regard to those mentioned in (c) it is stated: itti ni.se (miit)
kurAssur amnilsunilti = "with the people of Assyria I counted them;"
(e) at the same time the Assyrian king imposed taxes on them; biltu,
maddattu k£ sa Assur£ emissunuti = I imposed upon them (the payment)
of tribute and gifts as if they were Assyrians." (2) Sargon II conquered
Melid and Til-Garimmu. He took 5000 captives ( sallat~l) to the city of
Ashur. He restored Til-Garimmu and settled deportees ( ni.se Jdsitti) there.
• For the deportations from and to Samaria, see above Chapter IV, p. 66; CAD
B, p. 236a, s.v. biltu.
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
These deportees were (partly or entirely) from the Sutu tribesmen, who
served as bowmen in the Assyrian army ( Sute niis qasti, :;iibe epis tahazi).
Sargon II appointed governors (bel pahiite) over the conquered territories
(Gurgum, Kammanu) and imposed duties (ilku tup.§ikku) on them. 6 (3) In
the records describing the restoration of Babylon, which had been ruthlessly destroyed by Sennacherib (689 B. C.), it is recorded that many of the
Babylonians were reduced to slavery (illikii resiita). Esarhaddon released
them and let them return to Babylon. 7 (4) Esarhaddon campaigned
against Abdimilkuti the Sidonian, seized Sidon and deported the innumerable inhabitants to Assyria (nisesu rapsate sa niba la isa ... ana qereb
kurAssur). He built a new city, which he named after himself, Kar-Esarhaddon, and settled there deportees from the east: nise !Jubut qa8tija8 sa
sade u tamtim ~it samsi ina libbi usesibma. The Assyrian king added the
conquered territory to Assyria, reorganized it as a province (ana essiite
~bat), appointed a governor and imposed taxes on its subjects (biltu u
maddattu). There is no distinction, in the text, between the deportees
settled there and the local inhabitants. 9 ( 5) Esarhaddon restored the
palace in Calah with the help of nise ki.Sitti miitiite .Sa ... ik.Sudii qateja. 10
(6) of particular interest is the information about the captives (ni.Se u
.Sallat) that Ashurbani pal took ( a!Jbuta) from the towns of Elam :11
(a) reseti ana iliinija a.Sruk = "the choicest I presented unto my gods."
(b) 111umrnani Itikitkittu . .. eli ki~ir .Sarriitija uraddi = "the soldiers, the
kiskattu ... I added to my royal army."
(c) sittiiti ana rniilliize .Subat iliini rabiite 11'piihiiteja 11;rabiiteja gimir kara.Sija kima ~eni uza"iz = "the rest I divided like sheep among the metropolises, the abodes of the great gods, (among) my officials, my noblesthe whole of my camp."12
In this case, we see clearly that part of the human spoil was placed at
the disposal of the authorities of the state, part was handed over to the
temples, and the remainder was divided up among private individuals.
(7) Similarly, Esarhaddon proclaimed, in regard to the prisoners from
Shubria: "I distributed the rest of them among my palaces, my nobles,
the entourage of my palace (and) the citizens of Nineveh, Calah, Kalzi
(and) Arbela." 13 (8) Only rarely is there any information about captives
being allowed to return to their homeland, like the citizens of Babylon
and the subjects of l\fita, the king of 1\Iushku, in the time of Sargon II.14
(9) In document ABL 633, dealing with the city ofGozttn, mention is made
of a certain Ijal-bi-.Su from Samaria, probably a deportee who was settled
in Gozan. There are two more persons bearing obviously Israelite names,
Pal-ti-ia-u and Ni-ri-ia-u who served as state officials_IS In this letter
there are references to ardiini .Sa sinni.Sat ekalli "the servants of the queen;"
ardiini .Sa miir .Sarri = "servants of the high ranking persons," arnel zaku =
"exempted persons." It should be noted that it is not absolutely certain
that the persons referred to are deportees or their descendants, but, in the
light of Ashurbanipal's above-mentioned text and the informr.tion about
deportees being settled in Gozan, it is reasonable to surmise that the
ardani referred to above were deportees. 16
78
• See Chapter IV, p. 67.
' Borger, As01·lwddon, pp. 15, 25; cf. Luckenbill, Sennacherib, pp. 83-85, 137-138,
161; CAD Z, p. 82b s.v. ziizu "tho people living therein wore distributed among
the foreign riffraff (and thus) went into slavery." Cf. above, Ch. IV, n. 239.
' Another version: ni8e ki8itti matiite sa ... ik8uda (Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 34:
40) or: ina kiSitti nakil·e 8adli1ti sa ... iksuda (Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 59: 36).
• Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 49, Episode 5; A. Heidel, Sumer 12 (1956) p. 12:28-30.
10 Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 34:40-42; A. T. Millard, Iraq 23 (1961) p. 178:36.
11 Aynard, Ashurbanipal, pp. 58-60:12-21; E. Weidner, A/0 13 ( 1939-41) p. 209
Fragment A: Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, pp. 58-60: VI 125 up to VII 8; ARAB II,
814. Cf. Cogan, Imperialism, p. 29 n. 41.
12 For translations see CAD kiSkattil, zazu, ~enu, aritu.
79
3. 'L'erminology and Socio-Economic Reality
In the foregoing instances, we come across terms such as ~iibu, ni.Sii,
nap.Siiti, .Sallatu, ki.Sittu, !Jubut qa8ti. The first three of these terms do not
refer only to captives, but to various groups of persons, and their meanings depend wholly on the context. Because of the ambiguity of these
terms, no conclusions can be drawn about the social and legal status of
the deportees designated by them. The terms .Sallatu, ki.Sittu, ltabatu are
used to denote prisoners of war, captives, deportees, but have no defined
social, economic and legal connotations, and therefore cannot indicate
the status of a deportee after he had been resettled. More complicated
are terms which probably have social and legal meanings, but whose
exact significance are open to various interpretations, and whose attribution to deportees is no more than speculation.
13
Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 106, III:22; CAD, Z, p. 82b, s.v. zazu.
See above Chapter IV, p. 63.
Meisler, Gozan, pp. 83-85; Malamat, Exile, p. 1035; Albright, BASOR 149
(1958) p. 36.
16
Cf. ABL 99 which probably does not deal with deportees, perhaps with "sons
of purchased men" (see Postgate, Taxation, pp. 251-253). Nevertheless, this text
can be used for the study ofsoeial problems, see e.g. Garelli, XV I II RAJ, pp. 76-77.
14
15
Observat.ions on the Position of Deportees
80
10
Observations on the Position of Deportees
10
In many state and business records the term Jaknu or sakniitu appears. According to V. A. Jacobson, in the neo-Assyrian period "the term
saknu designates a captive made to settle on the soil." 17 In accordance
with this he explains various texts such as "The Letter to the God Ashur"
of Esarhaddon. At the same time, Jacobson puts forward the theory
that the term zakku or zaku means "liberated (captive) made to settle on
the soil" (p. 291). 'We must clearly state our view that it is improper to
draw any conclusions from the terms saknu and zakku about the position
of the deportees for the following reasons: ( 1) There is no clear and explicit evidence that persons designated by these terms were actually
deportees. From "The Letter to the God Ashur" mentioned above we
can learn that some of the captives were called saknutu already before
their captivity, but there is no implication as to their civic status. (2) It
is difficult to agree with Jacobson's interpretation of saknu and zakku
since "saknu in itself does not mean more than appointed one ... and
there is no other possibility but to regard such saknu as some kind of
official, probably in charge of other people ... generally they are found
among people with military functions." 18 The term zakku refers to "an
Assyrian functionary who belonged to the lower stratum of the official
hierarchy"t9 and as such it is not restricted only to deportees, nor does it
imply a social category. The basic meaning of zaku, zaklcu is "exempted
one" and it refers "to that class of official which was absolved, because of
its administrative duties, from performing ilku service in person." 20 Other
important terms are l}iib sarri, nise sa sarri, ardani sa sarri. All of them
have a wide range of meanings, 21 and it is impossible to draw general
conclusions from them with regard to deportees. This is not only because
of much confusion over the terminology, but also because "understanding
of terminology is no key to an absolute understanding of social reality." 22
Jacobson, in Diakonoff, Ancient Mesopotamia, p. 291.
van-Driol, Land, p. 172; GAD]( p. 77b "man in charge of the border" (8aknftte ma'assi); GAD Jj, p. 24, s.v. [wdru and there on the saknu who was usually
the head of an association of fonda! tenants callod in the NB documents !J,adru.
10 GAD Z, p. 23a, s.v. zakkU.
•• Postgate, Taxation, pp. 241-243 and there p. 382 in regard to ND 2495:
27-28.
n It is quite plausible that in ABL 1292; ABL 1307 the termiJab-sarri refers to
deportees, but it is impossible to defin~ their juridical, econo~ic and.,s~cia} st~~u_s.
Cf. Postgate, Taxation, p. 219, accordmg to whom the meamng of IJab-sarn m
neo-Assyrian documents is "royal soldier"; P. Garelli XVIII RAI, p. 75.
22 van-Driel, Land, p. 174. The terms a!J,a, sana, which might have the meaning
of "stranger," "foreigner," from a juridical and socio-political point of view, are not
used for deportees, whether as individuals or as communities, in the NA records.
17
1s
81
The situation is that, on the one hand, the above-mentioned terms may
refer to various groups of inhabitants, whether deportees or not, while on
the other hand, we cannot isolate designations that have legal, social and
economic connotations but at the same time are deliberately restricted to
deportees. This very fact can be interpreted as evidence that the deportees
had no clearly defined and distinct status among the local inhabitants.
Such an explanation accords with our conclusion as regards the lack of
uniformity in the status and position of the deportees.
4. itti nisii
kur Assur
amniisum1ti
Our argument that the deportees were not assigned to any specific
social or juridical category and did not constitute a separate group among
the indigenous inhabitants is supported by the stereotyped phrase frequently used in reference to deportees: analitti nise kurAssur amniisuniiti
= "together with the citizens I subjects I inhabitants I people of the land
of Assyria I counted/ considered them."za
As early as the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I we find this phrase in
regard to deportees. In his first campaign to Kummuh and Mushku the
Assyrian king claims "six thousand (men), the remainder of their troops,
who from before my weapons had fled and my feet had embraced, I took
away ( alqasunuti) and ana nise matija amnusunuti. " 24 It is not stated
where the captives were taken to, but it is plausible to assume that, in
this early phase of the neo-Assyrian empire, they were settled in Assyria.
Ashurdan II conquered areas in the region of the Upper Euphrates,
deported the remainder of the inhabitants ( sitatesunu assulw) and counted
them with the inhabitants of Assyria. 25 Shalmaneser III deported 87,500
persons ( ummiiniite) from Ratti, and counted them with the inhabitants
of Assyria. 26 The formula ana nise kurAssur amnu(sun uti) appears also in
regard to 17,500 deportees from Bit-Adini who were brought to the city
of Ashur, 27 and in connection with 44,400 r;iibe who were deported from
23
See GAD Af2 p. 421 a, s. v. a8aru "listed them (on rolls) as are the other
(inhabitants) of Assyria."
•• AKA p. 37:84-88, p. 49: 6.
•• E. Weidner, AfO 3 (1926) p. 156:31-32. Weidner restores [ ... ana mis]ir
kurAMur amnft8unuti, but because of the verb mana (instead of taru), and since the
case deals with people (and not territories) it seems that there is no basic difference
in meaning, in this instance, between ana misir and itti ni8e.
•• P. Hulin, Iraq 25 (1963) p. 54:25--26. ·
27
Michel, Shalmaneser III, WO 2, p. 414:5--6; ARAB I, 621.
82
Observations on the Position of Deportees
various countries and were brought to Assyria. 28 Shamshi-Adad V took
captives from the town Meturnat, which was situated on the border of
Elam, deported them to Assyria and "counted them with the inhabitants
of Assyria." 29 The phrase itti nise kurAssur amnfisunnti is not limited to
deportees who were brought to Assyria but is used as well of deportees
who were settled outside Assyria; e.g. in the provinces organized in conquered territories. Tiglath-pileser III restored the city of Til-kamri in
Babylonia, called it Kar-Ashur, settled there people (nise) froi_B. co~~
quered territories and imposed on them biltu and maddattu, and: tttt mse
kurA88ur amniisunuti.ao In another text of Tiglath-pileser III it is claimed
that the king rebuilt Til-karmi, brought there people from Sutu land and
from Bit-Sangibutu, counted them with the inhabitants of Assyria, im31
posed on them ilku tupsikku ki sa Assud = "as on the Assyrians," and
placed his official in charge of the city. Similarly, the same king sett~ed
deportees from Babylonia in Barhalzi and Mazamua, counted them with
the subjects of Assyria, and imposed on them taxes "as on the Assyrians."
32
The newcomers were under the control of the provincial governors.
Tiglath-pileser III settled deportees from conquered territories in the new
royal town of Dur-tukulti-apil-esharra. He counted them with the in33
habitants of Assyria, and imposed upon them the maddattu-tax. Sargon
II rebuilt Samaria and brought to the city people from conquered countries. In one of his inscriptions 34 he claims: "My officer as prefect (bel
piihati) over them I placed and itti nise kurAssur amnfisunnti." In his
annals, as instead of this stereotyped phrase we find biltu maddattu ki sa
Assuri emissuniiti = "tribute and tax I imposed upon them as on Assyrians."36 With regard to the same event we read in the Display Inscription bilat san·i ma!p·i emissunnti = "the tribute of the former king
37
(Hosea, the last king of the Israelite kingdom) I imposed on them."
28 ARAB I, 617; Michel, Shalmaneser III, WO 2, p. 410; Hulin, op. cit. (above,
n. 26) p. 60.
2• KB I, p. 84:4, ARAB I, 723.
•• Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 2:8-11; p. 56:10-11.
at Rost, Tiglath-pileser I I I, p. 26: 149-150; On ilku tupsikku ~ee Postga~e,
Taxation, pp. 77-80. The same is the case with Nikkur, which the kmg had bmlt
anew and wherein he settled deportees; Rost, Tiglath-pileser I I I, p. 8: 36-37 ·
32 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 4: 17; ARAB I, 764.
33 Rost, Tiglath-pileser III, p. 6:21-26; ARAB I, 765.
34 C. J. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954) p. 179:37-41.
35 "Winckler, Sargon, p. 4: 16-17; Lie, Annals, pp. 4-6:15-18.
•• See Tadmor, JCS 12 (1958), p. 35.
37 ·winckler, Sargon, p. 100:24-25; ARAB II, 55. The sentence probably relates
to the deportees brought to Samaria. See also ABL 1201.
Observations on the Position of Deportees
83
Sargon II recounts his conquest of Til-Garimmu in the land of Kammanu
thus: "Til-Garimmu I restored. Sutean bowmen, captives of my hand
(another version: people which my hands had captured I settled therein)
I made to occupy the whole land of Kammanu . _ . that land I placed
under my official, and laid upon them ilku tupsikku dues like those of
Gunzinianu, the earlier king (sc. ofKammanu)." 3B 'With regard to Ashdod
and its daughter-towns Sargon II relates: "Ashdod, Gimtu and Ashdudimmu I besieged, I captured. The gods dwelling therein, himself, together with the people of his land ... I counted as spoil. Their cities I
built anew and settled therein the people of the lands my hands had conquered. My official I set over them as governor. I counted them with the
people of Assyria and they drew my yoke (isutu ab8ani)." 39 On the Cyprus
stele there is mention of deporting people from the land of Ratti to the
lands of the Medes and Ellipi. It is not recorded explicitly that Sargon II
counted them with the people of Assyria but "my official I set as governor
over them and made them bear the yoke of Ashur" (u8aldida nir dAssur).40
After Sargon II, the formulaic phrase itti nise kurAssur amnusunnti
completely disappears from the extant royal inscriptions, with reference
to deportees. Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipalmake mention
of deportations (aslula sallassu, sallatis amnu, alqa, al}buta, assul}a), of
resettling deportees in Assyria proper and outside Assyria, of imposing
dues and services, including labour, placing governors over the deportees,
but not once do they use the phrase "itti nise kurAssur arnniisunuti."4 1
While fully agreeing that it is methodically unsound to employ argumentum ex silentio, I maintain that one cannot ignore the astonishing fact of
the absence from the inscriptions of a very common formula, from the
time of Sennacherib onwards. We shall come back to this question, which
merits discussion, below.
In the Assyrian records, again until the time of Sargon II, the phrases
anafitti nise kurAssur amnnsunnti; biltu, maddattu ki sa Assuri emissunnti
38 Winckler, Sargon, p. 32:187-190; p. 112:82-83; ARAB II, 26, 60. Cf. Rost,
Tiglath-pileser III, p. 26:149-150 according to which ilku tup8ikku wcro imposed
upon deportees who were "counted with the people of Assyria."
39
Winckler, Sargon, p. 38: 227-228; p. 116: 109; Lie, Annals, p. 40: 259-262;
ARAB II, 30.
•• Winckler, Sargon, p. 176:33-36; ARAB II, 183.
41 Even if it could be shown that this expression occurs once or twice in the postSargon II period, this does not change the basic picture, for in such a case the once
common and stereotyped phrase would be there by way of exception. In an inscription of Esarhaddon, with regard to the Babylonians who returned to Babylon
it is said: "I counted them as Babylonians" Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 26, Episode 37,
Fassung b: D, lines 33-34; ARAB II, 646.
84
Observations on the Position of Deportees
are used not only of deportees, but also of the indigenous inhabitants of
conquered territories which were organized as Assyrian provinces. Ashurnasirpal II conquered areas which extended beyond the Tigris eastward,
and added them to Assyria. In regard to the inhabitants of those areas the
expression ana nise miitija amnu is used without any implication of deportation. The king appointed governors over the conquered areas and imposed taxes. 42 Sargon II conquered the land of Gurgum. Concerning this
case we read "I reorganized (and made a census of) the people of all of
Gurgum, I placed my own officials as governors over them and itti nise
kurAssur amnusunuti." 43 "The Letter to Ashur" records the eighth campaign of Sargon II to Urartu. Line 410 reads thus: nise nag£ sa uruMu?a?ir
itti nise kurAssur amnuma ilku tttpsikku ki sa.a8suri emissunuti. In various
inscriptions of Sargon II it is stated that he conquered countries, appointed governors over the indigenous inhabitants, and biltu maddattu k!i sa
Assuri emissunuti. 44 In contrast to this, there is no mention in the royal
records of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal of the common
formula "tax and tribute as on the Assyrians I imposed on them,"
although it is stated in their inscriptions that they imposed various taxes
and services on the deportees and on conquered territories. 45 Taxes were
imposed by Esarhaddon upon the inhabitants, old and new, of a province
in Phoenicia after his conquest of the city of Sidon. 46
From the above, it may be inferred that there was no essential distinction between deportees who had been settled in a certain conquered
country and the indigenous inhabitants of the same country. Both were
listed as the inhabitants of Assyria, and were liable to various taxes and
services. The conclusion is that the above mentioned stereotyped phrase
does not designate a special social category, and that the deportees and
the indigenous inhabitants of a province were equal in the eyes of the
Assyrian ruler and officials. Both were under Assyrian domination and
•• AKA p. 181:29-32; p. 195:1-5; p. 217:11-12; p. 384:125; R. C. Thompson,
AAA 19 (1932) p. 109:24-25. See also the words of Ashurnasirpal II: "I added
additional territory to Assyria (and) people to its population" Grayson, ARI 2,
p. 175. As for Gaza in 734 see D. J. Wisemann, Iraq 13 (1951) p. 23:18-19.
u Winckler, Sargon, p. 36: 212-215; p. 115: 86-89; Lie, Annals, p. 38:5. GAD
Af2, p. 142a; Lyon, Sargon, p. 14:20-21.
.. Lie, Annals, p. 4: 10; Lyon, Sargon, p. 32: 16; ARAB II, 118.
' 5 E. g. Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 55:59; p. 57: 19; Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 103:
12-14; Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 11; ARAB II, 798, 939.
•• Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 48-49, and see also, Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, p. 80:
117-118, ARAB II, 830; BM 116230 (Postgate, Taxation, pp. 360-62).
Observations on the Position of Deportees
85
47
protection. This conclusion is fully in accord with our thesis of the lack
of uniformity in the status of the deportees. Apparently both the captives
and the people of a conquered country were the property of the conqueror
by right of military conquest. The registration of the captured booty,
human as well as animal, and the reports to the king about the condition
of the deportees during the march, may be taken as evidence that this
spoil was formally considered the king's property. 48 It is very important
to note that in the royal inscriptions describing deportations it is not
claimed that the Assyrian kings counted the deportees with, for instance,
ardani sa sarri, ardani sa elcalli, ?iib sarri or even with nise sa 8arri, 49 but
repeatedly itti nise kurAssur amnusunuti. This salient fact in itself can be
taken as an argument against the view that the deportees had the status
of "half slaves," "half free," "royal servants," "helots," "pseudo-slaves"
or glebae adscripti. 50 Those "permanent residents from Sidon" who lived
in Nineveh and "disport themselves in the center of the city each one in
51
his inn" were far from having the status of unfree residents. The marriage conveyance from Nimrud (ND 2307) 52 concerning two respected
Phoenician families, may reflect the freedom that deportees could enjoy.
This considering the deportees as part of the people of Assyria reveals the
basic essential Assyrian attitude to deportees, at least until the days of
Sargon II. The masses of deportees were not automatically retained as
slaves. The Assyrian empire, in contrast to the Roman empire, was not
militarily and economically organized to turn large masses of captives
into slaves, or to absorb the hundreds of thousands of deportees into its
forced labour gangs. The deportees were considered Assyrian subjects,
because they were settled in Assyrian territory. As such, they had to be
taught "to revere god and king." 53 As Assyrian subjects they were liable
'' See, e.g., AB!- 238; "There are many foreign peoples in Nippur under the
p:otectwn of the kmg my lord" (GAD L, p. 214a, s.v. lisanu). In ABL 633 "The
kmg my lord IS our fortress (and) our guard" (GAD D, p. 8!la s.v. dannatu). Soo
also ABL 771:5-7 "\Ve were dead dogs (but) tho king our lord has restored us to
lifo (and) the plant of lifo ho has put to our nostrils," and lino 12: /fa sarri attum~ =
"you belong to the king."
48
See Chaptor III, p. 40.
•• For groups designated as such see, e.g., ABL 99; 913; 915; 925; 1292; ND
2803 (Iraq 23, 55).
50
See e.g. Gelb, Prisoners, pp. 91, 95-96.
51
ABL 175; GAD D, p. 58b, s.v. d6.lu .
52
Postgate, Fifty, No. 14, pp. 103-107; J. Greenfield, BSOAS 40 (1977) p. 603.
63
S.M. Paul, JBL 88 (1969) pp. 73-74; Gogan, Imperialism, pp. 50-51; M.
Wemfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, Oxford, 1972, p. 163; and cf.
AKA p. 62:29-31 "itti dagil pan dA88ur belija amnusunuti."
86
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
to civic and military obligations.M We may go a step further and say that
the same obligations as those imposed on deportees and on the inhabitants
of a conquered territory were also imposed on Assyrians settled outside
Assyria, as in Hamath, 55 Carchemish56 and.TabaJ.5 7 This is a further confirmation of the view according to which the Assyrian attitude to a
person was based first and foremost on his political affiliation and the
territory he lived in, and not on his ethnic-national identity, and that
territorial unity rather national purity determined the attitude of the
Assyrian kings to conquered population. In any case, there are no firm
grounds for drawing a sharp line of demarcation between indigenous
Assyrians and deportees settled anywhere in the Assyrian empire by the
command of the king.
Certain obligations that were imposed upon the deportees are explicitly mentioned in the royal inscriptions-biltu, maddattu, ilku tupsikku,
dullu. Additional information on this matter comes from the administrative texts, although in many cases it is impossible to decide if the
document in question deals with a deportee or simply a foreigner.
The dullu-duty is mentioned in connection with lands and settlements
to which deportees were brought, such as Halah (ABL 1180) Samaria
(ABL 1201 = SLA 97); Nippur (ABL 238) Gozan, Rasappa and Arzuhina (ND 2666, Iraq 25, 74); Zamua (ABL 3ll); Kar-Sharrukin (ABL
128); Kish (ABL 1322); Meturnat (ABL 251). Letter ABL 175 mentions
Sidonians who did not perform their duties. ABL 43 mentions people
from Gozan and Barhalzi that did not pay their taxes. 58 Documents found
at Tell-Halaf (Gozan) record taxes in silver, livestock and agricultural
products. 59 TheSE nusii~u (corn tax) was imposed on the inhabitants of
the province of Samaria (ABL 1201). The scribes of the city of Kalzi
mention the ilku tupsikku (ABL 346). 60 Tiglath-pileser III conquered the
city of Zakruti, rebuilt it, and brought there people from conquered territories.61 Text ND 2655 (Iraq 20, 191) records a tax paid to the king
by the residents of this place. ABL 1292 lists people called §iibe .sarri
from Dur-Ladini, who were brought to do state corvee work. Dur-Ladini
was rebuilt and resettled by people from various countries conquered by
Sargon 11. 62
Did the deportees have the civil rights enjoyed by the Assyrian and
non-deported inhabitants? The royal inscriptions mention the dues imposed on the deportees, especially the biltu and maddattu. Nothing is said
with regard to civil rights or privileges. We have already stressed the fact
that the deportees were "counted as Assyrian people" and not as state
slaves or as the "king's men." From the abundant administrative business
and legal documents, and also from the Old Testament, one gets the impression that the deportees were not deprived of the rights of free persons.
They lived a family life, had property (land, slaves, silver), were creditors
and debtors, had the right to engage in litigation, in commerce and business transactions, and the right to witness contracts and suits, and to
maintain their ancestral traditions. The instances below are based on the
onomastic criterion which, in this chapter, is our main guide.
•• Cf. Garelli, XV I I I RA I, p. 74 who suggests that the stereotyped phrase
mainly indicates the obligations of the deportees; D. Oates, Northern Iraq, p. 57,
n. 1, is of the same opinion. As for the native Assyrians, it is impossible to say
anything certain about the difference (if any) between mare Assur and nise Assur.
See Garelli, XV I I I RAJ, p. 78.
66 Winckler, Sargon, p. 178:61-65; ARAB II, 183.
6 ' Winckler, Sargon, p. 10:50; p. 86:45; Lie, Sargon, p. 12:76.
61 Winckler, Sargon, p. 102:32; ARAB II, 55.
•• For taxes from Barhalzi, see also ABL 71; ABL 532; for conquered territories where deportees were brought to settle, see e.g., ND 2672 (Postgate, Taxation, pp. 14, 387-388); ND 2640 (Iraq 23, 40).
•• Weidner, Gozan, pp. 6, 29ff.
80 Esarhaddon rebuilt Kalzi and settled there people from conquered territories;
Parpola AOAT 5/1, No. 85; Postgate, Taxation, p. 78.
87
Witnesses-ADD 17 (ARU 246), ADD 30 (ARU 254), 63 ADD 38 (ARU
300), ADD 39 (ARU 299), ADD 50 (ARU 301), ADD 54 (ARU 244),
ADD 102 64 ADD 186 (ARU 476), ADD 207 (ARU 509), ADD 215 (ARU
166), ADD 299 (ARU 64), ADD 234 (ARU 523), ADD 238 (ARU 201),
ADD 307 (ARU 37), ADD 324 (ARU 36), ADD 513 (ARU 392), ADD
572 (ARU 568), ADD 577 (ARU 589), ADD 578 (ARU 588), ADD 1194:
rev. 12, ND 252, 65 ND 2305, 66 ND 2339, 67 ND 3433,6s BM 123369,69 Bl\1
134554, 70 BM 123384, 71 Assur No. 5, 72 Museum No. 8612. 73
Creditors and debtors-ADD 1 (ARU 287), ADD 3 (ARU 283), ADD 26
ot ARAB I, 795, 811.
•• ARAB II, 35.
83
Zadok, Jews in Babylonia, p. 23 n. 38, (Ma!J-si-ia-a-u).
•• Postgate, Fifty, No. 45.
•• Postgate, Governor, No. 85; Fales, WSem. Names, p. 186. See also ND 205,
Postgate, Governor, No. 104:8).
•• K. Deller, Sultantepe, p. 474.
61
B. Parker, Iraq 16 (1954) p. 58, lines 12-13.
•• D. J. Wiseman, Iraq 15 (1953) p. 142, and p. 156 (Ia-u-!Ji-e).
•• Postgate, Iraq 32 (1970) p. 144.
1o Ibid, pp. 148-149.
71
Ibid, pp. 142--143.
72
Lipinski, SAIO, p. 104.
73
Postgate, Fifty, No. 18.
89
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
(ARU 255), ADD 41 (ARU 294), ADD 66 (ARU 124), ADD 99 (ARU
240), ADD 129 (ARU 313}, ADD 148 (ARU 325), ADD 151 (ARU 319},
ADD 155 (ARU 237), ADD 720 (ARU 329); ND 211,7 4 ND 216, 75 ND
498, 76 ND 2089, 77 ND 215, 78 ND 3443, 79 BT 108, 80 Assur No. 5. 81
Slave owners and slave transactions-ADD 86 (ARU 43}, ADD 161
(ARU 51}, ADD 175 (ARU 203), ADD 176 (ARU 630), ADD 177 (ARU
183), ADD 179 (ARU 473), ADD 182 (ARU 496), ADD 197 (ARU 488),
ADD 198 (ARU 472), 82 ADD 214 (ARU 510), ADD 215 (ARU 166),
ADD 231 (ARU 202), ADD 234 (ARU 523), ADD 245 (ARU 81), ADD
250 (ARU 72}, ADD 254 (ARU 192), ADD 260 (ARU 552}, ADD 286
(ARU 528}, ADD 311 (ARU 53), ADD 312 (ARU 467), ADD 447
(ARU 61), 83 ND 214, 84 ND 478, 85 BT 105 (Iraq 25, 91).
Real estate owners and land transactions-ADD 69 (ARU 134), 86 ADD
324 (ARU 36}, ADD 329 (ARU 359), 87 ADD 331 (ARU 356), ADD 335
(ARU 337), ADD 336 (ARU 172), ADD 343 (ARU 363), ADD 349 (ARU
340}, ADD 384 (ARU 436), ADD 391 (ARU 394), ADD 429 (ARU 105},
ADD 437 (ARU 440}, ADD 443 (ARU 97}, ADD 468 (ARU 439}, ADD
625 (ARU 116), ND 5550, 88 BM 121043, 89 Museum No. 8612. 90
Law-Suits-ADD 321 (ARU 659); BM 123360. 91 ND 2091, 2095 (Iraq
16, 35-36).
Miscellaneous transactions-ADD 479 (ARU 623), ADD 307 (ARU
37),9 2 BM 123369, 93 ND 5457, 94 ND 2335 and 2338 95 , BT 120. 96
It is true that not all the individuals who bore non-Accadian names and
lived in Mesopotamia were deportees or descendants of deportees, and
that not all the Aramaic documents found in Mesopotamia were written
by deportees. Nevertheless, since many deportees were brought to the
important cities of Assyria and Babylonia, it may be plausibly assumed
that a considerable proportion of the men and women who bore foreign
proper names, especially West Semitic, Egyptian and Iranian names,
were deportees or their descendants. 97 The basic attitude of the Assyrians
towards deportees, as explained above, permits us to surmise that the
latter enjoyed the privileges granted to the city where they happened to
be living. The citizens of Babylon wrote to the Assyrian king that "the
privileged status (kidinniitu) of every man entering the city, no matter
who he may be, is established." 9 8
Here we must pause to discuss the absence of the formulaic sentence
itti nise kurA§§ur amniisuniiti from the royal inscriptions of Sennacherib,
Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal.
The absence of this stereotyped phrase is by no means accidental or a
matter of scribal style, but reflects a shift in the attitude of the Assyrians
to the deportees and foreign nations. The impressive victories of Tiglathpileser III and Sargon II, in the course of two generations (7 45-705),
gradually fostered a sense of the superiority of the Assyrian people over
other nations. The old ideology of Assyrian domination of the whole
world, 8ar ki88ati sar kibriit erbettirn, started to become an apparent
reality during the eighth century B. C. and especially when Sargon II
defeated the kingdom of Urartu in the north-east (the eighth campaign)
and reached the border of the "city of the Brook of Egypt" in the southwest.99 This realization of the national ideal promoted the growth of
self-confidence and national pride.
The Assyrians were the victors, the overlords, while all the other
nations were inferiors, and any attempt to throw off the yoke of Assyria
was doomed to failure. No country was equal to Assyria, and every
treaty was a vassal treaty.
The Assyrians' conception of their own superiority is echoed also
in Isaiah 10:12, "I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king
of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." 100 The tone of contempt and
88
,. Postgate, Governor, No. 93.
76 Postgate, Governor, No. 90; Fales, op.cit. (above, n. 65) p. 186.
76 Postgate, Governor, No. 105; Fales, op.cit. (above, n. 65) p. 186.
11 B. Parker, Iraq 16 (1954) p. 35; Fales, op.cit. (above, n. 65) p. 183.
78 Postgate, Governor, No. 106; Fales, op.cit. (above, n. 65) p. 185.
'' Postgate, Fifty, No. 49.
80 B. Parker, Iraq 25 (1963) p. 92; R. Zadok, BASOR, in press.
81 Lipinski, SAIO, p. 104. See also Postgate, Iraq 35 (1973) pp. 34-35.
82 Lipiilski, SAIO, p. 109.
83 For the name ltlar-di-i see Fales, Or. Ant 16 (1977) p. 53.
" Postgate, Governor, No. llO.
85 Id., Governor, No. 8.
86 R. Zadok, W0 , 1977, p. 52.
9
87 Deller, Sultantepe, p. 474.
88 B. Parker, Iraq 19 (1957) pp. 135-137.
89 A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972) pp. 133.
90 Postgate, Fifty, No. 18.
91 J. N. Postgate, Iraq 32 (1970) pp. 131-132; Fales, WSem. Names, p. 185.
92 Postgate, Fifty, No. 13; Zadok, Egyptians, pp. 66--67.
93 J. N. Postgate, Iraq 32 ( 1970) pp. 144-145. A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972) p. 134.
94 B. Parker, Iraq 19 (1957) pp. 131-132.
85 B. Parker, Iraq !6 (1954) pp. 44-45; Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 51, No. 100.
•• B. Parker, Iraq 25 (1963) p. 96; Fales, WSem. Names p. 182.
See above, pp. 76-77; K. Deller, Orientalia NS 35 (1966) p. 194.
ABL 878 (SLA 62); GAD K, p. 344 b s.v. kidinnritu and cf. H. Reviv, Shnaton,
II, 1977, p. 212 (Hebrew).
99 H. Tadmor, JGS 12 (1958) p. 78. Cf. Nabopolossar "the Assyrians, who had
ruled all people since olden days" V AB 4, p. 68: 17 and GAD B p. 200 s. v. blilu.
1oo See also Is. 14:4-27.
97
98
90
91
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
irony towards the enemy grows more and more marked in the inscriptions of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal.1° 1 Rab-shakeh, in
his propaganda speech to the besieged citizens of Jerusalem, offered them
nothing but complete surrender: "Until I come and take you away to a
land like your land ... " (2 Ki. 18: 32). This deep-rooted feeling of
superiority led to a sterner attitude towards deportees, and sharpened
the differentiation between Assyrians (marejnise kurAssur) and non-Assyrians. Thus, the process of Assyrianization, whether political, social or
cultural, now encountered psychological and national obstacles. This is,
we believe, one of the underlying reasons for the disappearance of the
formula itti nise kurAssur amnfisuniiti. There were also several practical
considerations which contributed to the change in attitude towards
deportees (and foreigners). The more the empire extended, the more its
needs grew, and especially the need for a mass of manpower for various
back-breaking public works such as building palaces and temples, digging
canals, constructing roads, erecting city walls, building and rebuilding
towns and fortresses, supplying various services to the royal household
and to the enlarged army. More and more, the captives were exploited as
a source of manpower mainly for forced labour, and as cheap human material to be utilized to the best military and economic advantage. In the
royal inscriptions from the time of Sennacherib onwards, the deportees are
not said to be counted as the residents of Assyria, but the emphasis is on
the deportees as booty, sallatis amnu, nise matate kisitti nakiri, fyubut
qa8ti, sitti nise ... sallatis amnu, 102 on corvee tasks and various taxes imposed upon deportees and subjected peoples. In the reliefs of Sennacherib,
the depiction of captives doing hard physical work is a salient feature. 103
Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, as well as Sennacherib, record in their
inscriptions the use of people from conquered territories for hard labour,
"to carry the basket and to mould bricks." 104 The effective employment
of manpower of the kind mentioned above was connected with the creation of mobile units of workers available for any task, which were at the
disposal of the king and his officials. These workers were really but little
different from slaves (see below, pp. 109ff.). There is also a further point
which is relevant to our argument. The citizens of Assyria, who bore the
main burden of the wars and their consequences in loss of life and property, desired reward and compensation. Expectations arose among
officers and officials, soldiers and civilians of deriving benefit from their
efforts and of enjoying some part of the fruits of victory. We think it is no
mere accident that information about the distribution of booty (captives
and livestock) among private individuals comes mainly from the records
of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal.
In the foregoing we have tried to explain the change of attitude in the
Assyrian public (including the rulers) towards the subjugated peoples and
deportees. Nonetheless, it was neither a radical nor a fundamental
change, in the sense of reducing the captives to slavery, or using all of
them for exhausting public works and/or corvee tasks and considering
them wholly as booty to be divided up among the Assyrian citizens
"like sheep." The change was in emphasis and quantity, but certainly
not in principle. Deportees in greater numbers became state-dependants
who lived under slave-like conditions, or were handed over to temples
and private individuals. However, that was not the fate of all the deportees, but only of a part of them. Most of the deportees were still "as
the people of Assyria," 105 with obligations and rights. They owned private
property, and some of them served in the state administration and in the
royal army (see below, pp. 99ff.
At this point we can sum up our findings with the conclusion that the
deportees were not all of the same status and did not all have the same
conditions. The paragraphs that follow will survey the conditions and occupations of foreigners, a considerable portion of whom were deportees
or their descendants. In the survey below, based on the neo-Assyrian
material, I shall content myself with giving just a few representative
examples in each section.
E.g. ARAB II, 593ff.; 800, 815, 828, 857, 866, 935.
Luckenbill, Sennacherib, 28:21, 38:30, p. 52:33, p. 54:52 and passim; Borger,
Asarhaddon, p. 106:31, p. 20, Episode 19, Fassung c:E; p. 59, Episode 21:47 and
passim; Streck, Ashurbanipal, II p. 44: 9--10; Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 53: 40-42,
p. 70:38.
103 Paterson, Palace, pis. 23, 24, 27-28, 31-35, 87; E. Strommenger, The Art of
Mesopotamia, London 1964, No. 228.
104 Above, pp. 57-58. True, Ashurnasirpal II and Sargon II mention the use of
deportees for corvee work, but they stress it less than the later kings, in addition
to the fact that the deportees were considered by them subjects of Assyria.
101
102
5. Landowners and Agricultural "\Yorkers
Agriculture was the economic basis of society in the Assyrian empire.
Therefore, it is only to be expected that many (if not most) deportees,
106 See e.g. Streck, Ashurbanipal, II p. 4:18-19 (= Rassam Cylinder 1:18-19):
"He gathered together the people of Assyria, great and small, from the upper to
the lower sea" (ARAB II, 766).
93
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
mainly those who had already been tillers of the soil and shepherds in
their homelands, continued to be engaged in agriculture in Assyria
proper and in the provinces. 106 Rab-shakeh "promised" the citizens of
Jerusalem "a land of corn and vineyards" (2 Ki. 18: 32). His intention
was to settle them in the countryside and let them live by agricultural
work.1o7 There is abundant evidence that the Assyrian king allotted plots
of land to various categories of his subjects, in Assyria and the provinces,
e.g., in the vicinity of Argite in Syria (ABL 414), 108 Halah (ABL 421 =
SLA 176), Gozan,I 09 Quwe, no Hatarikka, Sumur (ADD 1077)lll and
Memphis. 112 In view of the Assyrian aim of having the deportees
strike roots in the new place, it is only natural to find deportees and
their descendants holding real estate like houses, gardens and fields andfor
working in agriculture. From the so-called "Assyrian Doomsday Book"
we can learn that plots of land were distributed among deportees.u 3
A. Below are several instances involving, as we believe, deportees.
$illi-A88ur, who bears the title h1A.BA. 111 Mu-f!u-m-a-a ("the Egyptian
scribe") buys an estate in Nineveh (ADD 324 = ARU 36). The deed
bears the date 692 B.C. 114 Text Museum no. 8612 is a legal document
about the division of an inheritance (estate, silver, slaves) between
Ifu-ut-na-a!J-te and P~t-di-mu-nu, both Egyptian names. 115 Two sons of
an Egyptian sold a "house" to an official of Ashurbanipal in 671 B.C.
(ADD 331 = ARU 356). Using the onomastic criterion, we can find many
persons who bear non-Accadian, mainly '\VSem. names, taking part in
various transactions in real-estate, for example: (a) ADD 391 (ARU 394)
Se-er-id-ri sells a field. (b) ADD 360 (ARU 373) Id-ri-ia sells an orchard. 116
Tablet ND 5550 (Iraq 19, 135) from the temple of Nabu in Calah
records a gift of land bordering on eqli sa Ad-u-mu uru$i-du-na-a-a ("the
field of Adumu the Sidonian"). Many deeds refer to owners of lands
bordering on the object of the sale. Here are a few examples: (a) ADD 429
(ARU 105), a plot of land (eqlu or kiru) of Ku-sa-a-a (the Cushite/the
Egyptian): orchard (kiru) of Bi-bi-a-[w,-lu-?u (probably a Phoenician).
(b) ADD 425 (ARU 413), an estate of Ab-di-lti-mu-mt (a Phoenician)
and Aa,i-qa-mu (WSem). (c) ADD 625 (ARU 116), a field (eqlu kapru)
of Aa,i-ia-qar.U 7 (d) ADD 391 (ARU 394), a field (?) of Za-bi-ni.U 8
(e) ADD 69 (ARU 134), a field of A-a-me-tu-nu.u 9 (f) ADD 386 (ARU
171), a field of A!J,i-lim-me.l 20 (g) ADD 343 (ARU 363), a house (bitu) of
Jla-zu-gu.l 21 (h) ADD 329 (ARU 359), a house of fla-ba-ltu-ru. (i) ADD
349 (ARU 340), a house of Ili-ma-na-ni. 122 (j) BM 128026+128146, a
field of Da-na-ia-ti-ili. 123 In a list of plots of land (ADD 755) in the
province of flala!J!Ji there is mention of 20 imer eqli sa Ba-ra-[ki j and
20 imer eqli sa {fa-an-ni-i, both WSem. proper names. 124
Deeds of sale or loans with Aramaic epigraphs and WSem. proper names
should also be taken in consideration, such as (a) ADD 522 (ARU 380),
a deed of sale of a vineyard (krm) in {fala!J!Ji (b) BM 121043.1 25 Such
documents, which are of Assyrian and Babylonian provenance, probably
deal with foreigners involved in the transactions.
B. The extant information about foreigners, some of them deportees,
who were employed in agricultural work is abundant. There are many
references to 111ENGAR = ikkaru =farmer, cultivator, 16 NU. gi 8KIRI 6 =
nukarippu =gardener, 111 SIPA = re'u =shepherd.
In a deed of sale Ab-du-u-ni (N'\VSem.), a cultivator, together with two
of his family, are mentioned in a transaction involving the sale of real
92
1os Cf., Zablocka, Agrarverhaltnisse, p. 83, according to whom most of tho
deportees were occupied in agriculture, including some of those who wore taken to
the army.
101 Cf. ABL456, rev. 13 (GAD A/1, p. 248a,s.v. akcilu); VAS 6, 70:15 "settlement
of the Ellipian farmers" (Zadok, Iran 14, 65) which may refer to descendants of
exiles from Ellipi who had been settled by Sennachorib or Esarhaddon in Babylonia.
108 Above, p. 74.
108 S. Pnrpoln., ZA 64 (l!l71i) p. lO!l, n. 28.
no ADD 743. Fales, Gensimenti, p. 82. Soc Znhlocka, Landat·be·iter, pp. 213-214
and of. ND 275!) (Iraq 35, 2!l) nbout deportees settled in Quwe.
m Postgate, NARGD, p. 108.
m Piepkorn, Ashurbanipal, p. 10:20-21; H. Lewy, JNES 11 (1952) p. 280 n. 83.
m AD B p. 55: "This must have been a frequent proceeding on the part of those
Assyrian kings who transported large portions of the nations they had conquered
and settled them in districts far removed from their old homes. The settlers were
not left to their own devices but given lands and homes on a fairly liberal scale;"
van Driel, Land, p. 17 5; Postgate, Countryside, pp. 226 ff. Cf. ARM IV 4, 86; V 85.
1"
One of the vendors boars the WSem. name Atar-suri.
116 Postgate, Fifty, No. 18; Zadok, Egyptians, for more Egyptian names in this
document dated to 622 B.C.
us For more examples see above, p. 88 under "Real-estate owners and land
transactions.''
"' Line 11 lists Man-na-a-a, probably the Manaean.
118
Sec also in ADD 392 (ARU 31); ADD 393 (ARU 424); ADD 394 (ARU 169).
119
R. Zadok, W09 (1977) p. 52; Gry, Israelites, p. 5 (157).
120 R. Zadok, BASO R, in press.
121
Lipinski, SAIO, pp. 122-123.
12• Lipinski, SAIO, p. 118.
123
Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 51.
124
Schiffer, Spuren, pp. 29-30 and there also the name of A[ti-ia-qa·a-mu. See
also ADD 66 (ARU 124) I. 9: Se-'.ba-rak-'ku'; Fales, BSOAS 40 (1977) p. 598.
m J. N. Postgate, Iraq 32 (1970) pp. 139-142; A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (19i2)
p. 133.
94
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
estate and persons (ADD 429 = ARU 105). So is Qar-O,a-a (WSem.), a
farmer (ADD 420 = ARU 100). Pa-ru-ta-a-ni (Iran ?), 126 a farm labourer
belonging to a certain official, is a witness in a record of court proceeding
(ADD 160 = ARU 657). 127 Na-be-ra-mui 28 (WSem.), a farmer, is listed
as a witness in a legal text (ADD 294 = ARU 49). The Gambuleans
recorded in ADB No.5 are cultivators.I 29 The same document and ADB
No. 6, which also mentions men from the Gambulu tribe, list persons
called nukarippu (gardeners). Some of the persons listed are deportees,
as already conjectured by C. H. W. Johns.Iao Za-bi-nu (WSem.), the
gardener, was sold together with a field and other souls (ADD 447 =
ARU 61). Ga-la-gu-su, 131 a'shepherd, is one of the witnesses in a legal
document (ADD 386 = ARU 171). It seems that Sa-gi-bi and Sa-ga-ba
were shepherds in the service of the palace (ND 2414, Iraq 23, 24).1 32
Documents containing royal commands to cultivate or distribute lands,
or letters from officials to the kings about fields and quantities of produce,
may have to do with agricultural manpower, consisting partly of deportees,
on crown lands. Such texts are (a) ND 2664 (Iraq 23, 42-43), a report from
a certain official that "the harvest is ripe and cut." The report lists
workmen and settlements such as Dur-bel-ilaja and Kar-Ashur, two cities
known to have been rebuilt and resettled by deportees. 133 (b) ND 2671
(Iraq 27, 26-27) contains an order from an official to "cultivate a thousand
(units) of corn-land." (c) ND 2437 (Iraq 17, 139-140)-a letter from an
official named X-lja-ti who resides in the town of Hiesa in Syria, dealing
with corn land in the regions of Hiesa, Laba'u and Supite. The writer
asks for additional men to cultivate the fields in the vicinity. 134
C. Here we come to the very complex and puzzling problem of the
socio-economic and legal status of the deportees who cultivated the soil
and/or engaged in real estate transactions. 'Were they free persons,
helots/serfs or slaves ? Did the deportees own the real estate ?
Due to lack of explicit evidence it is impossible to answer these questions categorically. 135 Nevertheless, we would like to point to some clear
cases relevant to the questions mentioned above, and to make some
observations.
It is generally agreed among scholars that slave labour did not play
a decisive role in the economy of the civilizations of the ancient Near
East.l 36 The Assyrian kings in the neo-Assyrian period did not sell their
prisoners of war as slaves and in most cases did not reduce them to slavery.l37
APN, p. 302.
Postgate, Fifty, No. 43.
128 R. Zadok, BiOr, 33 (1976) p. 227a.
129 Postgate, Taxation, p. 35 "in all 10 farmers, 3 youths ... total 24 Gambulians who have all (just) now been collected."
130 ADB p. 26. "In no. 5 and perhaps no. 6 we have probably to do with the
settlements of a large number of captives, taken in war."
131 Fales, WSem. Names, p. 181.
13 2 On Sgb see Lipmski, SAIO, pp. 106-108.
133 C. J. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954) p. 186; ARAB I, 782, 788.
134 This letter is connected with ABL 414. See B. Oded, JNES 29 (1970) p. 185.
For the theophoric element of the name see Zadok, WSB p. 46.
120
127
95
On the basis of the extant information, it is obvious that the juridical
status of those who tilled the soil, whether they were natives or foreigners,
was not uniform.Ias To a great extent the status of the peasant was
intimately connected with and determined by the status of the land on
which he lived. Analysis of the documents in the "Assyrian Doomsday
Book" leads to the conclusion that there were at least three types of land,
as far as land ownership was concerned:I 39 (a) Private land, which belonged to the peasant who cultivated it. This freehold property was called
A.SA ra-man-i-8u-nu ("their own").l 40 (b) Land, including the property
and the peasants, which belonged to certain individuals, probably of the
nobility. In ADB No. 6 Col. VII there is mention of the Gambuleans
and it is said that they are in U RU.SE (kapru) of a certain Rem-a-ni-ilu.I4~
(c) Royal estates_I42
It is quite certain that some of the agrarian population were tied to the
land, i.e., they were unfree persons. 143 This fact is attested by many
136
See e.g. van-Driel, Land, p. 170: "Agriculture must have been the basis of
society, but the juridical status of those who tilled the fields remains one of the
least kno_w_n subjects;" Postgate, Countryside, p. 240: "Next to nothing is known of
the conditiOns of land tenure in the Assyrian Empire."
138
Garelli, XVIII RAJ, p. 78 "Maison ne constato pas l'existonco do voritahlos
latifundia, ni de grandos concentration d'esclavos, comparablos a ceux de !'empire
romain;" Dandamayev, Slavery, p. 480.
137
Zabloeka, Landarbeiter, p. 212, and soc below, pp. 109-ll 5.
138
van-Driel, Land, p. 170; Postgate, Countryside, p. 240.
139
Postgate, Taxation, pp. 31-35.
140
See e.g. Fales, Censimenti, p. 15:9.
141
Fales, Censimenti, p. 39; see also ADB 6, col. I:6, 13.
~ .. E.g. URU. SE. LUGAL, ADB, No. 1, col. I:38. Zablocka, for example,
claims that new settlements were built only on crown land and that most of the
lands in the empire were crown-land (see below).
143
In the light of the accepted view that it is incorrect to use the words slave,
slaver~, a_s far as agrarian P.~pulation is concerned, the scholars prefer to put these
terms 1~ Inverted. com~as slave,". "servile," "pseudo-sklaven," "serf," etc. E.g.
I. M. Diakonoff, 111 Th2rd lnternatwnal Conference of Economic History. Munich,
1965 Vol. III, p. 29.
96
97
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
contracts in which real-estate (houses, fields, orchards) is sold, together
with the persons and families who happened to be living on it. 144 Ab-du-u-ni
the cultivator is sold together with a field and a house (ADD 429 =
ARU 105). Qar-l!a-a the cultivator is sold together with a field (ADD 420
= ARU 100}. Such is also the case with Za-bi-nu, a nukaripp7t (ADD
447 = ARU 61). 146 llfar-di-i, a mtkarippu, is sold together with his wife
and daughter (ADD 235 = A R U 231 ). Texts of royal grants record gifts
of fields, houses, orchards, and people to officials and temples. 14 6 The
people who were bestowed together with the estate may justifiably be
described as unfree or "helots." In contrast to the material cited above,
which points to a certain degree of servitude on the part of the cultivators
and to their being tied to the land, there are cases in which foreigners
are landowners and sell or buy parcels of land, with no indication of their
being dependants. Such texts relating to land purchase or inheritance are
ADD 437 (ARU 440}, ADD 384 (ARU 436}, ADD 329 (ARU 359), ADD
391 (ARU 394), Museum No. 8612; 147 the two contracts ofland purchase
from Gezer. 148 The freeholders of land were, of course, liable to taxation,
performed services and paid taxes just like nise kurAssur. The central
question is, what was the socio-economic and juridical status of the deportees who were settled in the countryside as ikkaru, nukarippu, re'u,
whether in Assyria proper or in conquered territories ?
J. Zablocka, in a series of studies, presents her conception of the
"Agrarverhiiltnisse" and "Landarbeiter" in the "Reich der Sargoniden."
For the convenience of the reader we take the liberty of summarizing
her main conclusions, as far as deportees are concerned.
(c) Most of the deportees were settled on crown land and worked the
fields. They received land which belonged to the state, but the land was
not considered their private property. For example, the "Assyrian
Doomsday Book" includes census lists of the crown land in the districts
of Harran. Some of the persons mentioned in the lists are deportees. 151
(d) The status of the deportees and the settlers on the crown-land was
that of ardu = "Sklaven," they belonged to the crown. They were royal
slaves ("konigliche Sklaven"). Their relative economic independence was
subject to the palace, since they were not the owners of the land. As
slaves, they could be sold or given together with the land on which they
were settled. The equation is ardu = saknu = zakku = ikkaru. 152
(e) Although they did not have personal freedom, they were not mere
chattels. They were entitled to a family life, had the right to enjoy the
products of their labour and to appear in court, paid taxes and services,
and could even have "eine kleine Parzelle als Eigentum." 163 The grants
of crown-land to private individuals involved changing their status "von
einer nominellen Unfreiheit der koniglichen Sklaven zur faktischen der
Landarbeiter auf Privatgiitern." 154
(f) In the light of the foregoing, the status of the deportees could be
fairly defined as that of "Pseudo-Sklaven." 155
The actual existence of crown land and royal estates is reflected in
many documents, not only in Assyria but also in other countries too. 156
However, to claim that most of the land in the Sargonid period was
crown land is merely an unproven assertion. That the "Assyrian Doomsday
Book" had to do with crown land is no more than conjecture. Terms like
(a) Most of the lands in the Sargonid period (i.e., 8th-7th centuries)
had the status of crown land.l4 9
(b) New settlements were built on crown land only.l 50
tH Soc M:ondolsohn, Slavery, pp. IIO-lll. According to Mondolsohn, "thoy woro
sltwos puro and simplo" (p. 110). But cf. M.D. Ellis, op.cit. (above, Cltaptor V, n. 3)
p. 145 "But the fact that the names of the occupants of a particular parcel of land
arc onumoratcd when the land changes hands, duos not necessarily imply that those
individuals arc slaves or unfree."
14 • Jacobson, in Diakonoff, Ancient Mesopotamia, for more texts concerning sale
of land together with the souls living on it.
146 E.g. Postgate, NARGD, Nos. 13 and 14.
147 Postgate, Fifty, No. 18.
148 R. A. S. Macalister, The Excavation of Gezer, I, London 1912, pp. 24--29.
Gezer was included in the province of Samaria.
149 Zablocka, Palast, p. 112; Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 156.
160 Zablocka, Palast, p. 97; id., OLZ 72 (1977) p. 583.
151 Zablocka, Agrarverhiiltnisse, pp. 83, 156; Landm·beiter, p. 214; Palast, pp. 97,
99, 100, ll3. So Diakonoff, RZOA, pp. 90-104; id., op.cit. (above n. 143) p. 29.
m Zablocka Landarbeiter, p. 212; Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 156; Palast, p. 101; so
Diakonoff, XV III RAJ, p. 51.
163 Zablocka, Landarbeiter, pp. 209-211; Agrarverhaltnisse, p. 156; Palast, pp.
97, 113 and on p. 113 "Sio bosaf.lon die Rochto dor froion assyrischon Biirgor, nicht
aber die pcrsonliche Freiheit." Diakonofi considers thorn a special kind of slavo,
RZOA, p. 102; id., XV III RAJ, p. 51 "The land was alloted to them on condition
of service."
m Zablocka, Palast, p. 113; Landarbeiter, p. 212; Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 158, and
so Jacobson, op.cit. (above, n. 145) p. 294.
m Zablocka, Agrarverhiiltnisse, p. 156; Cf. Johns, ADB p. 24 who defines them
as glebae adscripti; Fales, Oriens Antiquus 14 (1975) pp. 354, 358, calls them "popolazione servile" id., Gensimenti, p. 131 (permanently tied to the estate).
168 I. Mendelsohn, BASOR 143 (1956) pp. 19-20; J. N. Postgate, BSOAS 34
(1971) p. 496 according to whom in the Middle Assyrian period all "private" land
was normally held as a concession from the crown in return for performance of ilku
obligations.
98
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on tho Position of Deportees
ina kipani, saknu, on which Zablocka bases her definitions can be given
another and contrary interpretation. 1 6 7
One can agree with Zablocka that, in letter ND 2449 (Iraq 18, 40) we
are concerned with people resettled in Kalzi. 168 From this letter it may
be understood that the new settlers received (or perhaps the governor
promised them) parcels of land as their private property ("ana ramiinini"). But from the text it is absolutely impossible to infer that the
status of the new settlers was that of "Pseudo-Sklaven." At most, they
were compelled to work in the neighbouring fields, which were the
property of the crown, as part of the services they were obliged to render
as Assyrian subjects, and to pay harvest tax. As for (e), it should also be
taken into consideration that a peasant, whether native or deportee in
origin, who had a small plot could lease a parcel of land from a noble or
from the state in exchange for services which he undertook to perform as a
tenant. Moreover, the material on which Zablocka bases her theory was
taken from state archives. Thus, the persons listed in those records were
connected with the state. It is not clear therefore, if those groups can be
said to reflect the common situation, or if they were just special cases. 159
We can only say, with a great degree of certainty, that those who
received a parcel of land from the state and tilled it had to pay taxes and
to perform services for the king in return. But their juridical and social
status was not uniform. Much depended on the social conditions, the
possibility of control by the authorities, the type of land, and the position of the deportee. Among the deportees, there were free peasants who
owned the land they tilled, there were tenants, helots/serfs and even
slaves. One may suggest, somewhat hesitantly because of insufficient
information, that there was a gradual development in the situation of
the deportees. In the first stage, immediately before and after their
resettlement, the deportees were {Jiibefnisefardiini sa sarri, and under the
immediate supervision of Assyrian officials such as the mu8arkisu. 160
They received land and means of production from the state. Texts ND
2386 (Iraq 23, 22-24) ND 2643 and ND 2725 (Iraq 18, 41-43) may reflect
this initial stage. In the second stage, the deportees received the fields in
tenure, paid taxes and services, and probably were not allowed to move
freely from one place to another. As they had a family life, the land
passed from father to son. The very possibility of transferring the land
within the family contributed to their settling down permanently in
exile. Later on, as the final stage, the land became the private property
of the deported family. 161 All this took place, provided that meanwhile
there was no change in the status of the land or of the deportee, as a
result of a special order from the king.
157
See above, p. 80; for kipiini as a geographical name, see Fales, Censimenti,
p. 96. See also Zablocka, OLZ 72 (1977) p. 583 n. l.
158 Zablocka, Landarbeiter, p. 211.
159 Fales, op. cit. (above, n. 155, 1975) pp. 359-360.
180 Above, p. 39.
99
The foregoing reconstruction is not intended to offer a solution to the
vexing problem of the socio-economic and legal status of the deportees
put to work in the agrarian sector, but rather to provide corroboration
for the vicw 162 which disputes the conception of uniform "unfree" status
for all the deportees.
6. Craftsmen, Scholars, Experts and Businessmen
Many documents list persons engaged in various occupations and
individuals bearing professional designations, with an indication of their
ethnic or geographical provenance. In this section too we use the onomastic criterion, while fully aware of the difficulties and defects of this
method. In many cases it is impossible to decide if a deportee was working
as an independent and private individual, or in the framework of the
state hierarchy and administration. Listing deportees according to their
occupation (e.g. ND 2497) is connected with the Assyrian intention to
make the maximum use of deportees, each according to his trade and
craft. 163 It may be assumed that many of the craftsmen listed as receiving rations from the storerooms of the palace 1 64 were in the service of
the state, though it is not possible to define their personal dependence
on the state and the degree of their servitude, as for instance, the many
kinds of craftsmen in the NWL. 166 Likewise, there are cases in which one
cannot know if the artisan arrived as a prisoner-of-war or as nn immigrant.
Esarhaddon, in his "Letter to the God", recounts that he took deported
181
For a similar process of development see Alt, KS II, p. 321.
C~. van-Driel, Land, p. 171 "The juridical status of the agrarian population
of Assyna showed a range of gradations according to their position. It is extremely
difficult to say much more than that."
183
See above pp. 56-57; on tho inu imposed on the deportees seo, p. 5G n. 103.
184
On this procedure in other countries, see e. g., A. l\Ialamat, BA 34 ( Ul71) p. 8.
185
NTVL pp. 64-94, and especially pp. XI-XIII "In general the tab!C'ts show
~~at skill~d ?raftsmen and professionals were drawn from ciistant ficldil," and p. 91:
The maJority of the groups mentioned were selected prisoners of war."
182
100
(artisans) into his army. 166 Bel-ibni, an official, requested
"20 111$idu[naja] itt[i-sunu} lillikunimma gi 3eleppete lipuli" (ABL 795).1 67
In letter ABL 1065, which is too fragmentary for ns to form a clear
idea of its contents, there is reference to 16um-ma-ne, among whom there
are nagare (carpenters) and pa!Jare (potters). They were probably deportees ( 16 [lUbte) being sent for building operations at Dur-Sharrukin.l 68
Documents from Gozan, a site known as a place where deportees were
resettled, contain lists of ummane together with their families, e.g., texts
Nos. 21, 24, 25, 114. According to 'Weidner, these artisans had been
deported from their homeland and brought to Gozan. 169 The NWL
constantly list groups of foreigners, specialists in various kinds of professions, living in Calah ttnd connected with the Assyrian royal court.
Some were deportees. Text ND 10048170 rev. 11, 18-20 refers to three
groups of scribes (LO A.BA = (upsarru) As-sur-ra-a-a, Mu-§u-ra-a-a,
Ara-ma-a-a. Indeed, Aramaean scribes are mentioned in many documents
during the neo-Assyrian period, undoubtedly because of the spread and
use of Aramaic as an official language, next to Accadian. ADD 207
(ARU 509) mentions Am-ma-a-a, the (upsar Ar-ma-a. Aramaean scribes
are referred to also in ADD 179 (ARU 473), ADD 193 (ARU 512),
ADD 448 (ARU 443), ADD 607 (ARU 680). To ADD 207, mentioned
above, there is an Aramaic endorsement. We can take it for granted that
most of the cuneiform tablets found in Mesopotamia (mainly legal deeds),
with Aramaic epigraphs or deeds written entirely in Aramaic, were
written by Aramaeans. 171 ADD 324 (ARU 36) mentions $illi-Assur, the
A.BA. Mu-:;m-ra-a-a; Ifu-u-ru, $u-u-a-t;u and Ni-!Jar-a-u, are refered to
as Egyptian scribesY 2 1\Iany persons living in Mesopotamia who are
designated as scribes bear non-Accadian (mostly WSem.) personal names.
Ahi-i-ra-me (ADD 234 = ARU 523); Ab-da-' (ADD 238 = ARU 201);
Adad-ia-ba-bi (ADD 387 = ARU 34); Sa-u-la-a-nu (ADD 412 = ARU
h1um-ma-ne
Bm·<TCir, Asarlwddon, p. 106:17. Soc also above, p. 57 n. Ill.
Dietrich, AOA'l' 7 [145] p. 196: It is possible that Gi-ri-ba-'-al was himalalJu
(ADD 775); On an Egyptian rnalalJu see Zadok, Egyptians, p. 66 (ADD 324 =
ARU 36).
168 RCAE, III, p. 291.
1•• \Veidner, Gozan, pp. 6, 26. See also text No. 114 (from the seventh century)
a man by the name Ba-zu-a-a, i.e., from the land of Bazu.
110 NWL No.9.
111 E.g. KAI 236-knny spr. For bibliography, see A. R. Millard, JSS 21 (1976)
pp. 1-3. See also CAD Aj2, p. 293b. s.v. *armu.
112 ADD 851, IV, 3-7; for Pi-' as an Egyptian scribe in ND 2321 (Iraq 16, 41)
see Zadok, Egyptians, p. 64.
166
167
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
101
334) ;173 Sa-ma-' (ADD 232 = ARU 458); Az-gu-di (ADD 4 70
ARU
168); 174 A-zi-ilu (ADD 161 = ARU 51); Me-i-su (ADD 19 = ARU 250);
Nar-gi·i (ADD 206 = ARU 196) ;175 Kar-8a-a-nu (ND 210 (b) ;176 Ga-lu-lu
(ND 409); 177 Di-si-i (ADD 27 = ARU 261); A-tar-qa-mu (ADD 321 =
ARU 659); Ta-ti-i (ADD 230 = ARU 60). 178
After the campaign of Sennacherib into Palestine (701 B. C.) Hezekiah
sent to Nineveh, "his male and female musicians" ( 111 N AR.mes =
nare). 179 Sargon II, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal returned from their
campaigns with musicians.l 80 In the collection of NWL there are references to musicians/singers of various origins-nare Ka8-sa-a-a, nare .ffata-a-a nariite [ Ar-p ]a-da-a-a and to "the musicians of several countries."181 Female Aramaean, "Hitite" and Tyrian musicians are mentioned
in texts from the time of Ashurbanipal, among the harem personncl. 1S2
Ra-pa-a the son of the Phoenician Ab-di-li-me bears the title of the
musician who resides in the town of Siddiasika, probably in l\Iesopotamia
(ADD 151 = ARU 319). 183 In ADD 851, there is mention of $i-lLur-ru
(Egyptian) the physician t"asu) and $i-lm-1t the lwrtibi. 184 Augurs
6
diigil it;~iire) and diviners (biirute) were among the foreign specialists
in Assyria. 185 Smiths were in great demand both in Assyria and Baby-
t
R Zadok, BiOr 38 (1976) p. 229. Cf. Sa-u-li-i-ni (ADD 1194, rev. 12).
See also ADD 851; APN p. 31.
176 Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 49.
176 Postgate, Governor, p. 113; Fales, WSem. Names, p. 185.
177 Postgate, Governor, p. 213; Fales, WSem. Names, pp. 182-183.
178
Probably an Anatolian. See Gelb, NPN, pp. 150, 263.
179 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 34:46-47, and cf. CAD, Z p. 40a s.v. zammeru;
BM 124947-a relief from Sennaohorib's palace representing "throe captive lyrists
escorted by an Assyrian soldier," Smith, Sculptures, pl. 20. Soo also Hall, Sculptures,
pl. XXXIX/I.
180 NWL, p. 76; Borgor, Asarhaddon, p.ll4:12.
181 NWL, pp. 76-77. S. Parpola, JSS 21 (1976) p. 167 n. 8; p. 168 n. 21. Cf.
Ezra 2:70.
182 NW L, p. 77; 13. Landsberger, V'l'S 16 (1967) pp. 202-20;{. Soc also Darn ott,
Ashurbanipal, pl. LXII (Istanbul6338-9); D.J. Wisemann, Iraq 18 (1956) p. 125:8.
183 On the name see R. Zadok, BASOR, in press. For Qi-sa-a-a (Arabian) see
Zadok, WSB p. 215. Aaove, Ch. IV n. 99.
184 ADD 851 col. iv:1-2. Cf. Borger, Asarhaddon, pp. 102:26; 114:9. See also
ADD 381 (ARU 427)-Tu-l~i [ ... ] the physician of Esarhaddon, APN, p. 233.
On l~ar[ibi (interpreters of dreams) (lfr. tp, (wrtom) from Egypt in Mesopotamia,
see A. L. Oppenheim, Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East, Philadelphia 1956, p. 238.
18 " NWLpp. 75-76; ND 2442 (Imq 23, 27).Is-pu-te, the dagil i§§ure, is mentioned
in ADD 851, III; 10-11. For deported Egyptian diviners see Borger, Asarhaddon,
p. 102:26.
173
114
102
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
lonia.I 86 A certain man from the west by the name of Za-ku-ru (WSem.)
was the mb nappiil~ l~urii~i ("chief goldsmith") in Calah.I 87 Kinnier'Wilson suggests that 1118elappa-a-a mentioned in NWL "were iron-smiths
originating from the land of the Chalybes in the Pontus area south of the
Black Sea. " 188 Ba-~i-id-qi-i (ND 222; ND 223) 189 and A -da-bu-i (ND
423, "Adad is my father"), 190 both WSem. personal names,l 91 were
goldsmiths (in Calah). One should add here ND 5469 (Imq 19, 134), a
certain Ga-lul the nappiil~ parzilli (ironsmith); ND 5447 (Imq 19, 127)Ga-lul the nappiil.J hurii~i (also ND 5452) and A-du-ni-i the nappiil.J
siparri. Documents from Nineveh record Nabu-sa-gi-ib the goldsmith
(ABL 84 7); Ab-e-a-sn-pi the son of the Phoenician Sa-mu-nu-ia-tu-ni,
the goldsmith (ADD 160 = ARU 657) ;192 Ka-lci-i and Ba-sa-li the
goldsmiths (ADD 425 = ARU 413; ABL 551); Se-'-tu-ri the smith
(ADD 5 = ARU 635). In NWL mention is made of Ab-da-'a', the
Aramaean leatherworker (a8lciipu}. 193 It is quite possible that the
ivories found in Nimrud were made by Phoenician artists settled in
Calah. 194 Texts from Nineveh record a certain Se-'-!Jut-ni (ADD 231 =
ARU 202) and Ab-di-[. . .] the carpenters (ADD 292 = ARU 524).
Pa-di-i is rab nagiire (ADD 814). A-du-na-i-zi bears the title !usa mutqitu
(ADD 26 = ARU 255).
.
In business documents many foreigners, some of them probably deportees (or descendants of deportees) are involved in various transactions,
such as loans and purchases. ADD 148 (ARU 325)-A-du-ni-ilJ-a (Judaean), A-tar-su-ri, Pa-di-i Bir-dSa-ma8 (loan of corn). ADD I (ARU
287)-Ab-di-dSamsi (Phoenician, loan of money). ADD 122-123 (ARU
219-220)-Par-ta-a-ma (Iranian, loan of wine). 195 Manchester Tablet
(with brief Aramaic annotation)-.lfa-za-a-il (J;,z'l) the servant of Ia-di-1l
(loan of money). 196 Of course, one should include here the Aramaic legal
deeds from the city of Ashur, 197 which may indica,te that some of the
persons involved in the contracts (including the witnesses) were non-Assyrians, perhaps Aramaeans. In deeds from Assyrian centres, some
persons who are called 16tamlciiru ("merchant") bear non-Accadian names,
and probably are foreigners. ADD 4 (ARU 285)-.Mat-ila-a-a; ADD 233
(ARU 208)-.Ma-lilc-tU; ADD 197 (ARU 488)-Adad-ra-pa-a; 19 B ADD
281 (ARU 456)-Bir-dSamas; ADD 285 (ARU 530)-Zi-zi-i; 19 9 ADD 330
(ARU 195)-Su-l}tt-ra-mu-u; ADD 266 (ARU 538)-Si-ma-nu; ADD 237
(ARU 71)-Ri-bi-me-dAdadmillci; 200 ADD 822-Ra-u; ADD 806-I-gili-i;201 ADD 281 (ARU 456)-.[Ia-ta-sa-a; ND 5550-Ab-di-i (Iraq 19,
136); ADD 312 (ARU 467)-A-di-i. 202 Sales: BM 123384-Ab-di-si-lc[unij lti$i-du-na-a-a (a house sale); 203 BM 123369 (with Aramaic note)JJ1a-te-'[. . . ], Aramaic rnt'hdd, (a deed of sale, the object of the sale is
unknown); 204 ADD 286 (ARU 528)-Su-r[a-a-a] from Carchemish and
probably residing in Nineveh (sale of men); ADD 245 (ARU 81)JJfi-na-lJi-mi (sale offemales); Tell Halaf No. 111-U-se-', Bi-il-ba-rak-ki
(sale of a woman) ;205 ADD 182 (ARU 496)-Is-pu-(u 206 (sale of a woman);
ND 2303 (Iraq 23, l9)-lllfar-i-di 207 (sale (?)of oil ofSamadir). ABL 175
may refer to Phoenician merchants permanently resident in Nineveh. 2os
Document BE 8, 141, issued at Nippur (623 B.C) refers to a certain
Gir-re-e-ma. The latter may be an IsraelitefJudean who came to Nippur
188 Cf. II Kings 24: 14; Borger, Asarhaddon, p. I 02: 27; ll4 Frt. J: 17; R. P1einer
--J. K. Bjorkman, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. 118 (1974) p. 304.
'"' NTVL, p. 65. Cf. ltinapp<I!J, siparri lti;wbtu, seo GAD, •'?, p. 45a, s.v. l}abtu.
188 NJVL, p. !l8--IOO. Cf. l'ost.gatn, Go1•crnor, p. 278; AHw ll, p. 1210; S. Pm·pola,
•JSS 21 (1976) p. 173; Di-di-i (\VSom. namo) in ABL 471.
189 Postgate, Gove1'1101', pp. 160-161.
190 Postgate, Governor, p. 142.
191 Fales, WSem. Names, pp. 181-182.
1 92 Fales, BSOAS 40 (1977) p. 598; For Ba-sa-li (Arabian?) see Zadok, WSB
p. 217.
193 NWL, p. 64.
194 M. 1\Iallowan, Ugaritica VI, p. 545. According to S. Parpola the reading
[mA.du]n-Labi-u-ut (NWL p. 65) is incorrect. S. Parpo1a, JSS 21 (1976) p. 173.
196 On aduniha as a Judaean, see Eph'al, Exiles, p. 203. For another deed of
corn loan with Aramaic personal names and epigraphs see J. N. Postgate, Iraq 35
(1973) pp. 34-35. For Partama seeR. Zadok, BiOr 33 (1976) pp. 388-389.
103
196
A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972) p. 137. Cf. Yd'l in an Aramaic document from
Ashur, see Lipinski, SAIO, p. 104.
1 97 Lipinski, SAIO, pp. 83-ll3.
198 K. Deller, Sultantepe, p. 474.
199
See Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 50.
zoo K. Deller, Sultantepe, p. 474.
2o1 Fales, Gen..~imenti, p. 84.
202
Fa los, Or. Ant. I 6 (I !l77) p. 49.
203
.1. N.l'ostgato, Iraq :J2 (1!l70)pp. 142-143; E. Lipii,ski, UJi'5 (l!l7:l) p. 2117 .
Abdi-sikuni is "acting for the governor, tho owner of tho house." Ono of tho witnesses is Adunibaal.
204
J. N. Postgate, Iraq 32 (1970) pp. 144-145; A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972)
p. 134. Note the witnesses Iltt-8i-im-ki, Zab-di-i. Cf. the name J.11a-ti-' -si-' in a text
from Sultantepe, see 0. R. Gurney, An. St. 3 (1953) pp. 22-23.
206
Maisler, Gozan, pp. 83-85.
2 6
R. Zadok, BASOR, in press.
"
207
An Aramaic name, APN p. 134.
208
See GAD D, p. 58b, s.v. dalu. It could be that ABL 1283 refers to a merchant
from Byblos residing in Babylonia. On Phoenician merehants in Babylonia, see
A. L. Oppenheim, JGS 21 (1967) pp. 236-254.
104
105
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
from Assyria for business. 209 Certainly, not all the foreign merchants
mentioned above arrived in Mesopotamia as deportees: there were
among them merchants who came to Assyria and Babylonia of their
own free will. Nevertheless, on account of the Assyrians' interest
in developing trade, they did not prevent deportees from engaging in
trade, and perhaps they even encouraged them to do so. 310
sarri (ADD 428 = ARU 106); the egertu armitu 218 and official documents
written in Aramaic, or Aramaic epigraphs in official texts which were
probably written by Aramaean scribes, 219 all testify to the wide use of
Aramaic in the administration of the royal court and the provinces. 220
Foreign scribes in the service of the state probably also held the office of
targumiinu. 221
Using the onomastic criterion, we note that many district governors
and eponym holders bore non-Accadian personal names, i.e., they were
foreign functionaries in the imperial administration. 222 $i-id-qi-ili, the
eponym for 764 and the governor of Tushhan ;223 BurA~a-gal-e, the
eponym for 763 and the governor of Gozan; 224 I;_ia-na-nu, the eponym
for 701, the governor of Til-Barsip; Za-za-a-a, the eponym for 692 the
governor of Arpad ;225 Gi-!J,i-lu, the eponym for 689, the governor of
Hatarikka ;226 AD-ra-mu, the eponym for 677; A -tar-DING I R the eponym
for 673, the governor of Lahiri; 227 Ka-nun-a-a the eponym for 671;
~JJfar-la-rim the eponym for 668; Gab-ba-ru the eponym for 667; Gir-t}appu-nu the eponym for 660; 228 M il-ki-ra-mu the eponym for 656; 229
Am-ia-a-nu the eponym for 653 230 ; Sa-gab-bu, the eponym for 651, the
governor or Harran. 231 Beside the limmu officials, several of whom also
served as provincial governors, many other foreigners holding the post
of governor can be noted. bel piihiiti ( LU.EN.NAM )-Se-' -ra-pa-'
7. Royal Court and State Officials
The state and legal documents make it clear that many foreigners, some
of them deportees or their descendants, were serving as officials in the
royal court, in the capital, in Assyria proper and in the provinces. Many
foreign functionaries attained a very high position in the official hierarchy
though we cannot exactly define their legal and social status-whether
they were really free or royal(state dependants. It is clear from the texts
that many of those who served in the royal court and in the capital received
rations, money or land from the palace, 211 but here also there is no information about their legal status and the degree of their dependency.
The section in the Book of Daniel 1: 3-7 may indicate that some of
the deported nobility were educated in the Assyrian capital, and then
were sent back to their homeland as Assyrian functionaries. 212
We have already referred to the Aramaean and Egyptian scribes
mentioned in ADD and NWL. 213 Nuri-e-a, was the Aramaean scribe of
the king's son (ADD 385 = ARU 194). A royal decree (ND 2356) refers
to "any palace scribe, whether Assyrian or Aramaean." 214 This reference
is in keeping with Assyrian reliefs depicting an Assyrian scribe beside an
Aramaean scribe. 216 Ahiqar, the scribe of Esarhaddon; 216 Ilu-zab-bad-da
the scribe of the !Jazannu of Nineveh; 217 Se-duri, the scribe of the ummi
209
Zadok, Jews in Babylonia, p. 13; A. B. Moldenko, Cwneiform Texts in the
Jlietropolitan 1llusemn of A1·t (now edition by J. A. Dolaunay) Paris 1977, pp. 84-85.
210
See above, pp. 59-00; Loomans, Imq 39 (1977) p. 7.
211
E.g. NWL; ND 2489 (Imq 23, 33) records an Elamite in tho royal court who
received rations, but, as B. Parker remarks (p. 16), it is not clear whether he was a
captive or a visitor.
212
S. Parpola, Iraq 34 (1972) p. 33.
213
AboYe, pp. 100-101. On Aramaean and Babylonian scribes in the services
of the Assyrian empire, see also B. Landsberger, JCS 27 (1975) p. 91; S. Parpola,
Iraq 34 (1972) p. 33.
214
Postgate, Taxation, p. 370, who translates um-ma-nu = scribe.
215
See, pp. 36--38.
218
Tadmor, West, p. 42; J. C. Greenfield, JAOS 82 (1962) pp. 292-293.
217
ADD 814:14, see APN p. 100.
218 ABL 872; ND 2686 (Iraq 17, 130) kaniku annitu annitu ("this seakd Ara·
maio document"), AHw I, 69, 190, 437. In ABL 033 nib3u ar-ma-a-a.
219
E.g. LipiilBki, SAIO, p. 79; Knudtzon, AGS, No. 120.
22o A. R. Millard, Iraq 34 (1972) p. 133. See also Klauber, PRT, No.2:).
221 NWL p. 94. ADD 865:6 (APN p. 80). It has been suggested that Hab-shakoh,
tho officer of Sonnacherib was a descendant of an Israelite deportee. See H. Tadmor,
Encyc. Biblica, VII, 324 (Hebrew). For tho connection in ABL 387 between targtt·
manu and deportees seeK. Deller, Orientalia NS 35 (1966) p. 194.
222 Tadmor, West, p. 41.
22• Ungnad, RLA 2, p. 430.
224 R. Zadok, RiOr 33 (1976) p. 228; id., W0
9 (1977) p. 51 n. 113.
22• Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 51.
228 Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 53 for commentary.
221 Deller, Sultantepe, p. 473.
228 See also ADD 148 (ARU 325); Lipii1ski, Rivista di Sturli Phinici 3 (l 975) p. :l.
229 See also ND 2328 (Iraq 16, 43); ND 5448 (Iraq l!l, 128; Postgatc, Pifty,
No. 32); ND 2307 (Iraq 23, 37 and Postgate, Fifty, No. 14); Fales, Censimenti,
p. 47; M. E. L. Mallowan, Nimrud and its Remains, London 1966, pp. 178-179.
2ao Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 50.
231 R. Zadok, BiOr 23 (1976) p. 230; Lipinski, SAIO, p. 108. See ADD 927
(Postgate, Taxation, p. 308); ADD 333 (ARU 339). For tho WSem. name Ia-[w-lu,
the eponym for the years 834, 825, 822 see, R. Zadok, TV0 9 (1977) p. 52; for Sa-i-ln
as an eponym see RLA II, p. 454. For Bur-Ra-man (847), Ia-[w-lu (834, 822)
and Qi-i-su (755) see Zadok, WSB pp. 57, 107, 199.
106
107
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
(ABL 916) 232 in the area of Barhalzi; Mil-ki-ia (ADD 59 = ARU 123);
Ar-ba-a-a (ADD 857, II, 50) ;233 Ab-da-' (ADD 764, Rasappa); A-dar-a-a
and Jlfe-i-su (ADD 854). 234 saknu (LU.GAR-nu)-Ti-ri-i 235 (ADD 274=
ARU 69, Harran); Tar-lju-un-da-pi-i (ADD 857, II, 39); 236 tAmat-as-taar-ti (ND 2307), sakittu of the new palace at Calah. 237 1u.ljazannu-Arba-a-a;238 Na-si-' (ND 238); 239 Jjar-u-a-?i (Gezer). 240 rab iiliini (LU.GAL.
URU.MES)-Se-'-ma-'-di (ADD 231 = ARU 202); 241 _lJ;Iar-tt't-' (ADD
447 = ARU 61); Pa-di-i (ADD 814); Pa-qa-lja (ADD 234 = ARU
523; ADD 238 = ARU 201) and possibly la-ta-' (ABL 252) and Ba-gu-su
(ABL 767).
58 = ARU 150); Sa-lam-n-nu (ADD 857, II, 31). Pi-sa-nr-rnu held the
post of 1u.mu8nrkisu (ADD 34 = ARU 264). Ni-ilj-m-mu was 1u.ntu (ADD
425 = ARU 413). Sa-gi-bi-i and Gn-lul were 111 atu sa eknlli (ADD 244;
255 = ARU 159; 50) $al-ln-n-n was titled 111 mb-biti (ABL 415); 248 Niri-in-u, the rab nikkasse (ABL 633); Ab-di- '?ur' was himb snkulliite 249
(ADD 386 = ARU 171); Si-im-kn-in, 250 a Damascene, held the office of
1
u.qupii8i (ABL 193); Pn-qn-ljll and Bar-ruq were called 1u.itinnu (ABL 102;
ADD 481 = ARU 162); ABL 512 lists a certain Mu-?Zt-ur-n-n, mar
eknlli; Kn-nun-n-n the limmu official for 671 was 1u.snrtennu; Sa-rna-' was
111
mumbbanu sa rniir sarri (ADD 238 = ARU 201; ADD 239 = ARU 554);
Bi-bi-e and Abi-ra-rnu served as 111suklcallu mbu (ADD 326; 72 = ARU
173; 129), Gnl-lul as 111 laljljinu (ND 5550, Iraq 19, 136), Qa.r-[!a-n as hinnairu
(ADD 815, III:2), Si-i-li as 111mb nuljlltimme, 251 and Is-pu-tu, the son of
Mu-sa-la-mu, as 11;nulcarippu sa elcalli (ADD 182 = ARU 496).
There are references in many texts to functionaries in the imperial
administration, but without explicit mention of their office or profession, and it is unclear whether their function was civil or military. Such
are Ad-m-a-lja-u (ABL 775) ;252 A-du-nn-mil (? )-[ki(?)] (ADD 875) ;25 3
A-lji-ia-qa-n-mn (ADD 755) ;254 Am-ia-ta-' (ABL 564); 'J'u-di-i (ABL
986); DINGIR-a-a-ra-me (ND ll17); 255111 ELAM.MA-a-n (the Elamite,
ND 2489) ;2ss EN-sa-mn-ka (ND 2621, Iraq 23, 27) ;257 Jjal-bi-su (of
Samaria) 258 and Be-'-li-m-ka-bi (of Sam'al, ABL 633); Jja-mu-na-a-n
(ABL 303) ;25 9 Jji-il-qi-ia (ND 2443+ND 2621 ), Iraq 23, 27) ;260 In-' -i-ru
(ABL 414); Ilu-ia-da-' (ABL 168, 170-171, 212, 502-505); Pal-ti-in-n
(ABL 633); U-se-' (ND 2629, Iraq 23, 39); Za-bi-ni (ABL 628); Ba-da-a
(ABL 892, 893); Mar-di-i (ABL 916); 261 the son of Ir-tuk-kn-a-nu (ABL
128).
The following is a list of foreign holders of various offices in the royal
court and state bureaucracy. sn-resi (LU.SAG)-1-rna-'-in (ABL 527);
Ab-di-lirn-rnu (ADD 857, I, 32); 242 Mil-ki-nuri (ADD 287; 316 = ARU
95; 74); Ab-da-a (ADD 805). 111 qurbutu-Zn-b1t-nu (ND 2803, Iraq, 23,
56); 243 Ba-la-si-i (ADD 325 = ARU 341); Adad-la-din (ADD 627 =
ARU 99); DINGER-qa-tar 244 (ADD 34 = ARU 264); Ka-bar-il1t (ADD
177 = ARU 183); 245 A-tn-id-ri (ADD 193 = ARU 512); Ga-dn-' (ADD
857, II, 34); Sn-ln-ma-me (ADD 113 = ARU 637); Gu-lju-ru (ABL 552).
Iu(rab} kii?ir 246-Mil-ki-m-me (ND 5448; ND 2328); 247 Am-m-mu (ADD
59 = ARU 123); Za-ljn-tu-tu (ADD 328 = ARU 357); Za-bi-nu (ADD
232
Deller, Sultantepe, p. 475. For Si'{Se' (for shr = Sin) in vVSem. names in
NA sources see Fales, BSOAS 40 (1977) p. 598.
233
NWL, p. 103.
234
Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 51; Zadok, WSB p. 145.
m R. Zadok, BiOr 33 (1976) p. 230.
236 NWL, p. 102. See also APN p. 230; Zadok, WSB p. 270 n. 29 for a certain
ija-ma-ta-a-a tho 8aknu of Suru.
237
Postgate, Fifty, No. 14; R. Zadok, BASOR, in press; id., WSB p. 52 for
fA-[!i-pal-li. See also ND 2309:6 (Iraq, 16, 39).
238 K. Deller, Orientalia NS 35 (1966) p. 191.
23 9 Postgate, Governor, No. 82.
••• R. GiYeon, IEJ 22 (1972) pp. 143-144, according to whom this !Jazannu was
tho descendant of a high ranking Egyptian taken cnpti\'e by an Assyrian ruler.
For 13i-si-ln (Arabian) seo Zadok, IVSB p. 215.
241 Deller, Sultantepe, p. 474. ADD 278 (ARU 531).
242 NWL p. 101. Cf., mr srsy Srgn on a seal impression from Khorsabad, Lipinski,
SAIO, p. 66.
243 Fales, WSem. Names, pp. 186-187.
244 Deller, Sultantepe, p. 475.
24 5 Fales, Censimenti, p. 76.
248 On this unclear post see CAD, K, pp. 264-265 s.v. ki"ifiru; Postgate, Fifty,
p. 142; id., Taxation, p. 228. See also rab k~ri on p. 108 and cf. Borger, Asarhaddon,
p. 114 (Frt J: 12).
247
B. Parker, Iraq 19, 128; id., Iraq 16, 43; Postgate, Fifty, No. 32; Fales,
Censimenti, p. 47.
H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 36 (1974) p. 207 (ND 2477:5).
APN p. 4; AHw II, p. l053b.
••• Lipiilski, SAIO, p. 66; N. Avigad, BASOR 221i (1!l77) p. 6:J.
251 Falos, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 49. Cf. Borgor, Asarhaddon, p. 114 (Frt ..J: 12).
252 Falos, JVSem. Name8, p. 186.
2 5 3 It. Zadok, BASOR, in press.
254 Schiffer, Spuren, p. 29.
255 Postgate, Governor, No. 233; Fales, WSem. Names, p. 184.
258 B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961) p. 33 and there p. 16 "Whether the latter was a
visitor or a captive is not clear."
257 See above, n. 250.
258 Eph'al, Exiles, p. 201 n. 5. For another Samarian official see ND 2803, II:
27 (Iraq 23, 56).
259 R. Zadok, BASOR, in press.
260 Tadmor, West, p. 42. Cf. B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961) p. 28.
28
' Fales, Or. Ant. 16 (1977) p. 50.
248
24 9
108
109
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
8. Soldiers
Ili-ma-na-ni is titled 1u.narkabti (ADD 349 = ARU 340) and Za-bi-nu as
lunarkabti rab mugi (ADD 25 = ARU 268). Other soldiers in various
ranks are: A-!Ju-ni-i (lci~ir 8arri, ADD 276 = ARU 532); Ab-di-i 11raksu,
Tell-HalafNo. 26); Zab-di-ilu and Ija-il-ilu (ABL 524); Bag-te-81tp (ABL
139, 215, 252); Ki-li-gu-gu (ABL 1148); .Mil-ki-i-ram (ABL 1007);
Ur-za-na-a (ABL 768, 1079); Ga-di-a (ABL 1009); Sa-pu-nu (ND 2788). 270
It has been observed that one of the main aims of the mass deportations was military. The repeated use in the royal texts of the phrase "ana
ki~ir ... " together with the reliefs, 262 make it clear that many nonAssyrian soldiers, including officers, were deportees. Exampl~s of such
men are: luturtiinu-.Mar-la-rim, the eponym for the year 668. 1u8a 8epeQar-!Ja-a-a (ADD 400 = ARU 396); ll~t-gab-ri (ADD 318 = ARU 632);
Ga-da-a (ADD 860, III, 23). 1urab ki~ri 263-Ab-di-mil-ki (ADD 1040);
Al~i-ra-mu (ADD 675); A-!Ju-ni-i (ADD 276 = ARU 532); Ar-ba-a-a
(ABL 543); Gab-ri-i (ADD 268 = ARU 88); Id-ri-a-lLa-a-u (K 4792); 264
Gal-lul (ADD 266 = ARU 538); lja-nu-mt (ADD 857:II, 10); Mar-di-i
(ADD 857:IV, 13); Ba-la-si-i (ADD 318 = ARU 632); Ar-zi-z1t (ADD
150 = ARU 222);2 6 5 1lfa-me-i (ADD 150 = ARU 222); llu-ia-di-nu
(ADD 345 = ARU 365); .Mil-ki-id-ri (ADD 470 = ARU 168); Na-ga-a
(ABL 639) 266 1u.rab lwn8ii-Ba-al-!Ja-lu-~u (ND 5550, Iraq 19, 136); Girlw-a267 and Pi-si-ni-8i (ADD 197 = ARU 488); Ia-man-nu-u (ADD
233 = ARU 208).
In the royal inscriptions there are many references to the enlargement
of the Assyrian army by incorporating into it chariots/charioteers and
cavalry from the defeated foreign armies (above, pp. 52-54). The following are examples ofindividuals: 1u.3.U 5 (ta8li8u?)-Ab-du(?)-dA-gu-ni
(ADD 179 = ARU 473); Adad-ra-!Ji-mu (ADD 268 = ARU 88); A-tue-!Ju (ADD 179 = ARU 473); Bir-am-rna-a (ADD 476 = ARU 185);
Mat-'-e-i (ADD 494 = ARU 618); 0-bar-bi-si (ADD 470 = ARU 168);
0-a-ar-bi-is (ADD 185 = ARU 483); 268 0-a-ar-me-re (ADD 115 = ARU
321). 111 mukil-appiite-Bir-ia-ma-a (ADD 857, IV, 5); A-!Ji-ra-rmL (ADD
27 = ARU 261); A-di-i (ADD 260 = ARU 552) Na-ad-bi-ia-a-u (ADD
234 = ARU 523); Sa-kan-nu (ADD 115 = ARU 321); Za-bi-nu (ADD
625 = ARU 116); Za-ab-da-a (ADD 178 = ARU 486); Zab-di-i (ADD
476 = ARU 185). Ab-dn-nu held the post of 111 narkabti 26 " .~arri (AnD
41 = ARU 294); Bi-bi-i was bel narkabti (ADD 364 = ARU 374).
e
9. "Slaves", "Servants", "Dependants", "Prisoners"
In a considerable number of deeds of sale (land, houses, people) found
in Assyria, the people who arc being sold (tadiini), who bear non-Accadian names are referred to as-ARAD, lR = ardu (urdu), GEME =
arntu, LO = ~rnilu, SAL = sinnistu, ZI = napistu, 0 K U = niSii. The
masters are usually called bel nise or bel amele.
Such persons sold are, for example: La-du-qi-i (ADD 175 = ARU 203);
A-a-tu-ri (ADD 186 = ARU 476); Ka-ma-ba-ni (from Tabal, ADD 197 =
ARU 488); 0-se-', r_Me-'-sa-a, 1Ba-di-a, Si-gab-a (ADD 229 = ARU 64);
Ha-am-nu-nu, 271 Ili-suri (ADD 231 = ARU 202); 1lja-am-bu-sn 272 (ADD
233 = ARU 208); I-man-nu-u, .Llfil-ki-u-Ti (ADD 234 = ARU 523);
Ili-na-tan, A-du-ni-tu-[1·i J (ADD 240 = ARU 59); !Ja-qar-a[l[te, rA-bi-iaa!J-ia (ADD 245 = ARU 81); Za-bi-nu (ADD 252 = ARU 633); r_ilfarqi-ld-ta (ADD 257 = ARU 66); Sa-gi-bi-i (ADD 268 = ARU 88);
.Mar-ia-te-' (ADD 278 = ARU 531); Ab-di-ku-bu-bi 273 (ADD 473 = ARU
96); A-du-nu, Am-ba-ba, Ab-da-' (ADD 718 = AIW 540); _[_fa- rnn-nn 'ilt~274 (BM 134551, Iraq 32, 145); Se-'-!Ja-ri 275 (ND 3426, Iraq 15, 141);
rna-a-a-na-a (Tell-Halaf, No. 111, p. 61). 276 Among the foreigners who
are described as ardu of a certain person are e.g., Ba-ga-gi the ardu of a
functionary bearing the title sa pan ekalli (ADD 464 = A R U 111);
A-tar-ha-mu the ardu of A-si-i (ADD HJS = ARU 472); Sa-gi-il-bi-'-di
the ardu of 1u.sukkallu (ADD 248 = ARU 455); Tar-l~u-na-zi, 277 the ardn
Post.gato, 1'axation, p. 398; R. Zauok, BASO R in press.
g_ Zadok, WO, (I 977) p. 4:1. For tho Iranian 11amo 8i-ti-ir-lw.-a-nu (A/)[)
255 = ARU 50) sec H. Zadok, I.~rael Oriental Society VII, I 977, p. I 03 n. I 39.
212 Fales, WSem. Names, p. 183.
21a H. Zadok, JANES 8 (1976) p. 121 n. 84; id., lVSB p. 273 n. 10.
27< Fales, WSem. Names, p. 183.
276 K. Deller, Sultantepe, p. 475.
.
210 Maisler, Gozan, pp. 83-85; as for female deportees, see D1akonoff, Slaves,
p. 71, who suggests that female captives formed "the mam n:ass o_f tho unfree
working population of foreign origin." See also the names 1J.l!iirtt-ra-pt-e, 1A-lm-utwil-ki in a list (ADD 894) of proper names, perhaps of female slaves. ABL 306.
277 L. Zgusta et al., Anatolische Personennamensippen, Prag 1964, pp. 103-113.
270
211
202
Above, pp. 51-54; J. E. Reade, Iraq 34 (1972) p. 108.
.
••• See above n. 246 and rab kiitJiri on p. 106 and Postgate, 'J'axatwn, p. 221
n. 1.
••• S. Parpola, AOAT 5/1 (1970), No. 284; Fales, lVSem Names, p. 186.
••• For this name cf. Pa-ru-ta-a-ni miir Ar-zi-zi (ADD 160 = ARU 657).
••• Fales, Oensimenti, p. 38.
267 Zadok, Jews in Babylonia, p. 10.
••• Gelb, NPN p. 163.
209
For LU. GIS. GIGIR = susiinu seeS. Parpola, JSS 21 (1976) p. 172.
llO
111
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
of Ka-ku-la-nu (ADD 308 = ARU 57), and rAbi-li-ilJ-[ia? J the amtu of
A!Ju-u-a-eriba (ADD 209 = ARU 521). We have already noted that the
procurement of slaves was not included in the complex aims of the
Assyrian policy of mass deportation. There are, however, a few documents
that seem to provide evidence pointing to the enslavement of a relatively
small number of deportees. 278
From the inscriptions of Esarhaddon we learn that many Babylonians
were ensb ved ( illiku 1·esuta), were sold as slaves ( siimute sa ana resute
siilukii) or distributed as slaves (ana ~indi u birti zu"uzu). 279 Ashurbanipal defeated the Arabians and distributed captives as slaves. 280 ND 424
may be interpreted as an account of the enslaving of individual captives
(.~alliitn) by an officcr. 281 Tn ABL 212 there iRa report of the Rolling of
persons, possibly deportees, by functionaries. 282 In this connection, note
should also be taken of instances in which male and female foreigners and
captives were taken to serve in the royal court. 283 In addition, there are
instances, before and after the neo-Assyrian empire, of captives being
enslaved. 284
The likelihood of the existence of slaves originating from the deportation policy leads us to consider three ways in which deportees became
slaves in exile.
be defined as ardiini (in the narrow sense of the word), since they were
completely deprived of free movement, and lived under slave-like conditions. The existence of permanent unfree contingents who were forced
to work on state projects and for the palace, is attested by various texts
and reliefs. 286
(l) The incorporation of deportees and the forming of groups of deportees into permanent and mobile labour forces to provide the manpower
for public works anywhere in the Empire. 285 Labour gangs like these can
See e.g., Diakonoff, Slaves, p. 71 " ... prisoners-of-war frequently included
in the ranks of helots, much more seldom in those of slaves."
279 Borger, Asm·haddon, p. 15, Episode 9, c:D; p. 25lines 12-21; p. 26 Fassung
b:D; and see GAD A/2, p. 316, s.v. alaku; B p. 263 s.v. birtu; K p. 343b, s.v.
kidinnu; A/2, p. ll7a, s.v. anduraru; Z p. 82b, 8.v. zazu.. Cf. above, Ch. IV n. 23!l.
See also Cogan, Imperialism, p. 11 n. 13.
280 Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, p. 74 (RMsam Cylinder, IX:42-52); Piepkorn,
Ashurbanipal, p. 83 col. VIII: 8-22; it is quito possiblo that thoso who woro distributed had been slaves before they wore captured; Mendolsohn, Slavery, p. 94.
281 D. J·. 'Visoman, Iraq 1:l (1954) p. 108; Postgato, Governor, No. l!J4.
282 RGAE III, p. 87; Mendelsohn, Slavet·y, p. 93.
283 E.g. ABL 629 (Parpola AOAT 5f1, No. 279); Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 34
lines 46-48.
284 Gelb, Prisoners, pp. 72, 91; W. Holck, AA, Band 5 (1962) pp. 359ff.; M.S.
Drower, GAH', 1973, vol. II/I, pp. 478-479; ANE'l' suppl. (1968) pp. 553-554;
J. A. Wilson, The Culture of Egypt, Chicago 1951, p. 187; The Moabite Stone, lines
25-26; II Kings 5:2; Nehemiah, 5:8; Dandamayev, Egyptians, pp. 24-25; Mendelsohn, Slavery, pp. 1-3, 92-99 who claims that one of the major causes of slavery in
the ancient Near East was tho policy of enslaving war captives.
28 ' See Mendelsohn, Slavery, pp. 92-99 for general outlines of this type of "state
slavery."
278
According to J. V. Kinnier Wilson, "the nis ( lcisitti miitiite) were used
principally as a labour force with tasks which included brick-making,
building and perhaps stone-cutting." 287 We have already mentioned the
back-breaking tasks imposed by Sargon II, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon
on dcportccs. 288 ABL lOGii seems to refer to building operations, perhaps
at Dur-Sharrukin, by 1111Jubte. 289 Text ABL 490 lists units of workers
("\~abe) from various plaecs 290 "bringing timberH into the eity of Um."
Notices about labourers and artisans being sent from one place to another,
at the request of an official and by order of the king, may imply the
existence of special work-gangs which were organized in such a way as
to be able to carry out tasks at any time and in any place. Such are the
remarks in the inscriptions of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon and in ABL
795 regarding ship-builders; 291 ABL 317 mentions ardiini sa san·i who
came from the city of Carchemish to the city of [ ... ] ; ND 2771 refers
to nise (?) sa sarri who were to come (to perform duties), and to their
food requirements. 292 The practice of condemning foreigners, some of
them deportees, to forced labour is known also from outside Assyria. 2 ~ 3
(2) Distribution of captives among civil and military individuals. "I
distributed the rest of them like sheep among my palaces, 294 my nobles,
the entourage of my palace (and) the citizens of Nineveh, Calah, Kalzi
For reliefs see above p. 90. Cf. Borger, Asarhaddon, p. 105: 18-20.
NWL p. 92. See, e.g., Borger, Asarharldon, p. 34:41) nise kisitti matilti who
wore forced to rebuild tho palaeo on Caluh.
288 Above, p. 90.
289
RGAE III p. 291 and cf. tho description of tho building of Dur Sharrukin,
e.g. ARAB II, 83.
290 Note the non-Accadian names A-ri-e, U-ri-sa-a.
291 Above, pp. 57, 59; Mendelsohn, Slavery, p. 2.
292
H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 27 (1965) p. 18. It seems that ABL 99 also deals with
corvee gangs in connection with the "king's work," see Postgate, Taxation, pp.
253-254; Mendelsohn, Slavery, p. 93.
293 Note the interesting juxtaposition between deportation and forced labour in
the composition "Advice to a Prince," W. G. Lambert, BWL, p. 112 "If he mobilized the whole of ... and imposed forced labour on ... ;" Exodus I; The l\Ioabite
Stone, lines 25-26; D. B. Redford, JAOS 93 (1973) p. 17.
294
Cf. The ardani of the royal court in ABL 99 and ND 2782 (Iraq 23, 51).
286
287
ll2
Observations on the Position of Deportees
andArbela," 295 so claims Esarhaddon after defeating the armies ofShubria.
This clear ease of distributing captives among various individuals, although unusual, is by no means unique. Adad-nerari II granted cities
with their inhabitants to the citizens of Assyria, after his campaigns
against Nur-Adad. 296 Shamshi-Adad V said that the warriors of Dur
Papsukal (in Babylonia) were given to the soldiers of Ashur "like grasshoppers. " 297
We have already noted the cruel fate that befell the citizens of Babylon
in the time of Sennacherib. 298 Similarly, Sennachcrib claims in his annals
that "from the great spoil ( 8allat) of enemy (captives), I apportioned (men)
like she<'p to a.Il of my camp, my governors, and the people of my large
cities. " 299 Already as early as the first campaign against lVIerodach-baladan
and other tribes, there is a note in the annals about the large quantity of
booty from Babylonia which "does not include the men, asses, camels,
cattle and sheep which my troops have carried off and parcelled out among
themselves." 300 It is also possible that captives (and not only property
and livestock) from Til-Garimmu were "divided like sheep" among the
soldiers, provincial governors and the inhabitants of large cities of Assyria.301 Ashurbanipal divided captives from Elam "like sheep" among
the chief cities, officials, nobles and soldiers. 302 We have already seen that
captives from the Arabian tribes were allotted to various individuals. 303
Here we may add one of the reports of the king's scholars according to
which "they, the kings, distributed (?) among their servants (ardiini)
the booty they have won (lfnbussunu}." 304 In the light of the clear but
few pieces of evidence pointing to the distribution of human spoil among
civil and milit~try persons, we may assume, with a high degree of prob295 Borger, Asarharldon, p. lOll col. IU: 21-22 and translation in CAD Z p. 82 b
s.·v. za.zu. See below, ns. 303, 323.
296 J. Seidman, MAOO 9/3 (1935) p. 2ll linos 78-79. Soc Grayson, ARI 2 p. 89
n. 373 and cf. ARAB I, 369.
297 ARAB I, 725.
••• Abow, p. 110. ANE'l' p. 309.
••• Pertaining to the sixth campaign against Elam and Bit-Yakin. Luckenbill,
Sennacherib, p. 76:104-106; p. 61:60. See also ARAB, II, 284a, 292,322.
300 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 55: 61.
3° 1 Luckenbill, Sennacherib, p. 63: I 9-22.
302 ARAB II, 814.
303 Above, p. 110. All these instances make it clear that the passage cited obove
(n. 295) refers to human spoil; but cf. Cogan, Imperialism, p. 29 n. 41.
304 See R. Campbell Thompson, The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of
Nineveh and Babylon, London, 1900, Vol. 2 p. XXXVI, No. 22, and the translation
offered in CAD A/2 p. 249a, which differs from that of Campbell Thompson. In both
translations the captives (booty) from Egypt were enslaved. Cf. ADD 763 which
may refer to Egyptian captives or slaves, and see A P N p. 182 ( Pu-ti-TJu-u-ru-u).
Observations on the Position of Deportees
ll3
ability, that the texts ND 2443 (Iraq 23, 27-28), 305 ND 2707 (Iraq 23, 45),306
ABL 633, ADD 763 307 deal with captives given to certain funetionaries.3° 8
Lines 4-8 in the Ashur Ostracon may provide evidence that the Assyrian
king (Ashurbanipal) gave a certain Bel-etir captives as his personal
slaves. 309 Besides the information cited above, there is a series of texts
relating to royal grants of "fields, orchards and people" to private individuals. 310 It is reasonable to suppose that these grants were from the
royal property. The king bestowed parcels of crown land on his officials
and officers as a reward for loyalty, or for other reasons. 311 Many deportees
were settled on crown land. 312 Texts like ADD 471 (ARU 167), ADD 516
(ARU 410), ADD 660 (ARU 10), ADD 807 (ARU 20), 313 ADD 743, 314
ADD 1077, 316 ABL 421, 316 K. 535 317 witness to the existence of large
privately-owned estates of high-ranking officials in Assyria proper and
in the provinees 318 (such as Arpad, Simirra, Quwe, Bit Ham ban, Hatarikka,
Harran).
It is self-evident that the landlords were in need of manpower to work
their estates. 319 We have already discussed the status of deportees who
had been settled on land either in Assyria or in conquered territories.
V. A. Jacobson is of the opinion that "if a captive was made to settle upon
the soil on royal land, becoming a member of a community, he practically
did not differ from a freeman. But if he fell into private hands, or happened to be among the people living on the land which the king presented
305 See B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961) p. 28: "This list may relate to the distribution
of prisoners of war or the handing in to their officers of prisoners taken by individual
soldiers."
306 B. Parker, Iraq 23 (1961) p. 45 "this may be a distribution list of slaves, i.e.
captives of war."
•o1 ADD III, pp. 536-537.
308 The ardani sa rabute mentioned in ABL 867 may refer to captives who became
slaves of high ranking officials. Doporteos worn brought hy Sargon IT to Dur-.Jakin
which is mentioned in the text.
3oo Gibson, SSI 2, pp. 101-102.
310 Postgate, NARGD; Postgate, Taxation, pp. 33-34.
311 Postgate, NARGD; p. 2; Jacobson, in Diakonoff, Ancient Mesopotamia,
p. 278; ADB pp. 25, 52.
312 Jacobson, op. cit. (above, n. 311) pp. 283, 291 and above p. 97.
313 Postgate, NARGD, No. 14.
3"
Zablocka, Landarbeiter, pp. 213-214.
316 Postgate, NARGD, No. 54.
316 ADB p. 25.
317 S. Parpola, ZA 64 (1975) p. 109 n. 28.
318 Jacobson, op. cit. (above, n. 311) pp. 278-281 concerning Rimanni-Adad,
Kukulanu and Summa-ilani; van-Driel, Land, p. 170; Postgate, Taxation, pp.
37-38.
319 See e.g. ADD 255 (ARU 50).
Observations on the Position of Deportees
Observations on the Position of Deportees
to a courtier, then he became a slave." 320 The same view is expressed by
Zablocka, "Jede Landschenkung brachte also nicht nur eine Verrninderung des Kronlandes mit sich, sondern auch eine Verminderung der
Schicht der privilegierten koniglichen Landarbeiter, die somit Privatsklaven wurden." 321 Just as we cannot speak categorically about the legal
and socio-economic status of those who cultivated the land, so there is
no ample evidence that those who lived on land that was granted to an
official became slaves. A distinction should be made between tho case
of a deportee given personally to a private individual, without any connection with land (as in the examples mentioned above) and the case of
settled deportees being transferred with the granted land to a landlord.
In the first case, one may say with certainty that, in general, the status
of the deportees was ultimately and legally that of a (domestic) slave, but
in the second case, next to nothing can be said for certain.
to the service of a temple. 325 Persons from the Puqudu tribe were given
as serkutu to Ishtar temple at Uruk. 326 A!J,i-la-rim served as 111atu sa Bit
Ninurta (ADD 50 = ARU 301) and Za-ki-ru as 111 kalu (a lamentation
priest, ADD 851, III:2).
We know that (a) there is no explicit evidence of deportees being sold
into slavery by the Assyrian rulers, (b) there is only meagre information
about captives being reduced to slavery (in the royal court or by granting
captives to private individuals or temples); and (c) "the slave population
was at all times rather small and in private hands." 327 In view of these
facts we can assert with confidence that the enslaving of deportees was
very rare.
To sum up we can conclude that the socio-economic and legal status
of the deportees was not uniform and their conditions were not identical.
There were masters and dependants, full freemen and chattel slaves,
soldiers and civilians, labouring freemen and labouring dependant persons, townsmen and villagers, free peasants and dependant farmers, free
land holders, tenants and glebae adscripti. The rights and duties of the
individual deportee were determined by a wide range of circumstances.
The position of any particular deportee also depended on his occupation,
on the employer, on the function he was singled out to perform, on his
personal ability, and on the specific conditions prevailing in the place
where he lived.
114
(3) Allocation of captives to temples. The Assyrian kings presented
gifts of persons to temples. Grants of captives to temples are known from
various countries. 322 This practice was motivated by the desire to supply
the temples with cheap labour and thus help them to maintain their
economic life. Below are examples of the allocation of persons, mostly
captives, to temples.
Ashurbanipal claims that nise u sallat kurElamti ... reseti ana ilanija
asruk = "The people and spoil of Elam, ... the choicest I presented
unto my gods." 323 VAT 9656 (SV AT 1) records a donation by Sennaeherib
of ( napl:Jar) napsfite kisitti ummfinfiteja324 ("souls, the spoil of my troops")
Jacobson, op. cit. (above, n. 3ll) p. 294.
Zabloclm, Landm·bcitet·, p. 212. Soo also Diadonoff, XVIII RAJ p. 48. Fales
claims tlmt tho poasnnts listod in tho Harrn.n Consns togothor with thoir fmnilios
wore "sorvi" who worked for tho bonofit of tho landlords. Fulos, Gensimenti, pp. 124,
131.
322 On templo slavory, soo Mondolsohn, Slavery, pp. 99-106. In Egypt: Redford,
VT snppl. 20 p. 198; idem, JAOS 93 (1973) p. 17; W. Holck, Urkunden der 18 Dynastie, Ubersetzung zn He/ten 17-22, Berlin 1961, p. 148; H,. Givoon, Journal of the
American Research Genter in Egypt 8 (1969-1970) p. 51. In Anatolia and Mesopotamia: Gelb, Prisoners, pp. 81, 92: idem, RA 66 (1972) pp. 5ff. See also R. H. Sack,
AOATS 4 (1972) No. 70.
323 Streck, Ashurbanipal, II, pp. 58-60, col. VI: 125---VII I ( = AR II 814); p. 68
lines 34--36 ( = AR II, 913). The reseti here obviously includes human spoil, which
is not the case in Borger Asarhaddon, p. I 05, III: 8-13. See also text K. 2564 in
which a certain Ili-ia-a-bi, a WSem. name, is mentioned in connection with a
grant for the god Sin. See Th. Bauer, Das Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals, Leipzig,
1933, Vol. II, p. 90; Fales, WSem. Names, p. 184.
324 Or kurRa-l}ap[-a-]a, Postgate, NARGD p. 121, but he also writes "a donation
of slaves (possibly deportees) from Rasappa."
115
320
321
326
Jacobson, op. cit. (above, n. 3ll) p. 295. See also SV AT pp. lO-ll (VAT
8883).
326
BIN II, 132. R. P. Dougherty, The Shirkutu of Babylonian Deities, New
Haven, 1923, p. 21. See Saggs, Iraq 18 (1956) p. 53 and cf. ABL 268.
327
A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia, Chicago 1964, p. 74-7 5; M.A. Dandamayev, Acta Antiquo. (Hungaricae) 22 (1974) p. 443 [ = Harmatta-Komor6czy,
Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft ... 1976].
Appendix
117
APPENDIX
From
To
King/Time
A List of Geographical Names Relating to Deportations
Place
Notes:
RI- Royal (Historical) Inscriptions
AL - Administrative and Legal Texts
Rei. - Reliefs
BC - Babylonian Chronicles
OT - Old Testament
Con. ter.- Conquered Territories
More Places
* - A geographical name of a land in which sev<'ral sites are included in the list.
+-
Tho list includes otlmographical names.
Tho list does not include (a) places in Assyria proper (b) places to which Assyrians
only were brought.
The spelling is according to S. Parpola, Toponyms. Thus, the reader can easily find
tho relevant passage in the documents by the three given indicators-the place
name, the king's name and the text category.
List of Geographical Names Relating to Deportations
From
Place
Abiija
Abdadiini
(Bit)
Abel-BethMa'achah
Abitikna
To
I Area
Place
I Area
King/Time
7th.
37
20
30
Abrania
Adario,iti
Adile
40/41
Ajusija8
Akabrina
AkkU
Akkuddu
36
38/39
20
38
Assiir
Dima8qa,
ljatti
31
22+
29/30
Barl.Jalzi,
Zamua
A88iir
A88iir
32, 36
31
31
Source of
Information
AL
TP III
RI
TP III
Sargon II
OT
RI
TP III
7th
TP III
RI
AL
RI
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
Senn.
RI
RI
RI
RI
Algariga
Altaqt1
Amatu
Amatu
Amlattu
Amlilatu
Ammali
Amqarruna
I Area
39
20
40/41
40/41
40/41
40/41
36
20
Anzaria
Apparu
Ani
Aranzia8
Aranzia8
Araquttu
Arbakki
Ariarma
*AribifArubu
*AribifArubu
38
42
23
*AribifArubu
40/42
42
24
24
*Aribi/Arubu
Arpadda
Arpadda
( Babili+)
37
29
37
42
42
ArumufArime 40/41
ArumufArime 40/41
(Con. ter.)
Aramuf
Arumu
40/41
Arza
20
Asdudimmu
(Con. ter.)
Place
I Area
Assur
31
Siimirina
Unqi
20
24
AMiir
31
Anatu
35
A.SMir
Ulluba
Assur
31
30
31
31
Samirina
20
A88iir+
AMur
31
31
Arqa
Arrapl.Ja
21
34
AMiir
Arame
31
40/41
AMur
Assur
Arzul.Jina
31
31
34
Asdudimmu
20
20
Ashur b.
Senn.
TP III
Sargon II
TP III
TP III
Ashurn. II
Senn.
Adacl-ni.III
Sargon II
Ashur b.
TP III
Sham.Ad.V.
Ashurb.
TP III
Ashurn. II
TP III
TP III
Sargon II
Source of
Information
Ashurdan II
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
RI
OT
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
RI,
AL(?)
RI
RI
AL(?)
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI
Senn.
Esarh.
8th-7th
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
Senn.
Ashur b.
Adad -ni. III
TP III
TP III
Appendix
Appendix
118
To
From
Place
Asdiidu
(Con. ter.)
Astartu
A~alli
I Area
Place
King/Time
I Area
20
Asdiidu
20
28
36
23
36
Asdifa8
Asltani
AssaSdannasu
(Con. ter.)
42
Atarsamain
20
[xjatbite
23
Atinni
'Avva
40/41
Azuru
20
(Asuru)
39
Bab-Dilri
40/41
Babili
Biibili
Bala
40/41
30
Banajabarqa
Banitu
20
40/41
[xjbara
( Babili)
Barbaz
(Con. ter.)
Bm·sip
Basimu
Bazu
Bigali(?)
Bela
Bit-Abi-ilaja
Bit-Adini
20
40/41
29
40/41
39
42
37
40/41
27
20
Ulluba
30
Assur-I qisa
30
Ulluba
Sarnirina
30
20
Assilr
Samirina
Dima8qa
( f!attiAmurru)
Tu'immu
Baqarru
Barlwlzi
31
20
22/23
24
34
31/32
Barbaz
29
Assur
Assilr
31
31
Tu'immu
24
Assilr
31
Sargon II
Sargon II
TP III
Ashurn. II
Ashurb.
TP III
Ashurb.
TP III
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
Sargon II (?)
Senn.
Sargon II
Senn.
Sargon II (?)
Sargon II
Senn.
TP III
8th
TP III
TPIII
TP III
TP III
Ashur b.
Ashurb.
Esarh.
Sargon II
TP III
7th(?)
Ash urn.
Source of
Information
RI
RI,AL
Rei.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
OT
RI
RI
RI,BC,
AL
OT
RI
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
(Rei.)
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
AL
RI
From
119
To
King/Time
Source of
Information
Place
I Area
Bit-Adini
Bit-Adini
27
40/41
Assilr
31
Shalm. III
Shalm. V
Bit-Amukani
Bit-Arrabi
Bit-Ba!Jiani
Bit-Barrila
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Bunakki
Bit-Buruta8
(Con. ter.,
Babili)
Bit-Dagan
Bit-f!amban
Bit-f! amban
(Con. ter.)
*Bit-f!urnri
(Con. ter.,
Aribi)
Bit-bnbi
Bit-Utar
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Jalfiri
(Magarisu)
*Bit-Jakin
40/41
39
28
37/38
Assilr
Assilr
31
31
TP III
Ashur b.
Ashurn. II
TP III
TP III
Ashur b.
Sargon II
RI
AL,
OT (?)
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
Sargon II
Senn.
Shalm. III
TP III
TP III
TP III
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
20
Sargon II
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
Ashurn. II
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
(Kummu!Ji)
*Bit-Jakin
Bit-Kabsi
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Kiblate
(Kummu!Ji)
Bit-K ilamza!J
(Con. ter.)
39
26
20
37
37
20
Place
Bit-Barrila
Assilr
Assilr
BitBurutas
I Area
37/38
31
31
26
Assilr
31
Bit-f!arnban
Assiir
Bit-f!umri
(Samaria)
37
31
39
37
Bit-IStar
28
40/41
25
40/41
37
Kummu!Ji
({latti)
Bit-Jakin
Assilr
25
Sargon II
RI
40/41
31
Sargon II
Senn.
TP III
RI
RI
RI
Bit-Kabsi
37
Bit-K iblale
40/41
BitKilarnzalt
37
Sargon II
Sargon II
Senn.
Senn.
RI
RI
RI
RI
40/41
37
120
Appendix
From
Place
Bit-K ubatti
(Ka.SSi)
Bit-K umtkBitsu(?)
Bit-Luppi
Bit-Matti
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Qatatti
*Bit-Sa'alli
Bit-Sangibuti
(Con. ter.)
To
I Area
37
37
38/39
39
37
39
40/41
37
*Bit-Siliini
40/41
Bit-Taranziija
37
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Tazzakki
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Uaj
margi(?)
Bit-Unzaja
Bit-Zabidaja
(Kummulji)
Bit-Zarniini
Bit-Zarniini
Bit-Zatti
(Con. ter.)
Bit-Zualza8
(Con. ter.)
( K urnmu!Ji)
Bube
Bubilu
Appendix
Place
King/Time
I Area
40/41
42
40/41
Ashur b.
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
RI
(Rei.)
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
37
TP III
TP III
TP III
Rl
RI
RI
37
TP III
TP III
TP III
RI
RI
RI
Burnarni
Bust us
Busutu
Butiirnu
Daeba
Dagara
Daiqansa
Dajae
Damunu
Darnunu
Dania
Danziun
Der
23
37
36
24
39
36
29/30
30
41/42
41/42
29/30
29
39
42
22
Sargon II
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
RI
RI
Tuk. ni. II
Ashurn. II
TP III
TP III
TPIII
TP III
Sargon II
Ashurb.
Ashur b.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
Diltriinu
Dirnasqa
(AraratManna)
Dimtu-.Sasimame
Dimtu-satapapa
Din-.Sarri
Duna
Dunanu
Assur
31
Bit-111atti
Assur
37
31
23, 24
29
29
37
BitTazzaklci
37
Assiir
31
BitZabidaja
40/41
Assur
31
Bit-Zatti
37
Bit-Zualza8
Bube
Assur
Assur
37
39
31
31
37
25
39
39
I Area
Buda
Buda'
Budu
37
37
39
40/41
25
Place
Dunni-Sama8
( ffatti,
Na'iri) (?)
Diir-Amnani
King/Time
Source of
lnformation
TP III
Esarh.
TP III
RI
RI
RI
TP III
TP III
Ashur b.
Shalm. III
Ashurb.
Ashurn. II
TP III
Senn.
TP III
Senn.
TP III
TP III
Sham.Ad.V
7th/8th
Esarh.
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
AL
RI
OT,AL
To
RI
RI
37
Bit-Taranziija
From
Senn.
Senn.
BitK ubatti
$imirra,+
BitSangibuti
Source of
Information
121
Place
I Area
$imirra+
A .Slur
Barljalzi,
Zarnua
23/24
31
32, 36
Assiir
31
Unqi
Assiir
24
31
Der
Assiir
Kir
39
31
Dima8qa
22
Sargon II
RI
39
Assur
:n
Ashurb.
RI
39
39
Assiir
A88iir
Tu'immu
Barljalzi,
Zamua
31
31
24
32, 36
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
ltl
RI, Rei.
IU
RI
Ashurb.
RI
Adad-ni. III
RI
Ashur b.
RI
40/41
40/41
39
Diir-Adadniriiri
39
32?
122
From
Place
DurAmnanima
To
I Area
Place
King/Time
I Area
39
DurAssur(?)
Source of
Information
Ashurb.
RI
40/41
A dad -ni. III
Sargon II
RI
Dur-Athara
Dur-BelIlaja
(KummuMJ
40/41
25
40/41
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
Dur-Enlil
(Kummul:Ji)
Dur-lllataja
(f!atti,
Na'iri)(?)
Dur-Jakin
(Kummulfi)
DurKurigalzi
40/41
25
40/41
31
Sargon II
Sargon II
TPIII
RI
RI
RI
32?
25
40/41
Adad-ni. III
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
RI
32, 36
40/41
TP III
Sargon II
RI
RI
A dad-ni. III
RI
Adad-ni. III
RI
Sham.Ad.V
Sargon II
Ashur b.
Sargon II
RI
AL
RI
RI,AL
(.f!atti,
Na'iri)(?)
(f!atti,
Na'iri)(?)
DurPapsukkal
Dur-Stn
Dur-Sarri
( K ummu[ti)
(Con. ter.)
Dur-Undasi
DurUndiisima
Duru
40/41
25
40/41
40/41
40/41
3!)
25
39
39
40/41
Dur-BelIlaja
Dur-Enlil
A88ur
Dur-1nanna
Kummul:Ji
Dur-Jakin
Barlfalzi,
Zamua
Dur-Ladini
DurMarduk
Dur-NergalE1·e8
AM:ur
Dur-Taliti
Dur-Tukulti-ApalE.Sarra
Assur
Assnr
Unqi
123
Appendix
Appendix
34/36
31
34
l~I
From
Place
To
I Area
Eku88u
(Kummulfi)
*Elamtu
*Elamtu
*Elamtu
40/41
25
39
39
39
Elenza8
(Con. ter.)
Elizan8u
*Ellipi
*Ellipi
(ljatti)
*Ellipi
*Ellipi
Ellitarbi
Elugia
Enzikarme
Eusa
Ga'uanu
*Galil
Gambulu
Gambulu
Gambulu
Gargami8
Gargami8
Gargami8 ( ?)
Gatudu
Gatuduma
38
38?
38
38
38
38
24
29
42
29/30
42
20
40/41
40/41
40/41
27
27
27
39
39
(Mu~ru+)
34
31
31
24
TP III
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI
Gil' ad
Gimtu
(Con. ter.)
Gizilbunda
Gizinkissi
Gukinnana
20
20
36/37
37
37?
Place
King/Time
I Area
Eku88u
40/41
Elenza8
38
Assur
Ellipi
31
38
Ulluba
30
A88iir
31
Assnr
A88iir
31
A88ur
A88ur
31
31
Assur
A88ur
AMur
Assur
Gazru
AM fir
31
31
31
31
20
31
Gimtu
20
Sargon II
Sargon II
Sargon II
Scnn.
Ashurb.
Senn.
Scnn.
TP III
Ashurn. II
Sargon II
Sargon II
Senn.
Esarh.
TP III
TP III
Ashurb.
TPIII
Esarh.
TP III
Sargon II
Senn.
Ashur b.
Ashurn. II
Sargon II
Adad-ni. III
Ashur b.
Ashur b.
Ashur b.
TP III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Sam. Ad.V
TP III
TP III
Source of
Information
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
AL
RI
RI
RI
Rei.
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
lU
OT
RI
RI
RI,AL
RI
AL
RI
HI
AL
OT
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
To
From
Place
I Area
25
*Gurgum
(Con. ter.) +
SutU)
39
Gurukirra
40/41
*Gurumu
20+
(BitHumri +)
22
{liidara
40/41
lfagariinu
42
Hajappri
39
!Jajausi
(Bit
20+
Humr~+)
36/37
!falbuknu
42
!faldisu
!fal!Jalaus
39
lfamiinu
40/41
!famariini
23
*IJamat
23
*{lamat
*Ijamat
23
(lJianna+)
!Jara'
!Jarbisinna
(Con. ter.)
{lardispi
( J asubigalliija)
!fargu
!Jar!Jiir
(Con. ter.,
!fatti)
(Con. ter.)
]jar;;or
30+
39
29
Place
Assur
King/Time
I Area
31
Gttrgwn
25
Assur
Giiziina
31
28
Siimirina
Assur
20
31
!falaMJu
33/34
20
RI
Sargon II
Ashur b.
Senn.
Sargon II
TP III
Senn.
Sargon II
Ashurb.
RI
RI
RI
OT,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
RI
Rei.
RI
0'1', AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
Assiir
31
ku[. .. ],
Ulluba
Assur
30
31
Sargon II
!Jamat
Assiir
23
31
.flarbisinna
29
Sargon II
Ashur b.
TP III
TP III
Senn.
RI,AL,
OT?
l"{I, OT?
RI
RI
RI
RI
ljardispi
37
Senn.
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
AL
RI
Sargon II
8th-7th
TP III
RI
AL
OT
31
37
37
29
37
Sargon II
Source of
Information
Sargon II
Sargon II
Esarh.
Ashurd. II
Ashurb.
Senn.
Shal. III
TP III
Assur
!far!Jar
Harriin
Assiir
125
Appendix
Appendix
124
37
27
31
From
To
I Area
Place
!!atarrikka
(Duru, +)
!fiizat
Ijazazu
*{lilakku
(Con. ter.
Biibili)
[lilakku
!Jilmu
1Jinatuna
ljindiru
!fista
(Con. ter.)
fluba!Jna
1Jursaggalla
(Kummu!Ji)
1Jursagkalama
( Biibili)
lbiididi
I brat
T!Jilu
lllil
lllubru
(Con. ter.)
llpiatu
lngirri
lppa
lqbi-Bel
(Kummu!Ji)
lrgidu
lrmaja
lrriina
lsamme'
Ja'iidu
+
24
40/41
20
24
Place
Ulluba
!fatatirra
King/Time
I Area
30
24
26
26
40/41
20
40/41
29
38
40/41
25
40/41
40/41
42
39
42
39?
26
42
26
29/30
40/41
25
39
22
42
42
20
!filakku
Assur
Assiir
26
31
31
Assur
31
!fista
29
!Jursaggalla
40/41
ffuzarra
Siimirina
Assur
Assur
ffatti
Assur
lllubru
Assur
Assur
24
20
31
31
21, 24
31
26
31
31
lqbi-Bel
Assiir
40/41
Assur
TP III
TP III
TP III
Shal. III
Source of
Information
Sargon II
RI
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
AL?
RI
Sargon II
Senn.
Senn.
TP III
Senn.
TP III
TP III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Sargon II
Senn.
TP III
Sargon II
Ashur b.
Esarh.
'rP III
Senn.
Senn.
Esarh.
Senn.
TP III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Ashurb.
TP III
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
Senn.
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
126
Appendix
From
Place
To
I Area
Jaballu
Jadftabi
Jiidaqqu
Jadnana
Jaljiinu
Janob
Jappu
J asubigalliija
Jasubu
Ka[ .. n]a
Kala' in
40/41
23
40/41
43
*Kaldu
*Kaldu
*Kaldu
Kalzi (?)
(Con. ter.)
*Kammanu
(SutU}
Kani{!u
Kaprabi
Kapru
( K urmnul~i}
(Con. ter.)
40/41
40/41
40/41
30
Kiir-Zibra
Karalla
(!fatti)
Kasku
Ka8piina
Ka88i
Kedes
20
20
37
40/41
36/37
40/41
25
40/41
39
27
40/41
25
40/41
26
25
21
37
20
Place
Ulluba
+
King/Time
I Area
30
Assiir
31
!fardispi+
Ka8puna
37
21
Barl.Jalzi,
Zamua
!fatti
Assiir
A88iir
A88iir
Kalzi
32/36
Kammanu
Assiir
Assiir
Kapm
Kiir-AssiirA!J!fuiddina
Kiir-Sin(?)
A88iir,
!famat
Karalla
Ulluba
Bit-K ubattiAssiir
127
Appendix
31
31
31
30
25
31
31
40/41
21
32/35
31,23
26
30
37
31
Source of
Information
TP III
TP III
Scnn.
Senn.
Ashurd. II
TPIII
Senn.
Senn.
8th
Sargon II
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI, AL?
RI
OT
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
Sargon II
Senn.
Ashurb.
Esarh.
Esarh.
Sargon II
Sargon II
Ashurb.
Ashurn. II
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
(Rel.)
RI
RI, AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
Esarh.
Adad-ni. III
TP III
RI
RI
RI
Sargon II
Sargon II
Sargon II
TP III
Senn.
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
RI
OT
From
Place
To
I
Area
Kimirra
Kinalua
( Biibili)
37
24
40/41
Kinzarbara
Kipre
(Dim8qa)
Kirbit
(Con. tor.
MU{Jri) (?)
Kirruri
Kissik
36/37
40/41
22
39
J{is
Kisesim
(ffatti)
Kullimmeri
(Con. ter.)
( Biibili)
*Kummu!Ji
40/41
37
34
40/41
Kinaluaf
Kullania
I
40/41
25
40/41
KurU{J~a
22
39
40/41
40/41
40/41
34/36
34/37
20
40/41
25
Source of
Information
Sargon II
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
OT
RI
Area
Assiir
Kir
MU{Jri
31
19
TP III
Sargon II
Senn.
TP III
Ashurb.
Kirbit
Assiir
Barljalzi,
Zamua
39
31
Ashurb.
Ash urn.
RI
RI
32, 36
Kisesim
37
Kullimmeri
Kulmadara
Biibili,
Assiir
30
24
TP III
Sem1.
Sargon II
Sargon II
Esarh.
Esarh.
TP III
RI
RI
RI, Rei.
RI
RI
RI
RI
40/41
31
25
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
Sargon II
RI
TP III
Ashurb.
Sargon II (?)
Senn.
TP III
Tuk.-ni. II
8th
Senn.
RI
RI
OT
RI
RI,AL
RI
AL
Rel.
24
30
(Bit-Jakin)
KUR.A.KAL-sa
(Kummu!Ji)
K U{!Urtiijin
Kutuf(Gutha)
KutU
Labdudu
Ladiinu
La!Jiru (?)
Lakis
Place
King/Time
Kummulji
KUR.A.KAL-sa
40/41
Assiir
Siimirina
31
20
Assiir, Quwe
31,26
128
Appendix
To
From
Place
Lallukna
Liiqe
(Con. ter.)(?)
Li'tiiwu
Li'tiiwu
Limitu
( ]{ummu!Ji)
Lullu(mu)
Luqadansa
Luqia
*Miidaja
*Miidiija
( Samirina)
Madaktu
Magaliinu
Mala~u
Man~bbi
Manna
Manna
llfanna
Marl~u~
(Con. ter.)
llfarqantl
Marqasi
(Con. ter.,
Sutu)
Marsimani
Marubi8tu
(Con. ter.)
Marubi8tu
Masuttu
Melidi
( Bit-Jiikin)
King/Time
I Area
I Area
Place
30/36
Dimasqa,
{latti
A88iir
Laqe
22
31
28
Assiie
31
Limitu
40/41
28
40/41
40/41
40/41
25
36
29/30
29/30
37
37
20
39
42
40/41
42
36
36
Miidiija
A881ir
37
31
Assiir
Assiir
A88iir
31
31
31
Assiir
31
30
42
25
42
38
38
39
25
40/41
129
Appendix
Mar~u~a
30
Assiir
llfarqasi
31
25
Siitnirina
20
Marubistu
38
Assiir
Assiir
Melidi
31
31
25
Sargon II
Ashurn. II
A dad -ni. III
TPIII
Senn.
Sargon II
Sargon II
Tuk.-ni. II
TP III
TP III
TP III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Ashurb.
Source of
Information
Esarh.
Senn.
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Senn.
Ashurb.
Esarh.
Esarh.
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI, OT
RI, Rei.,
AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
Sargon II
Sargon II
Sargon II
Senn.
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Sargon II
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
From
Place
Mempi
(Con. ter.)
Metuna
Meturnat
Muliigani
Mu~a..~ir
*Mu11ru
*Mu~ru
(Kirbit)
Mu8ku
*Na'iri
Nabtltu
Nabatu
Nadi'
Nagitu
NagituDi'bina
To
I Area
Place
King/Time
I Area
19
20
35
40/41
30
19
19
39
26
29
40/41
40/41
39
40/41
40/41
Nakkab
Nakru
40/41
40/41
*Namri
Niiqidiite
37
39
28
36
N~ibina
Naziniri
Nemed-Sin
( K ummu!Ji)
Nergal ...
Ni'
Nikkur
(Con. ter.)
Niparia
Nippur
25
40/41
19
37
31
31
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Shal. III
Senn.
Ashur b.
Ashur b.
Senn.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI, AL
RI, Rei.,
OT,AL
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
31
20
21-
Senn.
Sargon II
TPIII
RI
RI
RI
32, 36
31
31
TP III
Simi. III
Ashur b.
Adad-ni.II
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Sargon II
TP III
Ashur b.
TP III
TP III
TPIII
Senn.
8th-7t.h
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
AL
Mempi
19
Assiir
{latti?
31
Assiir+
31+
Mu11ru
19
Assiir
31
Assiir
Assiir
Assiir
Na~l-M~ur
$immira+
Esarh.
Ashur b.
TP III
Sham.Ad.V
'l'P III
Sargon II
Esarh.
Ashur b.
Source of
Information
Bar~lzi,
Zamua
Assiir
Assiir
Nemed-Sin
Tu'immu
A88iir
28
24
31
Nikkur
37
Nippur
40/41
37?
40/41
130
From
Place
Niqqu
(Con. ter.)
Nissaja
Nulia
Nuqudina
Pa[dJaz
Pala8tu
Palil-iluina-mati
Pappa
Parsua
Par sua
(Con. ter.)
*Pattina
*Pattina
Patu8arra
Pillutu
Puqfidu
Puqiidu
Qabrina
Qabrinama
Qadaba'u
Qadarini
To
I
Area
Place
King/Time
I
Area
39
37
24
23
40/41
20
30
37
37
24
24
37
40/41
40/41
40/41
39
39
42
Qedar
Qin-Nippur
42
40/41
Qirbutu
40/41
29
Quda
27 ( ?)
Qiimbuna
35
Quti ( Gutium)
26
Quwe
(Con. ter.)
Source of
Information
TP III
TP III
TP III
Shal. III
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
TP III
Senn.
RI
RI,AL
TPIII
Sargon II
Shal. III
TPIII
TP III
Ashurn. II
Shal. III
Esarh.
Senn.
TP III
Senn.
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
Esarh.
8th-7th
Adad-ni.III
Ashurb.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
32, 36
TP III
RI
32, 36
TP III
TP III
8th
TP III
Senn.
8th-7th
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
AL
Niqqu
39
Ulluba
Barlzalzi,
Zamua
Assfir
30
32/36
31
Tu'imme
Dimasqa
Assfir
24
22
31
Par sua
A88fir
37
31
Assfir
Assfir
31
31
Assfir+
Assfir
Assfir
Assfir
Gfiziina
Qatna (?)
Assfir+
BarhalziZamua
BarhalziZamua
31+
31
31
31
28
28
31+
$imirra+
Assfir
Quwe
131
Appendix
Appendix
21+
31
26
From
Place
Ra'usan
Rapi!Ju
Rapiqu
Raqqatu
( K U1n1ntb!Ji)
v (Con. ter.)( ?)
Ri!Ji!Ji
Ru'ua
Ru'ua
Sadatejin
Sagbat
To
I Area
37 (?)
20
40/41
40/41
25
40/41
40/41
40/41
42
38/39
Place
Raqqatu
Ra.;sappa
Ass fir
Assfir+
Sagbat (?)
Sagillu
( Biibili)
Sa!Jrina
Sakka
Saksukni
Sam'al (?}
Sam' una
(Kummu!Ji)
Sam'una
Siimirina
(Con.ter.,Aribi)
40/41
40/41
29/30
37 ( ?)
25
40/41
*Sangillu
Saqurru
Sarrabiinu
Sarragitu
Sa[ru]na?
Sepharvaim
Si'annu
( Biibili+)
40/41
42
40/41
40/41
flatti (?)
20
40t41 ? Siimirina
21
Ulluba
40/41 Si'annu
36
37
39 (?)
Sil~ua
Sikris
Sil!Jazi
40/41
20
Ass fir
Sam'fina
Assfir
AMur+
Siimirina
Siimirina
Siimirina
Tu'immu
King/Time
I Area
40/41
32
31
31+
38/39
24
31
40/41
31
31+
20
20
20
24
20
30
21
TP III
Sargon II
8th
Sargon II
Sargon II
8th
Senn.
TP III
Senn.
Ashur b.
TP III
TP III
TP III
Senn.
TP III
TP III
Adad-ni.III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Sargon II
Esarh.
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
TP III
TP III
TP III
Sargon II (?)
TP III
TP III
Ashur b.
Sargon II
TPIII
Source of
Inform ation
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI, OT
RI
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
Rei.
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI
RI, OT
RI, OT
OT
OT
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
OT
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
132
Appendix
From
Appendix
To
King/Time
I Area
Place
I Area
Sippar
40/41
32, 36
Sippar
Sirqu
(Con. ter.)( ?)
Suba!Je
Su!Ju
40/41
28
Bar!Jalzi,
Zamua
Assur
Assur
Sirqu
Assur
Su!Ju (?)
31
35
SulJu
Sukkia
Sumurzu
(Con. ter.)
Supurgillu
Sutu
(Con. ter.)
Sutu
$idunu
$idiinu
$imirra
( Babili+)
$ipur
$urru
(Giiziina)
Sa-Kisaja
Sa-p£-Bel
Sattena
(KumrnuMJ
Sikrakki
Silaja
35
30
39 ( ?)
Dimasqa+
22+
Place
Sinul~tu
SuandalJul
Sub ria
(Con. ter.)
Sura
( flatti)
39
35
Sumurzu
40/41 ( ?) flatti
40/41 Gurgum+
Sutu
40/41
21
Assur
21
Assur
21
Ulluba
40/41 $imirra
40/41
21
Assiir
Sabirisu (?)
39
40/41 Assiir
40/41
Sattena
37 (?)
30
Assiir
26
Assur
36
Assiir
30
Subria
29 ( ?)
Surda
31
31
28
39 ( ?)
25
40/41
31
31
30
21
31
30
30
31
40/41
31
31
31
30
36
Source of
Inform ation
From
Place
To
I Area
TP III
RI
Susan
39
Senn.
Ashurn.
Adad-ni.III
Ashurb.
Ashurn. II
Adad -ni. III
8th
Sargon II
TPIII
TPIII
TP III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Esarh.
Senn.
Esarh.
TP III
TP III
TP III·
Senn.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
RI,AL
RI
RI,AL
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
Ta'na
*Tabiil
42
26
Ashur b.
Ashurb.
Sargon II
Sargon II
TP III
Shal. III
Sargon II
Sargon II
Esarh.
Esarh.
Ashurn II
Sargon II
133
(Con. ter.)
( Biibili)
Taja
Tam nil
Tarnudi
Tane
40/41
24
20
42
40/41
Taraqu
Tarba§u
Tarlugallu
( Biibili)
Tarzi
39
40/41
39 (?)
40/41
26
Place
Assiir,
Siirnirina
King/Time
I Area
31,20
Ashur b.
Ashur b.
Sargon II
Tabal
Ta'e
26
24
Siirnirina
Bar!Jalzi,
Zamua
Assur
20
Sargon II
TP III
Shal. III
Senn.
Sargon II
RI, OT
RI
RI,
AL(?)
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
TP III
Ashurb.
TP III
TP III
TP III
Senn.
Senn.
TP III
TP III
Adad-ni. II
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
Hel. His.
RI
RI
RI
Tarmanazi
32, 36
31
24
Tarzi (?)
Tasa
(Con. ter.)
Ternan
Temen-Marduk-Sar.
Tenuquri
30
29 ( ?)
39
42
Source of
Information
Tasa
Assur
30
30
Assiir
30
Ashur b.
Ashurb.
RI
RI
Assiir
30
Assur
TilGarirnrnu
31
TP III
Ashurn. II
8th
Sargon II
RI
RI
AL
RI
25
Til-flumban
39
Sargon II
Senn.
Sargon II
Ashurb.
TP III
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
[. ..1 tiTil-Biiri
Til-Barsip
Til-Garirnrnu
(Con. ter.,
SutU)
Til-Garirnmu
(KummulJi)
Til- fl umban
(Con. ter.)
34 (?)
27
25
25
39
Til-Kamri
40/41
134
Appendix
From
Place
(Qute,
Sangib1ttu)
Til-Tubu
Tuajadi
( Biibili+)
Tu'muna
Tublijas
Tubu
Ubudu
Uda
Ubulu
Ukku
Uliija
(ljamat)
Ulluba
*Unqi
( Biibili)
Unu
Uppis
*Urartu
Ura8
Urdalika
Urimzan
Urkijamun
Uruk
(Bubria,
Puqudu)
Usnu
( Biibili+)
Usqaqiina
Usu
Zajuran
Zakruti
(Con. ter.)
Zamua
To
I Area
35, 37
39
36
40/41
40/41
29
39
40/41
29
40/41
30
29
23
30
24
40/41
19
36
30
37
39
39(?)
36
40/41
30
21
40/41
37
21
42
37
36
Place
135
Appendix
King/Time
I Area
Til-Karme
T1t'imrnu
24
Assur
AssiLr
AssiLr
31
31
31
Ulluba
30
Unqi
AssiLr
24
31
Assur
31
Uruk
Ulluba
Usnu
40/41
30
21
Zakruti
Assur
37
31
Source of
Information
TP III
Ashurb.
Sargon II
TP III
Senn.
TP III
Ashurb.
Senn.
Ashurn. II
Senn.
Senn.
TP III
TP III
8th
TP III
TP III
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
TPIII
Sham.Ad.V
Ashurb.
TP III
Ashurb.
Senn.
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI,AL
AL
RI,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI,BC.
Esarh.
TP III
TPIII
TPIII
Ashurb.
Ashurb.
TP III
TPIII
Ashurn. II
BC,AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
RI
From
Place
Zamua
( Biibili)
( Biibili)
Zarati
( K ummu!Ji)
Zitiinu
Zurzukka
To
I Area
36
40/41
40/41
40/41
25
23
36
Place
I Area
King/Time
Assur
Zamua
Zanaki
31
36
Shal. III
TP III
Zariiti
Ulluba
40/41
30
Sargon II
Sargon II
TP III
Sargon II
Source of
Information
RI
RI
AL
RI
RI
RI
RI
General Index
GENERAL INDEX
In some cases different individuals are included under one and the same personal name.
vars. = variants.
A-a-me-tu-nu 93
A -a-tu-ri I O!J
A-a-u-id-ri 7,1
abda (and vars.) 12, 100, 102, 103, 106,
109
A-bi-ia-a{t-ia 109
abdadani (Bit) 63, 63
Ab-di-[l.i-mu-mt 93
Ab-di-ku-btt-bi 109
Ab-di-lim-mu (and vars.) 101, 106
Ab-di-mil-ki 108
Abdimilkuti 78
Ab-di-sa-am-si (and vars.) 15, 102
Ab-di-si-k{u-ni] 103, 103
Ab-di-{ §Ur J 107
Ab-du-a-gu-ni 108
Ab-dtt-tt-ni (and vars.) 93, 96, 108
Ab-e-a-su-pi I 02
Ab!ty 22
Abi-li-i(!-[ia] 110
Abi-ra-mu 107
Abitikna 16
Acre (Acco) 53
A-da-bu-i 102
Adad-ia-ba-bi 100
Adad-la-din 106
Adad-narari I 2
Adad-ncrari II 6, 20, 112
Adad-nemri III 4, 5, 20, 55, 58
Adad-ra-lli-mu 108
Adad-ra-pa-a 103
A-dar-a-a 106
A-di-i 108
Ad-ra-a-(!a-u 107
AD-ra-mu 105
Ad-u-mu 93
A-du-na-i-zi 102
Adunibaal 103
A-du-ni-i (and vars.) 61, 109
A-du-ni-ih-a 102, 102
A-du-ni-!~-[ri] 109
A-du-nu-mil-[ki] 107
Agriculturalists 91-99
A[!,i-ia-qa-a-mu (and vars.) 15, 70, 93,
93, 107
A[!,i-ia-qar (and vars.) 93, 104
A[!,i-ia-u 13
A(!i-la-rim 115
Ahi-lim-me 93
A:bi-ra-mu (and vrtrs.) 100, 108
A-hi-tal-li 106
A-hu:ni-i 108, 109
A hu-1t-a-eriba 110
A:(!u-utftu-mil-ki 109
Akkudu 16
Alligu 45
Amat-as-ta-ar-ti 106
Am-ba-ba 109
Am-ia-a-nu 105
Am-ia-ta-' 107
Am-ma-a-a 100
Ammon(ites) 12, 12
Am-ra-mu 106
Amuladi 34
Anat 71
Anatolirt 31
Andia 16, 20
Apku (Tell-abu-1.\faria) 4!)
Arab[ians] 12, 15, 16, 17, 29, 30, 31,
36, 50, 53, 58, 64, 66, 72, 73, 77, 101,
102, 112
Ara.m(acans; aic) 5, 12, 12, 14, 14, 16,
25, 31, 38, .38, 56, 61, 63, 64, 66, 67,
77, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 105
Aramaic Ostracon (ND 6213) J 6, 24
Arm·at (see Urmtu)
Ar-ba-a-a 106, 108
Arbail (Arbela) 62, 79, 112
Argitc 92
Argishti I 49, 66
Aribua 44, 44
Arpad (sec also Bit-Agusi) 4, 46, 50,
73, 101, 105, ll3
Arrapha 9
Arslan-Tash (Hadattu) 5
Arza 34
Ar-zi-zu 108
Arzuhina 6, 9, 58, 86
Ashdod 27, 29, 32, 52, 63, 63, 83
Ashdod-yam 63, 83
Ashkelon 1, 25
Ashtaroth 11
Ashur (city) 2, 3, 28, 30, 48, 60, 77, 81,
103
Ashurbanipal 7, 8, 19, 20, 22, 28,
29, 33, 36, 37, 41, 45, 50, 53, 56,
61, 65, 66, 73, 73, 78, 79, 83, 84,
90, 91, 92, 101, ll2, 113, 114
Ashur-dan II 19, 20, 60, 71, 81
Ashur-dan III 20
Ashur-Iqisha 68, 70
Ashurnasirpal II 2, 20, 30, 33, 33,
uO, 50, 60, 67, 84, 84, !JO
Ashur-ncrari V 20, 41
Ashur Ostracon 113
A-si-i 109
Asnappar 28
Assur-apla-iddina 13
Assyrian Doomsday Book 72, 7 3,
95, 97, 114
Asuhili 34
A-ta-id-ri 106
A-tar-DINGIR 105
A-tar-(!a-mu 109
A-tar-qa-mu 101
A-tar-su-ri 102
A -tu-e-hu 108
Az-gu-di 101
A-zi-ilu 101
Azitwadda (of Adana) 27, 49
42
Ba-al-ha-lu-su 108
Bab-d~ri 63
Babylon 28, 32, 41, 41, 43, 54,
69, 74, 78, 79, 83, 89, 112
Babylonia(ns) 8, 13, 16, 26, 27,
31, 43, 45, 48, 52, 61, 62, 63,
69, 71, 82, 83, 103, 110
Ba-da-a (and vars.) 107, 109
Ba-ga-gi 109
Bag-te-lmp 109
Ba-gu-su 106
Ba-la-si-i 106, 108
Balih 71, 72
Ba-ra-[ki] 93
Barhalzi 52, 71, 71, 82, 86, 86,
Bar-ruq 107
Ba-sa-li 102
Ba-§i-id-qi-i 102
Bazu 7, 17, 100
Be-' -li-ra-ka-bi 107
Bel-etir 113
Bcl-harran-beli-usur 72
Bel-ibni 37, 37, 59, 100
Bel-Iqisha (see Sam'una)
Bel Liqbi 73
29,
58,
89,
44,
92,
Baal (of Tyre)
59, 69,
29, 30,
65, 67,
106
137
22
Bi-bi-a-[l,a-lu-;m 93
Bi-bi-e (and vars.) 107, 108
Bi-il-ba-rak-ki 103
Bir-am-ma-a (and vars.) 108
Bir-sa-mas 102, 103
Bi-si-lu 106
Bit-Adini 30, 43, 44, 45, 52, 60, 81
Bit Agusi (soc also Arpad) 41
Bit-Amukani 3, 52
Bit-Barrua 64
I3it-Burutash 45, 4.5
Bit Hamban 63, 70, ll3
Bit-Jakin 10, 29, 30, 52, 63, 66, 69, 112
Bit-Kiblato 16
I3it-Kilamzah 29, 64, 64
Bit-Sangibuti 63, 82
Bit-Sha'ali 52
Bit-Suraja 25
Bur-Ra-man 106
Bur-sa-gal-e 105
Byblos 103
Beth-Shean
Calah (Nimrud)
2, 4, 6, 10, 14, 16, 2:3,
24, 25, 28, 30, 31, 3i, 48, 55, 57, 58,
60, 61, 72, 78, 79, 93, 100, 102, Ill
Carchomish 45, 52, 86, 103, Ill
Chaldaean(s) 25, 42, 45, 47, 50, 51, 56,
66,73
Craftsmen, artisans 22, 24, 45, 47, 52,
54-59, 77, 99-104
Cutha (Kutu) 6
Da-a-a-na-a I 09
Daiaukku 1
Damascus 4, 8, 16, 28, :37, 43, 44, 46,
52, 64, 64, 71, 73, 74, 107
Da-na-ia-ti-ili 93
Di-di-i 102
DJNGIR-a-a-ra-rne 107
DINGER-qa-tar 106
Din-sharri 34
Di-si-i 101
Dur bel-harran-beli-usnr 72
Dur-bel-Ilaja 94
Dur Inanna 73
Dur-Jakin 64, 113
Dur-Ladini 45, 87
Dur Papsukal 112
Dnr-Sharrukin 28, 31, 38, 48, 56, ii8,
59, 61, 65, 100, Ill
Dur-Sin 6
Dur Tiglath-Pileser 62, 64, 82
138
General Index
Egypt(ians, see also Mu;mr) 1, 2, 4, 12,
14, 15, 16, 25, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
34, 42, 42, 45, 50, 50, 51, 51, 57, 59,
60, 60, 61, 65, 66, 73; 73, 77, 92, 92,
100, 100, 101, 101, 10~ 10~ 112
Ekush 24,24
Elam(itos) 8, 11, 16, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29,
30, 31, 34, 41, 45, 48, 48, 49, 52, 53,
53, 57, 58, 61, 63, 65, 68, 77, 78, 82,
104, 107, ll2, 112, 114
Elenzash (Kar Sonnachorib) 32, 64
Ellipi 16, 26, 45, 64, 69, 83, 92
EN-8a-ma-ka 107
Esarhaddon 7, 19, 20, 22, 27, 29, 29,
30, 32, 34, 41, 41, 42, 42, 45, 52, 54,
57, 59, 61, 62, 65, 66, 69, 74, 78, 79,
80, 83, 83, 84, 86, 89, 90, 91, 92. 99,
101, 101, 104, llO, Ill, ll2
Eshmum 42
Eshmunjaton 12
Esther 12
Gab-ba-ru 105
Gab-ri-i 108
Ga-da-' (and vars.) 106, 108, 109
Ga-la-gu-su 94
Ga-lu-lu (and vars.) 101, 107, 108
Gambulu 25, 25, 47, 73, 73, 94, 94, 95
Gaza 66, 84
Gezer 22, 96, 96
Gi-l1i-lu 105
Gimtu 63,83
Gir-ha-a 108
Gi-ri-ba-'-al 100
Gir-l}ap-pu-nu 105
Gir-re-e-ma 103
Gozan ('l'oii-Hnlaf) 6, 6, !l, 12, 14, 15,
23, 24, 30, 52, 58, 70, 71, 72, 72, 79,
86, 92, 100, 105
Gu-hu-ru I 06
Gu~zianu 83
Gurgum 27, 30, 48, 52, 65, 78, 84
lja-am-bu-su 109
lja-arn-ntt-nu 109
lja-an-ni-i 93
lj a-ba-lju-ru 93
Habor (river) 70, 71, 72
lJa-il-ilu 109
Halah 9, 15, 70, 71, 86, 93
!Jal-bi-su 14, 79, 107
Halziadbar 10
Hamanu 11, 34
Hamath 1, 29, 31, 43, 45, 45, 52, 60,
61, 64, 64, 86, 106
Hammurabi (Code of) 42
Ha-mu-na-a-a 107
Handalarim 23
Hanttnu (and vars.) 12, 105, 108
lja-[nu-nn]-iltt 109
Ho.rhar (Ko.r Shurrukin) 32, 49, 64, 86
Hurmn 9, 25, 28, 71, 72, 97, 105, 113
ljar-tt-a-l}i 106
Ha-ta-sa-a 103
Hatarikka 92, 105, 113
Hatatirra 16, 65
lja-za-a-il (and vars.) 103
Huzazu II
lja-zu-gu 93
Hezekiah 1, 68
Hidalu 41
Hiesa 73, 94
!J'i-il-qi-ia I 07
Hilakku (Cilicia) 31, 56, 61, 65
Hittite(s); Ratti 2, 2, 17, 26, 42, 47,
51, 54, 57, 63, 65, 71, 72, 81, 83, 101
Hofra 12
Hoshea 41, 82
Hubushkia 30, 60, 70
Hu-u-ru 100
ifu-ut-na-al,-te 92
Ia-'-i-m 107
la-di-il (and vars.) 103, 103
la-ha-lu 105
Ia-~an-ntt,-u 108
Ia-qar-abbe 10!)
la-ta-' 106
I a-ta-na-e-li 13
Ia-tt l:l, 14
la-u-da 13
ldibi'lu 50, 50
Id-ri-a-l.Ja-a-u 108
ld-ri-id, 03
T-gi-li-i 103
Ili-ia-a-bi 114
Ili-rna-na-ni 93, I U!l
Ili-na-tan 109
Ili-suri 109
Illubru 32, 65, 73
Ilu-gab-ri 108
llujada' (and vars.) 12, 107
llu-ia-di-nu 108
llu-8imki 16, 103
llu-zab-bad-da 104
1-ma-'-in 106
General Index
1-rnan-nu-u 109
Imer 2.5
Iran(ians) 77, 102, 109
lrmaja 16
Irridu 2
Ir-tulc-ka-a-nu 107
Is-pu-tu (and vars.) 101, 103, 107
Ismol(itos) l, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, 42,
57, 61, 61, 7~ 72, 73, 7~ 82, JO~ 105
ltua 4!), 50
Jadaqqu 9
Jadnana (Cyprus)
Jamani 63
Jasubu 24, 48
.Jaunaja 48
Jerusalem 43, 46,
Judah(ites, Jews)
47, 76, 102, 102,
16, 26, 57
68, 90, 92
I, 13, 14, 31, 43, 44,
103
Ka-bar-ilu I 06
Ka-ki-i I 02
Ka-ku-la-nu ll 0
J(a-ku-us-tu 73
Kalhu. See Calah
Kalzi (Kakzu) 49, 65, 79, 86, 98, Ill
Ka-ma-ba-ni 109
Kammanu 27, 67, 78, 83
Kamulla 70
Kannu' 15
Ka-nun-a-a I 05, I 07
Karalla 29, 30, 60
Kar-Ashur (see Til-Kamri) 68, 94
Kar-Esarhaddon 28, 29, 32, 65, 78
Kar-sa-a-ntt 101
Kar-Sennacherib (see Elonzash)
Kar-Sharrukin (soo Harhar) 4!)
Karurn 60, 60, 64
Ka8-sa-a-a 10 I
Kashi 64
Kashpuna 24, 48
Ki-li-gu-gu 109
Kimuhu 45
Kinalua/Kullani 65, 65
Kirbit 3, 4, 28, 65, 66, 68, 73, 73
Kish 86
Krnsntn 13
Kumani 62
Kummuh 29, 30, 31, 48, 52, 63, 64, 69,
74,81
Kurussa 3
Ku-sa-a-a (see also Kush) 14, 73, 93
Kush 4, 14, 14, 45
139
Laba'u 94
Lachisch 11, 34, 37, 40
La-du-qi-i 109
Lahiri 105
Laqe 30, 71
Lubarna 44
Luristan 25,25
Madaktu 8, 16, 41, 58
Ma-lik-tu 103
Ma-me-i 108
Manna 1, 26, 29, 31, 56, 61, 70, 93
JJ1 an-nu-ki-Arba-U 13
Mar-di-i 96, 107, 108
Marduk-zakir-shumi 41
Mari 42
Mar-i-di 103
Mar-ia-te-' 109
Mar-la-rim 105, 108
Marqana 16
Marqasi 8, 48, 65, 65
Mm·-qi-{ti-ta 109
Marsimanu 17
Mr!rti-ra-pi-e 109
1lfar-t1t-' 106
Marubishtu 45
1'11at-'-e-i (and vars.) 103, 108
Ma-ti-'-si-' 103
Mati'ilu 41, 50
Mat-ila-a-a 10:l
1lfe-'-sa-a 109
Media 16, 26, 27, 30, 49, 63, G4, G5, 70,
83
Mcgiddo 66
Me-i-su lOl, JOG
Mclid 61, G6, 66, 67, 61), 77
Molqart 42
Memphis 45, 66, 73, 92
Merchants 103-104
Merodach-baladan 57, 112
Meturnat 82, 86
Mil-ki-ia 106
Mil-ki-id-ri 108
Mil-ki-nftri 106
Mil-ki-ra-mu (and vars.) 105, 106, 109
Mil-ki-u-ri 109
Minal,irnu (and vars.) 12, 12, 61, 103
Mita 79
Moab(ites) 12, 13, 49
Moabite Stone 49, 57, 110
Mordecai 12
rnt'hdd 16
Mu-sa-la-rnu 107
140
General Index
rnu8arkisu
39, 39, 98, 107
Musnsir 16, 16, 21, 84
Mushku 6, 16, 26, 79, 81
11Iu;wr (sec also Egypt) 3, 12, 15, 92,
100, 107
Mutkinu 45
Na-ad-bi-ia-a-'1 108
Na-be-ra-mu 04
Nnlmpn.shir 38
NabU-sa-gi-ib 102
Na-ga-a 108
Nagitu 57
Nahal Musur 66, 89
Nairi 4, 26, 43, 44, 66, 67, 70
Nampigi (Nappigi) 45
Namri 26, 63, 64, 66, 70
Nar-gi-i 101
Na-si-' 106
Na-tan-ia-u
Nergal-orcsh
Ni' 26
22
4, 71
Ni-har-a-u 100
Ni-i!J-ra-mu 107
Nikkur 29, 03, 66, 82
Nimrud (soc Calah)
Nimrud Wine Lists 55, 58, 61, 99, 100,
101
Nineveh 6, 13, 15, 25, 28, 30, 31, 31,
34, 48, 56, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 72,
79, 92, 102, 103, 104, Ill
Nippur 31, 32, 32, 66, 86, 103
Niqqu 66
Ni-ri-ia-u 79, 107
Nur-Adad 112
N,l.ri-e-a I 04
Nuzi 02
Officials and officers 22, 52, 55, 79, 80,
104-109
Omri (House of) see also Samaria, Israel 22
Onomastic criterion 11-16, 76-77
Paddira
7
Pa-di-i (and vars.) 12, 102, 106
Pal-ti-ia-u 79, 107
Pan~muwa II 27
PAP-sa-nu 52
Paqa!Ja 12, 106, 107
Parsua 16, 63, 70
Par-ta-a-ma 102, 102
Pa-ru-ta-a-ni 94, 108
General Index
Pattina (Hattina) 44, 44, 67
Philistia 31, 43, 48, 48, 56, 60
Phoenicia(ns) 5, 5, 12, 13, 13, 25, 27,
31, 48, 55, 57, 61, Gl, 67, 76, 84, 93,
101, 102, I03, 103
Pi-' 100
Pi-sa-ar-mu I07
Pi-si-ni-i!i 108
Pitru 45
Pu.-di-mu-nu 02
Puqudu
Qar-lta-a
Qatna
Qcdar
Se-'-ba-rak-{ku] 9.1
Se-'-!Ja-ri 109
Se-' -l,}ut-ni 102
Se-'-ma-'-di 106
Se-'-ra-pa-' lOii
Se-' -Ju.-ri 102
Se-duri 104
52, 71, ll5
Pu-ti-!Ju-u-ru-u
112
94, 96, 107, 108
69
17
Qi-i-su 105
Qi-sa-a-a 101
Qumanu 70
qurbutu 38, 39, 106
Quti (Gutium) 17
Quwe (Kuc) 56, 92, 92, 113
Rab-shakeh 46, 68, 90, 92, 105
Ra-pa-a 101
Rasappa 28, 58, 71, 86, 114
Rashi 63
Ra-u 103
Rem-a-na-Enlil 13
Rem-a-ni-ilu 95
Ri-!Ji-me-Adad-milki 103
Ru'ua 51, 52, 63
Ruggulitu 45
Sa-gab-bu (and vars.)
Sa-gi-il-bi- '-di 109
Sa-i-lu 105
Sa-kan-nu I 08
Sa-la-rna-me 106
Sa-lam-a-nu 107
Sa-ma-' 107
Sa-ma-' 101
Sam'al 107
Sa-ma-ku 13
67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 82, 83,
87, 8~ 9~ 101, 10~ Ill, 113
Sarrabanu 8
Scribe(s) 36, 37, 38, 57, 92, 100, 100,
104, 104, 105
8~
94, 105, 107, 109
Samaria 4, 6, 6, 14, 22, 27, 28, 29, 29,
30, 32, 41, 43, 46, 47, 48, 52, 56, 66,
66, 70, 73, 77, 77, 82, 82, 86, 96, 107
Sam'una 63, 63
Sa-mu-nu-ia-tu-ni 102
Sa-pu-nu 109
Sargon II 6, 8, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 29,
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 45, 45, 48, 49,
49, 52, 56, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66,
Sennacherib 1, 9, 13, 19, 20, 2I, 26, 29,
3I, 32, 36, 37, 40, 41, 45, 49, 52, 53,
56, 57, 59, 61, 63, 64, 66, 68, 69, 73,
74, 78, 83, 84, 89, 90, 91, 92, 101,101,
105, Ill, 112, 114
Shabirishu 23
Shalmaneser I 2, 54
Shalmaneser II 44
Shalmaneser III 18, 20, 30, 44, 55, 58,
60, 67, 8I
Shalmaneser IV 20, 72
Shalmaneser V 6, 20
Shamshi-Adad V 3, 20, 4I, S2, 112
Shamshi-ilu 6
Shechem 22
Shilaja 60
Shinaean 48
Shinuhtu 60
Shubria 22, 23, 30, 31, 52, 53, 57, 61,
62, 65, 74, 79, 112
Siddiasika I 0 I
Sidon 25, 27, 29, 57, 5!1, 61, 01, 65, 78,
84, 86, 93, 100, 103
Si-i-li 107
Simirra 46, 67, 67, ll3
Sinai 48, 66
Sirqu 71
Si-ti-ir-ka-a-nu
109
22, 23, 23, 38, 97, I09-ll5
Slaves
Soldiers 5I-54, 108-I09
Suhi 71
Su-!Ju-ra-rnu-u 103
Sumur 92
Supite 49, 94
Sur-marrati 69
Susan 28, 41
Sutu 52, 65, 67, 78, 82, 83
Sal-la-a-a I 07
$idqa 1, 12
$i-id-qi-ili 105
$i-!Jur-ru 101
141
$i-[tu-u IOI
F!i-li 14
$illi-A88ur I2, 92, I 00
8n-u-a-8u l 00
Samas-~ukin-a[ti I3
i'Nt-u-la-a-nn IOO
Sa-u-li-i-ni 101
/]e-er-irl-ri 93
f'N-ma-nu 10:1
/]i-im-lca-ia I 07
Tabal 8, 30, 31, 45, 48, 67, 8G, IIJ!J
Tarhunazi 67, I09
Tar-l,}u-un-da-pi-i 106
Tasa 67
1'a-ti-i 10 I
Tell Abta 72
·Tell al-Fakhar (Kurruhani) IJ2
Tell al-Rimah 4, 71, 72, 73
Tiglath-pileser I 2, 60, 62, 8I
Tiglath-pileser III 2, 8, 8, !l, 18, 1 !l,
2I, 22, 26, 27, 29, 32, 36, 43, .J5,
48, 50, 51, 55, GO, 62, 63, 63, 64,
6~ 67, (j~ 7~ 71, 7~ 82, 86, 89
Til-l3ar~ip
45, 105
Til-Garimmu (Togarma) 30, 48, 49,
60, 67, 77, 83, 112
Til-Kamri (Kar-Ashur) 68, 82
Til-Karmi 32, 82
Ti-ri-i I06
Tukulti-ninurta I 2
Tukulti-ninurta II 20
Tu'immu 67
Tushhan 44, I05
Tyre 15, 42, 55, 56, 57, 101
7'u-di-i
20,
47,
65,
52,
107
0 -a-m·-bi-is I 08
0 -a-ar-me-re 108
0 -bar-bi-si 108
Ugarit 42
Ulluba 9, 68, 70, 70
Unqi 8, I6, 26, 27, 43, 65
Ur 13, 49
Urartu 2, 6, 13, 16, 23, 26, 42, 47, 49,
49, 52, 53, 66, 70, 84
Uruk 25, 28, 30, 115
Ur-za-na-a I09
U-se-' (and vars.) 01, 103, 107, 109
X-ba-ti
Yd'l
94
12, 103
142
General Index
Za-ab-da-a 108
Zabdi (and vars.) 16, 103, 108
Zab-di-ilu 109
Za-bi-nu (and vars.) 93, 94, 96, 106,
107, 108, 109
Zagros 16, 25
Za-!J,a-Ju-Ju
106
87
Za-ku-ru (and vars.) 102, 115
Zamua (Mazamua) 26, 67, 70, 82, 86
Za-za-a-a 105
Zi-zi-i 103
Zakruti
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