Archiv Für Orientforschung (Afo) /institut Für Orientalistik

Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO)/Institut für Orientalistik
The Babylonian Texts of Nineveh: Report on the British Museum's "Ashurbanipal Library
Project"
Author(s): Jeanette C. Fincke
Source: Archiv für Orientforschung, Bd. 50 (2003/2004), pp. 111-149
Published by: Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO)/Institut für Orientalistik
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The Babylonian Texts of Nineveh
Report on the British Museum's Ashurbanipal Library Project*
By Jeanette C. Fincke (Heidelberg)
13Ilearnedthecraftof Adapa,thesage,(whichis) thesecret knowledge,everything

art,1,4Iamwellacquainted
tothescribal
pertaining with thesigns
ofheaven andearth,I was
intheassembly
deliberating ofthescribal
experts,1,5Iwascalculating
theliver(which is)
animage ofheaven togetherwiththe(most)competentoil(divination) 1l6Isolved
experts,
mathematical
complicated problems havenot(even)beenunderstood
that 117Ireadthe
before,
written
artfully inwhich
texts theSumerianversionwasobscure andtheAkkadian version
forclarifying 1l8Iamenjoying
(too)difficult, thecuneiformwedges onstone(s)
(sc.writing)
from before
theflood."
L4)
inscription
(Ashurbanipal,
This articleis the final reporton the AshurbanipalLibraryProject of the BritishMuseum thatI carriedout at
the Museum's Departmentof the AncientNear East over six monthsin 2003. 1
Table of contents
I. The BritishMuseum'sAshurbanipal Library X. The Babyloniantextsof theNineviteLibrar-

Project Ill ies 129
II. The BritishMuseum'sexcavationsat Kouyun- X. 1. The literary texts
and scientific 130
jik 113 X. 2. The divination textsand divi-
corpus:library
III. The so-calledAshurbanipal's Library 114 nationreports 131
IV. The historicalbackground regardingBabyloni- X.3. Comparison withthedataof thelibrary rec-
an scholarsin Assyria 115 ords 134
V. Ashurbanipal's riseto power 119 X.4. The Babylonianarchivaltexts 135
VI. Ashurbanipal'sinterestin thescribalart 120 XI. Comparison with otherMesopotamian royal
VII. Ashurbanipal's methodof collectingBabyloni- libraries 137
an tablets 122 XII. Summary studies
and prospectsforfurther 140
VIII. The Neo-Assyrian library records 124 XIII. Appendix:List of theMuseumnumbers of the
IX. The writing-boards of theNeo-Assyrian librar- BabyloniantabletsfromNinevehaccording to
ies in Nineveh 126 theirgenre 142
I. The British Museum's Ashurbanipal Library texts the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal ordered to be
Project included in his famous royal library. Ashurbanipal
(668 - ca. 627 BC) was the sixth Neo-Assyrianking
This part of the British Museum's Ashurbanipal who ruled over Assyria as well as over Babylonia -
Library Project sets out to investigatewhat kind of about 60 years afterTiglath-pileserIII had conquered
*) My sincerethanksgo to ChristopherB. F. Walkerand to publishtheresultsof myresearchin thisway.My grati-

Dr. IrvingL. Finkelof theBritishMuseum,whosupervised tudegoes to theTownleyGroupoftheFriendsoftheBritish
theAshurbanipal LibraryProject, forgivingme thehonour Museumforfunding thisproject.Dr. Marie-Christine
Ludwig
to carryout thissurveyat theBritishMuseum.I owe very kindlyofferedmehospitalityduringmyfirst daysinLondon,
muchto Christopher Walkerforhis friendship, encourage- and herfriendship,bothwas and is of muchvalueto me. I
ment,support,and tirelessreadinessto discuss manifold would like to thankDr. Nils P. Heeßel, Heidelberg, who
aspectsoftheKouyunjik theAshurbanipal
Collection, Library carefullyread the firstdraftof this articleand suggested
and Ninevehwithme; I gaineda lot frommyconversations manyimprovements; thismanuscript fromhis
has benefited
withhim.IrvingFinkelconstantly followedtheprocessofmy criticalreading.My thanksare due to Dr. St JohnSimpson
researchand discussedvariousissueswithme. My cordial and,again,to Dr. IrvingL. Finkelof theBritishMuseum,
thanks go to thestaffoftheAncient NearEastDepartment of who kindlyundertook theveryimportant taskof correcting
theBritish Museumfortheirkindnessand support. Dr. John my Englishwhereappropriate. My finalthanksgo to Dr.
Curtisof the BritishMuseumhas always shownsincere MichaelaWeszeliforherattention to thismanuscript.
concernformyresearch, readthemanuscript, and provided A
') preliminary was
report givenduring theA9eRencon-
mewithadditional informationforwhichI am mostgrateful. treAssyriologiqueInternationale, London,7-11 July2003.
I am indebtedto the Trusteesof the BritishMuseumfor Thispaperwillbe publishedtogether withtheotherRencon-
grantingmepermission to workon theTabletCollectionand trepaperson thesubject"Nineveh"in volume66 of Iraq.
Archiv 50 (2003/2004)
fürOrientforschung

112 JeanetteC. Fincke
Babylonia (729 BC). During the first 20 years of Collection and to the collecting activitiesof Ashurba-
Ashurbanipal'sreign,his brotherSamas-sum-ukïnwas nipal. This task has been limited by various facts.
appointedkingof Babylonia, but laterrevoltedagainst Firstly,the survey on the tablets of Ashurbanipal's
his brother.In 648 BC, Ashurbanipalwas victoriousin libraryis inevitablybased on the materialwhich has
the civil war and took over the kingshipof Babylonia. been excavated so far. We do not know how many
This situationgave him directaccess to all the Baby- tabletsare eitherstillwaitingin Nineveh to be discov-
loniantemplearchives.When Ashurbanipalcreatedhis ered5or have already perished and been lost forever.
extensiveroyal libraryin the citadel of his Assyrian Moreover,the invaderswho conqueredNinevehin 612
capital cityNineveh (Kouyunjik) he incorporatedAs- BC might have destroyed or even carried off an
syrianand Babylonian tabletsinto the collection. The unknown number of cuneiformtablets. There might
tabletswrittenin Babyloniancharactersmay have been also have been looters who ransacked the ruins of
importedfrom Babylonian libraries,whereas others Nineveh later, or casual visitors and travellerswho
could have been writtenby Babylonian scribes in the entered or re-opened earlier excavations and whose
service of the Assyrianking.2 findshave since appeared in privatecollectionsor on
The AshurbanipalLibraryProject was initiatedby the antiquitiesmarket.6It is thereforeobvious thatthe
Dr. Ali Yaseen of the Universityof Mosul who de- material in the British Museum's Kouyunjik Collec-
scribed the project to a group of British Museum tion does not representthe completenumberof tablets
curatorsduringtheNimrüdconferencein March 2002. that were included in the libraries and archives in
It was explained that the Universityof Mosul was Ashurbanipal'stime7.However, the numberand varie-
intendingto establish a new Instituteof Cuneiform ty of textsunearthedso far is large enough to outline
Studies, specifically for the study of Ashurbanipal's the focus of Ashurbanipal's libraries.The numberof
Library.A specially designed building would contain tablets is also large enough for a statisticalsurvey.
an exhibitionof casts of tablets,computerfacilitiesand Secondly, the task of relatingthe Babyloniantexts
a library.Dr. Yaseen asked whetherthe BritishMuse- to the rest of the Kouyunjik Collection has to be
um would agree in principleto supply casts of tablets, postponeduntilthe carryingout of a similarprojecton
and he was assured that the British Museum would the Ninevite Assyriantablets.Withinthe limitedtime
make everyeffortto co-operate.Shortlyafterwards this of thisinitialprojectit was impossiblealso to examine
was confirmedby Dr. John Curtis, Keeper of the the Assyrian texts, the number of which is several
BritishMuseum's AncientNear East Department,in times higherthan the numberof the Babylonian texts
an interviewin Baghdad with the Ministerof Higher (see below). Therefore,the basic task of this research
Education and ScientificResearch, Dr. Hummam Ab- has been to record the Babylonian writtentabletsand
dul Khalik. This was followedby some press coverage fragmentsof the Kouyunjik Collection,to identifythe
of the subject.3 compositions8or classify the tablets and fragments
As well as agreeingto supply casts of tabletsfrom
5) The relatively smallnumber ofNineviteletters written
Ashurbanipal'sLibrary,it was decided in the British
Museum thatthe opportunity should be taken to reap- to Sennacherib leads to the assumption thatthisking'sar-
chivehas notyetbeen found;see belowsectionX.4.
praise theLibrary. As the firststage of thisprocess, an
6) See e. g. thetabletwitha historical epic of theLord
applicationwas made to theBritishMuseum Friendsto BinningCollectionpublishedby C. B. F. Walker- S. N.
fund a six-monthpost for this purpose. The present Kramerin theirarticle"Cuneiform Tabletsin theCollection
writerwas appointed to this position for the period ofLordBinning," 44
Iraq (1982) 70-86 as no. 2 (pp. 76-78).
fromthe 10th of March until the 9th of September, Another example is thetabletfragment theÉcole pratique
of
2003. In the BritishMuseum the work was supervised des HautesÉtudesthatis joined to a tabletof theBritish
by thecuratorsChristopherB. F. Walker and IrvingL. Museum'sKouyunjik collectionandpublished byS. Parpóla,
Finkel. "A Letterto Sennacherib Referring to theConquestof Bït-
Ha^ri and OtherEvents of the Year 693," AOAT 281,
This initialpart of the AshurbanipalLibraryProj-
Münster 2002,559-580.The BritishMuseumalso purchased
ect is focusedexclusivelyon the Babylonian tabletsof tabletsunearthed in Kouyunjik, e. g. thenumbers or collec-
theso-called libraryof Ashurbanipal4.The intentionof tions1901-10-12, 89. 1909-2-13,1. 1909-3-13,1. 1919-10-8,
thisresearchis to establishthe compositionsinvolved, 142-148.1912-5-13,2. 1913-4-16,147-160Eand 1930-5-8,
and their relation both to the rest of the Kouyunjik 47-90 or tabletsfromprivatecollectors, see e. g. S. Parpóla,
"A LetterfromŠamaš-šum-ukln to Esarhaddon," Iraq 34
2) It is unlikelythatAssyrianscribesused Babylonian (T972Ì21-34.
cuneiform signstowritetheirtablets,although itis conceiva- 7) Apartfromclay tablets,Ashurbanipal's librariesalso
ble thattheydid. In thisresearch, tabletswithBabylonian includedmanywoodenwriting-boards thathavenotsurvived;
characters areassumedto havebeenwritten byBabylonians. see belowsectionsVIII and IX.
3) See e. g. The Times, 09. 05. 2002; The Independent , 8) The identificationof thecompositions is basedon the
09. 05. 2002; TheArtNewspaper , 08. 05. 2002. sevenvolumesof theCatalogueoftheCuneiform Tabletsin
4) See belowsectionIII. theKouyunjik Collection(VolumesI-IV byC. Bezold,1889-

The Babylonian Texts of Nineveh 113
accordingto the textgenre,9to analyse these data, and II. The British Museum's excavations at Kou-
to give an overview of the Babylonian material. yunjik
During the firstthreemonths,I surveyedapproxi-
mately 26,000 tablets and fragmentsof the Nineveh Most of the famous sculptures of the Ninevite
tablet-collectionfor the script.The last threemonths palaces and nearlyall the cuneiformtabletsof the so-
were occupied in examiningBabylonian textsby con- called Ashurbanipal'sLibraryare housed in theBritish
tent,grouped togetherto rejoin fragments,10 and by Museum, London.14The factthattheydid notenterthe
tryingto identifypreviously unclassified fragments. collection of the Louvre, Paris, is due to the peculiar
While researchingthe Kouyunjik tablet-collectionI circumstancesat the time and the diplomacyof Henry
entered the content of the Babylonian texts into a Creswicke Rawlinson (1810-1895). When Paul-Émile
database11,also adding a shortdescriptionof the frag- Botta (1802-1870), French Consul in Mosul, started
ments including shape, colour, number of columns, excavating Tell Kouyunjik in December 1842 he did
lines, and dividing lines. This database12includes in- not findanything.Disappointed,he moved on to Khor-
formationon 4252 tabletsand fragmentsof which, so sabad (ancient DOr-Šarrukín)in March 1843 wherehe
far,658 have alreadybeen rejoinedto otherfragments. unearthedsome figuresand inscriptionswithinthree
Untiltoday,the total numberof Babylonian textsand days of excavation.Understandablyenough,he contin-
fragments unearthedin Nineveh is 3594,13or less than ued to excavate Khorsabad and did not returnto Kou-
1/7of the completeBritishMuseum's Nineveh tablet- yunjik. The British excavator Austin Henry Layard
collection. (1817-1894) took up excavations thereagain in May
1846 and May to July 1947 duringhis campaign in
Nimrùd(ancient Kalhu). Withina few months,Layard
96, Supplementary Volumeby L. W. King, 1914, Second found a terraceand some adjacent rooms, which led
Supplement by W. Lambert- A. R. Millard,1968, Third the BritishMuseum to entrusthim with anotherexca-
Supplement by W. Lambert,1992) and innumerable text vationcampaignat thatsite. Duringhis campaignfrom
editionsthatI surveyed beforestartingresearch at theBritish October 1849 to April 1851 he excavated Nimrüdand
MuseumandafterI returned toHeidelberg. I amawareofthe
factthat,mostprobably,variouspublicationsmighthave Kouyunjikat the same time.At Kouyunjik,he unearth-
andthatthebibliography I compiledis ed another72 rooms of a large palace (the South-West
escapedmyattention
notcomplete. palace), foundten winged bull-colossi and a countless
9) The classification of unpublished textsgivenin the number of cuneiformtablets and fragments.In his
sevenvolumesof theCatalogueoftheCuneiform Tabletsin book Discoveries in the ruinsofNinevehand Babylon,
theKouyunjik Collection(see previousnote)had to be veri- London 1853, Layard described the findingof the
fiedand corrected. cuneiformtablets (p. 345):
I())ManyAssyriologists whodidtheirresearchon certain The chambers I am describing [i. e. rooms40 and41
groupsof textsor evenspecialliterary compositions proved of the South-Westpalace] appear to have been a
theusefulness ofthismethodto findjoins.Nevertheless, this in the palace of Ninevehforsuchdocu-
depository
methodis describedin greatdetailby R. Borger,"Ein Brief ments.To theheightof a footor morefromthefloor
Sîn-idinnams vonLarsaan denSonnengott sowieBemerkun- filledwiththem;someentire, but
theywereentirely
gen über "Joins"und das "Joinen","NAWG 1991.2(= Nach- thegreaterpartbrokenintomanyfragments, probably
richten derAkademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen , Phi- by the fallingin of the upperpartof thebuilding.
Klasse,Jahrgang
lologisch-historische 1991Nr.2), Göttingen sizes; thelargesttabletswere
Theywereof different
1991,37-58(or: [ll-[22]). flat,and measuredabout9 inchesby 6 inches;the
") A firstdraftof the databasewas made by C. B. F. smallerwereslightly convex,andsomewerenotmore
Walkerandhandedoverto me and otherscholars.The first
draftincludedtheMuseumnumbers oftheBabyloniantexts,
thegenreaccording tothesevenvolumesoftheCatalogueof 14)For the discoveryof Kouyunjikand the different
theCuneiform Tabletsin theKouyunjik Collection , anda few excavatorsat this site see M. T. Larsen,The Conquestof
publications. Assyria.Excavationsin an AntiqueLand, (Englishedition)
12)Partof thisdatabaseis now availableon theWorld London 1996, P. Matthiae,Ninive.GlanzvolleHauptstadt
WideWeb:http://fincke.uni-hd.de/nineveh/. Assyriens fromItalianby Eva Ambros,
, translated München
13)This numberrefersto December2003 and will be 1999(theItalianeditionwas publishedin Milano1998),12-
reducedinthefuture byrejoining morefragments; during six- 18, J.E. Curtis- J.E. Reade, Artand Empire.Treasures
months'research on theKouyunjikCollectionI was able to fromAssyriain theBritish Museum Museum1995,9-
, British
make86 joinsandtherearemanymoreto be found.Another 16,andN. Chevalier,La recherche françcaise
archéologique
possibilityto reducethenumberof Babyloniantabletsis to au Moyen-Orient 1842-1947,Paris2002,21-29(esp.note26,
identify Babyloniantablets,whichoriginatefromancient 28-29, note 51), 46-58. For the different campaignsand
sitesotherthanKouyunjik (forthissee belownote22). This excavators in combination withtheexcavatedareassee J.E.
is mostprobably thecase for3 1 textnumbers oftheoriginal Reade, "Ninive(Nineveh),"RIA 9, 392-394.Those tablets
database,whichhave alreadybeen deductedin the above- excavatedsince 1932 are in Baghdadand otherIraqimuse-
mentioned calculation. ums.

thanan inchlong,withbutone
or twolinesof writing. The cu-
neiformcharacters on most of
themweresingularly sharpand
well defined,but so minutein
some instancesas to be almost
illegible withoutmagnifying
glass. These documentsappear
to be of variouskinds...
In the following years, the
BritishMuseum continuedto dig
at Kouyunjik.Henry Creswicke
Rawlinson undertook the next
ratherproductive campaign in
December 1852 - April 1854.
In 1851, Victor Place (1818-
1875) was made French Consul
in Mosul and he asserted his
rightto continue Botta's exca-
vations in Kouyunjik. Rawlin-
son and Place agreed that the
British were to excavate the
southernpartof Kouyunjik,and
the French the northernpart,
whichtheydid verysporadically
and withoutany remarkablere-
sults. Then Hormuzd Rassam
(1826-1910), Rawlinson's assist-
ant, startedto dig the northern
partof the tell by night.On the
20thof December 1853, theyun-
covered the first reliefs of
Ashurbanipal'sNorthPalace and
later on several thousands fur-
ther cuneiformtablets. Rawlin-
son was able to appease the an-
gryPlace by offeringhim some
of the reliefs from the North
Palace for the Louvre. The
French accepted the offer and
withdrew from Kouyunjik. In Figure1. Kouyunjik - Ashurbanipal's afterJ.E.
Libraries:sketchwithrestorations
general, the BritishMuseum con- Reade,RIA 9, 391, 407-418, 421-427 "Ninive
(article (drawn
(Nineveh)") byJ.C.
tinued to excavate Kouyunjik Fincke).
until1932. Since thattime,Iraqi
some additional findspotson and off the mound of
and Americanexcavatorshave undertakenexcavations
at Nineveh on several occasions.15 Kouyunjik.It is thetabletcollectionof the South-West
Palace thatformedthe Ashurbanipallibrary,buttablets
fromtheNorthPalace are also consideredto belong to
this library.17
III. The so-called Ashurbanipal Library
When the combined forceof Babylonians and Me-
des conquered Nineveh in 612 BC, the lootersdid not
In principle,the tablets excavated in Nineveh had
build- spare the libraries. In addition to the looting of the
originallybeen storedin fouror more different
ings (see figurel)16: the South-WestPalace, the North
Palace, the areas of the Ištar-and Nabû-temples,with 17)See e. g. L. W. King,Catalogue... Supplement, XII
note2, XIV; R. C. Thompson- M. E. L. Mallowan,"The
15)See J.E. Reade,"Ninive(Nineveh),RIA9, 390-394. BritishMuseumExcavationsat Nineveh1931-32,"AAA 20
16)See J.E. Reade,"Ninive(Nineveh),RIA9, 421-422. (1933) 110;J.E. Curtis- J.E. Reade,ArtandEmpire, 12-13.

city, the invaders destroyed most of the buildings, several years before being given a K-number.During
especially the royal palaces and temples. However, the years, the sequence of theirarrival at the British
most of the librarieshad been housed on the second Museum was disturbedand thereforethe numbersno
floor of these buildings on the citadel of Nineveh. longerallow assigningtabletsto individualexcavation
When the buildings collapsed, all the tablets crashed campaigns. Sometimes it is even evident thattablets
throughthe ceiling into the rooms of the groundfloor fromotherexcavations slipped into the K-registration
beneath.The tabletfragmentswere widely scattered.18 system.22This fact has importantconsequences for
The difficultywe have today in findingthose frag- research on the Babylonian tablets of the so-called
mentsthatbelong to the same tabletand to rejointhem AshurbanipalLibrary:in manycases, thereis no proof
is partly due to this situation. Apart from this the that a Babylonian or an Old Babylonian tablet was
excavation reportsof Nineveh very seldomly referto excavated at Kouyunjik; some mighthave been un-
the places where the tabletswere found- the excava- earthedin Babylon, Borsippa, Sippar,or anotherBaby-
torswere muchmore interestedin the findsthemselves lonian site altogether.23
than in theirfindspots.In some cases, we know the To reconstructthedifferent libraries24
and archives25
year in which the differentbuildings of Nineveh had is a verytime-consumingtask and beyond the sope of
been excavated and we can connectthe findsof tablets this project.Therefore,forthe time being, all Babylo-
with those buildings.19This is the case, for example, nian literarytabletsand all officialor legal documents
formost of the Old Babylonian tabletsfromNineveh, fromKouyunjikwrittenduringor beforeAshurbanipal' s
which came fromthe room in square TT and the part reignare consideredas coming fromone place, namely
of the courtcoveringsquare OO of the IštarTemple.20 the AshurbanipalLibrary(or libraries)in Nineveh26.
In most cases, differentplaces were excavated at
the same time and there is no evidence to enable us
findout wherethe tabletsoriginallycame from.Even IV. The historical background regarding Baby-
the Museum's numberingsystem of the Kouyunjik lonian scholars in Assyria
tablets does not always help in tracing the possible
findspot:21The tablets excavated by Layard and Ras- The relationof the Neo-Assyriankings to Babylo-
sam in July 1849 - April 1854, for example, were nia, Babylonian scribes, or Babylonian tabletscan be
given a registration
numberreferring to the excavation
site "K", Kouyunjik.Sometimes,the excavated tablets 22) Some of the Babyloniantextshave alreadybeen
remainedunregisteredin theirconsignmentboxes for identified as deriving fromBabyloniaandnotfromKouyun-
jik; this information enteredthe different volumesof the
Catalogue...of theKouyunjik CollectionandtheCatalogue
18)L. W. King, Catalogue ... Supplement , XX note 2, oftheBabylonianTabletsin theBritishMuseumVolume VI:
describedthat"Some,evidently kickedby thefeetof fugi- TabletsfromSippar 1, by E. Leichty.However,eventablets
tiveswhenthepalace was in flames,werefoundscattered fromotherAssyriansitesenteredtheKouyunjik Collection,
aroundthemainexiton thewest,andtheyextended forsome see J.E. Reade,"Archaeology and theKuyunjikArchives,"
distanceon to thepavedterracewhichoverlooked theTigris CRRATm 211
beyondthepalace-façade on thisside." 23)It is possiblethatsomeof theOld Babylonian tablets
iy) The complexity thissituationis illustrated
of by G. thatarethought to havebeenexcavatedat Kouyunjik willbe
Turnerwithregardto the South-West Palace in his article identified as comingfromothersites,whichwill further
"Sennacherib's PalaceatNineveh:ThePrimary Sourcesfrom reducethetotalnumber of BabyloniantabletsfromNineveh.
Layard'sSecondCampaign," Iraq 65 (2003) 175-220. 24) Not all of the so-called librarytexts(forthis see
20)See J.E. Reade,"Ninive(Nineveh),"RIA9, 407, and below)thatwereunearthed inNinevehnecessarilycamefrom
St. Dalley, "Old BabylonianTablets fromNineveh;and the royallibrary, e. g. theNinevitetabletsof Nabû-zuqup-
PossiblePieces of EarlyGilgameshEpic," Iraq 63 (2001) kënamighthaveneverbeenpartof Ashurbanipal's libraries
155. butwereonlyusedto producecopiesforthepalace;see St.J.
21 See the
) Catalogue...of theKouyunjik Collection(see Lieberman, "A Mesopotamian Background fortheSo-Called
abovenote8), and E. Leichty,Catalogueof theBabylonian Aggadic'Measures'of Biblical Hermeneutics?," HUCA 58
Tabletsin the BritishMuseumVolumeVI: Tabletsfrom (1987) 217.
Sippar1,London1986(withan introduction byJ.E. Reade). 25)For thedifferent archivesof Nineveh,see e. g. J.E.
See further e. g. G. Smith,AssyrianDiscoveries , London Reade, CRRAI 30, 213-222,and S. Parpóla,in the same
1875;H. Rassam,Asshurand theLandofNimrod, New York volume,223-236.
- Cincinnati1897; S. Parpóla,"The Royal Archivesof 26)L. W. King,Catalogue... Supplement , XIV-XV,con-
Nineveh,"in: K. R. Veenhof(ed.), Cuneiform Archivesand sideredthetabletsfromtheNinevehtemplelibraries to form
Libraries
, CRRAI 30 (PIHANS 57), Leiden 1986,223-236; "a veryinconsiderable proportion of thetotalnumber recov-
J.E. Reade,"Ninive(Nineveh),"RIA 9, 388b-433b.For an eredat Kouyunjik, so thatforall practicalpurposesthebulk
on-lineoverview oftheregistration
numbers oftheBabyloni- oftheliterary, religiousandexplanatory textsintheKouyun-
an Ninevehtextssee http://fincke.uni-hd.de/nineveh/
follow- jik Collection be as
may regarded comingfromthePalace
ingthe"description and explanation"of thedatabase. Library."

tracedwiththe help of lettersand reportsunearthedin in theirhometowns.32

Nineveh. Evidently,the earliestNinevite recordsdate A letterto Sargon II reveals "[when theyrem]oved
fromthe reign of Sargon II (721-705 BC). It was his our writing-boardsthey [brou]ght(them) to Marduk-
son and successor, Sennacherib (704-681 BC), who apla-iddi[n]a."33This fragmentary letteralso refersto
made Nineveh - the residential city of his crown the Babylonian cities of Děr and Dür-ladini,and there-
princeship(whichhe held,at least,since 715 BC) - the fore mighthave eitherbeen writtenin Nippur,most
new Assyriancapital27.Moreover,because Sennache- probablyby the governor,thešandabakku-official,34 or
rib had alreadytakenover Assyriangovernmentbusi- ratherin Borsippa.35There is no hintof the numberof
ness duringthe time of the king's absence while he writing-boards thathad been removedor theirowners
was crown prince,28thereare many lettersand docu- - they could have been private scholars or even the
mentsfromSargon's II reign archived in Nineveh.29 temple library of Dür-anki. If these writing-boards
The earliest records concerningBabylonians and were literarytextsand not administrative one
records,36
Babylonianscribesbelong to theperiodaftertheBaby- mightspeculate that II
Marduk-apla-iddina anticipated
lonian king Marduk-apla-iddinaII (721-710 BC) went the Assyrianeffortto obtain the writtenknowledgeof
intoexile to Elam in 710 BC, and Sargon II ascended Babylonia and he mightthenhave triedto preventthis
the Babylonian throne. In those days, the Assyrian by collectingthe writing-boardsand storingthemat a
palace was - apart fromthe temples - the only insti- safe place. However, Marduk-apla-iddinacould have
tution that was able to support a large number of requestedthewriting-boards foranotherreason.In any
scribes on a long-termbasis,30and many Babylonian case, mentioning these writing-boardsto Sargon II
scholars sought employmentby the Assyrian king. indicates thatthey were of some interestforthe king.
This situationdid not change substantiallyover the Sargon II37or his successor Sennacherib38 gave an
following43 years,31until Ashurbanipalascended the order to a Babylonian scholar concerninga le*u ša
Assyrianthrone(668 BC) and his brotherŠamaš-šum- ekurrï, a "writing-boardof the temples."39The inten-
uklntheBabylonianthrone(667 BC). Many Babyloni- tion was to prepare a list of all Babylonian temples.
ans had been acting as agents for the Assyriankings The scholar in charge was Běl-iddina who wrote an
since 710 BC, writinglettersand reportsabout events interimreportto the king describingthe regions of
Babylonia he had already checked and the listshe had
II (883-859BC) made and sent to the king. Běl-iddina wrote thathe
:7) In the9thcentury BC, Ashurnasirpal
extendedthe Middle Assyrianprovincialcapital Kalhu was afraid to continue his inspection furtherto the
(Nimrüd)intohis royalcapital.Kalhu remainedAssyrian
capitaluntilSargonII (721-705 BC) movedintohis own 32)Altogether, theexcavators unearthed some1046Baby-
choice,on the site of the small village Magganubba,and lonianlettersand letterfragments in Nineveh;see below
founded royalcapitalDür-Sarrukln (Khorsabad). sectionX.4.
28) See E. Frahm,Einleitung in die Sanherib-Inschriften
, 33)CT 54, 451 (79-7-8,257) rev.1-3:... ù GIŠ.DA.MEŠ-
AfOBeih. 26, Wien 1997,2-3, and S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30, n[i ki-i] (2) [ú-še-s]u-nu a-na mdAMAR.UTU-IBILA SUM-
233. [n]a (3) [ul-te-b]i-lu ...; see M. Dietrich,The Babylonian
29)See e.g. S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30, 229 and note 31: correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib , SAA XVII,
almost50 % oftheletters fromtheKouyunjik date
collection Helsinki2003, 165 (no. 201).
fromthereignof SargonII. It is ratherunlikelythatlater 34)M. Dietrich, "NeueQuellenzurGeschichte Babyloniens
theseletters andotherimportant documents weretransferred (I)", WdO4 (1967-68)86-87(A VI lb).
from thearchives oftheformer capitaltoNineveh, duringthe 35) In SAA XVII, 2003, 165 (no. 201), M. Dietrich
reignof Sennacherib (see Parpóla,op. cit.,p. 233 note52). assumesthisletterto be written by Ana-Nabú-taklãk, who
30)A royallibraryin the palace of Babyloncannotbe in
was based Borsippa(see p. XXXV).
traced(see belowsectionXI). Therefore, ifthescholarswere 36)Fortheuse ofwriting-boards inNeo-Assynan libraries
notassociatedwitha templeor a school,theyhad eitherto and administration, see below sectionIX.
workindependently as scribesorto be employed byofficials. 37)L. Waterman, RoyalCorrespondence of theAssyrian
However,thereare hintsat Assyrianscribesemployedby EmpireVol. 1 (RCAE I), 1930, 360-361 (no. 516); H. D.
highBabylonianofficials;thesescribesmighthave been Bakerin: K. Radner(ed.), TheProsopography of theNeo-
assignedbytheAssyrian kingas loyalagents,see G. Frame, Assyrian Empire(PNAE) Vol. 1.II: B-G, Helsinki1999,312
"The Correspondence of Nabú-ušabši,Governorof Uruk," no.
(Bêl-iddina 8); M. Dietrich, SAA XVII, 2003, 41-42 (no.
CRRAI 30, 267. 43). see o. XXXV.
3I) See e. g. the letterfroman unknownBabylonian 38)M. Dietrich,WdO4 (1967-68)90; F. W. VeraChama-
scholar, whohadtaught "apprenticeswhomthekingappoint- za, Die Omnipotenz Aššurs.Entwicklungen in der Aššur-
ed in mycharge"theastrological seriesenümaanu enlil, but Theologie unter den SargonidenSargonII., Sanheribund
was ignored,whenthe kingsummoned "scribesgreatand Asarhaddon, AOAT 295, 2002, 308-309(no. 65).
small;" see ABL 954 (K. 895) = SAA X 171 (S. Parpóla, 39) ABL 516 (81-7-27, 31) 6: áš-šu GIS.le-us-um sä
LettersfromAssyrianand BabylonianScholars, Helsinki É.KUR.MEŠ.Fortheuse ofwoodenwriting-boards in Assyr-
1993). This letterhad beenwritten to eitherEsarhaddon or ian administration, see below note 124. For the use of
Ashurbanipal. writing-boards Ninevehlibraries,
in the see belowsectionIX.

southof Babylonia, to the villages of Děr and Nippur, particularomens.44Knowledge of futureevents was
because it was too dangerousforhim to go thereas an also believed to help preventbad eventsby performing
officialin the Assyrianking's service withoutspecial suitable rituals.45In otherwords, knowledge of these
proofof authorization.40 The orderto preparea list of omens was vital to maintainthe power of the king,as
Babylonian temples might have had administrative well as kingship itself, and the well-being of the
reasons,41but it could also concern the tablets of the country. Therefore, Esarhaddon employed experts
Babyloniantemplelibraries.At least this letterproves (ummänü)in extispicy( bârûtu), diviners( bârû), astrol-
the uncertainpolitical situationin southernBabylonia ogers {tupšar enüma anu enlil, tupsarrü), exorcists
forthe Assyrianking and makes it clear thatSargon II { äsipü), and augurs ( dãgil issurë)46who observed the
would have experiencedmuch difficultyin creatinga differentmaterials the gods used to give ominous
royallibrarythatincludedBabyloniantablets42 as Ashur- signs. At the same time, they were familiar with
banipal did about 60 years later. reading the relevant omen texts47for their correct
During the reignof Esarhaddon (680-669 BC), the interpretation.Many of these scholars came fromBab-
son and successor of Sennacheriband fatherof Ashur- ylonia.
banipal, several Babylonian scholars were taken into Babyloniandivinershad been inspectingthesheep's
theking's service. Esarhaddon is the firstknownNeo- liverand writingreportson theprocedureforcenturies.
Assyrian king to keep reports about extispicy and At this period, even though they never dated their
astrologicalobservationsin his archives forreference reportsaccordingto the year,48the shape of thetablets
purposes(see below and section X.2). The large num- and the introductionformulaare distinctive.The re-
ber of these reportsindicates that Esarhaddon used ports,physicallycharacterisedby theirdistinctivepil-
divinationsystematically;he mighteven have been the low-shape,beginwithan addressto thesungod,"Šamaš,
firstNeo-Assyrianking to use divinationto this ex- greatlord,give me a firmpositive answerto whatI am
tent.43Knowing futureevents beforehandenabled the asking you,"49followed by the specific question, a
to
king be preparedproperly.Esarhaddon is the first descriptionof thevarious partsof theinspectedsheep's
knownNeo-Assyrianking to revive the ancient "sub-
stituteking ritual"which made a substituteabsorb the 44)The Assyrian kingbecamethe"farmer" (LÚ.ENGAR)
evil thatwas predictedto the Assyrian king through whilethesubstitute kingsaton thethrone andofficially ruled
Assyria. At the end, the substitute
king was put to death for
thedualpurposeofprovingthecorrectness ofthebad omen,
40)ABL 516 (81-7-27,31) rev.6-9: ... GIS.le-ufum(7) and eliminating himbeforethekingwas reinstalled. Letters
liš-šá-taršá la LUGAL pal-ha-ku-ma (8) a-na BÀD-AN.KI unearthed in Ninevehreferto the substitute king,which,
ù NIBRU.KI (9) ul al-lak it-tidul-li-ia"... Let a writing- according to S. Parpóla,datetotheyears679 or674 BC (nos.
boardbe written, becausewithout thekingI am in fearand 1,2, 3, 4), 671 BC (nos. 12, 189,314,350,351),and669 BC
I willnotproceedto Děr and Nippurwithmywork." (nos. 209, 210, 211, 212, 219, 220, 221); SAA X no. 311
41)M. Dietrich, SAA XVII, 41-42(no. 43), editstheletter cannotbe dated.
underthe title"Inspectionof Workon Templesall over 45)The Akkadiantermfortheseritualsis namburbi ; see
Babylonia".H. D. Baker,PNAE l.II, 312 (Bël-iddina8.) St.M. Maul,Zukunftsbewältigung. Eine Untersuchung altori-
describesthe information of the letteras copyingrequired entalischenDenkens anhand der babylonisch-assyrischen
Babylonian texts on writing-boards whichthesenderwould Löserituale{Namburbi), BaF 18, 1994.
sendto theking,later.Thisinterpretation wouldpointto the 46) For bird augury,a science fromthe west thatis
collectingmethodsof Babyloniantextsused by Ashurbani- principally known fromtheHittitetexts,andtheaugurfrom
pal, forthissee belowsectionVII. Kummuhi (Commagene), whowas employed at thepalaceof
42)He couldhavecreateda library thatincludedBabylo- Kalhu(Nimrud)in thebeginning ofthe8thcentury, see J.V.
nianmaterial, butcertainly notoriginalBabyloniantablets. KinnierWilson,TheNimrudWineLists,75 (no. 9). See also
Fortheexchangeof knowledgebetweenscholarsby travel- thereference totheLÚ.da-gilM[UŠEN.MEŠ]/[LÚ].ha-mat-
lingand copyingtabletsor lendingtabletsto otherscribes, a-a "theaugurfromHamath"(in theOrontesvalley)in ABL
see EckartFrahm, "Headhunter, Bücherdiebe undwandernde 1346(K. 10849)obv. 2-3,editedbyL. Waterman, RCAE II,
Gelehrte: Anmerkungen zumaltorientalischen Wissenstrans- no. 1246 (see above note37).
ferim erstenJahrtausend v. Chr.,"to appearin CDOG 4, 47)Scholarscreateddifferent seriesforthesignsinthesky
Wissenskultur imAltenOrient.Weltanschauung , Wissenschaf- {enümaanu enlil)and on earth{šummaãlu ina měléšakin),
ten, Techniken , Technologien ; 4. Internationales Colloquium as wellas forthosesignsseenduringtheexamination ofthe
derDeutschenOrient-Gesellschaft 20.-22.Februarin Mün- appearanceof the humanbody (physiognomic omens)or
ster. inspection of animals(extispicy).
43)At thebeginning of the8thcentury BC, Babylonian 48) The earliesttextswith "oracle inquires"were not
divinerswereemployed inKalhu(Nimrüd), andtheirnumber dated.Later,thedivinersaddedthedateaccording to theday
mighteven have been largerthanthenumberof Assyrian andthemonthon whichthesheep'sliverhadbeeninspected
diviners;see J.V. KinnierWilson,TheNimrudWineLists.A and theirown namesas a kindof signature to provethe
StudyofMenand Administration at theAssyrianCapitalin accuracy of the tablet,e. g. "ITU.GUD (Illrd month),3rd
theEighthCentury , B. C, London1972,75 (no. 40). Howev- day; (from)Nadinuand Tabnî".
er,no extispicy reports haveyetbeenunearthed in Kalhu. 49)šamaš bélu rabuša ašallukaanna kinaapulanni.

liver,and the resultof this inspection.50These reports 36Iam fullymasterof myfather's profession, the
are called "oracle enquiries" or "queries to the sun- disciplineof lamentation; I have studiedand chanted
theseries.I am competent in [...], 4mouth-washing',
god",51and differfrom the so-called "extispicy re- of thepalace [...]. I have examined
and purification
ports" writtenunder the reign of Esarhaddon's son
healthyand sick flesh.
Ashurbanipal.52 40Ihave readthe(astrological series)EnümaAnu
Esarhaddonalso employedastrologerswho observ- Enlil [...] and madeastronomical observations. I have
ed the sky and wrotereportson the appearance of the readthe(anomalyseries)šummaizbu, the(physiog-
sun and the moon, or the constellationsof the stars.53 nomicalworks)[kataduggû, alandi]mmû and nigdim-
In the face of this it is probable thatthe fragmentary dimmû , [... and the omen
(terrestrial series)šum]ma
letterfromtheBabylonianscholarMarduk-sãpik-zêri,54 ãlu.
who offeredhimselfand twentyotherable scholars55 43[All thisI lear]ned[inmyyouth].Undertheaegis
forroyal service, should also be dated to the reign of
of theking,mylord,I have perfected my[...] ...
Esarhaddon.56In his letter,Marduk-sãpik-zêri,exten- Each of the20 scholarsMarduk-sãpik-zêri mention-
sively describes his abilities in the differentdisci- ed in his letter- "there are [...] who [have returned]
plines:57 fromElam, [scribes(sc. astrologers),lamentationchan-
ters], exorcists, diviner, and physicians"58- was a
50)Thereare at least 186 completeor fragmentary so- masterin his field- most of themwere specialised in
called"queriestothesungod"written by Babylonian diviners more than one discipline based on theirstudyof the
in thetabletcollectionfromNineveh. writtenlore - and were "useful to the king,mylord."59
51)See E. G. Klauber,Politisch-religiöse TextederSargo- Esarhaddon not only employed scholars but also
nidenzeit , Leipzig1913;J.Aro,"Remarkson thePracticeof
kept sons of high officialsor even sheikhsof Babylo-
Extispicyin the Time of Esarhaddonand Assurbanípal," nia as hostages in one of his Ninevitepalaces in order
CRRAI 14, Paris 1966, 109-117;I. Starr,Queriesto the
, SAA to have themtaughtthe scribal art.We know about 18
Sungod.Divinationand Politicsin SargonidAssyria
IV, Helsinki1990. youngBabylonianswho were instructedin scriballore,
52)Thefirst yearsofAshurbanipal' s reignweremarked by sometimesunder compulsion like Ninurta-gimillï, son
a changeinthese"oracleenquiries". Atfirst, thetabletswere of the šandabakku of Nippur, who "has been put in
stillwritten byBabylonians, butlaterAssyrian diviners sign- irons".60These studentswere educated in Assyriaand,
ed anddatedthem.Ataboutthesametimetheformat of the
later, might have entered into the king's service as
tabletschanged, as wellas theformula: thetabletsno longer
look likeblown-uppillows,buthavemoreor less theusual loyal officials. Some of them mighteven have later
returnedto theirnativecountry,as is well knownfrom
shapeofletters, anddo nothavean addresstothesungod,but
the royal inscriptions.61
begin withthe questionfor whichthe inspectionof the
sheep's liverwas performed. These are the so-called"ex- The factthatEsarhaddonnot only educatedthemin
tispicyreports". Later,Assyriandivinersthemselves wrote the Assyrian ideology but also wanted themto learn
increasing numbers of tablets. the scribal art points to the privilegedstatusof these
53)Thereareso far85 completeor fragmentary astrologi- hostages. A goldsmithof the queen's household who
cal reports fromNinevehidentified as havingbeen written wantedhis son to get the same privilegeand therefore
duringthereignof Esarhaddon. For thesereports, see e. g.
TheReportsoftheMagiciansand Astrolo- bought a Babylonian who taughtthe exorcist's litera-
R. C. Thompson,
tureand special divinationtextsto his son, was report-
gers of Ninevehand Babylon , London1900, A. L. Oppen-
"Divination and Celestial Observationin the Last ed to the kingby an agent.62The agentpointedout that
heim,
Assyrian Empire," Centaurus 14,Copenhagen1964,97-135, by doing this the goldsmithwas acting like the king
andH. Hunger, Astrological ReportstoAssyrian Kings, SAA and thecrownprince,whichof coursewas unforgivable.
VIII, Helsinki1992.
54)ABL 1321(K. 5440) + CT 54, 106(82-5-22,123b+...) 57)Translation by S. Parpóla,SAA X, 122 (no. 160).
(+) CT 54, 57 (K. 3034+7655;editedby H. Hunger,Studies 58) SAA X 160 obv. 47-49: ... ina Šk-bi-šú-nu (48) [x x
Reiner , AOS 67, 1987,157-162)= SAA X 160;cf.also S. M. xxxxxxxx x]-áš-šúšá ul-tuKUR.NIM.MA.KI(49) [x x
Freedman, If a Cityis Set on a Height.TheAkkadianOmen x LÚ.DUB.SAR.MEŠ LÚ.GALA.MEŠLJÚ.MAŠ.MAŠ.MEŠ
Series šummaalu ina mele šakin. Vol. 1: Tablets 1-21, LÚ.HAL.MEŠ LÚ.A.ZU.ME.
OccasionalPublicationsof theSamuelNoah KramerFund, 59)a-na LUGAL EN-ia ta-a-bu.
17,Philadelphia1998,10 n. 40. 60)ABL 447 (K. 821) = SAA XI 156 obv. 10: si-par-ri
55)SAA X 160 rev.35: PAP 20 UM.ME.A.MESle-u-u- AN.BAR šá-kin;see also S. Parpóla,Iraq 34 (1972) 33-34.
tu. 61)See e. g. Esarhaddon'sNinevehinscription A col. IV
56)See H. D. Baker(ed.), PNAE 2.II: L-N, 2001, 726 15-16(see R. Borger,Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Königs
(Marduk-sãpik-zêri). M. Dietrich,WdO4 (1967-68)95 (A/B vonAssyrien , AfOBeih.9, Graz 1956,53): Ha-bu-u-a tar-bit
I la: K. 3034+7655),96 (K. 5440+82-5-22,123),datesthis É.GAL AD-iá a-na LUGAL-u-ti(16) UGU-šú-nuáš-kun-ma
letterto the reignof SargonII, and H. Hunger,Studies it-tiDINGIR.MEŠ-sáa-na KUR-sáú-tir-ši "I placedTarbua,
Reiner , 162,to Ashurbanipal. S. Parpóla,SAA X, 120-124 who was brought up in myfather'spalace,to thekingship
(no. 160) does not date the letterat all, but SAA X only overthemand let herreturn to her(home)country together
includesletters fromthereignofEsarhaddon andAshurbani- withhergods."
pal. 62)ABL 1245 (83-1-18,121) = SAA XVI 65.

V. AshurbanipaFs rise to power don but especially on his having been manifestlycho-
sen and elevated by the gods.66 Ashurbanipal was
Ashurbanipalwas born as the thirdeldest son of "created by Aššur and Mulissu,"67the one whom Sîn
Esarhaddon,king of Assyria and Babylonia (680-669 appointed forthe "shepherdshipof Assyria" even be-
BC). His eldest brother,Sín-nãdin-apli,was appointed forehe was actuallyborn,and whom Šamaš and Adad
crownprinceof Assyria,while his second eldest broth- entrustedwith exercisingthe kingship.68 By establish-
er, Šamaš-šum-ukín,was appointed crown prince of ing his crown princeshipthrough the will of the high-
Babylonia. Born as third son, Ashurbanipal had no est-rankingAssyrian gods, his authoritybecame de-
rightto a throne,and grew up with no chance of a tached fromhuman legitimaciesas well as inviolable.
position of power in the future.However, when Sín- To avoid a possible civil war in the future,Esarhaddon
nãdin-aplidied Ashurbanipal's situationchanged im- "convened thepeople of Assyria,greatand small,from
mediatelyand he became crown prince of Assyria in coast to coast, made them swear a treatyoath by the
672 BC.63 gods and established a binding agreementto protect
Politically,Ashurbanipal'snewly establishedposi- my crown princeshipand futurekingshipover Assyr-
tionas Assyriancrownprincewas ratherdangerousfor ia."69 This happened on the 12th70day of the month
him,because it was contraryto the practice thatonly ajjaru (April/May), when he officially announced
the eldest son would succeed his fatheron the throne. Ashurbanipalas his successor on the Assyrianthrone.
Whenever a king broke this rule and appointed a During the ceremonyof his designationas crown
youngerson as crownprince,the appointedson had to princeof Assyria Ashurbanipalbecame "oldest prince
struggleagainst opponents and face rebellion. After of the bït ridûtf ' "the House of Administration", or
Sîn-nâdin-apli'sdeath the second eldest son of Esar- the old NorthPalace in Nineveh72and the residenceof
haddon would have been the legitimatecandidate for the crownprinceand the king since its construction by
the Assyrian throne.However, Šamaš-šum-ukínhad his grandfather Sennacherib.73 In his royalinscriptions,
alreadybeen chosen forthe Babylonian throneand his Ashurbanipaldescribed the events followingthe cere-
educationwas certainlyfocused on his futureposition. mony as follows:74
23Admidst
Esarhaddon clearly did not want Šamaš-šum-ukínto rejoicingandmerrymaking I enteredthe
have a conflictof interests,if he now instead became House of Administration,
crown prince of Assyria, and thereforechose the
66)The samehappenedto Esarhaddon himself. He was a
youngerson Ashurbanipalas successor to the Assyrian
heir to the throne.64Ashurbanipaland his friendsin youngerson,as well,thoughappointedcrownprincebyhis
father Sennacherib "on demandofAššur,Sîn,Šamaš,Běl and
high positions65certainly supported Esarhaddon in Nabû, Ištarof Ninevehand Ištarof Arbela"afterhaving
makingthis decision. practiced extispicy on thissubject;see R. Borger, AfOBeih.
Esarhaddon and his son Ashurbanipal had been 9, 40 (Esarhaddon's Nineveh inscriptionA col. I 8-14).
aware of the difficulty
of the situation.The legitimacy 67)binûtaššuru mulissu : Ashurbanipal PrismA and F I
of Ashurbanipal's crown princeshipwas said to rest 1. For all prisminscriptions of Ashurbanipal, see M. Streck,
notonlyon his being declared the son of kingEsarhad- Assurbanípal , and thenew editionby R. Borger,BIWA.
68) Ashurbanipal PrismF I 3-6. In each of his prism
inscriptions Ashurbanipal refersto the gods who selected
63) For Ashurbanipal's familyand rise to power see him.The numberof gods differs in thevariousinscriptions
recently E. Weissert,PNAE 1.1(A), 160-163. butthesefivegods are alwaysnamed.
64) See e. g. the letterto Esarhaddonwrittenby the 69) Ashurbanipal PrismF I 12-17. Translation by S.
exorcistAdad-šuma-usur describing ABL 595
thissituation, Parpóla,Neo-Assyrian Treatiesand LoyaltyOaths, SAA II,
(K. 1119) + K. 1915+ ABL 870 (82-5-22,107) = CT 53, 31, Helsinki1988,XIXX. See thelatesteditionof a composite
editedby S. Parpopla,SAA X, 1993,no. 185. textof thetreatyby S. Parpóla- K. Watanabe,ibid.28-58
65)Ashurbanipal seemsto havecarefully preparedhisrise (no. 6).
topowerbymakingsurethathe hadenoughsupporters. Even 70)Otherprisminscriptions referto the16thor 18thday
beforehe becamecrownprincehe had been the one who of thismonth.
"gavetheorderto officials"andwithout whom"no governor 71)märšarrirabůša bitridûti : Ashurbanipal PrismA and
had beenappointedand no prefecthad been installed," see F I 2.
Ashurbanipal L4 (K. 2694+3050;cuneiform
inscription text: 72)Later,Ashurbanipal demolished thispalacewhilecon-
C. F. Lehmann-Haupt, Šamaššumukín. KönigvonBabylonien structing theNabû Templeon partof thesiteof theformer
668-648v. Chr.,Leipzig 1892,pl. XXXIV-XXXIX;edition: palace.Another palacewas builtto thenorth oftheIštar-and
M. Streck, Assurbanípalunddie letztenassyrischen Könige Nabû-temples in thelate 640s BC; see Figure1.
bis zum Untergang Niniveh'sII. Teil: Texte,VAB VIL2, 73)Ashurbanipal PrismF I 18-24,IV 22-25.
Leipzig1916,252-271,and others;cf. now corrections and 74)Ashurbanipal PrismA I 1-34.TranslationbyE. Reiner,
collationsbyR. Borger, BeiträgezumInschriftenwerk Assur- Your Thwartsin Pieces. YourMooringRope Cut. Poetry
banipals(BIWA),Wiesbaden1996,187-188)I 27-28: ... te- fromBabylonianand Assyria , MichiganStudiesin theHu-
e-meaš-ta-nak-kan a-na GAL.MEŠ (28) ba-lu-u-aLÚ.NAM 5,
manity Michigan1985, 19-20. See also theneweditionby
u[l] ip-pa-qidLU.GAR ul iš-ša-kan. R. Borger,BIWA, 15-16,208-209(translation).

24an constructed
artfully place, the node of the mainlydue to his officers,because Ashurbanipalhim-
kingdom, self was not very keen on fighting.78 He stayed in
25whereinSennacherib,fatherof the fatherwho continuous contact with his officials and agents, in-
engenderedme,
26exercisedthe and kingship, stead,and controlledhis empireusing thewrittenword
crown-princeship of lettersand instructions.79
27in whichEsarhaddon, own father, was born,
my
28
grewup, exercisedtheruleoverAssyria,
31and in it I
myself,Ashurbanipal, learnedthe VI. Ashurbanipal's interest in the scribal art
wisdom(who's patronis) Nabû,
3233theentirescribalart;I examinedthe of
teachings The colophons of his tablets repeatedlyreferto
all themasters,
as manyas thereare.
34I learnedto shootthe bow, to ridehorsesand Ashurbanipal's interestand abilities in the scribal art.
The image one can obtainfromthese sourceswould be
to holdthereins.
chariots,
thatAshurbanipalwas giftedwith"great intelligence"
and a "brighteye."80He used his talentsto learn the
Having moved into the bit ridûtiAshurbanipalre-
scribal art and gained considerable success so thathe
ceived an education suitable for a crown prince. The
was not only able to read cuneiformtablets,81 but also
trainingin intellectualand physical skills he already
to write"the wisdom of Nabû, the cuneiformsigns" on
obtainedwas appropriateforone of theking's younger
clay tablets.82He practised his skills even afterhe
sons, but certainlynot good enough forsomeone who
became designatedcrown prince.83At the end, he was
would have to rule over Assyria. Ashurbanipalrefers
to himselfhaving learned the scribal art (see below
section VI) and the art of warfare.75He must have 78)Ashurbanipal did notalwaysattendthemilitary cam-
in
paigns person but let his commanders do the job. This is
consideredthese two skills the most importantones;
forexampleknownforthe campaignagainstTeummanin
the firstabilitywould give him independencefromhis 653 BC whenhe stayedat hometo praiseIshtar,thereby
officials in the futureand the other one he would obeyingan explicitorderof thegoddess,see Ashurbanipal
certainlyneed to practise as king. We do not know PrismB V 46-76. eso. 63-68.
how old Ashurbanipalhad been in 672 BC but he took 79)See e. g. theletterfromAshurbanipal to Bel-ibni,the
over the kingshipof Assyriajust fouryears later(668 military commander of the Sealand, giving instructions for
BC). Bël-ibni'sfurther actionconcerning theGurasimmu-people,
afterthecommander hadneglected theking'sorder;see ABL
Ashurbanipalmusthave been a verydiligentpupil 291 (K. 938) editedbyL. Waterman, RCAE I, as no.291 (see
Even as a younger
judgingby his deeds and inscriptions. abovenote37), andbyR. H. Pfeiffer, StateLettersofAssyr-
son he must have had some insightinto the political Translation
ia, a Transliteration and of355 Official Assyrian
events and he certainlyknew what a reign depended LettersDatingfromthe SargonidPeriod (722-625B. C.),
on.76And Ashurbanipalmusthave been clever enough AOS 6, New Haven 1935,149 no. 202; see also M. Dietrich,
to know thathe had to be betterin everything thanany Die AramäerSüdbabyloniens in der Sargonidenzeit (700-
of his predecessorshad been ifhe wantedto be accept- 648),AOAT 7, Kevelaer- Neukirchen- Vluyn1970,188-191.
ed by other kings, or even the officials of his own 80)H. Hunger,Babylonischeund assyrischeKolophone
countryAssyria.77The followinghistoricevents dem- (BÄK), (AOAT 2), Kevelaer- Neukirchen-Vluyn 1968,97-
98 (no. 319: Asb.typec-e) 11.3-4: sa dnabûu dtaš-me-tu4 už-
onstratethatAshurbanipalhad to prove his abilityin
nu ra-pa-áš-tu4 iš-ru-ku-uš (4) i-hu-zuIGI na-mir-tu "to
maintainingthe Assyrianempireby using diplomacy, whomNabû and Tašmetugave greatwisdom,whoacquired
deterrence,and militarycampaigns during the first a brighteye"; see also p. 103 (no. 329: Asb. typeo) 11.1-2.
threedecades of his reign. His militarysuccess was 8l)H. Hunger,BAK, 97-98(no. 319: Asb.typec-e) 11.4,
7-8: ... ni-siqtup-šar-ru-ti... (7) ina tup-pa-a-ni áš-turas-niq
75)Ashurbanipal PrismF I 31-32:ïde epěš qabli u tãhãzi ab-re-e-ma (8) a-na ta-mar-ti ši-ta-as-si-iaqé-rebÉ.GAL-/<z
(32) kullumãku sedëruu mithusütu"I knowhowto wagewar ú-kin"(I learned)the highestlevel of the scribalart.... I
and battle(32) I have been shown(how to set up) battle wroteon claytablets, checkedandcollated(them)anddepos-
line(s)and (do) combat." ited(them)in mypalace forinspection andreadingbyme."
7<s)Ashurbanipalalreadyknewtheusefulness ofconspira- 82)H. Hunger,BAK, 97-98(no. 319: Asb.typec-e) 11.4-
cy to reacha goal beforehe becamecrownprince,see above' 7: ... ni-siq tup-šar-ru-ti (5) šá ina LUGAL.MEŠ-m a-lik
note65. mah-ri-ia mam-ma šip-ru šu-a-tu la i-hu-uz-zu (6) né-me-eq
77) AfterEsarhaddon' s death in 669 BC, his mother dnabûti-kipsa-an-tak-ki ma-laba-áš-mu(7) ina tup-pa-a-ni
Zakûtuimposeda loyaltyoathon theAssyrian royalfamily, áš-turas-niqab-re-e-ma"The wisdomof Nabû,thecunei-
the aristocracy,and the nationin favourof her grandson formsigns,as manyas thereare formed, I wroteon clay
Ashurbanipal, whohadjustascendedtheAssyrian throne;see tablets, checked and collated (them)"; see also p. 105-106
ABL 1239(83-1-18,45) + 83-1-18,266 (JCS39 [1987] 189), (no. 338) 11.7-9.
editedby S. Parpóla,"Neo-Assyriantreatiesfromtheroyal 83) A tabletwiththe textof the fourthtabletof the
archivesofNineveh," JCS39 (1987) 165-170,andS. Parpóla explanatory seriesHAR-ra= hubulluhad beenwritten "for
- K. Watanabe,SAA II, 62-64 no. 8. the inspectionof Ashurbanipal, the crownprince;"see H.

familiarwiththe "complete scribal art"84includingthe the omen literatureby a synonym90 or an alternative

"craftof the diviner,the secretsof heaven and earth," expression91. Some scribes even transferred
thelearned
and the "wisdom of Šamaš and Adad."85 kindof writingthatuses logogramsintosyllabicAkka-
According to his royal inscriptions,Ashurbanipal dian writing92or gave the pronounciationof these
was familiarwithdifficultbilingual texts,86 but focus- logograms;93someone who was familiarwithSumerian
ed his particularintereston old tablets. It was well would have known how to read these sentences.The
establishedwithin Assyrian and Babylonian scholar- exorcist Nabû-nâsir, on the other hand had overesti-
ship thatthe older a tablet was, the more authorityit mated the king's knowledge when he wrote to him
was allotted.Ashurbanipalwas thereforeveryproudof about miqitšamé, "what has fallenfromheaven,"a not
his abilityto read "stonetabletsfrombeforethe flood," uncommon expression for epilepsy94.The king was
which is really remarkableconsideringthe change in astonishedand asked: "'Fall of heaven.' What is this?
cuneiformscriptover the millennia.Accordingto one The heavens exist forever."95
of his prism inscriptions,Ashurbanipalwas not only The obliging mannerof the scribes to explain cer-
able to read these old scripts,but was also "enjoying tain words or expressionsmightindicatethatthe king
the writingon stones frombeforethe flood."88 himselfread the reports;the scribes did not expectthe
Because of his interestin old tablets, the king king to have the expert knowledge of divination.96
encouragedhis agents to look forthem in Babylonia. Still, it is doubtfulwhether Ashurbanipal startedto
One of his agents, Ašarědu the younger, wrote to learnthe scribal artonly afterhis designationas crown
Ashurbanipal:89 "The tabletwhich the king is using is
defectiveand not complete. Now then I have written
and fetchedfromBabylon an ancient tablet made by 90)See e. g. RMA 37 (K. 729) = SAA VIII 253 obv. 4
king Hammurapiand an inscriptionfrombefore king (Nergal-ëtir to Esarhaddon):'"SA^ : pe-lu : S[A5]: sa-a-mu
Hammurapl." "SA (means)red.SA. (also means)red(brown)."
The official sources describe Ashurbanipal as a 91)See e. g. RMA 36 (Bu. 89-4-26,159) = SAA VIII 106
learned scholar,who was able to read any cuneiform rev.1 (written byAkkullãnu to Esarhaddon): e-de-du: sa-pa-
ru ša qar-ni"'to be pointed'meansto be adorned , said of
tablet, no matterhow old it was and regardless of
whetherit was writtenin eitherSumerianor Akkadian. horns"; the same explanationis given RMA 36A (K.
12469)= SAA VIII 190 obv. 2' (unknown Assyrian scribe),
Some of those scholars who wrotelettersor reportsto and RMA 27 (K. 874) = SAA VIII 330 obv. 7 (written by
the king might have judged his ability differently. Ašarěduthe olderto Ashurbanipal). In RMA 82 (K. 769)
Sometimes,theyexplained a rathercommon word of = SAA VIII 320 obv. 9-10, the astrologer Munnabitu ex-
piâmesEsarhaddon thephenomenon that"themoonandthe
sunwillmakean eclipe"with:šá UD-14-KAM(10) ITU-ms-
Hunger, BAK, 108no.345 1.2: a-na tam-ri-irtumdaš-šur-DÙ- su DINGIR Kl DINGIR NU IGl-ru"on the 14thday,each
DUMU.NITADUMU LUGAL. month, one god will notbe seen withtheother."
84)H. Hunger,BAK, 103(no. 330: Asb.typer-s)1.5: kul- In
92) his reportsto Esarhaddonand Ashurbanipal, the
lattup-šar-ru-ti
ih-su-suka-ras-su"whounderstood thecom- Assyrian astrologerNabû-ahhë-erïba used to add the syllabic
pletescribalart." writing ina smallerscriptbelowthelogogram concerned; see
85)H. Hunger, BAK, 100-101(no. 325: Asb. type1) 1. 3: SAA VIII 40, 41, 43-45,48-55, 57, 60, 62-66,68-87.The
NAMAŽU AD.HAL AN-e u Kl-timné-me-qídUTUu dIŠ- samecan be seen on RMA 42 (Sm. 1073) = SAA VIII 188
KUR i-hu-zu-ma uš-ta-bi-lu
ka-ras-su"wholearnedthecraft obv.5 (unknown Assyrian scribe):... KA GI.NA(pronounced)
ofthediviner,thesecretsofheavenandearth,thewisdomof pu-u i-kan "speech willbecome reliable",RMA 137(K. 799)
Samasand Adad,and understands it." = SAA VIII 268 rev.4 (Nergal-ëtir to Esarhaddon or Ashur-
86) So accordingto AshurbanipalinscriptionL4 (K. banipal):... DIB-iw(pronounced) is-ba-tu-uš "heseizedhim."
2694+3050;foreditionsoftheinscription see abovenote65) 93)See e. g. ABL 869 (81-2-4,120) = SAA X 78 obv.5'
117: áš-ta-sikam-mu nak-lušá EME.GIysu-ul-lu-lu ak-ka- (written bytheAssyrian astrologerNabû-ahhë-erïba toAshur-
du-uana šu-te-šu-riáš-tu"I havereadartfully- writtentexts banipal):EN.NUN-UD.ZA[L.LA](is pronounced) e-nu-un ú-
inwhichtheSumerian versionwas obscureandtheAkkadian rza-aP-la.
versionforclarifyingftooidifficult." 94)See M. Stol,Epilepsyin Babylonia , CM 2, Groningen
87)Vacat. 1993,7-9.miqitšaméis theAkkadiantranslation of Sumeri-
88)Ashurbanipal inscriptionL4 (K. 2694+3050; foredi- an AN.TA.ŠUB.BA,a wordthatis usedin medicaltexts;the
tionsof the inscriptionsee above note 65) I 18: hi-ta-ku commonwordforepilepsyor epilepsylikediseasesusedin
GU.SUM ab-nišá la-ama-bu-bi"I am enjoyingthecunei- everyday lifeis Akkadianbennu.
formwedges(sc. writing) on stone(s)frombeforetheflood." 95)PBS VII 132 (CBS 1471)= SAA X 295 obv. 11-12:...
Noneof thesestoneswereexcavated. SUB-tiAN-emi-i-nu šu-u(12) ka-a-a-[ma-n]u AN-ei-ba-ši.
89)ABL 255 (K. 552) = SAA X 155 obv. 5-13: tup-pisa N. P. Heeßel kindlvdrewmyattention to thistext.
LUGAL(6) [ma]-tuù ul šá-lim(7) [a]-du-útup-pi(8) [l]a-bi- 96)Thiswouldalso referto scribes,whousedto readthe
rušá am-mu-ra-pi LUGAL (9) [e]-pu-šúma-al-ta-ru (10) [šá royalcorrespondence. Theyhaven'thave been able to read
p]a-ni am-mu-ra-pi LUGAL (11) ki-i áš-pu-ru(12) ul-tu omentexts,at thesametime,becausethevocabulary ofboth
TIN.TIR.KI(13) at-ta-šá-a. textsdiffers verymuch.

1Orderofthe
prince.97Learning how to write and read cuneiform kingto Šadůnu:2Iamwell- letyour
signs mustalreadyhave been partof his formereduca- heartbe at ease!
3Theday you see my letter7seizein yourhands
tion,judgingby theadvanced knowledgehe reached in
this art. Ashurbanipalwas very proud of the fact that 3Šumaya, 4theson of Šuma-ukln, hisbrother,
Bël-ëtir,
his scholarlyskills were much betterthanthose of any 5Aplãya,the son of Arkat-ilãni, 6and(all) scholars
fromBorsippa7whomyouknowand l()collect 8allthe
of his predecessors98 because, unlike them,he did not tabletsas muchas thereareintheirhouses9andall the
dependon whathis scribesor officialstold him or read tabletsas muchas thereare storedin the temple
to him. His ability to check the correctnessof the Ezida: luthetabletsconcerningtheamuletsoftheking,
writtenwords preventedhim frombeing manipulated. n(those)concerning the of thedaysof
watercourses
At some point,Ashurbanipalmusthave discovered the monthnisannu(I), 12theamuletconcerning the
his interestin literatureand in old historical texts. watercourses of themonthtašrltu(VII), (e. g.) con-
Moreover,lateron when he had the opportunity to do cerningthe(ritual)bitsaltf mêm, 13the amuletcon-
cerningthewatercourses of thedecisions(or: trials)
so, this interestled him to create a personal royal (of) theday (sc. Šamaš,thesun), 144amuletsof the
libraryas well as to extendthe existinglibraries.This
was of such concernto him thatthe scholars in charge ab-ka(3) u4-mutup-pita-mu-ru mSu-ma-a (4) DUMU-iříšá
informedhim about the process of copyingtabletsfor mMU-GI.NA mdEN-KAR-/r ŠEŠ-šú (5) mIBILA-aDUMU-iw
his library,as well as about the numberof copies that šá már-to-DINGIR.MEŠ (6) ù LU.um-ma-nu šá bár-sipa. KI
already existed of a certaincomposition.99In addition (7) šá at-tati-du-úina SUu-kasa-bat-ma(8) DUB.MEŠ ma-
to that,Ashurbanipaltriedto acquire Babylonian tab- la ina É.MES-šú-nui-ba-áš-šú-ú (9) ù DUB.MEŠ ma-laina
lets forhis libraries. é-zi-dašak-nu(10) hi-pi-ir-ma DUB.MEŠ šá GÚ.MEŠ šá
LUGAL (11) šá na-ra-a-tišá DADAG.MEŠ šá ITU.BÁR
(12) NA4.GÚšá ÍD.MEŠ šá ITU.DUL šá É sa-la- A.MEŠ
(13) NA4.GÚšá ÍD.MEŠ šá di-niu4-mu (14) 4 NA4.GÚ.MEŠ
VII. Ashurbanipal's method of collecting Baby- šá SAG GIŠ.NÁ LUGAL u še-pitLUGAL (15) GIŠ.TUKUL
lonian tablets GIŠ.MA.NU šá SAG GIŠ.NÁ LUGAL (16) ÉN u
dASARI.LÚ.HIni-me-qa(17) li-gam-me-ru-ni pu-uh-hu-ru
During the first20 years of Ashurbanipal's reign, (18) ÉŠ.GÁR MÈ ma-laba-šú-ú(19) a-di IM.GÍD.DA.ME-
his brotherŠamaš-šum-ukinruledas kingof Babylonia šú-nuat-ra-a-ti (20) ma-lai-ba-áš-šú-ú (21) ina ME Gl ana
LÚ NU TE-e (rev.22) EDIN-NA-DIB-BI-DAÉ-GAL-KU4-
(see above section V), but he later starteda revolt -nu(24) mál-ta-ru
RA (23) ni-pi-ša-a-nu ŠU-ÍL-LA.KAM.a
against his brother.In 648 BC, Ashurbanipal was šá NA4.MEŠu (25) šá a-na LUGAL-á-¿/ ta-a-bi(26) tak-pir-
victoriousin the civil war and assumed kingship of tiURU IGI.NIGIN.NA(27) ki-ina-qut-ti u mim-ma hi-ših-ti
Babylonia. This gave Ashurbanipalaccess to all the (28) i-naÉ.GAL ma-laba-šú-úú DUB.MEŠ (29) aq-ru-tu šá
Babyloniantemplearchivesand libraries,and enabled mé-dak-ku-nu-šim-ma (30) ina KUR.as-swr.KI ia- -nubu--a-
him to use theseBabylonian sources forexpandinghis nim-ma(31) šu-bi-la-a-ni a-du-úa-na (32) LÚ.ŠÁ.TAM u
own royal library. LÚ.GAR-UMUŠal-tap-ra(33) ina É Š'J"-katal-tak- numan-
An Assyrianking,who most probablyis Ashurba- ma (34) tup-piul i-kil-lak-ka u ki-i(35) mim-ma tup-piu ni-
about the pi-šú šá a-na-ku(36) la áš-pu-rak-ku-nu-šú-u ta-tam-ra-ma
nipal, gives the most instructiveinformation i-šá-nim-ma
of tablets for libraries:He gave (37) a-na É.GAL-ia ta-a-bu(38) it-ti--im-ma
way assembling royal For earliertranslations of thislettersee
(39) šu-bi-la-a-ni.
a writtenorderto his agentsin Babylonia to search for e. g. R. C. Thompson, Late Babylonian Letters , 1906,2-5,F.
tabletsthatmightbe useful forhis royal library.Two Martin, Lettres néo-babyloniennes , 1909, 19-22, R. H. Pfeif-
copies of his letterorder to Šadůnu, the governorof fer,StateLetters , 1935, 179-180(no. 256) (see above note
Borsippa, are preserved:100 79), andE. Ebeling,Neubabylonische Briefe , München1949,
1-3.See also E. Weidner, AfO14 (1941-44)178,178note37,
97) Ashurbanipal's prisminscription A 1-34 seems to S. Parpóla,"AssyrianLibraryRecords,"JNES42 (1983) 11
indicatethis,if we interpret the sequenceof eventsas a and St.J. Lieberman,"Canonicaland OfficialCuneiform
description in realchronological order. Texts:Towardsan Understanding ofAssurbanípal' s Personal
H.
98) Hunger, BAK, 97-98 (no. 319: Asb.typec-e) 11.4- Tablet Collection,"in: T. Abusch- J. Huehnergard - P.
5: ... ni-siqtup-šar-ru-ti(5) šá ina LUGAL.MES-ni a-lik Steinkeller, Lingering overWords , Fs. Moran, Atlanta1990,
mah-ri-ia mam-mašip-rušu-a-tula i-hu-uz-zu "(who lear- 310. 334-336.
ned) thehighestlevel of thescribalart,a skillwhichnone 101)"House of the watersprinkling". This purification
amongthekings,mypredecessors, ever had learned;"see ritualwas oftenperformed together with the bitrimkiritual
also p. 103(no. 329: Asb.typeo) 11.2-3,andp. 105-106(no. aftereclipsesofthemoon(ABL 437 [K. 168]= SAA X 352;
338) 11.4-6. see also thecataloguein L. W. King,BMS, 1896,p. xix).
") See e. g. twoof Akkullänu's, the 'temple-enterer'of According to theritualtablet,it was to be performed in the
Aššur,letters totheking:CT 53, 187(K. 1538)= SAA X 101 earlymonthtašrltu(Vllth month)(K. 2798+ obv. 1 [G.
andCT 53, 417 (K. 10908)+ CT 53, 702 (K. 15645)= SAA Meier,AfO14 (1941-44) 139 n. 2]). See also K. 1526(SAA
X 102. X 219), theletterfromAdad-šuma-usur to thekingquestion-
1()0)CT 22 no. 1 (BM 25676, BM 25678): (1) a-mat ing if it was too soon to perform (ritual)of bitsala*mê
the
LUGAL a-na mšá-du-nu (2) šul-muia-a-šilìb-ba-kalu-uta- afterthe26thof themonthulülu(VI).

headoftheking'sbedandthefeetoftheking('sbed), because they inscribed a stela with the text of this

15thegrindstone weaponoftheheadoftheking'sbed, letter.105Later, during the Seleucid period, a scribe
l6theincantation "MayEa andMarduk17bring together the stela onto a cuneiformtablet,which hap-
copied
16wisdom", the collectedone,18the series(concerning)
"battle",as muchas thereis, 19including theirextra pens to be in the British Museum Babylon collec-
20asmuch as thereare, tion.106
The relevantpassages run as follows:107
single-columned tablets102,
2 •To Ashurbanipal, thegreatking,themighty king,
'(theritual)"thatan arrowshouldnotcomeclose to
a personin battle",22(the ritualsfor)"walkingin the thekingof theworld,thekingof Assyria,...
thepalace", 23the 8Thusanswertheobedientpeopleof Borsippathe
open country", (forthe) "entering
instructionsofthe"handlifting", 24"the of instruction,theking,theirmaster,wrote(to them):
inscription
theamulets"and25whatever is good forthekingship, the
9"Copy completescribalcorpusthatis in the
26"purificationof the village","giddiness"103, ^(al- possessionofNabû,mylord,and senditto me!" 10...
H... Now, we are neithernegligent of theking's,
thoughit is) out of use, and whatever is needed28in
the palace - as much as thereis; and the 29rare ourmaster's, order,nordo we rest,butkeepawaketo
28tablets29that are knownto you but 30arenot in please theking,ourmaster.12Wewill carryout(lit.:
Assyria. Search forthemand 3•bringthemto me! write)ntheinstruction made of
12bywriting-boards
3 musukkannu-wood. ... Everything,3thatyou wrote,
Rightnow,32Ihave written'to 32thešatammu- offi-
cials and to theprovincialcommandants; 33youshall apartfromwhatis in theEsaggil,is here.Our lord
place (them)in thehousesof yoursurety. (whichis thegodNabû)mightcomplete(theorder)in
No one34isallowedtoholdbacka tabletfrom front of theking,ourmaster.
you;
and as for35anytabletor instruction thatI did 36not
writetoyouaboutbutthatyouhavediscovered 37to be In his letterorderto Šadůnu, Ashurbanipalrequest-
good forthe palace,you must take(them) as well and ed the original tablets of "whatever is good for the
39send (them)to me. kingship"and "whatever... is good forthepalace," but
the scholars of Borsippa just referto copies of tablets.
Taking a closer look at the various tablet-seriesthe Obviously,theymisinterpreted the instruction
withthe
kingwas seekingfor- instructions forthe firstand the intentionof keeping the original tablets in theirown
seventhmonthof theyear,several ritualsfortheking's templelibrary.Could the memoryof Tukultl-Ninurta I
bed, forbattles,for walking around in the dangerous (1243-1207 BC) who ransacked the Babylonian librar-
desert,foramuletsto protecta person against evil, for ies in the late 13thcenturyBC and carriedaway many
care of the palace - we must agree with the king's tablets108to Aššur109be thereason fortheirmisinterpre-
summarythathe was lookingfor"whateveris good for tation?
the kingship"(1. 25) and "whateveris ... good forthe
palace" (1. 37). First of all, the king's aim was to 105)BM 45642 (81-7-6,35) rev.21: šá-táran-na-aina
collectas manyinstructions forritualsand incantations UGU-hiNA4.R[Ú.A]šá NA4.GIŠ.NUn.GAL"thisis written
as possible thatwere vital forhis own protectionand on a ste[le]madeof alabaster".
thatof everysingleplace wherehe mightpossibly stay 106)AndrewR. Georgewho gave a paperon thissubject
at the49e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale , 2003,in
during his reign: his palace or one of his military London,will publishthis tablet.In S. Parpóla- R. M.
campaigns. Whiting(ed.), Assyria1995,Helsinki1997,71-72,note9,
But the king not only asked for tablets of rituals A. R. Georgegave thefirstinformation aboutthistextand
thatwere vital to maintainhis royal power but also for transliterated and translated some lines.
"the raretabletsthat... are not in Assyria" (11.28-30). 107)BM 45642 (81-7-6,35) obv. 1, 8-9, 11-13:(1) a-na
This instruction pointsto Ashurbanipal'sidea of creat- mAN.ŠAR-D[Ú-A L]UGAL GAL-úLUGAL dan-nuLUGAL
a kiš-šatLUGAL aš-šur.Kl... (8) him^-ma óar.síp.KI.MEŠsa-
ing comprehensivelibraryincludingevery scholarly
tablethe was able to get hold of. And he knew thathe an-q[u-ť]úa-na LUGAL EN-šu-nuú-ta-ru-^nf1 na-áš-par-
tumšá iš-tu-ru (9) um-makul-latLÚ.DUB.SAR-Zw š[á Š]Á
also had to get access to the private libraries of the NÍG.GA dAGEN-ía šu-tu-ra-a ) šu-bil-la-ni ... (11) ... e-nin-
scholars and to the temple libraries (11. 8-10) if he ni ina K[A LUG]AL EN-mul ni-ig-guni-na-hu ni-dal-li-pu
wanted to collect the writtenknowledge and wisdom ana LUGAL EN-«/ nu-šal-Uam 1 n[a-aš-pa]r-tum (12) ni-
of the known world forhis library. [ša]t-Ttár ina UGU^ GIŠ.DA šá GIŠ.MES.MÁ.KAN.NUnu-
Fortunately, we know the answer of the scholars of pal<-lu> ... UL DÙ.A.[B]I (13) [š]á taš-pu-ru al-la šá ina
Borsippa to this or a similarinstructionof Ashurbani- É.SAG.GÍL ia-a-nuEN-niina IGI LUGAL EN-niliš-lim.
pal.104This replyto the king became a very important 108)See theTukultl-Ninurta Epic B rev.VI (BM 98730)
and well-knowndocumentforthe citizensof Borsippa, 2,-8' li1, 12'-13f
(see W. G. Lambert, AJO18 [1957-58]44-
45, P. B. Machinist, TheEpic oj Tukulti-Ninurta I: A Studyin
MiddleAssyrianLiterature , Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale 1978,
102)A tabletformatused bothforexcerptsand tabletsof 128-129):ni-sir-[ti ...] (3') tup-pa-at [...] (4') tup-[ šar-ru^-tla
a series. ...] (5') a-ši-pu-tab[ď ...] (ď) ÉR.ŠÁ.HUN.GÁW pO x [...]
103)IGI-NIGIN.NA= sudpani "giddiness, vertigo." (7') ba-ru-ta... ú-s[u-r]atAN-'V [Kl-řz...] (8') mal-ta-rat a-
BM 45642(81-7-6,35). I learnedaboutthistextfrom
1()4) su-tiné-pešna-[a]s-m[a-da-te ...] (9') ... (II1) ul ez-ba ina
anunpublished manuscriptEckartFrahmkindlymadeavaila- KUR šu-me-ri ù URI.KI mim-ma [...] /(12') [t]ák-ši-it ta-tu-
ble to me (see above note42). ri ni-šir-ti MAN ka[š-ši-i...] (13f)ú-še-em-li GIŠ.MÁ.MEŠ

Anothervery importantpiece of informationcon- VIII. The Neo-Assyrian library records

tained in the scholar's answer is the fact that they
intended to copy the requested tablets on wooden The administrationof the Neo-Assyrian royal li-
10
writing-boards(GIS. lë^u)1 instead of clay tablets braries was well organized. The scribes in charge
( tuppu). This mightcorrelatethesituationin theAshur- wrote record tablets about acquisitions of incoming
banipal libraries since there are only a few tablets tablets (DUB. MES, tuppü) and wax-covered writing-
knownto have been writtenin Babylonia and therefore boards (GIŠ.ZU, lëyu)in the libraryand keptthemfor
importedto Nineveh,111 whereas the otherBabylonian furtherreference.Some of these libraryrecordsfrom
tabletscould just as well have been writtenby Baby- early in the year 647 BC have been found113. In gener-
lonian scribes in the service of the king's palace in al, the records list tablets separately from writing-
Assyria.112 boards, summingthem up at the end of each group.
There is just one case when the scribe gave a sum that
hi-is-bi ana da-sur[...] "Secret[sof (or: The treasureof) ...], refersto tablets togetherwith writing-boards.114 Most
tabletsof [...], thecorpusof scribalar[t...], thecorpusof of the writing-boardsmentionedin these libraryrec-
incantation ... [...], eršahunga- lamentations accordingto ... ords were polyptychsmade of several leaves (GIŠ.IG,
[...],thecorpusofdiviners..., theplansofheaven[andearth daltu "door, leaf (of writing-boards)")hingedtogether
...], medicalprescriptions accordingto theloreof thephysi-
cians (including)theprocedureforband[ages...] ... There to forma kind of book.115They consist of one to six
was notleftany [...] in theland of Sumerand Akkad(sc. leaves; the majorityof themhave threeto fourleaves.
Babylonia)./Theabundant profitofthesecrets(or:treasures) Even thoughnone of the libraryrecordsof 647 BC
of thekingof theKassi[tes...], he filledboatswith(rich) is complete, they still give significantinformation
yieldsfor(or: ..., to) thegod Aššur["...I." about Ashurbanipal's methodof assemblingtabletsfor
I<w)The MiddleAssyrianlibrary of theAššurtemplein his librariesin Nineveh. Approximately2,000 tablets
Aššur(QalcatSerqãt)includedbothAssyrian andBabylonian and 300 writing-boards116 were taken fromAssyrian
texts.Forthislibrary see E. Weidner, "Die Bibliothek Tiglat- and Babylonian privatescholars. With few exceptions
pilesarsI.," AJO 16 (1952-53) 197-215,O. Pedersén,Ar- thesepalace acquisitionsconsistof thecompleteMeso-
chivesand Librariesin the Cityoj Assur: A surveyoj the
material JromGermanexcavations. PartI, Upsala 1985,31- potamian scientificand religious lore, mainlydivina-
42 (library M 2), and belowsectionXI; theliterary textsof tiontexts,like extispicy,astrological,terrestrial,
phys-
Aššurare subjectof the projectinitiatedby St.M. Maul, iognomic, dream and birth omens, as well as the
Heidelberg. exorcists' lore, medical texts and lamentations,and
ll())Fortheuse of writing-boards see below. various other compositions that occur only once or
m) See e. g. thetabletwitha ritualfortheprincemount- twice in the records.
ing a chariot(DIŠ NUN GIŠ.GIGIR Ufma KASKAL ina The libraryrecords give the followinginformation
GIN-™ ...) Th. 1905-4-9,88 (BM 98582) (see Thureau- 117
Dangin,RA 21 [1924] 128 [copy],127-137[edition], andCT (see Fig. 2), although,because of the fragmentary
34 pl. 8-9) thatis copiedfroma tabletfromBabylonby the conditionof the records,the compositionsof 74.7 % of
Babylonianscribe Nabú-ušallim,descendantof Egibi, the tablets are still unknown to us. But, still, the
LÚ.MAŠ.MAŠ.The clayofthetabletpointsto a Babylonian divinationcorpus is the largest one - 20.8 % of all
origin. tablets mentionedin the records, but 82 % of those
112)This can easilybe demonstrated by theBabylonian whose compositions can be identified(see Fig. 3) -
extispicy (bârûtu ) tabletsfromNinevehthathavean Ashur- followed by the exorcists' lore, which is 1.2 % of all
banipalcolophon.U. Koch-Westenholz, BabylonianLiver tablets but 4.8 % of the numbersof known composi-
Omens . TheChaptersManzãzu, Padánu and Pãn tãkaltioj
Seriesmainly s tions (see Fig. 3). Withinthe group of divinationtexts
theBabylonian Extispicy JromAššurbanipaV
Library , CNI Publications25, Copenhagen2000, 28, has
shownthatthe mostcommonAshurbanipal colophonsare m) S. Parpóla,JNES42 (1983) 1-29publishedtherec-
type"b" (see H. Hunger, BAK, no. 318) andtype"1"(see H. ords;see also F. M. Fales - J.N. Postgate, ImperialAdmin-
Hunger,BAK, no. 325). Amongthe relevantBabylonian istrativeRecords, Part I, SAA VII, Helsinki
1992,nos.49-56.
tabletsonlythesetwotypesof colophonsare preserved, so In some cases, the numbersof tabletsand writing-boards
far:see e. g. the 20thpirsu (division?)of the bârûtu- sub- givenin SAA VII differ fromthoseofJNES42. Thestatistics
seriesmultabiltu , K. 2880 (to be publishedby U. Koch- givenin thepresentarticleuse thenumbers givenin SAA
Westenholz)withan Asb.col. type"b"; K. 2912 (to be VII.
publishedby U. Koch-Westenholz), also a multabiltu-tablet
, 114)The totalof 188 givenin SAA VII I 17' (PAP 1 me
of whichthe colophonis a variantto Asb.col. Type "1" 88) refers totablets(I 5': egirãte"one-column I 12':
tablets"),
(courtesy U. Koch-Westenholz); K. 16799 (to be published DUB.MEŠ "tablets") and to writing-boards(1. 7':
byU. Koch-Westenholz), tabletwithan Asb.col.
a multabiltu- GIŠ.ZU.MEŠ).
type"1" (courtesyU. Koch-Westenholz); Rm. 231, a liver 115)For thissee below.
omentext,has Asb.col. type"1"(courtesy U. Koch-Westen- 116)According to S. Parpóla,JNES42 (1983) 4.
holz). The Babylonian tablet K. 9118 that has a variantto li7) The records publishedas SAA VII 53-56 are not
Asb.col. type"1" mightbelongto the extispicyseries,as includedin thisstatistical surveybecausetheyare too frag-
well. mentary and uninformative.

Figure 2. Four libraryrecords fromNineveh (SAA VII 49, 50, 51, 52).
compositionsand series numberof tablets; writing-boards:Ipercentageof the total numberof

: numberof leaves tablets writing-boards
terrestrialomens (šumma ãlu) 161 tablets ; 1 wr.-boards 10.9% 0.7%
'
astrologicalomens ( enüma anu enlil) 73 tablets : 3 wr.-boards 5.0 % 2.2 %
extispicy( bãrútu ) 0 tablets 69 wr.-boards - 50.4 %
physiognomic omens ( alandimmû
) 39 tablets 1 wr.-boards 2.7 % • 0.7 %
dreamomens (iSkãr zaqïqu) 16 tablets ; 0 wr.-boards 1.1 % :
birthomens (šumma izbu) 9 tablets 7 wr.-boards 0.6% 5.1 %
omen series iqqur ípuš 4 tablets 0 wr.-boards 0.3 %
hemerologies(ûmê täbüti) 3 tablets 0 wr.-boards 0.2 % •
(total:divinationtexts 305 tablets • 81 wr.-boards 20.8% ; 59.1%)
exorcists' lore ( äSipütu) 18 tablets ; 4 wr.-boards 1.2 % ! 2.9 %
medical texts(bulte) 1 tablets 27 wr.-boards 0.5% • 19.7%
lamentations(kalûtu) 2 tablets : 12 wr.-boards 0.1% 8.8%
various compositions 40 tablets 13 wr.-boards 2.7 % : 9.5 %
(totalof theknowncompositions 372 tablets i 137 wr.-boards 25.3 % i 100.0%)
unknowncompositionsand series 1097 tablets Ò wr.-boards 74.7 %
total: 1469 tablets 137 wr.-boards ÍÒÒ.Ó 100.0%
(+ 188 tablets ! and wr.-boards) i
the terrestrialomens (šumma ãlu ina mëlê šakin) have collections of tablets relevantto theirspecial field.121
the largestnumberwithregardto tablets- 161 tablets, Some scholarlytextsfromthese privatelibrarieswere
which is 10.9 % of all tablets- while thereis just one acquired forthe royal library.122
writing-boardwhich is 0.7 % of all writing-boards
mentionedin therecords.The astrologicaltexts(enüma
anu enlil) are cited with73 tablets- 5 % of all tablets
- and 3 writing-boards.With regard to the writing-
boards the extispicy corpus (bãrútu) has the largest (SpTU) I (ADFU 9), 1976,E. von Weiher,SpTU II (ADFU
number- 69 (50.4 %) but no tabletsat all. All of these 10), 1983,E. vonWeiher,SpTU III (ADFU 12), 1988,E. von
bãrútuwriting-boards were acquired fromthe Babylo- Weiher,Spätbabylonische Texteaus demPlanquadratU 18
nian clan Bït-Ibâ. (SpTUIN) (AUWE 12), 1993,andE. vonWeiher, dito(SpTU
Accordingto thelibraryrecords,some of the schol- V) (AUWE 13), 1998. Another example of the varietyof
ars gave away a remarkablyhigh numberof tablets,118 literarytextsincorporated in a privatelibraryis thelibraryof
the exorcist(ašipu) Kisir-Aššurin Aššur.The excavation
but none of them submittedcompositionsneeded for
producedabout800 claytabletsfromtheso-called"houseof
the individual's profession.119The records also prove theexorcist". Mostofthemwerefromtheexorcists'lorebut
that contemporaryscholars had private librariesthat
theyalso includedepics,copiesofthe"Topography ofAššur",
includeda varietyof scholarlytexts,120 ratherthanjust royalrituals, and othersas well as some legaldocuments. See
O. Pedersén, Archivesand Librariesin theCityofAššur.A
ll8)See e. g. Nabû-[...],whohandedover435 tablets(see Surveyof theMaterialfromGermanExcavationsII, Upsala
SAA VII 49 II 5'-6');Nabû-aplaiddin,sonofUb[ru-...], gave 1986, 41-76 (libraryN4), and O. Pedersén,Archivesand
342 tablets(SAA VII 49 rev.II 19-21);thedivinerNabû- Librariesin theAncient Near East 1500-300B. C, Bethesda
nãdin-apli,son of Issar-düri, handedover 188 tablets(SAA 1998,135-136(library N4 = Assur20). S. M. Maul's project
VII 50 I 17'-19'); Bït-ibâgave 10 polyptychs (of writing- (see abovenote109) will givemoreinsight intothislibrary.
boards)withextispicy texts(SAA VII 51 II T-3'). Theastrologer
121) Adad-šuma-usur apologizedforhislate
,l9)See S. Parpóla,JNES42 (1983) 8-9. answerto the king's questionexplaining(ABL 357 [Sm.
In thiscontext,
12()) see e. g. thevarietyofthe503 textsin 1368]= LAS 147 = SAA X 202 obv.8-12:ina ŠÁ É.GAL et-
theLate-Babylonian library oftheašipu (exorcist)Iqïsâ, son na rUDU!.NÍTA1.MEŠ šú-nu(9) šá LÚ.GAL-MUú-še-sa-an-
ofIštar-šuma-ereš, ofthefamily ofEkur-zãkirin Uruk(War- ni (10) ú-se-liGIŠ.ZU ina É šú-u (11) ú-ma-aan-nu-rig
ka), who inherited tabletsfromformer libraries.
His library GIŠ.ZU (12) a-marpi -šir-šua-na-sa-ha)"I was drivingto
included medicaltexts,thediagnostic
incantations, handbook thepalacethoserams,whichthechiefcookhadbrought forth
SA.GIG, theterrestrial omensseries(šummaãlu ina mëlê to me.Thewriting-board was in (my)house.Nowthen,I can
šakin),textsof theanomalyseries,astrological (enümaanu checkthewriting-board and extracttherelevantinterpreta-
enlil)and astronomical texts,extispicy (bãrútu),and lexical tion;"thisletterwas written to Esarhaddonin 670(?) BC.
texts,as well as myths,hymns,and others.The textsare 122)It is notclearwhether thescholarsgave thetablets
publishedby H. Hunger,Spätbabylonische Texteaus Uruk voluntarily or wereforced to do so.

IX. The writing-boards of the Neo-Assyrian thereforewere soft and fragile.The same mighthave
libraries in Nineveh been the case with the tablets fromthe Babylonian
temple or privatelibraries.Therefore,the transportof
The answerof the Borsippean scholarsto Ashurba- cuneiformtablets would have needed special precau-
nipal's requestforBabylonian tablets (see above sec- tions for theirprotection,such as wrappingin straw.
tion VII) and the libraryrecords (see above section Secondly, cuneiformtablets are much heavier than
VIII) indicatethatthe palace acquired great numbers wooden writing-boards,which would have increased
of waxed wooden writing-boards(GIŠ./^w)123inscri- the load. The Assyrian imperial administration,of
bed withliterarytexts.As regardsthose fromBorsip- course, used both clay tablets (see Fig. 3)125and writ-
pa, it seems likelythatthe transportfromBabylonia to ing-boards(see Figs. 4-6). The reason forusing writ-
Assyria itselfwas a significantfactoras it is much ing-boardsin this context126is obvious: scripton wax-
easier to dispatch wooden writing-boardsthan clay covered wood could easily be erased or correctedeven
tablets.Many of thecuneiform tabletsof Ashurbanipal's days or monthslater,while clay driedaftera fewhours
libraries might originallyhave been unbaked124and which made changes of the writtentext impossible.
The libraryrecords indicate that wooden writing-
boards were included in the libraryforlong-termstor-
123)The excavatorsof NimrQd(Kalhu) unearthed in the
North-West Palace severalivoryand walnutwriting-boards age just as the clay tablets were. In fact, there are
severalhintsthatwriting-boards were consideredequiv-
measuring app.33.8 x 15.6cmwitha margin whichis raised
0.3 cm. Withinthemargin, theboardswerescratched with alent to clay tablets regarding their substance and
criss-cross linesto producea surfacewitha good grip.The reliabilityby Neo-Assyrianscholars,even by theking
innerpartof someboardswerestillpartiallycoveredwith
wax showingsomecuneiform signs.According to thecolo- adelphia1989,10-11).Thereis at leastone MiddleBabylo-
phon written on the outside of one of the leaves, theivory niantabletwithfiring holes(see U. Jeyes,StudiesLambert ,
boardswereonce producedforSargon's II palace in Dür- 2000, 371), and severalMiddleAssyrian tabletsfromAššur
Sarrukïn - theyhad been inscribedon bothsides in two (E. Ebeling,AJO14 [1941-44]298-303,TafelnIX-X [Assur
columnsandhingedtogether to forma polyptych consisting 21953o; Etana-myth]), someof thembelongto thegroupof
of eightor nineleaves(GIŠ.IG, daltu);see M. E. L. Mallo- tabletswitha distinctive sortof clay whichhavea redcore
wan,"The Excavationsat Nimrud(Kalhu), 1953,"Iraq 16 andan ivorycolouredsurface(e. g. KAV 1 [VAT 1000;Old
(1954)98-107,andD. J.Wiseman, "Assyrian Writing-Boards," Assyrianlaws], VAT 14388 [AJO12 (1937-39)TafelV]).
Iraq 17 (1955) 3-13.Forthetechnical aspectofthesewriting- The same appearanceof clay has a MiddleAssyrian tablet
boards,see M. Howard,"TechnicalDescription of theIvory withincantations fromNineveh,and it therefore musthave
Writing-Boards fromNimrud," Iraq 17 (1955) 14-20. been taken fromAššur; see W. G. Lambert,"A Middle
The excavationin Aššur(QalcatŠerqat),westof theso- Assyriantabletof incantations", AS 16 (<StudiesLandsber-
called"houseoftheexorcist", also revealedan ivorywriting- ger), Chicago 1965, 283-288 (Rm.376). Thereis no research
board measuring8.2 x 4.3 cm with a marginraised 0.4- on theMiddleAssyrian tabletsfromNineveh,butat leastthe
0.5 cm and criss-crossscratching on the innerside (Ass. tabletdescribing theeighthcampaignof SargonII (714 BC)
13932).The way of connecting thisboardto othersproves publishedin TCL III has firingholes on the edges and
thatthisboardwas meantto forma diptychof just two betweenthecolumnson obverseandreverse.In Neo-Assyri-
leaves.See E. Klengel-Brandt, "EineSchreibtafel aus Assur," an times,somelargelibrary tabletsfromKalhu(Nimrùd) and
AOF 3 (1975) 168-171,Tafeln21-22. Ninevehhave firingholes.
124)See J.E. Reade,CRRAI 30, 218-219,whoconsidered 125)ThesceneshowstwoAssyrian officialstakingrecords
thatlooters'firesin 612 BC had bakedthe tabletsof the duringa military campaign,one witha clay tablet,and the
Kouyunjik collection.The existenceof theso-called"firing otherone witha scroll.The latteris used to be thought a
holes"on someof theNinevitetabletsdoes notnecessarily scribewriting in theAramaiclanguage.However,J.Reade,
pointto bakingof the tabletsin antiquity(see C. B. F. Assyrian Sculpture , BritishMuseum,London,1996(8thim-
Walker, Readingthepast: Cuneiform , BritishMuseum1987, pression),34, givesanother According
interpretation. to him,
24-25), butrather to thescribes' effort to avoidemptyspace "the man withthe scrollwas a war-artist, illustratingthe
onthetabletsso thatnobodywas ableto add something, later eventsabout his colleague is writing.Afterthe reignof
(see U. Jeyes, "Gall-bladder omensextantin MiddleBabylo- Tiglath-pilesar,however,theyappearfrequently, sometimes
nian,Nineveh,and Seleucidversions,"in: A. R. George- withscrolls,sometimes withhingedboards,theancient equiv-
I. L. Finkel(ed.), Wisdom , godsand literature [StudiesLam- alentof boundbooks."For reliefsof Assyrian officials,one
bert] I, Winona Lake 2000,371). The use of these firingholes witha writing-board and theotherone witha scroll,dating
becamea matterof tradition - even the copies of literary to thereignof Ashurbanipal, see Figs. 4-6.
tabletshavetheir"firing holes"in exactlythesameposition ) For theuse of writing-boards in theAssyrian admin-
(see C. B. F. Walker,op. cit., 24). On the otherhand,all istrationsee e. g. ADD 826 (K. 897) = SAA XI 172 rev. 1-
tabletswithfiring holespublishedso farseemto havebeen 2: PAP 17 ZI.MEŠ (2) sa la GIS.le-"i"In total17 deportees,
bakedin antiquity. who are not(recorded)on thewriting-board." For writing-
Theoldesttabletwithfiring holesis Old Babylonian (see boardsin theNeo-Babylonian temple administration of Sip-
B. Alster- C. B. F. Walker,"Some SumerianLiterary texts par,see J. MacGinnis,"The Use of Writing Boardsin the
in theBritishMuseum,"in: H. Behrens- D. Loding- M. T. Neo-Babylonian TempleAdministration at Sippar,"Iraq 64
Roth [ed.], DUMU-E2-DUB-BA-A [StudiesSjöberg],Phil- (2002) 217-236.

III (745-725 BC), Kalhu

Figure3. Tiglath-pileser
(Nimrüd),CentralPalace (BM 118882): Eunuch Figure 4. Ashurbanipal(668-627 BC) or later,Nineveh
scribestakingnotesof thebooty;theleftscribeis (Kouyunjik),South-West Palace, CourtXIX (BM 124782):
writingon a claytabletusingcuneiform script,and Scribestakingnotes of the booty;the beardedscribeis
therightone on a parchment in Aramaic(sketch on a waxedwriting-board
writing (diptych)usingcuneiform
drawnby J.C. FinckeafterB. Hrouda,Der alte signs,and theotherone on a parchment in Aramaic(sketch
Orient
, 1999,204). drawnby J.C. FinckeafterS. Smith,Assyrian in
Sculptures
TheBritishMuseum , 1938,p. XLVII).
himself.The AssyrianastrologerIštar-šuma-erešsug-
gestedto Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal"let thembring Neo-Assyrian scholars who worked forthe palace
in that writing-boardof enúma anu enlil, which we had access to Assyrian131 and Babylonian132writing-
wrote, (and) let the king, my lord, have a look"127. boards. Scribes copied or extractedfromthesewriting-
Scholars quoted froma "writingboard of the series boards to produce clay tablets forthe royal library,133
MUL.APIN".128Even Babylonianscholarsquoted from as is well known from the tablet colophons.134The
writing-boards129as well as fromtablets.Occasionally
scholars made excerpts on writing-boardsand sent to me via Ahi-duri there[was described(howto
dispatched
themto the kingto allow him to studya certainmatter make)]phylacteries [of/and ...]."
in more detail.130 m) See e. g. CT 53, 187 (K. 1538) = SAA X 101 obv.9:
[GIŠ.ZU].MEŠ aš-šur.Kl-ú-ti.
,27)RMA 152 (Ki. 1904-10-9,268) = LAS 319 = SAA 132)See e. g. CT 53, 187 (K. 1538) = SAA X 101 obv.8:
VIII 19 rev.1-3:GIŠ.LI.U5.UMam-mì-u (2) ša UD-AN-d+e«- [GIŠ.Z]U.MEŠ URI.KI-iK' x x x x x], andLAS 320 (83-1-
líl ša ni-iš-tur-u-ni(3) lu-še-ri-bu-u-ni
LUGAL be-lile-mu. 18, 235) = SAA X 384 rev. 1-2: an-nu-r[ig GIŠ.LI].U5.UM
l28)See theletterfromBalas! and Nabû-ahhe-erïba LAS (2) URI.KI-'w1[li-bi]-ru"Now then,let them[sel]ectan
43 (K. 13174) (+?) ABL 693 (83-1-18, 154) = LAS 55 Akkadian(sc. Babylonian)writing-board."
' of Aššurin
(= SAA X 62) obv. 13-14:[GIŠ].DA ša MUL.APIN(14) [ki]- 133)Akkullanu, the 'templeenterer Aššur,
i an-ni-e "[The] writing-board of MUL.APIN says as wroteto Esarhaddonor Ashurbanipal aboutcopyingomen
[fo]llows." textsfortheking:CT 53, 187 (K. 1538) = SAA X 101 obv.
129)See the reportNabû-iqisafromBorsippawroteto 7-10: ... ha-ra-me-ma [x x x x x x] (8) [GIŠ.Z]U.MEŠ
Esarhaddon: RMA 215 A (DT 304) = SAA VIII 297 obv. 1- URI.KI-ú-t[ix x x x x] (9) [GIŠ.ZU].MEŠ aš-šur.Kl-ú-ti [x
2: MUL.UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ [x x x x] (2) ana 3-Su ina x x x x] (10) [x x x D]UB.MEŠ la-áš-tur"Later[I shall
GIS.DA [šá-ti-ir]"Saturn[... it is written]
threetimeson a collect] theAkkadian(sc. Babylonian)[writing-b]oards [...]
writing-board." and theAssyrian[writing-boa]rds [...], and I shallwritethe
I3°) See e. g. the letterfromEsarhaddonto the chief tablets[...]."
chanter Urad-gula(PBS VII 132 [CBS 1471] = SAA X 295 134)The following information ofthecolophonsaboutthe
obv.4-8): ... ina SA-biGIŠ.ZU (5) šu-u[š]a ina ŠUnmPAB?- originofthewriting-boards andtabletsthescribescopiedthe
rBAD?1(6) tu-še-bi-la-an-ni (7) me-UGU-šú-nu x [x x'-a-te textfromare takenfromthewriter'sresearchon theBaby-
(8) i-na ŠA-bi [x x x] ... "In thatwriting-board thatyou loniantextsfromNinevehandthestudybyH. Hunger, BAK,

Figure5. Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) or later,Nineveh Figure6. Ashurbanipal(668 - ca. 627 BC) or later,Nineveh
(Kouyunjik), South-West Palace, Room XXVIII, Panel 10 (Kouyunjik),South-West Palace, Room XXVIII, Panel 9
(BM 124956):Scribestakingnotesofthebooty;thebeardless (BM 124955):Scribestakingnotesof thedead enemies;the
(sic!) scribeis writingon a waxed writing-board (diptych) beardedscribeis writingon a waxedwriting-board (diptych)
using cuneiform signs,and the bearded(sic!) one on a usingcuneiform signs,thebeardlessone on a parchment in
parchment in Aramaic(sketchdrawnbyJ.C. FinckeafterP. Aramaic(sketchdrawnby J.C. FinckeafterJ.M. Russell,
Matthiae, Ninive, 1999,p. 98-99). Sennacherib'sPalace withoutRival at Nineveh , 1991, 30
figure19).
originalwriting-boardsused forthetabletsof Ashurba-
nipal's librariescame from from"Assyria
Assyria135, cities139.Other originals- writing-boardsor clay tab-
and the countries 'Sumer and Akkaď (sc. Babylo- lets - came fromAssyria140, and fromthe Babylonian
nia)"136,from"Assyriaand Akkad (sc. northern partof cities Babylon141and Borsippa142.
Babylonia)"137, fromBabylon138,and otherBabylonian
The originofthewriting-board
139) usedbytheBabyloni-
1968. Furtherstudieswill certainlygive a moredetailed an scribeNabú-šapik-zčri forthe thirdtabletof the series
picture ofthedifferent citiesfromwhichtheoriginalscame. enümaanuenlilis notknown(K. 10129[AAT 1la = AChSin
,35)See e. g. theBabylonian ^¿¿¿-commentary to astrolog- 7]); see H. Hunger,BAK, no. 346. It is thesame withthe
ical texts(Rm.II, 127 [E. Reiner,AfO24 (1973) 101; see H. Babyloniantabletcontaining a namburbi(K. 3853 [K. D.
Hunger,BAK, no. 439) or the Babylonianextispicy-tablet Macmillan, BA 5.5, 1906,698 no. LI) + 13287[R. I. Caplice,
K. 9872 (see H. Hunger, BAK, no.479). See also H. Hunger, OrNS40 (1971) Tab. 14 (photo);S. M. Maul,BaF 18, 1994,
BAK. no. 544. 439-442]),andtheunpublished Babylonian fragments K. 8890
136)See H. Hunger,BAK, no. 318 (Asb.col. type"b"). and 83-1-18,751.
137)See H. Hunger,BAK, no. 336. 14°)The originalof the religioustabletwithprayersto
I38)See e. g. thetabletsof Nabû-zuqup-kënu's libraryin Šamaš written by a Babylonianscribecame fromKUR.as-
Kalhuthathad beenwritten duringthereignof Sennacherib šur.YA(K. 6073 [GeersHeftB p. 28] + 91-5-9,132 [C. D.
and werelatertransferred to Nineveh.Mostof thesetablets Gray,Šamaš pl. 20]).
had beenwritten "according to old tablets"(see H. Hunger, 141)The first(K. 3139 [AAT pl. 6 = AChSin 1]) andthe
BAK, nos. 296, 297, and 301), some of whichoriginally 22nd(79-7-8,121 [AChSin 34] + 79-7-8,125,cf.F. Roch-
came fromBabylon(see H. Hunger,BAK, no. 312). Other berg-Halton, AfOBeih.22, 1988,253-270[textJ])tabletof
tabletsof this librarywere written afteroriginalwriting- theastrological seriesenümaanu enlilwritten by unknown
boardsfromBabylon(see H. Hunger,BAK, nos. 293 and Babylonianscribes,theunpublished Babyloniantabletwith
302) orfromBabylonandAssyria(see H. Hunger, BAK, no. terrestrialomensK. 12188,theBabylonianreligioustextK.
307). As forothertabletsof Ashurbanipal's librariesthat 8637 (Geers HeftA p. 19), and the tabletwitha ritual,
werewritten afterwriting-boards fromBabylon,see H. Hun- written by theBabylonianscribeNabû-usallim (Th. 1905-4-
ger,BAK, nos. 500, 502, and 535. 9, 88 [F. Thureau-Dangin, RA 21 (1924) 128; CT 34 pl. 8-9;

What happened to the writing-boardsafterthe pal- compositions such as divination, religious, lexical,
ace acquired them?Were theyhoused in the libraries medical, epical and mythological, historical145, and
nextto the tabletsas the libraryrecordsindicate?This mathematicaltexts were incorporatedin the libraries,
would certainlyhave been the case if theywere made whereasletters,reports,legal documentslike contracts,
of valuable material,as the ivorywriting-boards found and administrative textswere keptin archives.Thereis
in Nimrüdsuggest.143 But what happened to the writ- just one group of Ninevite texts thatmightbelong to
ing-boardsmade of simple wood? Were theyall stored both kinds of tabletcollections, namelythe reportson
in a special partof the library,awaitingscribesto copy ominous events146 which were writtento reportobserv-
the textonto clay tabletsas the colophons indicate? If ed phenomena. The later examples of this type are
so, were theylaterreused,or were theykept forfuture even dated like contracts,and, significantly,thereexists
reference?We cannot answer these questions,at least always just one manuscriptof each text.These reports
as yet. are thereforeconsidered "archival texts".147On the
otherhand,thesereportscite fromand sometimesrefer
to theliteraryworkson astrologicalomens ( enümaanu
X. The Babylonian texts of the Ninevite enlil) and extispicy ( bârûtu). It is thereforeunlikely
Libraries thattheywere usually separatedfromthe relateddivi-
nation texts:148both kinds of text must have been
The Babylonian texts unearthedin Nineveh have consulted for furtherreference,especially duringthe
various contents.There are literarycompositions on initial stage of the royal library.149
the one hand, and letters,contracts,as well as reports To be able to relate the data of the Babylonian
on ominous events like celestial observationsor ex- Nineveh textsto those of the above-mentionedlibrary
tispicyreports,on the other. It is generallyaccepted records and otherMesopotamian libraries,but also to
thatthese texts belong to differenttablet collections, make the group of the divinationreportsavailable for
namelythe libraryand the archive. futurestudies,it has been decided to make the distinc-
According to Olof Pedersén the definitionof ar- tion between "librarytexts","divinationreports",and
chives and librariesruns as follows:144"The term"ar-
chive" here,as in otherstudies,refersto a collectionof 145)E. Weidner,AfO 16 (1952-53) 197, classifiesthe
texts,each text documentinga message or statement, historicaltextsas archivaltexts:"Die historischen Texteund
forexample, letters,legal, economic, and administra- Bauinschriften, vorallemdie Prisma-undZylinder-Inschrif-
tive documents.In an archive thereis usuallyjust one ten,die Briefe,die astrologischen Rapporte, die Anfragen an
denSonnengott gehörendemStaatsarchiv an." Copiesofold
copy of each text,althoughoccasionally a few copies on theotherhand,belongedto thelibrary
royalinscription,
may exist. "Library", on the other hand, denotes a according to his understanding. In thepresent study, all royal
collection of texts normallywith multiple copies for inscriptionswritten on tablets,
cylinders, prisms, conesas
and
use in different places at differenttimes,and includes, well as the treatiesare consideredhistoricaltextsof the
e. g., literary,historical,religious,and scientifictexts. libraries
In otherwords,librariesmay be said to consist of the 146)For thesetextssee above sectionIV.
textsof tradition.With ratherbroad definitionsof the 147)See e.g. E. Weidner,AfO 16 (1952-53) 197 (see
terms"document"and "literarytext," it may be sim- abovenote109),S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30, 224,andH. Hunger,
whoworkedon theNineviteastrological reports (SAA VIII,
plest to say thatarchivesare collections of documents
1992, xv), called these textsarchivaltexts.I. Starr,who
and librariesare collections of literarytexts." re-edited theso-calledqueriesto thesungodandthe
recently
With regardto the Babylonian Nineveh texts this extispicy reports in SAA IV, 1990,didnotmention theterms
definitionleads us to assign the followingtextsto the libraryor archiveat all.
two different tabletcollections. Literaryand scientific 148)E. Weidner, AfO16 (1952-53) 198,states"so erkennt
mansofort, dass in Ninive,wie auchan anderenStätten des
L. W. King,Catalogue... Supplement , 1914,pl. 4 no. 498 AltenOrients,Bibliothekund Staatsarchiv nichtgetrennt
(photo)],see H. Hunger, BAK, no. 437). waren;"forhis definition of "archivaltexts"see abovenote
The Babylonian tabletwithprayers (K. 6163 [GeersHeft 145. S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30, 224, likeWeidnerusestheterm
B p. 30] + 82-9-18,7387),whichis registered as partof the "archival"forlegal documents as well as divination reports
Kouyunjik-collection mightas well have been excavatedin and explainsthat"the label "archival"attachedto themis
Sipparor Babylon;see J.E. Reade in E. Leichty,Catalogue ratherarbitrary. Thereis no evidence,otherthana certain
oftheBabylonian Tablets... VI: TabletsfromSippar1, 1986, likelihoodthatanyof themwerekeptin anysortof separate
xxxiii. archives..., it has in factbeen suggestedthatmanyif not
142)Urad-Gula,chiefchanterof Esarhaddon, copied 11 mostof theKuyunjik"archival"textsactuallyhad formed
linesfromthe"friezeof 'lordof Borsippa'"(nëbehiša běl partof theroyallibraries;"see also p. 234.
Borsippa)',see H. Hunger,BAK, no. 498. Theroyallibraries
149) didnotholdtabletsoftheastrolog-
143) abovenote123.
See ical compendium and the scholarhad to consulthis own
I44)O. Pedersén,Archivesand Librariesin theAncient copy;see above note 121. This,certainly, was also thecase
NearEast 1500-300B.C., 3. forotherliterary compositions.

"archivaltexts"and classifyletters,legal and adminis- (iäsipütu) with incantationsand rituals.The Akkadian

trativetextsas "archivaltexts"accordingto the gener- prayers that distinguish between regular 'prayers',
ally accepted classification.Thus, the distributionof ikribu, and ta?m7w-prayers151 belong to the the lore of
the Babylonian textsis as follows:150 the diviner ( bârûtu).152The Sumerian and bilingual
librarytexts: 1594 prayers are called balag, eršemma, and eršahunga.
divinationreports: 645 Most of the Akkadian ritualsand incantationsbelong
archivaltexts: 1085 to namburbi-153(26 texts)or maqlû-rituals154 (13 texts),
not classified: 270 while mostof thebilingualritualsare fromtheexorcis-
tic series UDUG.HUL.A.MEŠ - utukkülemnütu155 (37
Total: 3594
texts). Most of the tablets with prayersor incantation
and rituals,of course, are in a much too fragmentary
state to be identifiedwithoutfurtherstudy(Akkadian
X.l. The literary and scientific texts
prayers:27 texts,Akkadianrituals:114 texts;bilingual
The groupof the literaryand scientifictextswithin prayers:17 texts,bilingual rituals:46 texts).In additi-
on to the Akkadian,Sumerianand bilingualtextsthere
the Babylonian textcorpus of Nineveh covers divina-
are threetabletsand fragmentswrittenin Old Babylo-
tory,religious,medical, lexical, historical,and mathe- nian or archaic signs; these texts are not included in
matical textsas well as epics, mythsand the like. In
the followingoverview:
general, these texts are representedin the following
quantities:
Babylonian literary librarytexts divinationreports not classified

and scientifictexts number| % numberf % number| %
divinatory 746 1 46.8 % 645 10ÏÏ%~"
~ 27 [ 81.8%
religious 585 ¡ 36.7 % ¡ |
medical 81 | 5.1 % | |
lexical 56 | 3.5 % | i
historical 27 | 1.7% | .
epics, myths,etc. 17 | 1.1 % | - -
ZIZIIIX-
mathematical 1 | 0.1 % I
j
varia 21 | 1.3% | 1
not identified 60 | 3.8% | 6 | 18.2%
total 1594 j 100.0 % | 645 | 100% 33 1100.0%
The largestgroupof the literaryand scientifictexts 151)The tamířw-prayers - a typicalBabyloniankindof

prayer- willbe editedby W. G. Lambert,see hisarticle"The
is the divinationcorpus,which includes nearlyhalf of ' tamïtu'texts"in:La Divinationen
Mésopotamie ancienneet
all librarytexts (46.8 %), followed by the religious
textswith 36.7 %. The divinationcorpus will be dis-
les régionsvoisines, CRRAI 14, Paris 1966,119-23.
152)Some of theAkkadianprayers, of course,belongto
cussed later togetherwith the archival texts (see be- theexorcists'(äsipütu or the musicians' lore(närütu ). As-
)
low). the
signing specificprayers to theloreof one of these fields
is subjectto furtherstudies.Forthepurposeofthisresearch,
The religious texts all Akkadianprayersare generally considered as partof the
loreof thediviner.
585 Babylonian tabletsand fragmentsof the Nine- see S. M. Maul,
153)For theapotropaicnamburbi-ritusds,
veh collection are identifiedso far as religious texts, BaF 18, 1994.
which make up 36.7 % of all Babylonian literaryand 154)Main partsof theritualmaqlû"burning" havebeen
scientifictexts.There are monolingual- Akkadian or editedby K. L. Tallqvist,Die assyrische Beschwörungsserie
Sumerian- and bilingual religious texts.The content Maqlû (ASSF 20/V),Leipzig1895,G. Meier,Die assyrische
of thesetextsderivesfromthe lamentation-priest's lore Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû, AfOBeih. 2, Berlin1937,
andG. Meier,"StudienzurBeschwörungssammlung Maqlû,"
(kalûtu) with Sumerian and bilingual prayers, cult
AfO21 (1966) 70-81. See also T. Abusch,"Maqlû,"RIA7,
songs, and hymns,as well as fromthe exorcists' lore 346-335.
Aneditionoftheincantation
155) andritualseries"theevil
"
l5°)The databaseof theBabylonianNinevehtextswith utukkuis in preparation by M. J.Geller.For previousedi-
themuseumnumbers, categoryof texts,publicationof the tionssee e. g. E. Ebeling,"Zwei Tafelnder Serie utukku
cuneiform and editionof the textstogetherwitha short limnûtu ," AfO 16 (1952-53) 295-304,and M. J. Geller,"A
of thetabletsand fragments
description is availableonline; MiddleAssyrian tabletofutukkü lemnütu, tablet12,"Iraq 42
see http .uni-hd
://fincke veh/
.de/nine . (1980) 23-51.

Babylonian religious Akkadian Sumerian bilingual tion to this,thereare two trea-

texts number[ % number| % number| % ties,one treatybetweenŠamši-
IÄ ¡ 9 I 29.0% 71 I 38.4% Adad V and Marduk-zãkir-
asipütu 209 I 57.1% 3 ¡ 9.7% 91 j 49.2% šumi I, and one treatybetween
bârûtu 41 I 11.2% | | Ashurbanipaland the Babylo-
"varía 116 | 31.7% 19 | 61.3% 23 | 12.4% nian allies.
total 366 j 100.0 % [ 31 1100.0 % [ 185 [100.0%
The medical texts Epics, myths, and other literary texts

The corpus of medical texts covers 81 documents The groupof epics, myths,and thelike is represent-
and is the third largest group within the Ninevite ed by 17 Babylonian pieces or 1.1 % of all literaryand
literaryand scientifictextsin Babylonianscript(5.1 %). scientifictexts.158Most of the epics (7) representthe
The vast majorityof these textsare "medical compen- famousGilgameš-epic of Babylonian origin(3), while
dia" referring to special diseases or parts of the body anotherthreefragments referto theNeo-Assyriankings
(71 tabletsand fragments);manyof them,however,are Sennacherib(l)159and Ashurbanipal(2). Half themyth-
too fragmentary to identifythe relevantcompendium ological texts(8) deal withthe Babylonian Anzû-myth
involved (43). One fragmentmightbe a commentary (4); theothersbelong to the so-called Babylonian"epic
on thediagnostichandbook SA. GIG156.Moreover,it is of creation"enüma eliš160(2), or are not yet identified
likely that all lists of stones (8 fragments),or plants (2). In addition,thereis one fragmentcontaininglove
and stones (1 fragment),belong to the medical lore, poetry(?),and anotherrepresentsa literarypropaganda
because the Assyrianand Babylonian therapistsused textof Ashurbanipal.
plants and stones forthe cure of diseases.
Mathematical texts
The lexical texts
There is just one mathematical text within the
There are altogether56 Babylonian lexical texts, corpus of the Babylonian Nineveh texts.
which is 3.5 % of all literaryand scientifictexts. 12
textsbelong to thewell-knownlexical series HAR-ra = Varia
hubullu (5), malku = šarru (3), ALAM = lãnu (1),
21 or 1.3 % of the literaryor scientifictexts are
IGI.DUH.A = tämartu(1), SIG?.ALAN = nabnltu(1),
smaller groups. There are 14 unidentifiedfragments
and the plant-listURU.AN.NA(?) (1). Twentytablets
with colophons. Four fragmentsare partsof commen-
or mostlyfragmentsare otherexplanatorytexts(5) or
taries to literarycompositionsthat are not yet identi-
not identified(15). The largestgroupwithinthe "lexi-
fied.There is one fragmenteach of a catalogue of texts
cal" textsis syllabariesor archaic sign lists (22). Apart
fromthis,thereare two grammaticaltexts. containingprophecies(?), and of the Middle Assyrian
laws.
Historical texts
Nearly all of the 27 historical texts, which are X.2. The divination corpus: library texts and
1.7% of all literaryand scientifictexts,157 are royal divination reports
inscriptionslike tabletinscriptions(14 texts),cylinders
(8), prisms(2), and cones (1). The tablet inscriptions The corpus of divinationtextsis the largestwithin
date to Esarhaddon (1), Ashurbanipal(4), eitherEsar- the Babylonian literaryand scientifictextsof Nineveh
haddonor Ashurbanipal(1), or are inscriptionsfroman and encompasses 746 tablets and fragmentsor 46.8 %
unknown king (6); three inscriptionare writtenin of all librarytexts,all of the divinationreportsplus 27
archaizingscript(3), of whichone dates to Esarhaddon
(1). Thereare cylindersfromEsarhaddon(2), Ashurba-
158)For theinfluenceof Babylonianepics and mythsin
nipal (1), or from an unknown king (3), and one
Assyriasee e. g. W. von Soden,"Übernahme babylonischer
cylinderin archaic script.The prismsdate to Sargon II Literaturwerke im neuassyrischen Großreich,"in: H. Waet-
(1) and to Ashurbanipal(1). There is one Old Babylo- zoldt - H. Hauptmann, Assyrienim Wandelder Zeiten ,
nian architecturalcone fromSamsuiluna (1). In addi- CRRAI 39 (HSAO 6), Heidelberg1997, 178-180.
159)The so-called"tabletof destination"
of Sennacherib.
1ÒU)See L. W. King, The Seven Tabletsof Creation ,
156)For thisseries,see recentlyN. P. Heeßel, Babylo- London1902,René Labat,Le poèmebabylonien de la créa-
nisch-assyrischeDiagnostik, AOAT 43, Münster2000. tion{Enümaeliš), Paris 1935,and W. G. Lambert, "Enuma
Fortheuncertainty
157) in categorizing
thehistorical
texts eliš,"TUAT III.4: Mythen undEpenII, Gütersloh 1994,565-
as librarytextssee above note145. 602.

fragmentsthat are not classified according to library earthedso farmightlead to the assumptionthatEsar-
texts or divinationreportsdeal with divination.The haddon introducedcelestial divinationintothe every-
textscover various aspects of divination: day life of the Assyriansovereignon a large scale,164
althoughthereis no further
Babylonian divination librarytexts divinationreports not classified evidence for this sugges-
texts number| % number[ % number1 % tion.165Ashurbanipal, like
astrologicalomens 359 | 48.1% 333 | 51.6% 6 | 22.2% his father, took note of
(of which"astronomy" 13 | 1.7%) I I astrologicalreports,butthe-
extispicy 104 . 13.9% 289 , 44.8 % 15 , 55.6% re are less examples dating
terrestrialomens 73 . 9.8 % 1 . 0.2 % . clearly to his reign (20 re-
series iqqur ïpus 6 | 0.8 % ports). The remaining222
teratomanticomens 5 ¡ 0.7 % j j undatedastrologicalreports
physiognomical omens 2 I 0.3 % 1 I musthave been writtendu-
hemerology Ï I 0.1 % 4 I 0.6 % 1 ring the reign of eitherof
various divination 196 | 26.3 % 18 | 2.8% 6 | 22.2% these kings.
total 746 I 100.0 % [ 645 1100.0 %| 27 [100.0"%"
Astrological omens: "Astronomy"

Most of the Babylonian divination texts referto The textssummarizedunder the heading "astrono-
various phenomena in the sky: 359 library texts my" (13 fragmentsor 1.7 % of all Babylonian library
(48.1 %), 333 divinationreports(51.6 %), as well as 6 divination texts) are texts of the series MUL.APIN
unclassifiedfragments(22.2 %) deal withthis subject. "Plow Star"166(9 fragments)and relatedtexts(4 frag-
The relevant librarytexts are tablets of the series ments).These textscombine the descriptionof thesky
enüma anu enlil, "when Anu (and) Enlil",161excerpts at night- the stars and theirconstellations- with a
fromthisseries,various celestial omen texts,commen- mythologicalexplanationof stars,and some ominous
taries(6 sátu- and 12 mukallimtu- commentaries),and interpretationsof certainphenomena like astrological
one catalogue of celestial and terrestrialomens. texts. MUL.APIN is a compendiumof many sources
More thanhalfthe divinationreports(51.6 %) deal describingstarsand planetsseen at differenttimes,and
with celestial events. 1/3 of these 333 astrological does not inventnew scientificideas or give sufficient
reports162can be dated to one of the Assyriankings: informationto calculate the heliacal rise of a certain
reign SargonII (721-705BC) <2>
of
reignof Sennacherib (688-681BC) <1> E. Frahm,
164) AfOBeih.26, 5, assumesthatSennacherib's
reignof Esarhaddon (680-669BC) <85> archivemightnotyethave beenfound,if it survived at all.
reignof Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) <20> E. Frahm disagrees with S. Parpóla, who considered
reignof Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal <3>
Sennacherib's archiveto be destroyed byhis successors; see
unknown date<222>. :
S. Parpólain: MarioFales (ed.),Assyrian royalinscriptions
in
New horizons literary ,
, ideology and historicalanalysis ,
The biggestshareof theastrologicalreportsdates to Roma 1981, 120-121note3, and CRRAI 30, 1986,235. In
thereignof Esarhaddon(85 reports),fatherand prede- CRRAI 30, 231, note 40, S. Parpólarefersto the palace
The numberof tablets un-
cessor of Ashurbanipal.163 calledbïtmãsartion TellNebiYunus(Nineveh, southofTell
Kouyunjik), whereat leastfourfragments of Sennacherib's
161For ofthisseriesandfurther bibliography, royalinscriptions werefound;unfortunately, therehaveonly
) publication
see J.C. Fincke,"Der Assur-Katalog der Serie enümaanu been limitedexcavationson Tell Nebi Yunus because of
enlil (EAE)," OrNS 70 (2001) 19-39,esp. 20-21, and L. modernsettlement.
Verderame, Le Tavole I-VI della serie astrologicaEnüma 165)As faras is known,no astrological reportshavebeen
AnuEnlil, NISABA 2, Roma2002. unearthed at Kalhu(Nimrüd), theAssyrian capitalin the9th
l0/)rorpublication oí theseastrologicalreports see above and early 8th centuryBC, or Dür-Sarrukln (Khorsabad),
note53. Assyrian capitalof SargonII (721-705BC). Thisfactcould
163)David Brown,Mesopotamian PlanetaryAstronomy- lead to theassumption thatthiscategoryof textswas only
Astrology , CM 18, Groningen2000, 47, understands the introduced into the Assyrianpalace duringthe reignof
increaseofdivination reports to Esarhaddon in hisfinal years SargonII as theearliestNinevitereportsdateto his reign.
as reflection of "theScholars'concernovertheircharge"- However,itis equallypossiblethattheydidnotincludethese
everyreport is also meantto remind thekingtopayhisagent textswhentheymovedthelibrary andarchivesfromtheold
forthegivenservice.The reports "theScholars'
also reflect to thenew capital,or simplythatthearchiveof thesetexts
concern over"Esarhaddon as kingofBabylonia;theeconom- has notyetbeen found.
ic growthduringhis reignalso increasedthe numberof 166)This series is editedby H. Hunger- D. Pingree,
employees at thepalaceandencouraged Babylonian scholars MUL.APIN.An Astronomical Compendium in Cuneiform ,
to offerthemselves fortheking'sservice. AfOBeih. 24, Wien 1989.

planet for the future.It is obvious that MUL.APIN Series iqqur ïpus
cannotbe regardedas a real astronomicalseries and is
The omen series iqqur Ipus170is divided into two
thereforesubordinatedto divination,esp. astrology,in
this study. parts,the firstdealing with terrestrialevents and the
second with celestial phenomena. In this respect,the
series iqqur ípuš is a sortof combinationof terrestrial
Extispicy and astrological omens, but, unlike these, iqqur ïpus
The second largestgroupof divinationtextsreferto only considers the twelve monthsof the year forthe
the observationof the entrails of sheep: 104 library interpretation of each event. In Nineveh, six library
tabletsand fragments(13.9 % of the Babylonian divi- texts of this series writtenby Babylonian scholars
nation corpus), 289 extispicy reports(44.8 % of all (0.8 %) have been found.
Babylonian reports), and 15 unclassified fragments
(55.6 % of theunclassifiedBabyloniandivinationtexts). Teratomantic omens
Most of thelibrarytextsare tabletsfromthebârûtu-
There are just five examples of Babylonian birth
series,thecompositiondealing withextispicy,or relat-
ed texts (100 texts and fragments).167 In addition to omens; all of them are librarytexts (0.7 %). Three
tablets and fragmentsbelong to the relevant omen
these omen texts there are four commentaries,all of
series šumma izbu "if an izbu' 171and two are sâtu-
them of the mukallimtu- type, writtenin Babylonian commentaries.
script.
The archival texts dealing with liver omens are
"oracle enquiries", on the one hand, and "extispicy Physiognomical omens
reports",on theotherhand. The numberof Babylonian Two BabylonianNinevehfragments representomens
texts fromNineveh clearly shows the distributionof dealing withthe appearance of a person's humanbody
thesetwo kindsof reportsto thetwo kingsEsarhaddon (0.3 %).172Both of themare librarytextsand belong to
(oracle enquiries) and Ashurbanipal (extispicy re- the series alandimmû.
ports)168:
oracleenquiries(queriesto thesungod)<186> written Hemerology
duringthereignof Esarhaddon (680-669BC) <93>
the of
during reign Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) <5> Strictlyspeaking,hemerologicaltextsdo notbelong
duringthereignof Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal <4> to the divinationcorpus,because theygive instructions
unknown date<84> and orders for what has to be done or not done on
extispicyreports<73> written certaindays of each month,whereas divinationinter-
duringthereignof Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal <1> prets given ominous phenomena or events. On the
the of
during reign Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) <31> otherhand,hemerologicaltextsare treatedlike divina-
unknown date<41>
tion texts,in thatthereare reportsdealing withhemer-
notyetclassifiedarchivalextispicyfragments <30>.
ology as well as with omens. Therefore,the five
Ninevite hemerological texts writtenby Babylonians
Terrestrial omens
are dealt with in the categoryof divinationtexts.
73 or 9.8 % of the Babylonian librarytextsbelong There is just one hemerological text writtenby a
to divinationregardingominous events on earth. Al- Babylonian scholar for the Ninevite library(0.1 %),
mostall of thesetextsbelong to the series of terrestrial but thereare fourhemerologicalreports(0.6 % of all
omens with the titlešumma ãlu ina mëlê šakin "if a reports);one of these dates to the reignof Esarhaddon.
city is set on a height"169
or related texts (66 tablets
and fragments).Apartfromthat,thereare seven sâtu- Various divination texts
commentariesto šumma ãlu writtenin Babylonian
Nearly all of the 196 tablets and fragmentsof this
script.
There is just one report dealing with terrestrial group,or 26.3 % of all librarytexts,cannotbe identi-
fied with the above-mentioned divination practices.
omens thatthe BabylonianNabû-iqbi wroteduringthe
One of these texts deals with medical or diagnostic
reignof Ashurbanipal(SAA VIII 435).
167)Forthisseriessee Ulla Jeyes,Old BabylonianExtis- 170)Forthisseriessee R. Labat,Uncalendrierbabylonien

picy.OmenTextsintheBritish Museum , Leiden1989,andU. des traveauxdes signeset des mois{sériesiqqurípuš),Paris
Koch-Westenholz, Babylonian LiverOmens , 2000,withfur- 1965. A new editionof iqqurípuš is in preparationby the
therliterature. author.
I68)Forthissee above sectionIV. m) See E. Leichty,The OmenSeriesšummaizbu, TCL
169)Thisserieshas beenstudiedby SallyM. Moren,The IV, LocustValley 1970.
OmenSeriesšummaalu: A Preliminary , Ph.D.
Investigation 172)The relevantserieshas recentlybeen re-edited by
dissertation,
UniversityofPennsylvania 1978,see S. M. Freed- BarbaraBöck,Die babylonisch-assyrischeMorphoskopie, AfO
man,If a city. Beih. 27, Wien2000.

omens173, and two are Sammeltafelnwith omens fol- thoughthe texts of the libraryrecords were acquired
lowed by epigraphsforsculptures. from both Babylonian and Assyrian scholars, while
18 fragments,or 2.8% of all reports,cannot be this part of the Ashurbanipal Library Project is only
identifiedaccording to astrological,terrestrial,
or ex- focused on the Babylonian texts, the comparisonof
tispicyreports.Anothersix fragmentscannot be clas- data reveals a remarkablecorrespondencebetweenthem
sified as eitherlibrarytextsor divinationreports. (see Fig. 7).
The largestgroup among both libraryrecordsand
Babylonian librarytexts is the divinationcorpus. Ac-
X.3. Comparison with the data of the library cordingto the libraryrecords,thiscorpus covers 82 %
records of all identifiedtabletsand almost 60 % of all writing-
boards. Among the Ninevite Babylonian texts, this
The libraryrecordsfromthe early part of the year corpushas a smallernumberbut stillconsistsof 46.8 %
647 BC (see above VIII) listdivinationtextsof various of all librarytexts.
content,religioustextslike theexorcists'( ãsipútu) and Most of the texts withinthe divinationcorpus in-
lamentationpriests' lore (,kalûtu), medical and lexical clude astrologicaland terrestrial omen textsas well as
texts,one tablet of the Gilgameš-epic,and some rare extispicy and physiognomic omens and their series.
compositions.Nearly all of these textsare also repre- The numericalweightingof these different divination
sented within the corpus of the Babylonian library series differsin the libraryrecordsand theBabylonian
textsof Nineveh. Therefore,one can compare the data librarytexts. The libraryrecords have the sequence
of these compositionsin detail, even thoughwe only terrestrial(43.3 %), extispicy(no tablets,but 50.4 % of
know the titlesof 25.3 % of all tablets summedup in all writing-boards, all acquired in Babylonia fromBit-
the libraryrecordsand thereforethe given percentage Ibâ), astrological(19.6 %), and physiognomic(10.5 %)
must be considered as a hint of the ratio of these texts,whereas in the Babylonian librarytextstherela-
compositionsto each otherratherthan as a real and tive orderof the omen series is as follows: astrological
reliablepictureof theacquisition.174 Furthermore, even (22.5 %), extispicy (6.5 %), terrestrial(4.6 %), and
Figure 7. The data of the four libraryrecords (SAA VII 49-52) in comparison with the data of the
Babylonian „library"textsof AshurbanipaPslibraries.
Compositionsand series Four libraryrecords fromNineveh: Ashurbanipal'slibraries:

tablets (W = writing-boards) Babylonian librarytexts
astrologicalomens ( enüma anu enlil) 73 (3 W) 19.6 % (2.2 %) 359 22.5 %
extispicy(bãrútu) 0 (69 W) - (50.4%) 104 6.5 %
terrestrialomens (šumma ãlu) 161 (1 W) 43.3 % (0.7 %) 73 4.6 %
physiognomic omens (alandimmû) 39 (1 W) 10.5% (0.7%) 2 0.1%
dream omens (iskãr zaqïqu) 16 (0 W) 4.3 % (-) 0
birthomens (šumma izbu) 9 (7 W) 2.4 % (5.1 %) 5 0.3 %
omen series iqqur ïpus 4 (0 W) 1.1 % (-) 6 0.4 %
hemerologies(ümé täbüti) 3 (0 W) " ' 0.8% " ' (-) 1 0.1% '
(total:divination'
texts' 3Ó5 '(8Ï W) 82.0% (59.i %j 746 46.8 %)'
religioustexts 29 (16 W) 7.8 % (11.7 %) 585 36.7 %
of which exorcists' lore (ãsipútu) 18 (4 W) 4.8 % (2.9 %) 303 19.0 %
of which lamentations(kalûtu) ~ 2 (12 W) 0.5 % (8.8 %) 80 5.0 %
medical texts(bulte) 7 (27 W) 1.9% (19.7%) 81 5.1 %
lexical series 6 (0 W) 1.6 % (-) 34 2.1 %
syllabariesin archaic characters 22 1.4 %
historicaltexts 27 1.7 %
epics, myths, etc. 1 (0 W) 0.3 % (-) 17 1.1 %
mathematicaltext 1 0.1 %
various compositions 24 (13 W) 6.5% (9.5%) 21 1.3%
not identifiedfragments 60 3.8 %
toteh [372 (137 W) 1 100.0% (100.0%) I 1594 100.0 %~
Forthediagnostic
173) see N. P. Heeßel,AOAT
handbook,
43, withfurther
bibliography. 174)The titlesof at least 1097 tablets(74.7 %) are lost.

physiognomic(0.1 %) texts. This result may change The following observations can be drawn from
slightlyin the futureby identifying more fragmentary comparison of the Babylonian literarytexts with the
Babylonian omen texts as belonging to one of these libraryrecords.
series, keeping in mind that 26.3 % of all divination Both groups indicate the same priority,namelythe
textshave not yet been identified. assembly of a large collection of divinationtextsfor
There is another differencebetween the library the recognitionand correct interpretation of omens,
recordsand the Babylonian texts.The libraryrecords and of tablets fromthe exorcists' lore which provide
mention 16 tablets of dream omens (4.3 %), while instructionsforrituals,whichwere vitalto protectking
none of these has been identifiedso far within the and countryfrommisfortunepredictedby omens. In
Babylonian divinationcorpus of Nineveh. The other addition,medical textswiththerapiesforthe healthof
divinationtextsare representedwith smaller numbers thekingand his relatives,and lexical textsforlearning
of tablets. the vocabulary of the scholarly texts were of major
The second largesttext group of Babylonian texts concern forthe collection.
and libraryrecords is the religious corpus. In the The differencein the numberof textsin question,
records,7.8 % of all identifiedtablets and 11.7 % of for example in the differentmethods of divination,
all writing-boardsare certainlyof religious content. partlydepends on the fragmentary stateof thedata and
Comparedto this,the Babylonian librarytextsare of a is partlydue to the factthatthe libraryrecordsreferto
much highernumber,namely 36.7 %. This high num- both Assyrianand Babylonian texts.It mightbe pure
ber of Babylonianreligioustextsunearthedin Nineveh coincidence thatthe rathersmall numberof Babyloni-
mightreflectAshurbanipal'sorderto assemble tablets an terrestrialomens was completed by a ratherhigh
withinstructionsforritualsand incantationsin Baby- number of texts from private scholars, while, vice
lonia and send themto him. In thatcase, the acquisi- versa, thehighnumberof astrologicalomentexts- the
tion of religioustextsfromprivatescholars may have largestgroup withinthe Babylonian divinationtexts-
been simplyintendedas supplementaryto the existing was completed by a rathersmall number of tablets
collection of originaltablets. fromprivate scholars. However, the large percentage
As in thecase of thelibraryrecords,theBabylonian of divinationand exorcists' textsalso reflectsthemain
textsshow a much highernumberof tablets of exor- intentionof Ashurbanipal's orderforcollectingBaby-
cists' lore (Babylonian literarytexts: 19%; library lonian tablets (see above section VII).
records:4.8 %) compared to those of the lamentation
priests' lore (Babylonian literarytexts: 5.0 %; library
records:0.5 %). X.4. The Babylonian archival texts
The thirdlargestgroup of the Babylonian literary
textsis the medical textscorpus, totalling5.1 %. The Almost one thirdof all Babylonian Nineveh texts-
numberof medical texts is just slightlysmaller than 1085 tabletsand fragmentsbelong to the groupthat
thenumberof lamentationtexts(8.2 %). In contrastto was said to have been stored in archives (see above
this, the numberof medical texts (1.9%) withinthe section X). The vast majorityare letters(1009); some
LibraryRecords is more than threetimes higherthan are contracts and related texts (32), administrative
the numberof lamentationtexts (0.5 %). As for the texts (38), or archival texts of an otherwiseunidenti-
writing-boardsof the libraryrecords, the number of fied nature(6). 175
medical texts (19.7 %) is even higherthan the com- The group of letters176 (1009) can be divided into
bined total of religious texts (11.7%). The writing- lettersto the king or members of the royal family
board thusseems to have been the regularmediumfor
l75)For divination reportssee above sectionX.2.
privatescholars on which to writemedical texts.
The lexical texts make the fourthlargest group 176)Majorgroupsof BabylonianNineviteletters arepub-
lishedin cuneiform by R. F. Harper,ABL, and M. Dietrich,
among the Ninevite Babylonian literarytexts(3.5 %), CT 54, London 1979. In general,the lettersare editedin
as well as in the libraryrecords (1.6 %). No writing- transliterationand translation by L. Waterman, RCAE I and
boards are mentionedas belongingto lexical textsand II, R. H. Pfeiffer, State Letters(see above note 79), M.
so the latter compositions might instead have been Dietrich,SAA XVII, F. Reynolds,The BabylonianCorre-
writtenon clay tablets.Epics, myths,and relatedtexts spondenceof Esarhaddon,SAA XVIII, Helsinki2003 and
make up a very small group among the Babylonian others.Some of theBabylonianlettersare (re)editedwithin
studieson officials; see e. g. J.M. C. T. de Vaan,Ich bineine
literarytexts (1.1 %) and libraryrecords (0.3 %), al-
Schwertklinge Königs.Die Sprachedes Bël-ibni
des , AOAT
thoughthis total may change as soon as more frag- 242, Kevelaer- Neukirchen- Vluyn 1995, or studies
on other
mentsof libraryrecordsare identifiedin theKouyunjik
aspects,see e. g. S. Parpóla,SAA X, andF. W. VeraChama-
collectionof the BritishMuseum and rejoined to pub- za, AOAT 295. Thislistofpublications andeditionsis byno
lished examples. meansexhaustive.

(681), unidentifiedletterfragments(193), lettersfrom stored in the South-WestPalace, the principal royal

thekingor theking's son (62), lettersto officials(53), residence.181It is conceivable that Sennacherib,who
privateletters(16) and Old Babylonian letters(4). replaced the old South-WestPalace by a new one (bitu
Nearlyall of the"lettersfromthekingor theking's eššu "the new house"), might not have returnedthe
son" (62) writtenin Babylonian scriptwere addressed whole of his temporarily-evacuated archiveto itsorigi-
to Babylonian officials at Nippur, Uruk, Borsippa, nal home. This would explain the small numberof
Kutha, and otherBabylonian cities, or to Babylonian lettersdating to his reign, although there is no evi-
tribeslike the Gambuleans or Rašaians.177Even some dence to supportthis assumption.182
lettersto Elamite kings were writtenin Babylonian The Babylonian letterswrittento the king or other
script.We do not know whetherthe original letters membersof the royal familydate to the reign of the
sent to the addressees had also been writtenin Baby- followingrulers:183
lonian script or in Assyrian,but it is clear that the
Babylonianlettersto theking<68 1>
letters unearthed in Nineveh are duplicates of the lettersto SargonII (721-705BC) <193>
originals. The existence of these lettersproves the letterto theking'sson (= Sennacherib) <1>
acceptance of Babylonian scribes at the Assyrianpal- lettersto Sennacherib (704-681BC) <27>
ace some of these garnedsufficienttrustto be allowed lettersto SargonII or Sennacherib <33>
to deal withroyal correspondence.178 The distribution lettersto theking'smother (king= Esarhaddon) <3>
of Babylonianletterswrittenby "the kingor theking's lettersto Esarhaddon (680-669BC) <109>
lettersto SargonII or Esarhaddon <7>
son" to the differentrulersis as follows:
lettersto Sennacherib or Esarhaddon <2>
Babylonian fromthekingor theking'sson <62>
letters lettersto theking'sson (= Ashurbanipal) <3>
letters fromSargonII (721-705BC) <3> lettersto thecrownprinceAshurbanipal <1>
lettersfromSennacherib (704-703BC) <0> letterto theking'smother (king= Esarhaddon or Ashur-
letters fromEsarhaddon (680-669BC) <3> banipal) <1>
letterfromthecrownprince(= Ashurbanipal) <1> lettersto Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) <235>
lettersfromAshurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) <39> lettersto Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal <54>
letterfromAshurbanipal's son (to Ashurbanipal)<1> letterto thedaughter of theking<1>
sendernot(certain)identified<15>. addresseeunknown <110>.
Babylonians wrote 681 of the lettersfound in the Babylonian agents and scribes not only wrote let-
citadel of Nineveh to theking or othermembersof the tersto the king but also correspondedwithofficialsof
royalfamily.Most had been addressedto Ashurbanipal the Ninevite palace. There are 53 of these lettersthat
(235), followed by letterswrittento Sargon II (193) date to the reigns of the followingkings:
and Esarhaddon (109) whereas only a small number
Babylonianlettersto officials<53>
werewritten to Sennacherib(27). This imbalancemight officialsof SargonII (721-705BC) <15>
be attributedto the fact that the "archives" of these officialsof Sennacherib (704-681BC) <5>
kings were stored in differentplaces and were not officialsof Esarhaddon (680-669BC) <8>
excavated to the same extent.There is evidence that officialsof Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) <6>
Sargon's II archive originallyhad been stored in the unassigned <19>.
NorthPalace but afterthe restorationof the palace of
thecrownprince(646/7 BC), called "House of Admin- A small group of Babylonian private(16) and Old
istration"(bit ridûti), the archive was returnedto its Babylonian letters (4) have also been unearthedin
place.179Tablets fromthe archivesof Sennacheriband
Esarhaddon/Ashurbanipal180, on the otherhand, were 181)See S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30, 232-233.
182)See note164.
177)For theseletterssee K. Watanabe,"Die Briefeder In general,
183) theNineviteletters arenotdatedaccording
neuassyrischen Könige",ASJ7 (1985) 139-156. to kingor limmu.G. Frame,CRRAI 30, 270, assessesthe
178) Frame,CRRAI 30, 267, assumesthatsomeof the
G. percentage of Ninevitelettersand letterfragments thathave
Babylonians,whoweretrained inNinevehforfuture occupa- beendatedin antiquity at "less thanthreedozen"and gives
tions,wereemployed bytheAssyrian king"to aid himwith a listof thedatedones in note64. Becauseof thissituation,
hisBabylonian correspondence." datingof the lettersis based on theircontent,historical
179)See S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30, 232-233. eventsor individuals thatarementioned. The datesproposed
1X(')
Ashurbampal s archiveonlycontainsthecorrespond- by variousscholarsdo not alwaysmatch;in thiscase,every
enceuntil645 BC; see e. g. S. Parpóla,CRRAI 30,235. R. C. rulerproposedis named.The givendatesare based on the
Thompson- M. E. L. Mallowan,AAA 20 (1933) 111-112, information givenbythepublications ofthetablets(ABL and
consideredthatbecauseof theElamitesAshurbanipal might CT 54), and on thefollowingstudies:G. Frame,Babylonia
have shiftedhis residenceand archiveto anotherplace, 689-627 B. C. A Political History , PIHANS 69, Istanbul
possibly"further to the north-west away fromthe danger M.
1992, Dietrich, WdO 4 (1967-68)61-103,183-251,WdO
zone,"possibly to Harrãn. 5 (1969-70)51-56,176-190,and thevolumesof PNAE.

Nineveh. A ratherlarge quantityof letterfragments general,the Hittitepalace libraries189 concentratedon

(193) is not yet identifiedand may rejoin some of the religious texts consisting descriptionsof ritualsand
of
above-mentionedletters. festivals,hymns and prayers which make up to 70-
The Babylonian legal textsconsist of contractsand 80 % of the tablets whereas the omen texts, which
relatedtexts(32). Most of these textsare ratherfrag- representthe largest proportionof the Ashurbanipal
mentarybut the date is preservedon some and these libraries (46 %), played a minor part in the Hittite
were writtenduringthe reign of Sennacherib(2) and libraries.This is no surprisebecause the omen texts
Esarhaddon(3). were importedfromMesopotamia and Syria190 whereas
There are 38 administrativetextswrittenby Baby- the Hittitesused oracles191instead.
lonians. In the palace administration(33), they either There is no royal libraryin Mesopotamia beforethe
list the names of individuals(17), sometimestogether Middle Assyrian period (ca. 1420-1050 BC).192Fur-
with theirprofessions(2), or list objects (4). In con- thermore,no royal librarycan be detectedin Babylo-
trast,only five Babylonian tablets belonging to the nia. If thissituationis not due simplyto archaeological
templeadministration have been discovered. chance based on accidental discoveries of ancient
remains,thereshould be historicalreasons. In Babylo-
nia, temple librarieshave a long tradition,and there
XI. Comparison with other Mesopotamian royal had been privatelibrariesand schools too wherethey
libraries collectedreligiousand scientificliterature and,in many
cases, trainedscribes.193 It seems likelythatthe Baby-
The earliest known palace library184 has not been lonian kings,in one way or another,always had access
foundin Mesopotamia,but in Anatolia. There are three to the literatureof these librariesand thereforehad no
librariesin thepalace area of theHittitecapital Hattuša need to create theirown library.However, the hintat
(Bogazköy)185.In principle,these include texts from the "tablets of [...], the corpus of scribal ar[t ...]" as
the beginningof the HittiteEmpire in the late 17th being "the abundantprofitof the secrets(or: treasures)
centuryuntil the end of this period in the late 12th of the king of the Kassi[tes ...]" mentionedin the
centuryBC.186The otherpalace librariesof the Hittite Tukultl-Ninurta I epic (1243-1207 BC) (see above note
kingdomdate generallyto the 13th187 or more specifi- 108) suggests the existence of a Babylonian royal
cally to the second part of the 13th centuryBC.188In libraryduringthe Kassite period, if this is not simply
184)O. Pedersen,Archivesand Librariesin theAncient Kuçakligefundenen Kultinventare," MDOG 128,Berlin1996,

Near East 1500-300B. C. gives a good overviewof these 95-104,V. Haas - I. Wegner,"Die Orakelprotokolle aus
libraries. Kuçakli.Ein Überblick," MDOG 128,Berlin1996,105-120,
185)See O. Pedersén,op. cit., 1998 48-49. The largest M. Giorgieri, "Ein TextüberTempelbedienstete aus Kuçakli
shareof textsin the libraryof Palace A have a religious (KuT 32)," MDOG 128,Berlin1996, 121-132,G. Wilhelm,
content(2/3ofall tabletsofthelibrary areritualsor descrip- Ku§akli-Sarissa. Band 1.1: Keilschrifttexte aus GebäudeA,
tionsof festivals,
followedby incantations [bârûtu], prayers, Rahden1997.
and otherreligioustexts),but thereare also omens and 189)For an overviewof the kind of textsthatwere
oracles,medicaltexts,historicaltextslike annals,treaties, consideredas "textsof tradition" and therefore wererepre-
andlaws,horsetexts,andlexicaltexts.The library ofPalace sentedbyduplicatesin theHittitelibraries see Theovanden
K containedreligioustextsin large quantity(ritualsand Hout,"Another viewof Hittiteliterature," in: St. de Martino
descriptionsof festivalsmakeup morethan50 %, followed (ed.),Anatoliaantica.Studiin memoria di FiorellaImparati.
by incantations and relatedrituals,and prayers),but also Vol. II, Eothen11, Firenze2002, 857-878.
omentexts,epics,historical textslikeroyalannals,treaties, 190)For thepathsby whichMesopotamian literarytexts
anda library
instructions, catalogue.The library of Palace E weretransmitted to theHittitessee e. g. G. Beckman,"Me-
cannotbe entirely reconstructed butreligioustextswerethe sopotamians andMesopotamian Learning at Hattuša,"JCS35
mostnumerous. (1983) 97-114withfurther literature.
186)The palace itselfhad mostprobablybeen builtand 191)See e. g. Th. van den Hout,"Omina(Omens).B. Bei
renovated by TuthaliaIV in thelate 13thcentury BC. den Hethitern", in RIA 10, 88-90.
See
187) O. Pedersén,Archives and librariesin theAncient 192)The palace archiveof Ugarit(Ras Šamra)in Syria
NearEast 1500-300B. C., 56-57: The palace libraryof the also contained25 library textsin room81 and datingto the
Hittite
cityŠapinua(Ortaköy)contained religioustextsanda 12thcentury. Nearlyall of theseare of religiousor literary
smallerquantity of textsfromthetempleadministration; the content(23); two of themare alphabets,see O. Pedersén,
buildingwiththelibrary probablydatesto the 13thcentury Archivesand Librariesin theAncientNear East 1500-300
BC. B. C., 1998,71. However,itis questionable whether these25
l88)See O. Pedersén,Archives and librariesintheAncient library tabletsshouldbe called a royallibrary.
NearEast 1500-300B. C, 59-60:In thepalacelibrary ofthe 193)For theMesopotamian schools,especiallyduringthe
Hittite
cityŠarišša(Ku§akli)religioustextsincluding rituals latefirstmillennium BC, see P. D. Gesche,Schulunterricht in
andculticinventories, as wellas oracleswereunearthed. For Babylonien imerstenJahrtausend v. Chr.,AOAT 275,Mün-
the publicationof these textssee J. Hazenbos,"Die in ster2000.

meantfiguratively as thekingbeing theownerof every rěš-iši I (1132-1115 BC),201if not Tukultl-NinurtaI.202

single object in Babylonia. Nevertheless,if therewas There is no proofforthe existenceof a Middle Assyr-
a royal libraryin Babylonia all theirtabletswere taken ian libraryin Aššur203that had been assembled by a
to Assyria in the late 13thcenturyBC. king, nor thatthese tablets had been acquired forthe
In Assyria the situationis different.Afterthe As- palace.204
syrians had been able to throw off the yoke of the The Middle Babylonian tabletsfromtheAššurtem-
Mitannianoccupationduringthe 14thcenturyBC, they ple in Aššur, however, most probably representTu-
focusedon militaryand administrative mattersrelating kultl-Ninurta I's bootyfromBabylonia and theremains
to therecaptureof theirempireratherthanon scholars, of the tablet collection that this king acquired in
literature,or templelibraries.194 Accordingto the epic Babylonia in the late 2nd millenniumBC.205Although
of Tukultl-Ninurta I, this king took the opportunityto the numberof Babylonian tabletsfromAššur is rather
plunderthe Babylonian librariesand carry away the small, these texts can be compared with those of the
tabletsto Assyriato presentthem- as the epic says - Babylonian texts of Ashurbanipal's libraries(see Fig.
to the city god Aššur.195 In fact,the temple libraryof 8).
Aššur includesMiddle Babylonian and Middle Assyri- 16 tablets found at the Aššur temple in Aššur are
an tablets196, but we do not know whetherTukultl- writtenin Old or Middle Babylonian script.Divination
NinurtaI himselforderedthesetabletsto be transferred textshave the largestnumber(7), of which nearlyall
to the temple or whetherthey were included subse- deal with extispicy (6). 206In Ashurbanipal's library,
quently.However, many of the Middle Assyriantab- the Babylonian divinationtexts also have the largest
lets of the Aššur temple that were fired in antiquity number(746 = 46.8 %), butheretheastrologicalomens
have a distinctappearance - a red core withan ivory- bear the largest share (359 = 22.5 %) whereas the
coloured outersurface197 - which can also be observed corpus of extispicyrepresentsthe second largestgroup
on Middle Assyriantabletsfromthe Anu-Adad temple (104 - 6.5%).
in Aššur and fromthe area between these temples.198 The next largest number among the Babylonian
These tabletswere thereforeregardedas having origi- textsunearthedat the Aššur templein Aššur has those
nally formed one library,known as the library of of lexical and explanatorynature(5). WithintheBaby-
Tiglath-pileser1 (11 14-1076 BC).199However, the tab- lonian Ashurbanipallibrarytablets,these comprisethe
lets once belonged to several private libraries,200and fourthlargestgroup (34 = 2.1 %) afterthe corporaof
some of themgo back to as earlyas thereignof Aššur- divinatory,religious (585 = 36.7 %) and medical texts
(81 = 5.1 %).
194)W. von Soden,CRRAI 39, 177. Among the Middle Babylonian tablets from the
195)See abovenote108. Aššur temple in Aššur there is one Babylonian text
1%)For theMiddleAssyrianlibrary of theAššurtemple from each of the groups of religious, medical, and
see E. Weidner, AfO16 (1952-53)197-215,andO. Pedersén, historicaltexts,as is the case for the group of epics,
Archivesand Librariesin the Cityof Aššur, PartI, 31-42
(libraryM 2). The literary textsfromAššurarethesubjectof myths,and the like.
a projectinitiated by S. M. Maul,Heidelberg. Comparison of the Middle Babylonian textsfound
197)See e.g. E. Weidner,AfO 16 (1952-53) 203. The at the Aššur temple in Aššur thatmost probablywere
colourofthesetabletsis a resultofthemethodof firing, see part of Tukultl-NinurtaI's late 2nd millenniumBC
W. G Lambert,AS 16, 283: "tabletsbakedto about650°
centigradehave a red colour as a result,a temperature 2()1)W. G. Lambert, Iraq 38 (1976) 85-86,85 note2.
reaching about750° yieldsa whitish colour,andifstillmore 202)H. Freydank, SGKAO 21, 1991,94-97.
heatis appliedtabletsare ruinedbecausevitrification and a 203)W. G. Lambert, Iraq 38 (1976) 86 note2, doubtsthat
greenish colourresult." all MiddleAssyrian tabletsfromAššuroncebelongedto one
I98)This characteristic colourof the clay is typicalfor andthesamelibrary. H. Freydank, SGKAO 21, 1991,95-96,
Middle Assyrianliterary textsof the timebeforeTiglath- also questionstheexistenceof one MiddleAssyrian library.
pilesarI. Itcanbe seenon tabletswritten about50 yearsprior 204)O. Pedersén,Archivesand Librariesin theCityof
to theaccessionofTiglath-pilesar I, andalso on theTukultl- Aššur.PartI, 37-38,describesthisreconstructed library(M
Ninurta I epic(see W. G. Lambert, "Tukulti-NinurtaI andthe 2) as originally eitherhavingbeen the libraryof a scribal
Assyrian Kinglist,"Iraq 38 [1976] 85-94); theliterarytexts familyor thatit had formedan officiallibrary whichmight
fromthereignof Tiglath-pilesar I have a different appear- havebeenthe"library oftheAššurtemple, oftheOld Palace
ance;see H. Freydank, Beiträgezurmittelassyrischen Chro- or perhapsof theAnu-Adadtemple."
nologieund Geschichte , SGKAO 21, Berlin1991,95 note 205)The presentstudyis based on thedata givenby O.
245. Pedersén, Archives andLibrariesin theCityofAššur , 34-37.
199)E. Weidner, AfO16 (1952-53)199-203,203 note34. The resultsof S. M. Maul's projecton theliterary textsfrom
None
-00) of thelibrary textsbearsa colophonbutsomeof Aššur,certainly, willchangethegivennumbers inthefuture.
the legal textsfoundtogether withthe librarytextswere 206)This relationrecallsthe numberof writing-boards
dated.A largequantity of thesetabletsoriginatefromthe givenin thefourNinevitelibraryrecordsearlyin 647 BC,
royalscribeNinurta-uballissu, whose threesons together where69 of 81 divination textsare extispicy;
see aboveFig.
wroteat least 16 tablets. 2.

Figure 8. The data of the Middle Babylonian tabletsfromthe Aššur temple in Aššur (O. Pedersén,Archives
and libraries in the cityof Aššur, 31-42) thatmost likely came fromTukulti-ninurtaI's booty in Babylonia
in comparisonwith the data of the Babylonian "library"texts of Ashurbanipal's libraries.
Compositionsand series tablets fromthe Ashurbanipal'slibraries

Aššur temple in Aššur: in Nineveh:
Babylonian texts Babylonian texts
number 1 % number [ %
astrologicalomens (enüma anu enlil) 0 | - 359 | 22.5 %
extispicy(bãrútu) 6 | 37.50 % 104 | 6.5%
terrestrial
omens (.šumma ãlu ) 0 | 73 | 4.6 %
iqqur ípuš Ol- 6 I 0.4 %
"astronomy" 0 | 13 i 0.8%
unidentifiedomens 1 i 6.25 % 6 i 0.4 %
(totaldivination
texts 7 i 43.80 % 746 i 46.8 %)
religioustexts(total) 1 . 6.25 % 585 . 36.7 %
of which exorcists' s lore (ášipútu) 0 - 303 19.0 %
of which lamentations( kalûtu) 1 6.25 % 80 5.0 %
medical texts{bulte) 1 6.25% 81 5.1%
j
lexical and explanatorytexts 5 f 31.20 % 34 I 2.1 %
syllabariesin ancientcharacters 0 I 22 I 1.4%
historicaltexts,laws, regulationsconcerningpalace, etc. 1 I 6.25 % 27 I 1.7 %
epics, myths,and the like 1 I 6.25 % 17 | 1.1 %
mathematical Õ | - 1 | 0.1 %
various compositions 0 | 21 | 1.3 %
not identifiedfragments 0 | 60 | 3.8%
total 16 1 100.00% 1594 | 100.0%""
bootywiththose of the Ashurbanipal'slibrariesof the nium BC. Lexical and explanatorytextsalso played a
1stmillenniumBC leads to the followingobservations. large part in the transmissionof literarytexts from
Extispicyseems to have originatedin Babylonia207and Babylonia to Assyria in the late 2nd millennium,but
the relevanttexts were importedinto Assyria during less so in the 1st millenniumBC when religious and
the late 2nd and again duringthe 1st millenniumBC, medical textswere of greaterinterest.
whereasBabylonianastrologicalomen textsonly seem No other1stmillenniumBC Assyrianpalace library
to have become of interestin Assyriain the 1stmillen- has been excavated, yet there is evidence that there
once had been a royal libraryin Kalhu (Nimrüd),the
2()7)The earliestrecordof extispicy datesto thereignof Assyrian capital of the 9th and 8th centuryBC. The
Urnanše ofLagaš,inthe25thmillennium BC; see H. Steible, ivory writing-boardsexcavated, which originallyhad
Die altsumerischen Bau- und Weihinschriften. Teil II. Kom- been made forthe earlier palace of Sargon II in Dür-
mentar zu den Inschriften aus Lagaš. Inschriften außerhalb Sarrukïn (Khorsabad),208indicate the existence of a
vonLagaš, FAOS 5, Wiesbaden1982, 7-8, commentary to or at least a collection of literarytextswitha
library209
no. 24 col. V 3-6. In the early Old Babylonianperiod,
different omenswerearranged in a compendi- scriptoriumin that area of the palace. These ivory
systematically also implythe existenceof an intended
umof at least 17 tablets,forthefirsttime;see Th. Richter, writing-boards
zumOpferschauwesen I. Überlegungen zur royal library which Sargon II wanted to create in his
"Untersuchungen
Rekonstruktion deraltbabylonischen bärntu-SeiiQ," OrNS62 new capital Dür-Sarrukln.Sargon II certainlyplanned
(1993) 121-141.DuringthelateOld Babylonian time,differ- to acquire literarytabletsfromhis formercapitalKalhu
entcompendia wereusedin Sippar,thelongestofwhichhad and include them in the libraryof his new palace.
at least90 tablets;see U. Jeyes,Old BabylonianExtispicy , However, it is questionable whether Sargon II had
text11 rev.l'-3fandU. Koch-Westenholz, Babylonian Liver sufficienttimeto carryout these plans as he died only
Omens , 16. In thereignof Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076BC) a year afterhe opened his new capital and beforethe
theremusthavebeen a moreor less standardized serieson
extispicy ofwhichthetitleis unknown; see E. Weidner, city was completed. Later, after Sennacheribmoved
AfO
16 (1952-1953)210 no. 77. This serieswas a forerunner of
thestandardized seriesthatis attestedin Ninevehand fixed 208)See above note 123.
fromat least750 BC downto the Seleucidperiod;see U. 2uy)See O. Pedersen,Archivesand Librariesin theAn-
Koch-Westenholz, op. cit.,21-27. cientNear East 1500-300B. C, 150.

the capital to Nineveh, he might have sent all the on a late copy only. In addition to that,the library
tabletsonto the new site. Consideringthe numberof recordsof the earlyyear 647 BC prove the acquisition
textsdiscoveredin Ninevehwhichhad been writtenfor of librarytabletsand writing-boardsfromvarious As-
the libraryof Nabû-zuqup-këna,son of Marduk-šumu- syrianand Babylonianscholars.Wooden writing-boards,
who workedin Kalhu211,
iqlša210, it is likelythattablets of which a great number must have existed in the
fromthe putativepalace libraryof Kalhu were also libraries,are lost forever.
broughtto Nineveh. The Ashurbanipallibrariesalso incorporatea few
tablets from Kalhu and Aššur. Consideringthat the
Neo-Assyrianlibrariesof Aššur also included Middle
XII. Summary and prospects for further studies Babylonian tablets carried away by Tukultï-Ninurta I
in the late 13thcenturyBC, it is strangethatAshurba-
The fall of Babylon in autumn648 BC and Ashur- nipal asked for tablets fromBabylonia and only ac-
banipal's accession to the throneof Babylonia marka quireda few fromAššur.He mighthave consideredthe
clear change in the king's relationto Babylonian writ- tablets fromBabylonia to be original documents,and
ten literatureand science: being king of Babylonia thereforemore reliable.212
enabled himto indulgein his passion forthe scribalart Accordingto his letter-order, Ashurbanipal'sinitial
by collectingtabletsof various content.Ashurbanipal plan for his library was to collect as many tabletsas
gained access to Babylonian libraries and used this possible with instructionsfor ritualsand incantations
opportunityto acquire literarytablets from private that were vital to maintainhim on his throneand in
scholarsas well as fromtemplesforhis own Ninevite power, but he was also interestedin other scientific
library.Even thoughit seems likelythatAshurbanipal literature.It is remarkablethatthosetextswhichAshur-
was not the firstAssyrianking who triedto builtup a banipal ordered his agents to collect in Borsippa and
palace library- see e. g. the assumed libraryin Kalhu, send to him only representthe second largestgroupof
and Sargon's II libraryin Dür-Sarrukin- the political the Ninevite Babylonian literarytexts (36.7 %). The
situationenabled himto createa comprehensivelibrary same is true for the libraryrecords of early 647 BC.
that was unique in his lifetimeand became famous The largestgroup of Babylonian textsin the Ninevite
again two and a half millennia later,when Austin H. librariesis thedivinationcorpus(46.8 %). Omens were
Layard excavated at Nineveh in the middle of the 19th used to learn about futureevents in orderto be pre-
centuryAD. pared properlyor even to preventbad situationsbefore
Ashurbanipalsentordersto several Babylonian cit- they actually happened. This was effectedwith the
ies to collect tabletswith clearly definedcontentand help of the rituals and incantationswhich are repre-
send them to Nineveh. We know of his order to sented in the second largestgroup withinthe Babylo-
Borsippa fromtwo contemporarycopies. The answer nian texts and the libraryrecords. The thirdlargest
of the Borsippeans on the other hand, who declared group among the Babylonian texts and the library
theirintentionto carryout the orderby sendingwood- records were medical texts. These texts contain in-
en writing-boards instead of clay tablets,is preserved structionsfortherapiesto heal diseases and to restore
the king's and his family's health. The king was
21l))20 differentcolophonsof thisscribehavebeeniden- thereforewell provided against evil of any kind.
tifiedso far;see H. Hunger,BAK, 1968,nos. 293-313,but
Ashurbanipaldid not only ask forBabyloniantab-
see also thelistof tabletswithhis colophongivenby S. J. lets but also employed Babylonian and Egyptian213
Lieberman, HUCA 58 (1987) 204-206note222. According to
scholars at his Ninevite palace to make use of their
hiscolophons, Nabu-zuqup-këna' s tabletcollectionwas pro-
ducedbetween718 BC and 684 BC; see S.J. Lieberman, knowledge.Babylonian divinershad been employedin
op. cit.,205-206.Foran overviewofthisscribe'slibrary and Nineveh since his fatherEsarhaddonruledover Assyr-
activities,see S. J.Lieberman, op. cit.,204-217.H. Hunger, ia or possiblyeven earlier.214 They inspectedthesheep's
"Neuesvon Nabû-zuqup-këna," ZA 62 (1972) 10, assumes
thatAdad-šuma-usur, son of Nabû-zuqup-këna, is identical
withAdad-šuma-usur, thephysicianof SargonII, Esarhad- 212)Anotherpossible reason may be thatthe Middle
don,and Ashurbanipal, and thathe transferred someof his Babyloniantabletshad alreadybeen incorporated intothe
father'stabletsto Ashurbanipal's Ninevitelibraries.How- libraryof the and
Aššur-temple Ashurbanipal did notchoose
ever,someofNabû-zuqup-këna's tabletsremained in Kalhu. to appropriate objectsfromthetempleof thisgod.
2n)S. J.Lieberman, HUCA 58 (1987) 217, declareshim- ThreeEgyptian
213) magicians (hartibï)andthreeEgyptian
selfagainstthe assumption thatNabû-zuqup-këna's tablets scribesarenamedin a memorandum of Ashurbanipal'sreign
hadeverbeenpartoftheking'slibrary, becausenoneofthem thatlistsall together 45 scholarsof variousprofessionswho
bearsa royalcolophonthatcouldeasilyhavebeenaddedto wereemployed at thepalace,see ADD 851 (K. 1276)= SAA
thetabletsin ink.On thecontrary, thetabletsmusthavebeen VII no. 1 rev.I 8 - II 2.
brought to Ninevehby thefamilyof Nabû-zuqup-këna and, 214)In Kalhu,Babyloniandivinershad alreadybeenem-
later,werecopiedforAshurbanipal's libraries. ployedin theearly8thcentury BC, and theirnumber might

liverand wrotereportson thisprocedure.215 About the thereare still many unclassified fragmentsin the col-
time when Ashurbanipalbecame king, the Assyrian lection. A closer look at the ductus of the Ninevite
divinerstook over responsibilityfor the extispicyre- tablets might give an idea where in Babylonia the
ports.In the firststage, theysigned reportsthatwere tablets or the scribes came from.The so-called firing
stillwrittenby Babylonianscribesbutlatertheychanged holes - the small or ratherlarge round, rectangular,
the formatand the formulaof the reportsand increas- and triangularholes of the Babylonian tabletsthatare
inglywrote them themselves.216 Esarhaddon had also visible on the obverse and reversewithinthe lines or
employed Babylonian astrologers,lamentationchan- betweenthe columns,and sometimesalso on theedges
ters,exorcistsand physiciansat his palace in Nineveh, - should also be the subject of furtherexamination.
as did Ashurbanipal.These scholars not only worked Anotherproblem that is not dealt with here is the
for the king according to their profession but also relationshipbetweenthe Babylonian textsand compo-
wrotetabletsforAshurbanipal'spalace library. sitionsand therestof the KouyunjikCollection.In this
The Babylonian tabletsof the Ashurbanipallibrar- respect,one mightask what kind of Babylonian texts
ies, which make less than one seventh of the total were copied or reworked for the royal libraryby
Nineveh collection in the British Museum (approxi- Assyrianscribes,as was the case formostof theomen
mately26,000 tabletsand fragments),were partlyim- series. Anothertask mightbe the search fortextsthat
portedand partlywrittenby Babylonian employees in were representedby Assyriantabletsonly. This is the
theNinevitescriptoria.Apartfromtheabove-mention- case, forexample, forsome of thelexical seriesinclud-
ed divinationand religious texts, there are quite re- ing lú = ša21*or an-ta-gal = saqû 219,for some of the
markablequantitiesof medical (5.1 %) and lexical or myths such as Atra-hasïs220 or Etana221,for the so-
explanatorytexts (3.5 %). Historical texts including called wisdom literature,222and others.Some of these
treaties(1.7 %), epics, mythsand the like (1.1 %), and compositionsare likely to have been broughtto Nine-
miscellaneous compositions (1.3%) make less than veh on wooden writing-boards thatare now lost,where-
2 % each. There is even one mathematicaltextwritten as others,such as an-ta-gal = saqû , are compositions
by a Babylonian scribe. created by Neo-Assyrian scholars in Nineveh. These
The varietyof these texts representsthe range of and otheraspects are subjects for furtherresearch.A
literaryand scientificskills of the Babylonians. These thoroughcomparison of the Babylonian and contem-
were thecompositionsAshurbanipalwantedto include porary Assyrian texts must await furthergeneral re-
withinhis librariesas originaltablets,whereas Assyri- search on the Assyrian tablets of Nineveh which is
an scribes had copied others from wooden writing- planned as partof the BritishMuseum's Ashurbanipal
boards,217while further writing-boards, now lost,com- Library Project and representsanotherstage of what
pleted the collection. Considering the immense wealth George Smith (1840-1876) recommended in July,
of texts which have been unearthedat Nineveh, one 1874:223"Most of the fragmentsof cuneiformtablets
can only wonder at theiroriginal extent. whichI have describedwill join on to otherportionsof
The informationabout the Babylonian texts of the texts already in the Museum, and thus the new
Ashurbanipal'slibrariespresentedhere is based on six inscriptionswill be to a greatextentabsorbed intothe
monthsof researchfocused on the Kouyunjik collec- old collection,but verymuch morerequiresto be done
tionof theBritishMuseum. It is thereforeobvious that in this direction before the cuneiformtexts will be
further researchon these textswill shed more lighton complete."
various aspects of the library.A more detailed exami-
nation of tablets and fragmentsgrouped togetherac-
cording to the differentkinds of text will certainly
resultin morejoins to the different 218)See M. Civil, TheSerieslú = ša and RelatedTexts,
manuscripts.This MSL XII, Roma 1969.
has to be done in additionto tacklingthe problemthat
219)See A. Cavigneaux- H. G. Güterbock - M. T. Roth,
The SeriesErim-huš= anantuand An-ta-gal= saqû, MSL
evenhavebeenlargerthanthenumber of Assyriandiviners; XVII, Roma 1985.
see J.V. KinnierWilson,TheNimrudWineLists, 75 (no.40). 22°)See e. g. W. G. Lambert- A. R. Millard,Atra-hasïs.
2I5)None of the so-calledoracle enquiries(see above TheBabylonianStoryof theFlood, WinonaLake 1999.
sectionsIV and X.2) was written by an Assyrianscribe. 221)For this mythsee M. Haul, Das Etana-Epos.Ein
2I6)See above sectionsIV and X.2. One mightguessthat MythosvonderHimmelfahrt des KönigsvonKiš, GAAL 1,
theBabylonian divinersofEsarhaddon' s timetrained
Assyri- Göttingen 2000.
an divinersin theirskillsuntiltheyhad learnedenoughto ~2) For thesetextssee W. G. Lambert, BabylonianWis-
undertake this task by themselvesand createdsomething domLiterature , Oxford1960 and the new editionWinona
new.However,becauseof thelackof extispicy from
reports Lake 1996.
otherAssyrian places thereis no proofforthisassumption. 1Zi)G. Smith, "Accountofrecentexcavations andDiscov-
21
7) Babylonianscribesalso copied compositions from eriesmade on the Site of Nineveh"(read 7thJuly,1874),
writing-boards. TSBA 3, London1874,462.

XIII. Appendix: List of the museum numbers of maqlû-vitual (13): K. 2436+6006; 3665; 5349+10161;
5350+5374+7610+7476+7631+9635+11567+19154+Sm.
the Babylonian tablets from Nineveh ac-
798b; 5376+8629+13445;7594+8882; 8879+Sm.229+
cording to their genre 499+929+1194; 9188+11971+12916+13910+1 8609+Sm.
1866; 13264; 18609;Sm. 388; 741+2069; 1901
Ad X. The Babylonian texts of the Ninevite Librar- mis pi-ritual (6): K. 3367; 3472; 10473; 15534; 17091+
ies 20105; 19192
miscellaneous incantations(41): 79-7-8,95; 348; 81-2-4,
Unclassified texts (270) 440; K. 949; 2132; 2883; 6179+82-5-22,496; 8732;
unclassified astrological texts (6): 82-5-22, 1765; K. 10106+10276;12110;12141;13315;13950;14966;15055;
11816; 12586;13345;20930; 21116 15212;15535;15943;16681;16702;16707;16722;16824;
unclassifiedextispicytexts(15): 82-3-23,29; 95; 98; 122; 18992; 21653; 21689; Ki. 1904-10-9,301 (BM 99269);
82-5-22,498; 83-1-18,572; 586; K. 4720; 8731; 8883; Sm. 249; 611; 829; 925; 1343; 1982; Th. 1905-4-9,19
12160; 12686; 12816; 17631;Sm. 1838 (BM 98513)+23 (BM 98517)+35 (BM 98524)+243(BM
unclassifieddivinationtexts(6): 83-1-18,874+892;DT. 98737)+291 (BM 98785)+292 (BM 98786); 111 (BM
153; K. 5674; 12723;21937; Sm. 1495 98605); 136 (BM 98630); 149 (BM 98643); 163 (BM
not at all classified texts (243): 81-7-27,269; 83-1-18, 98657); 199 (BM 98693); 200 (BM 98694); 326 (BM
98820)
528; 855; BM 121079;134533;134539;134562;134593; miscellaneousrituals(124): 79-7-8,77; 80-7-19,88; 91+81-
134825;134826;Bu. 91-5-9,228; K. 1626; 1984; 3009;
2-4,274; 108; 81-2-4,166; 233; 323; 334; 81-7-27,100;
3036; 3339; 5554; 5602; 5747; 6145; 6175; 7329; 7365;
205; 82-3-23,59; 82-5-22,76+83-1-18,295; 83-1-18,
7855; 8454; 8699; 8755; 10618; 11474; 11528; 11540;
447; 761; BM 123375;Bu. 91-5-9,50; 143+176;DT. 15;
12117;12203;14248;14594;14618;15096;15343;15665;
90; 114; 118; 126; 169;258; K. 151;888; 2315+3125+83-
16873;16889;16928;17296;17379;17398;17533;17693;
1-18,469; 2775;2993;3299;3570;3664+6125+8686+8881
17802;17805;18044;18046;18120;18126;18140;18229;
18272;18325;18345;18451;18481;18503;18530;18556; (+) 7677; 5328; 6117; 7677 (see 3664+); 8477; 8504;
8626; 8666; 8689+Ki. 1904-10-9,2 (BM 98973)+212
18592;18598;18599;18611;18623;18629;18631;18646;
18657;18661;18682;18686;18697;18698;18706;18707; (BM 99180); 8696; 8698; 8718+Sm. 1266; 8734; 8736;
8870+8908+Sm.668+721+1202;8893;8906;8907;9568;
18734;18739;18752;18758;18759;18760;18768;18776;
9611; 9745; 10366; 10555; 11550; 11871;11887;12076;
18785;18795;18796;18800;18811;18814;18877;18887;
13428;14006;14357;16365;16842;17085;17780;18051;
18889;18898;18933;18980;18981;18982;18988;18991;
18205;18251;18683;18695;18745;18778;18871;18901;
18994;18997;19004;19014;19020;19034;19035;19038;
18960;18985;18996;19025;19101;19132;19169;19342;
19039;19046;19055;19065;19071;19076;19080;19082;
19364;19838;20145;20394;20973;21071;21623;21831;
19105;19110;19112;19125;19140;19148;19157;19167;
21909; 21965; 21978; 22021; Rm. 247; 510; 534; 551;
19175;19180;19182;19186;19198;19221;19223;19226; Rm. II, 359; 485; 519; Sm. 219; 864; 1118; 1138; 1203;
19256;19264;19273;19287;19303;19320;19332;19333;
1396; 1749; 2056+83-1-18,465; Th. 1905-4-9,67 (BM
19339;19351;19352;19354;19362;19376;19381;19392;
19399;19402;19434;19554;19584;19662;19808;19897; 98561); 72+73 (BM 98566+98567);88 (BM 98582); 94
19941;20066;20072;20087;20167;20175;20206;20215; (BM 98588); 157 (BM 98651); 204? (BM 98698); 207
20232;20272;20279;20408;20552;20606;20625;20631; (BM 98701); 208 (BM 98702); 209? (BM 98703); 210?
20663;20765;20771;20783;20821;20893;20908;20928; (BM 98704); 211? (BM 98705); 212-215(BM 98706-
98709); 216? (BM 98710)
20933;20935;20938;20964;21062;21086;21152;21194;
21299;21373;21441;21468;21519;21522;21531;21561;
21609;21611; 21615;21637;21639;21645;21695;21709; Akkadian bârûtu (41)
21717;21718;21735;21745;21765;21768;21769;21792; ikribu (7): K. 20; 128; 3030; 4733; 6070+19864;8723;
21804;21815;21839;21920;21933;21941;21956;21971; 17816
21994;22006;22007;22023;22028;22038;22067;22074; tamïtu(2): K. 3340; 4721
22084;22095;Ki. 1904-10-9,295 (BM 99263); 306 (BM varia prayers(32): 79-7-8,340; DT. 239; K. 1939+5552;
99274); 307 (BM 99275); 319+347 (BM 99287+99315); 5980+8746; 6163+82-9-18,7387 (BM 67391); 10270;
329 (BM 99297); Sm. 1192; 1815; 2000; Th. 1905-4-9, 11783;14001;14141;15376;16713;17859;18719;18974;
108 (BM 98602); 279 (BM 98773) 19009; 19089; 19348; 19367; 19711; 19776; 19948;
20275+20295;21030; 21866; 21974; 22045; Rm. 427;
Ad X.l. The literary and scientifictexts 518; Rm. II, 351; Sm. 31; 533; 901+1652
Religious texts (585) Akkadian religious texts, varia (116)

Akkadian(366) 81-2-4,225; 309; 81-7-27,202; 82-3-23,110; 83-1-18,
784; DT. 83; 210; 245; K. 69+3007; 120b+144+3265+
Akkadian äsipütu (209) 3298; 4741; 5402; 5587; 5744; 5778; 6073+Bu.91-5-9,
namburbi-xüxuX (26): 80-7-19,98+179+359;K. 157+2788; 132; 6100+7491+10526+11734+13868+13916+19108;
2296+2776;2495; 2773+2901+8910;2777+13876;2782; 6132; 6151; 6155; 6160; 7546; 7612; 7639; 8637; 8769;
2995; 2999+Sm. 810; 3853+13287;6133; 6142; 8710; 8871; 8878; 8884; 8902; 9029; 9034; 9604; 9633;
11535;12179;12556; 13229; 16865; 18844; 19056;Sm. 9644+13993;10398;10906;11246;11536;11902;12086;
Ill; 386; 810; 945; 1513; 1704+80-7-19,181 13303;13734;13939;14036;14154;15145;17186;17528;

18625;18630;18653;18677;18679;18699;18727;18730; various incantationsor rituals(49): 80-7-19,160; 81-7-

18742;18749;18757;18761;18774;18797;18971;19021; 27, 261; 282; 82-3-23,7; 88; 101+82-5-22,1048 (BM
19023;19033;19052;19067;19095;19097;19116;19337; 93014); 82-5-22,565; 83-1-18,490; 492; Bu. 89-4-26,
19410;19561;19589;19880;20035;20086;20448;20948; 173; DT. 38; K. 1401b; 4643; 5132; 5165+Sm. 1818;
21074; 21922; 21942; 22035; Rm. 381; 602; Sm. 123; 5263; 5334; 5347; 5356; 5372; 5709; 6164; 7613; 7687;
139; 144; 203; 338; 489; 535; 667; 910; 1183; 1282; 8455; 9008+83-1-18,141; 11338; 11534; 12028; 12206;
1291; 1292; 1627; 1850; 1864; 1997; Th. 1905-4-9,140 12903;13922;14827;15189;15223;16753;18628;20274;
(BM 98634); 141 (BM 98635); 146 (BM 98640); 147 20952; Rm. 450; Rm. II, 290; Sm. 291; 487+750; 594;
(BM 98641); 151? (BM 98645); 156 (BM 98650); 158 614; 1592; 1935; 1979; Th. 1905-4-9,93 (BM 98587);
(BM 98652);159?(BM 98653);165(BM 98659);170+174 245 (BM 98739)
(BM 98664+98668);177?(BM 98671); 189 (BM 98683)
Bilingual, varia (23)
Sumerian(31) DT. 255; K. 17989; 18597; 18637;18639;18665;18678;
Sumerian kalûtu (9) 18680;18787;19003;19041;19210;19278;19540;19624;
K. 3001; 3026; 4795; 5469; 9767; 11988; 12020; 13918; 21079;21701;21803;21875; 22072;22073;Rm.II, 372;
Sm. 1432
13927
Sumerian ãsipútu (3) Bilingual religious texts in archaic script(3)

BM 134820;K. 2841+9141+16783;6697+8069
K. 9041; 13944;Th. 1905-4-9,91 (BM 98585)
Medical texts (81)

Sumerian religious texts, varia (19)
BM 134571;K. 315; 5302; 5978; 5979; 10284; 11162; medical compendia (71)
13932;13936;14818+18791;18036;18209;18663;18782; identified(27): 81-7-27,75; K. 1930+11752;K. 2542+
19133; 19289; 19732;20356; 20757 2772+2991+3300+6030+10223+13382+DT.85+170;2581;
3010+6187+13346+DT. 86; 3304+8785+9217;3350+Th.
Bilingual (185) 1905-4-9,77 (BM 98571); 3550; 6572; 8248; 8685; 8716
(+) 18547; 10212+13884+17205;10535; 10567+13901;
Bilingual kalûtu (71) 11513;11785;13242;13289;18547(see K. 8716); 18667;
balag (20): 81-7-27, 203; K. 41; 257+2997; 2004; 18773;19131;Sm. 708; 1283+1947;1991;Th. 1905-4-9,
2875+5838+9930; 3315+8706+9154+Sm.1204; 3328; 119 (BM 98613)
5167; 5168+5171+5189+5354+6099+8728+ 10728+11219+ unidentified(43): BM 128042; 128080;DT. 28; K. 263;
13412+13935+13949+16931; 5174+10595+11174+13941+
14110(+?) 18655;5188+8481;5337+17424+18651+19380; 1893; 2779; 5176+Sm. 1107; 5843; 7306; 8678+16461+
5362+8898+11938+13410+Rm.385; 7598+19304+Sm. 19344; 8896; 9228; 9579; 10410; 10500; 10934; 11295;
12587;13343+13573;13405+Sm.804+926+2160;13838;
1294; 8399+10077+13951;18059; 18655 (see 5174);
13906; 16132; 16433; 17502; 18343; 18762; 18918+
18724;18732; 19816; 19827
18977+20195;19017;19087;19271;19355;19378;19461;
eršahunga (14): K. 5364+5370+9051+ 11553+13937+ 19506;20137;20254; Sm.233; 345; 460; 666+923;1442;
18743+19092;5703a; 7498; 8733+18711;8899; 10591+ Th. 1905-4-9,122 (BM 98616)
Sm. 306; 10617; 11976; 14086; 18726; 19113; 19786;
commentary(1): DT. 113
21179; Rm. 514
hymns(17): 79-7-8,73; 83-1-18,488; 693; K. 879+2769+
10527;3025+5982+8917;3658;5158;5200;5268+5333a; commentary to SA.GIG(?) (1)
K. 19769
5742; 5970; 11769; 13911; 13925; 13955;Rm. 373+79-
78, 239; Sm. 141
varia (20): 81-7-27,129; K. 5160; 5190; 5303; 5339; 6063; list of plants and stones (9)
9822+13957;10957;11173;13308;13380;13494;15139; lists of stones (8): 81-2-4,299; 81-7-27,281; 83-1-18,324;
118655(see balag5174+); 18736; 18794; 19222; 19346; K. 8516; 10519;Rm. 320; Sm. 914; 1071
Sm. 370+566; 1099 list of plants and stones (1): DT. 89
Bilingual ãsipútu (91) Lexical texts(56)

UDUG.HUL.A.MEŠ (37): K. 111+2754+5227+5295+
identified lexical lists (17)
7525+7632+7633;2758; 2853; 2873; 2893+3011+Sm. HAR.RA = hubullu (5): K. 55; 2028; 4249; 8404; 8894
1258+1346(+) K. 22037;2900; 3021; 4904+5294+5363+
malku = šarru (3): K. 13593; 13612; 13620
12041; 5169; 5194+5312+5355+Sm.2057; 5211; 5237;
5286;5338;5353+5369;5360;5368;5373+10079+12039+ ALAM = lãnu (1): K. 4191
Sm. 438+1337; 5378; 7451; 8472; 8475+12040; 8488; IGI.DUH.A = tãmartu(1): K. 14890
8508;8635; 10274;21855;22037(see 2893); 22171;Rm. = nabnïtu (1): K. 4580+14079
SKALÁK
326; Sm. 132; 134+2184; 271+299; 778; 1448; 1486; URU.AN.NA (1): K. 9283
1555 other explanatorytexts (5): 79-7-8,226; 83-1-18,749;
ordinationof an Enlil priest (5): K. 2437+5177+9442+ DT. 221; K. 4714; Rm. II, 588
10518;8212; 9096; Rm. II, 242; Sm. 350

unidentified lexical lists (15) Varia literary or library texts (21)

83-1-18,899; BM 121073;K. 4214; 9133; 13636;13663;
13686; 14473; 14798; 18486; 18546; 19024; Sm. 593; colophons (14)
Bu. 91-5-9,51; 83-1-18,751; K. 3027; 15828; 15883;
803; Th. 1905-4-9,139 (BM 98633)
15888;18718;19012;19029;19043;19280;19597;21068;
Th. 1905-4-9,125 (BM 98619)
syllabaries or archaic sign lists (22)
81-2-4,266; 82-5-22,571; DT. 16; K. 2835; 2839+2840;
commentaries of unidentified compositions (4)
4228;4372;4582;8251;8252+8257+8259+14002+14020+
K. 2892+8397;7698; 14129;Rm. II, 536
21801;8253+8260+9058;8254;8255;8256;8258; 14015;
21069;Rm. II, 35; 42; 204; Sm. 309+82-5-22,570; 1539
catalogue of texts (1)
K. 17585
grammatical texts (2)
K. 8410; 18600
prophecies(?) (1)
Historical texts (27) K. 19295
tablet inscriptions (14) Middle Assyrian laws (1)

80-7-19, 374; K. 2632; 2846; 7943; 8479; 8692; K. 10135
9881+11657+11660+unnumbered;10300(?);13225;16781;
18967;19323;Sm. 1523;Th. 1905-4-9,210 (BM 98695)
Unidentifiedliterary or library texts(60)
cylinders (7) 83-1-18,789; BM 121112; 121124; K. 4432; 7187; 8672;
81-2-4,174; Bu. 89-4-26,169; K. 1655;6364; 6386; Ki. 8890; 10197+19134;12134; 12357; 13378; 13727; 13894;
1904-10-9,71; Sm. 486; 2043 14395; 15242; 15280; 17053; 17710; 18658; 18783; 18784;
18850; 18979; 19005; 19044; 19057; 19062; 19356; 19522;
19636;20135; 20854; 20405; 20429; 20735; 20831; 20942;
prism (2)
BM 127994;K. 1660 21028; 21053; 21127; 21287; 21291; 21467; 21494; 21520;
21590; 21685; 21903; 21997; 22097; 22099; 22102; 22173;
Ki. 1904-10-9,208 (BM 99176); Rm. 457; 1015; Sm. 419;
cone (OB Samsuiluna) 783; 1229; 1265
Ki. 1902-5-10,37 (= BM 115039)
Ad X.2. The divination corpus: library texts and
treaties (2) divination reports
82-5-22,130; Rm. II, 427
Astrological omens
, etc. (17)
Epics , myths library texts (359)
epics (7) of celestial omens (327): 79-7-8,116; 121+125; 150; 151;
earlykings (Gilgameš) (3): BM 134537.A,B+I, C, F, H; 271; 80-7-19,100 (see K. 2920+); 103; 114;81-2-4,223;
134537.E+G+l 34538;Rm. 907 230; 234; 280; 387; 488; 81-7-27,60; 62; 96; 137; 219;
Neo-Assyriankings (3): 83-1-18,476+482+728;K. 2524; 238; 260; 267; 82-3-23,83; 82-5-22,75; 519; 577a (see
6177+8869 Sm. 253); BM 128124; 134541; 134543; Bu. 89-4-26,
unidentifiedkings (1): Binning2 174; Bu. 91-5-9,164;DT. 104; K. 75+237;90; 230; 278;
800; 1957; 2073+9520; 2126; 2131+2283+11824(+)
2932+14533 (+) Rm. II, 250; 2157; 2162+2206+4137;
myths (8) 2194; 2228; 2231; 2236+2891;2246+2994+3578+3605+
Anzu (4): K. 3008; 18740; 19368;21072 3614+2324+6152;2278;2294;2310+6154+12061+12633;
epic of creation(2): DT. 184; K. 12582 2321+3032;2326; 2328; 2341+2899+81-2-4, 288 E. Rei-
varia (2): K. 5341; 8742 ner: (+) BM 98744 (= Th. 1905-4-9,250) (+) 3575;
2342+2990+12422+19019;2345+12047 (+) 12189 (+)
15098(+) 14415;2346+3904a+3904b+8725; 2874;2876;
poetry (love poetry) (1)
K. 20817 2884; 2885; 2886+2929a;2887; 2903+2915+8659+8747+
10145(+) 10337;2904+3029;2913+5820+22098;2914;
2916+3112+3575+12063+12603+12787+13933+13978+
propaganda text of Assurbanipal (1) 17+12136+
19359+22155; 2920+3604+8876+9527+121
K. 1351 208 (+) 80-7-19,100;2932+14533
12242+15582+81-7-27,
(see 2131+) ; 2932+14533(see 2131+); 2933; 2936+3103;
Mathematical text (1) 2992+3017+6146+1 1741+11885;3002;3004;3005;3013;
K. 8705 3016;3033;3035+12605+16247+20596+22143 (+) 12675;
3099+18689(+) Sm.259; 3104;3105;3108;3111+10672;
3115 (+) 12589; 3139; 3525; 3561+8025+9502 (+)
6141+6148+6156+9108;3566; 3575 (see 2341+); 3590;

3601+Rm.103; 3609; 3619; 3858+5643+5971+10396+ 972; 1302; 1306+83-1-18,316; 1309; 1322; 1342; 1369;
12536; 3882; 3911; 3914+10215; 3923+6140+81-7-27, 1384; 1389; 1399; 4708+10298; 8861; 12367+13175;
149+83-1-18, 479; 5689+17655;5712; 5748; 5751; 5759; 13087+82-5-22, 85; Rm. 191; 194; 196; 197; Sm. 1062
5770; 5780b; 5787+9641+ 10153+12368+12627+12706; Ashurbanipal(20): 80-7-19,154; 81-2-4,141; 273; 82-5-
5790; 5792; 5806; 5826; 5851; 5964; 5972; 5977; 5985; 22, 51; 72; 83-1-18,188; 202 (+) 305; 219; 290; 303; Bu.
6021+8611;6062+6178;6098+11547;6102; 6103; 6105; 91-5-9,9; K. 699; 744; 745; 789; 933; 1329; 1380; Ki.
6112; 6113; 6114+11840; 6116+9695; 6119; 6120; 1904-10-9,39 (BM 99010); Rm. 198
6121+6131+9126;6130; 6134; 6135; 6137; 6138+9646+ Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal(3): 80-7-19,19; K. 1393;
12048;6141+(see3561+); 6153;6158; 6174;6185+8901+ 2085
12567;6188; 6194; 6195; 6595; 7277; 7621; 8471; 8484; unknownking (222): 79-7-8,100;80-7-19,58; 59; 61; 62;
8497;8647;8656;8688;8695;8707+10171+12218; 8715; 63; 65; 176; 197; 355; 81-2-4,82; 83; 85; 88; 105; 106;
8735; 8744; 8749; 8885; 8900+8914; 9052; 9098; 132; 134; 135; 140; 142; 143; 145; 321; 344; 483; 82-3-
9151+ 10731; 9181; 9225+9638+Sm.2078; 9505; 9519;
23, 112; 82-5-22,46; 50; 53; 56; 61; 63; 64; 65; 66; 67;
9570; 9573; 9632+12151+14177+18656;9634; 9636; 68; 69; 74; 89; 156; 83-1-18,7; 174; 175; 176; 177; 178;
9637+11175+14187+18728+81-7-27, 52; 9640;9642;9645; 179; 180; 181; 182; 194; 196; 203; 212; 214; 216; 220;
9647; 9679; 10114; 10129; 10196; 10337 (see 2903+); 225; 229; 230; 242; 243; 245; 248; 293; 312; 313; 319;
10367; 10382; 10491; 10566+Sm. 1925+81-2-4,305; 322; 718; 774; 810; 834; 881; 883; 884; BM 134556;Bu.
10597+11854+12616; 10616;10688;10696;10714;10872; 89-4-26,8; 11; 18; 166; Bu. 91-5-9,28; 29; 161;DT. 53;
11247; 11257; 11270; 11721; 11740; 11839; 11894; 131;249; K. 119; 172; 178; 698; 714; 721; 723; 732; 735;
11911+15558;12011;12065;12067;12079;12080;12090; 737; 752; 753; 754; 755; 758; 759; 768; 769; 770; 776;
12099;12107;12113;12115;12126;12129;12142;12147; 790; 794; 805; 806; 807; 808; 809; 811; 812; 813; 815;
12157; 12163; 12166; 12175+14404;12178; 12189 (see 843; 850; 851; 856; 861; 873; 874; 875; 900; 904; 921;
2345+); 12226; 12245; 12304; 12305; 12341; 12366; 955; 963; 964; 967; 973; 987; 1236; 1300; 1305; 1307;
12403;12414;12429;12470;12575;12576;12583;12589 1308; 1310+14559;1311; 1312; 1316; 1324; 1328; 1330;
(see 3115); 12598 (see 3115); 12601; 12602; 12607; 1331; 1332; 1338; 1339; 1340; 1341 (+) 1586; 1343;
12610; 12611; 12614; 12615; 12666; 12674; 12675(see 1344; 1345; 1346; 1373+83-1-18, 780; 1385; 1392;1394;
3035+); 12690; 12733; 12796; 12803; 12817; 13748; 1395; 1398; 1407; 1457; 1557; 1586; 1586; 1593; 1594;
13930;14162;14206; 14388; 14405; 14415(see 2345+); 1606; 1909; 1921+3488;1927; 1952; 1955; 1971;5453b;
14418;14448; 14503;14517; 14561; 15098(see 2345+); 5723; 6077; 6149; 6182; 6184b;8391; 8393; 8407; 8704;
15201;15329+Rm.151+82-3-23, 16; 15459;15469;15523; 8711; 8729; 8748; 8872; 9042; 12013; 12017; 12211;
15577;15592;15930;16667;17092;17254;17271;17600; 12281;12283;12388+13101;13012;14150;14564;14565;
17660;18722;18733;19102;19142;19531;19855;19935; 14568; 15086; 16621;Ki. 1904-10-9,28 (BM 98999);36
20081;20430; 20635; 21626; 22057; 22140; Ki. 1902-5- (BM 99007); 55 (BM 99026); 262 (BM 99230);321 (BM
10,23; Ki. 1904-10-9,217 (BM 99185);248 (BM 99216);
Rm.308+79-7-8,117+79-7-8, 99289);Rm. 193;201; Rm. II, 254; Sm. 86; 231; 366+80-
223; 546; Rm.II, 122;250 7-19,371; 694; 885; 1232; 1327
(see 2131+); 293; 302; 496; 569; Sm. 45; 81; 151; 253;
259 (see K. 3099+); 442; 445; 503; 676; 751; 999; 1004;
unclassified astrological texts (6)
1014; 1088+1531;1130; 1187; 1260; 1354; 1363; 1647;
1963; 1976; 1996; Th. 1905-4-9,100 (BM 98594); 127 82-5-22,1765; K. 11816; 12586; 13345;20930; 21116
(BM 98621); 250 (BM 98744)
commentaries(18): 82-5-22,572; DT. 51; K. 148+2902+ Extispicy
5207+18378;2329;2906+10108;2907+12248;3558;3855;
library texts (104)
5994;8067; 11905;12068+Rm.II, 38+340; 14318;15033; liver omens (100): 79-7-8,114+120; 124; 347; 80-7-19,
15202+15204;Rm. 855; Rm. II, 127; Sm. 1054
275+357; 361; 81-2-4,201; 335; 405; 439; 82-3-23,106;
catalogue of astrologicaland terrestrialomens (1): K. 83-1-18,730+805;BM 121056;134530;134546;Bu. 89-
2848
4-26, 119; DT. 18; K. 2323+6157+8679;2877+80-7-19,
"astronomy"(13): K. 2077+3771+11044+BM54619;3020; 294; 2880; 2896; 2897; 2910; 2912; 2921; 2939; 3015;
3852; 8598; 8630; 9483; 10719; 12376; 13254; 15929; 3022+12792;3809; 3839; 3849; 3877; 4084; 4113; 6058;
16255;Rm. 319; 322 6115;7608; 8700; 9186; 9256; 9678;9872; 10115+13847;
10492;10571;10956;10976;11556;11558;11712;11912;
divination reports (333) written during the 12111; 12130; 12210; 12257+79-7-8,59; 12279; 12300;
reign of 12303;12335;12448;14870;15100;15115;16799;18750;
Sargon II (2): Rm. II, 345; Th. 1905-4-9,257 (BM 98751) 18790;19053;19328;19365;19496;19700;20299;20303;
Sennacherib(1): K. 8713 20313; 21150; 21229; 21641; Ki. 1902-5-10,24; Ki.
Esarhaddon(85): 80-7-19,55; 66; 81-2-4,81; 84; 89; 102; 1904-10-9,207 (BM 99175); Rm. 106+Rm.II, 111;231;
103; 104; 107; 136; 138;81-7-27,23; 82-5-22,48; 49; 57; 300; 391; 547; 936; Rm. II, 102; 115+79-7-8,88; 134;
58; 59; 1778;83-1-18,48; 171; 172; 173; 186; 187; 195; 308; 506; 526; 541; 551; Sm. 210; 647; 1309;1437;1455;
200; 208; 221; 232; 233; 241; 244; 296; 299; 301; 302; 1707; 1759; 1932
775; Bu. 91-5-9,7; DT. 304; K. 19; 188; 700; 701; 702; commentaries (4): K. 1315+4702;3786+10440+15496; 8915;
722; 729; 734; 739; 741; 756; 761; 763; 772; 783; 785; Rm. 227
791; 793; 799; 803; 840; 842; 869; 901; 902; 907; 960;

divination reports (289) unclassified extispicy texts (15)

oracle enquiriesdated to Esarhaddon (93): 80-7-19,73; 82-3-23,29; 95; 98; 122;82-5-22,498; 83-1-18,572; 586;
74; 77; 78; 79; 137; 81-2-4,436; 82-5-22,136;480; 484; K. 4720; 8731; 8883; 12160; 12686; 12816; 17631;Sm.
489; 83-1-18,518; 531+568+Bu.91-5-9,194; 535; 538; 1838
540; 552; 557+563;571; 576; 580; 697; 765; 799; Bu. 89-
4-26, 148; Bu. 91-5-9,201; K. 195; 2663+12738;3051; Terrestrial omens
4668; 6128; 8622 (+) Sm.295; 10149;11432;11473+82-
5-22, 986; 11475; 11476; 11477; 11479+80-7-19,70; library texts (73)
11480; 11481; 11482+83-1-19,898; 11483; 11484; terrestrialomens (66): 81-2-4,202; 410a; DT. 261; K.
11485+Sm.908; 11486; 11487; 11488; 11489+80-7-19, 45+198+12600;190+2987A+3755+9710+10110+101 99+
71+75+83-1-18, 534; 11491; 11492+Sm. 412+684; 10558+11751+12512+14199+15584+16658+DT. 288; 196;
11493+11504;11494+12637(+) 11501;11495+Bu.91-5- 2285+3717+12709(+) 2719+3014(+) 3856+10467;2307;
9, 181;11496;11498+81-2-4, 190+290;11500;11502+Sm. 2312+2576+3572+3592+6123+8691+9348+13902+10324+
705+Rm.432+521;11505+Sm.1158+83-1-18,551; 11507; 11755+13295+13902+18654+18780+18591; 2376+8020+
11514; 11515; 11517+Bu.91-5-9, 170; 11520; 11521; 12167+82-3-23,81; 2719+3014 (see 2285+); 2720;
11523+11529; 12201; 14590; Ki. 1904-10-9,4 (BM 2850+3023+Sm. 327; 2888+8677; 2898+8694+8911+
98975); 17+69(BM 98988+99040);137(BM 99108); 173 12267; 2922+12197+6008+10167; 2925+3534+5975+
(BM 99143); Rm. 43; Sm. 176; 384 (+) 1053;433; 524; 8719+9643+DT. 155; 2930+3737+8875; 2937+6136+
608; 657+83-1-18,545; 662; 663; 664; 665; 904; 1157; 8903+10173+12101+12214+12532+12853+18888; 2942+
1320+83-1-18,537; 1358; 1516; 1638; 1880+83-1-18, 8693+81-2-4,203; 3019+6101+Sm. 392; 3028; 3698+79-
539; 2002+80-7-19,162; 2005; 2485+83-1-18,555 7-8,230; 3856+10467(see 2285+); 6097+6693+12724 (+)
oracle enquiriesdated to Ashurbanipal(5): 82-3-23,89; 7669+9450 (+) Sm. 1406; 6111+Sm. 2080; 6144;
Bu. 89-4-26,46; K. 9106; 11478;Ki. 1904-10-9,10 (BM 6170+Sm. 775; 7669+9450 (see 6097+); 7749+8675;
98981) 8682+8891;8703;8739;8877;9703; 10250;10251;10291;
oracle enquiriesdated to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal 10381+12521;10484;10950;11551;11746;11862;11873;
12188;12441;12498;12520;12529;12538+21687;15484;
(4): 83-1-18,790; K. 4270; 11499;Rm. 397
18962;19061;19137;19412;19791;21017;21019;21063;
oracle enquiriesof unknowndate (84): 80-7-19,191; 81-
21945; 22279; Rm. 118+380;456; 596; Sm. 1222; 1406
2-4, 283; 342; 453; 81-7-27,74; 82-3-23,42; 82-5-22, (see K. 6097)
73+83-1-18,383+570(+) Sm. 656; 177; 486; 492; 83-1- commentaries (7): K. 1; 36+2917; 103; 118; 2895;
18, 503; 553; 558; 565; 574; 585; 588+720+850; 589;
2919+2924+8422;4229
699; 795; 800; 822; 846; 860; 879; 891; Bu. 89-4-26,55;
69; Bu. 91-5-9,89; 168; 216; K. 2747+Ki. 1904-10-9,5
divination reports (1)
(BM 98976) (+) Sm. 1214; 11490; 11497; 11501 (see
11494+,Esh); 11503;11509;11510;11512;11518;11519; K. 18
11522;11524;11525;11526;12012;12684;12692;14557;
14594a; 14955; 15479; 16626; 19018; 19047; 19077; Series iqqur Ipuš (6)
19847; 20214; 20216; 21080; Ki. 1904-10-9,3 (BM K. 2050+6150+11106;2219+2878+9639+5847;5701; 8737;
98974);7 (BM 98978);172(BM 99142);219 (BM 99187);
Rm.413; 420; 490; Sm. 119;205; 295 (see EshK. 8622); 12503;Sm. 315+Rm.296
317; 591; 656 (see 82-5-22,73+); 659; 660+82-5-22, 495;
661; 956; 1053 (see 384, Esh); 1195; Sm. 1214 (see K. Teratomantic omens (5)
2747+); 1268; 1272; 1390; 1605; 1811 79-7-8,127; K. 749; 1913; 2918; 19224
extispicyreportsdated to Ashurbanipal(31): 82-3-23,
5223b;82-5-22,86; 137; 178;K. 4; 8; 28+3960;37; 159;
Physiognomical omens (2)
303; 375; 392; 396; 1360; 1611;3161; 3742+4284;3791;
4537; 4728; 8674; 8738; 8880; 8904; 10882; 11506; K. 8730+79-7-8,107; 10346
11516; 12213;12360; 12593; 19060
extispicyreportof unknowndate (41): 81-2-4,442; 477; Hemerology (5)
82-3-23,27; 5223a; 82-5-22,71; 83-1-18,541; 547; 561;
564; 788; K. 1423; 1433; 3741a; 3747; 4717; 4725; library texts (1)
4766+14308+82-5-22, 70; 4802; 8680;8909;9215; 10754; K. 18645
10766;10783;10789;10864;11665;11669;12181;12809;
14146;17745;18595;18624;19048;20959;21929;22303; divination reports (4)
Rm. 213; Sm. 847; 1226 Bu. 89-4-26,19; K. 915; 1336; 1599
oracle enquiriesor extispicyreports(30): 80-7-19,72+76;
81-2-4,470; 82-5-22,542; Bu. 91-5-9,.167; K. 7471; Various divination
11508;11511;16283;17302;17650;17636;18469;18492;
18706;18942;19073;19197;19457;20062;20209;20218; library texts (196)
20219; 20221; 20227; 20229; 20417; 21093; 21469; Sm. 79-7-8,328; 81-2-4,315; 81-7-27,91; 82-3-23,75; 83-1-
1021; 1225 18,830; BM 134548;BM 134601;134831;DT. 156;246;
K. 1442; 2996; 3006; 3988; 4694; 5669; 5721; 5739;

5809; 5824; 6023; 6075; 6104+15487;6124; 6129; 6176; 564; 588; 605; 684; 844; 906; 912; 939b; 982; 1138;
6192; 6193; 8702; 8874; 8889; 8892; 8895+12223;8897; 1146; 1165; 1172; 1238; 1241; 1244+Sm.416; 1370;
9107+10193; 9118; 9545; 9715; 9878; 10146; 10186; 1546; 1559+5419a+5422c+5535+7421+7544+13 125+
10288;10296;10563;10568;10596;10974;11662;11813; 15692+15712; 1879; 1890+5385+11799+13118;1945;
11945;12156;12266;12399;12435;12592;12689;12701; 1968;4287; 4682+81-2-4,379; 4698; 4740+5559+14644;
12718;13115;13947;14454;14472;14489;14493;14874; 4745+5550+5614+16119;4748; 4778; 5097; 5170; 5304;
15468;15477;15483;15488;15491;15542;15579;16245; 5418b;5423c;5426b+7459+10408+13018+1541 0+15696+
16276;16291;16299;16316;16338;16659;16660;16845; 16138+16615;5444b+14617+15388+15688;5541+5617+
16858;17077;17203;17289;17375;17412;17654;18086; 13173; 5594+11425; 5607; 5626+7558; 5627; 7383;
18162;18590;18593;18608;18613;18627;18660;18676; 7426+15695+16602+21597; 7435;7526+19980;7530+Rm.
18688;18708;18714;18731;18737;18751;18764;18766; II, 483; 7880; 8379; 8389; 8409; 8412; 11694; 12946;
18770;18775;18777;18779;18801;18868;18875;18970; 12954+13130; 13045+14599; 13080; 13090; 13092;
18984;18987;18989;18990;18993;18995;18999;19002; 13853+Sm.1915; 14603; 15127; 15298; 15354; 15385;
19010;19022;19026;19028;19031;19063;19070;19072; 15702;15708+16592+16607; 16111+16115;16113;16581;
19075;19078;19084;19085;19086;19091;19096;19100; 16605; 16610; 19564; Rm. 54; 215; Rm. II, 596; Sm.
19114;19130;19138;19189;19191;19193;19200;19209; 346; 563+2169;740; 764+1650
19212;19214;19218;19227;19231;19296;19297;19319; letterto the king's son (= Sennacherib) (1): K. 9525
19330;19331;19343;19347;19349;19361;19385;19398; lettersto Sennacherib (27): 79-7-8,312; 82-5-22,1779;
19611;19666;19710;19747;19801;19842;19934;20262; 83-1-18,79; 254; DT. 138; K. 508; 580; 597; 654; 894;
20332;20690;20846;20918;21091;21336;21528;21624; 1214+7313+7450; 1225+15690+16582; 1898; 5433b;
21686;21693;21860; 21912; 21999; 22026; 22121; Rm. 5447a+13038;5538; 7428; 12962; 13100; 14680;15003;
II, 287; 391; 455; 517; Sm. 1108; 1121; 1572; 1616; 16112+16586+16596;Rm. 64; 925; Sm. 549 (+) 1213;
1950;Th. 1905-4-9,104 (BM 98598); Th. 1905-4-9,120 1243; 1919
(BM 98614); Th. 1905-4-9,155 (BM 98649) lettersto Sargon II or Sennacherib(33): 79-7-8,256; 81-
7-27, 31; 83-1-18,71; K. 145; 563; 923; 1045; 1371;
divination reports (18) 1887; 1936+16609; 1942; 5264; 5406+14659+15699;
81-7-27,95; 82-9-18,12483;83-1-18,819; Bu. 89-4-26, 5412b; 5427b+5525;5429; 5431b; 5434a; 5450b; 5471;
26; K. 5773; 7302; 8403; 8671; 9673; 11693; 12289; 5536; 5591; 5595; 5605; 7326+EPHE 342; 9187; 13169;
15005; 16236;Rm. 210; 994; Sm. 703; 1179; 1463 15323+Rm.II, 408; 15714+15719;16613+Sm.37+361+
1794+1951+2158;Ki. 1904-10-9,37 (BM 99008); Rm.
unclassified divination texts (6) II, 495; Sm. 1975
83-1-18,874+892;DT. 153;K. 5674; 12723;21937; Sm. lettersto theking's mother(king = Esarhaddon)(3): K.
1495 478; 523; 1355
lettersto Esarhaddon (109): 80-7-19,27; 28; 362; 81-2-4,
Ad X.4. The Babylonian archival texts 70; 77; 91; 164; 417; 485; 497; 82-5-22,106; 153; 1773;
83-1-18,1; 3; 32; 65; 77; 78; 87; 124; 135; 138;253; 285;
Letters (1009) 394; 554; 746; 835; 864; Bu. 89-4-26,164; Bu. 91-5-9,
letters from the king or the king's son (62) 33; 39; 93; 133;DT. 192;301+83-1-18, 276; K. 154;474;
letters from Sargon II (3); K. 1159+4683; 5610; 479; 517; 545; 566; 644; 646; 905; 944; 1002; 1009;
1055; 1056; 1104; 1106; 1156; 1180; 1202; 1353; 1459;
13047+13119+13854+15417+16553+16589
1905+2905+5410b; 1919+7378+10489+12958+13081+
lettersfromEsarhaddon (3): Bu. 91-5-9,2; K. 87; 13135
15416+16116;1969; 1973; 2889; 4670+Ki. 1904-10-9,
letterfromthecrownprince(= Ashurbanipal)(1): Rm. 261 (BM 99229); 4684; 4716; 5393; 5397; 5401; 5439a;
72 5455b; 5463+22015; 5467; 5522; 5553; 5579; 5590;
lettersfromAshurbanipal(39): 67-4-2,1; 80-7-19,113; 5638+12015+13834; 6118;7355;7372;7396;7427+16125;
81-2-4,92; 378; 509; 82-5-22,91; 97; 83-1-18,27; 31; 7455; 8530; 8681; 10120+16127;10736; 11687; 11790;
166;263; 811; Bu. 91-5-9,5; 88; 115; 126;K. 17; 94; 95; 11924;13162;13191;14140;14142;15078;15101+83-1-
824; 828; 938; 1054+81-7-27,40; 1085; 1139; 1162; 18, 47; 16122; 16583; 19517;20917; Ki. 1904-10-9,15
1271; 1610;5446b;5452b;5511; 5576+10399+Sm.520; (BM 98986); 225 (BM 99193); Rm. 280; Sm. 161; 179;
5635; 12007+82-5-22, 129; 12984;13725;Ki. 1904-10-9, 1028; 1186; 1254
34 (BM 99005); 206 (BM 99174); 290 (BM 99258) letterto the crown prince (Esarhaddon) (1): 82-5-22,
letterfromAshurbanipal'sson (1): K. 4449 105
sendernot (certain) identified(15): 79-7-8,63; 82-5-22, lettersto Sargon II or Esarhaddon (7): 81-2-4,114; 83-
1764; 83-1-18,129; 709; Bu. 91-5-9,20; 71; K. 1164; 1-18,28; K. 4775+5604; 5400+13157; 14627; Rm. 78;
1245+83-1-18, 107;5192;5388;5625;5634;7557;20897; 217
Sm. 1827+80-7-19, 372 lettersto Sennacheribor Esarhaddon(2): K. 16588;Rm.
561
Babylonian letters to the king (681) lettersto the king's son (= Ashurbanipal)(3): K. 7433;
lettersto SargonII (93): 79-7-8,153;257; 80-7-19,45; 81- 14661;Ki. 1904-10-9,49 (BM 99020)
2-4, 76; 81-7-27,32; 142; 82-5-22,113; 144; 83-1-18, letterto the crownprince Ashurbanipal(1): Bu. 91-5-9,
696; Bu. 89-4-26,162; Bu. 91-5-9,124; K. 114; 562; 148

letterto the king's mother (king = Esarhaddon or 15342; 15392; 15687; 15697; 15703; 15704; 15707;
Ashurbanipal)(1): K. 825 16110+82-5-22,1766;16126;16130;16133;16135;16139;
lettersto Ashurbanipal (235): 48-11-4,282; 48-7-20, 16601; 16606; 16608; 19037 (+)? 19350; 19350 (see
117+120;79-7-8,313; 80-7-19,153; 174;338; 81-2-4,78; 19037); 19627; 19966; 19974; 19975; 19989; 19997;
124;313; 394; 459; 494; 499; 506; 81-7-27,48; 151+83- 20570;20898;20901;21578;21708;21736;21781;21809;
1-18, 123; 82-5-22,101; 111; 116; 126+83-1-18,133; 21841; 21870; Ki. 1904-10-9,45 (BM 99016); 185+340
131; 132; 133; 154; 163; 165; 167; 1769; 1772;83-1-18, (BM 99153+99308);Rm. 948; Rm. II, 489; Sm. 546;
4; 8; 29; 30; 49; 51; 69; 91; 105; 108; 116; 125; 131; 137; 1174; 1220+1221;1479
143; 150; 158; 162; 260; 261; 267; 581; 712; 717; 733;
736; 772; 824; 849; 869; 872; 886; BM 121053;134599; Babylonian letters to officials (53)
Bu. 89-4-26,63+81; 156;Bu. 91-5-9,19+107;23+72+238; officialsof Sargon II (15): 83-1-18,57; 92; K. 823; 830;
26; 56; 87; 90; 113; 125;DT. 23; 129; K. 10; 13; 79; 81; 862; 986; 1177; 1941; 5399+7335+16585;5417b;5474+
82; 83; 462; 471; 473+1950; 509; 524; 544; 599; 607; Sm. 501; 8301; Rm. 563; Rm. II, 457; Sm. 267
615; 638; 647; 672; 680; 909; 961; 974; 1030; 1066; officials of Sennacherib (5): BM 134587; K. 1158;
1074; 1089; 1095; 1107; 1122; 1167+81-2-4,468; 7314+15305;8395; 13071
1174+1210;1184+7467;1185; 1196; 1203+83-1-18,753; officials of Esarhaddon (8): 81-2-4,129; 83-1-18,132;
1218; 1248; 1250; 1303; 1374; 1541; 1550; 1560; 251; K. 965; 5561; 13061; 16579;Rm. II, 491
1592+20912;1596; 1616; 1895; 1899; 1926; 1929; 1958; officialsof Ashurbanipal(6): 48-7-20,116;83-1-18,110;
1964;1992;2645;2923;2998/2988+81-2-4, 385;3102+82- Bu. 91-5-9,85; K. 924; 7454; 13822
3-23, 40; 4275+83-1-18,52; 4303; 4489; 4671+5396;
unassigned(19): K. 990; 1226; 1901(+) 7545; 1910;4779;
4673+4681+82-5-22,147; 4736; 4793; 4796; 4800;
5062+8314+Ki.1904-10-9, 296 (BM 99264);5380; 5384; 5386+8304+13063+81-7-27, 43; 7409; 7545 (see 1901);
13051; 13152; 13168; 14621; 14657; 15044; 15196;
5398;5404;5407;5413b;5437a;5441b;5442b;5448b+83- 15705+Sm.407; 15706+21906;16136;16600
1-18, 53; 5449b+l3148+13176; 5451b; 5456b; 5457+
13128;5461; 5473; 549a; 5504+6946;5505; 5512+5575;
5558+7371;5567; 5585; 5588+5619+7475+15718; 5622; Babylonian private letters (16)
5637; 5639+7792; 5807+13106; 6122; 7256; 7317; 81-2-4,452; 83-1-18,39; 112;716; DT. 300; K. 831; 835;
7324+83-1-18, 275; 7340; 7369; 7397; 7404; 7410; 7415; 882; 899; 926; 1135; 1228; 1237; 1239; 15286;Sm. 464
7417; 7479; 7513; 7537; 7540; 7541; 7543; 8381; 8440;
10319;12944;13031+16124;13107;14130;14278;14593; unidentified letter fragments (193)
14649;15016;15045;15058;15129;15304;15324;15393; 80-7-19,336; 81-2-4,411; 81-2-4,498; 81-7-27,45; 221;
15397;15401;15404;15679;16123;16137;16594;19196; 255; 83-1-18,284; 505; 512; 797; 826; 877; 882; BM
20566;Ki. 1904-10-9,47 (BM 99018); 184 (BM 99152); 134829;Bu. 89-4-26,310; Bu. 91-5-9,80; 198;226; 227;
276 (BM 99244);283 (BM 99251);298 (BM 99266);317 236; 237; 239; K. 233; 988; 1075; 1261; 1943; 1946;
(BM 99285); 337+346(BM 99305+99314);Rm. 48; 60; 1978; 1983; 1985; 1998; 3162; 5060b; 5065b; 5408b;
Sm. 620; 632; 1066;1165;1378;1392+1831;1631;1735; 5409b; 5415b; 5421b; 5428b; 5520; 5529; 5548; 5582;
1793;1954;2164;Th. 1905-4-9,69 (BM 98563);83 (BM 5599+15622;5603; 5629;5632; 5633;5636;5646;5708b;
98577) 5805; 5999; 7353; 7425; 7461; 7504; 7519; 8722; 8745;
lettersto Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal (54): 48-7-20, 9097; 9588; 10854; 12255; 12972; 13025+16584;13050;
115; 80-7-19,35; 40; 46; 82-5-22,120; 161; 83-1-18, 13062;13934;14636;14656;14969;15019;15024;15028;
56+Bu. 91-5-9,73; 74; 93; 122+Ki. 1904-10-9,169 (BM 15068;15070;15077;15170+15287;15205;15357;15403;
99139);210; 258; 277; 796; 814; 837; Bu. 91-5-9,75; K. 15406;15615;15625;15643;15689;15691;15693;15698;
22; 31; 470; 552; 559; 673; 895; 1181; 1249; 1448; 15700;15701;15709;15710;15711;15715;15716;16086;
1621b;3024;4734+16141;4763+5616+7422+7445+7515+ 16109;16114;16117;16118;16129;16131;16134;16140;
13181; 4789; 5198; 5394+15686+16587;5436b; 5524+ 16142;16580;16591;16593;16597;16598;16599;16603;
16120; 5557; 5618; 7315; 8433; 9571; 10743; 13022; 16604;16612;16614;16935;17889;17962;18061;18610;
13144;13744;14613;14926;15138;15713+16616;15717; 18704;18756;18767;18789;18976;19015;19150;19321;
16590;Ki. 1904-10-9,254 (BM 99222); Sm. 1430; 1673 19345;19969;19978;19998;20034;20048;20050;20069;
letterto the daughterof the king (1): K. 476 20567;20568;20569;20607;20890;20891;20892;20902;
addresseeunknown(110): 48-11-4,283; 48-7-20,119;80- 20904;20915;20916;20946;21035;21077;21114;21118;
21129;21284;21306;21333;21374;21443;21476;21537;
7-19,69; 341; 81-2-4,93; 112; 481; 81-7-27,148; 82-3-
23, 46; 82-5-22,134+Ki.1904-10-9, 22; 83-1-18,46; 60; 21647;21702;21711;21885;21923;21938;21948;21984;
99; 308; 708; 735; 804; 868; Bu. 89-4-26,12; 52; 76; Bu. 22003; 22005; 22295; Ki. 1904-10-9,202 (BM 99170);
284 (BM 99252); Rm. 961; Rm. II, 187; Sm. 452; 481;
91-5-9,30; 31; 43; 70; DT. 270; K. 467; 1012; 1105;
1141; 1149; 1206; 1256; 1269; 1460; 1912; 3034+7655 545; 642+Ki. 1904-10-9,171; 1381; 1615; 1626; 1700;
1800; 1836; 1843; 1869; 1995; 2065; Th. 1905-4-9,71
(+) 5440a+82-5-22,123; 4715; 4739; 4776; 5383; 5389;
5395;5403;5405+7358;5416b;5438;K. 5440a+82-5-22, (BM 98565)
123(see 3034+); 5501; 5510+7519+7527+Bu.91-5-9,30;
5551+7474+16595;5592; 5593; 5596; 5613; 5615; 5620; Old Babylonian letters (4)
6147; 7446+16611; 7489; 8632+16121; 9124+11849; BM 134534; 134535; 134536;K. 18634
11674;13186;14566;14639;14669;15022;15038;15048;

Contracts and related texts (32) Administrativetexts (38)

contracts (30) palace administration (33)
writtenduringthereignof Sennacherib(2): K. 389; Sm. names of individuals (17): 79-7-8,20; 80-7-19,34; 83-1-
1037 18, 857; BM 134561; Bu. 91-5-9,25; K. 1446+4285;
writtenduringthe reignof Esarhaddon (3): DT. 34; K. 1997; 5414b+5514+10462; 5549; 8400; 8750; 10426;
3790; Rm. 157 11673;Rm. II, 416; Sm. 726; 859; 1512
of unknowndate (25): BM 121040;K. 931; 3783; 4274; names of individuals with their profession (2): K.
4726; 4738; 11800;12960; 13052; 13099; 13956; 14831; 18263;Sm. 471
15159; 15162; 15163; 15288; Ki. 1904-10-9,140+151; list of objects (4): 79-7-8,123; K. 934; 6072; 8683+10329
Rm. 162; 164; 184; 187; Rm. II, 599; Sm. 1655; Th. otheradministrative texts(10): 81-2-4,456; 83-1-18,401;
1905-4-9,148? (BM 98642); 162 (BM 98656) 833; K. 764; 13644; 15029; 20004; 20258; 20943; Sm.
1820
delivery note (1)
Th. 1905-4-9,68 (BM 98562) temple administration (5)
82-3-23,2; K. 891; 1293; Sm. 265; 2163
ownership label (1)
K. 3787 Not ( certain) identifiedlegal texts (6)
BM 134544;K. 5602; 21201; 21975; 22136; 22158


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Report on the British Museum's Ashurbanipal Library Project*

By Jeanette C. Fincke (Heidelberg)

13Ilearnedthecraftof Adapa,thesage,(whichis) thesecret knowledge,everything

I. The BritishMuseum'sAshurbanipal Library X. The Babyloniantextsof theNineviteLibrar-

*) My sincerethanksgo to ChristopherB. F. Walkerand to publishtheresultsof myresearchin thisway.My grati-

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This content downloaded from 185.44.78.31 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:54:58 PM

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.31 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:54:58 PM

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tracedwiththe help of lettersand reportsunearthedin in theirhometowns.32

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familiarwiththe "complete scribal art"84includingthe the omen literatureby a synonym90 or an alternative

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This content downloaded from 185.44.78.31 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:54:58 PM

headoftheking'sbedandthefeetoftheking('sbed), because they inscribed a stela with the text of this

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Anothervery importantpiece of informationcon- VIII. The Neo-Assyrian library records

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compositionsand series numberof tablets; writing-boards:Ipercentageof the total numberof

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III (745-725 BC), Kalhu

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"archivaltexts"and classifyletters,legal and adminis- (iäsipütu) with incantationsand rituals.The Akkadian

Babylonian literary librarytexts divinationreports not classified

The largestgroupof the literaryand scientifictexts 151)The tamířw-prayers - a typicalBabyloniankindof

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Babylonian religious Akkadian Sumerian bilingual tion to this,thereare two trea-

The medical texts Epics, myths, and other literary texts

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Astrological omens: "Astronomy"

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167)Forthisseriessee Ulla Jeyes,Old BabylonianExtis- 170)Forthisseriessee R. Labat,Uncalendrierbabylonien

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Compositionsand series Four libraryrecords fromNineveh: Ashurbanipal'slibraries:

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(681), unidentifiedletterfragments(193), lettersfrom stored in the South-WestPalace, the principal royal

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Nineveh. A ratherlarge quantityof letterfragments general,the Hittitepalace libraries189 concentratedon

184)O. Pedersen,Archivesand Librariesin theAncient Kuçakligefundenen Kultinventare," MDOG 128,Berlin1996,

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meantfiguratively as thekingbeing theownerof every rěš-iši I (1132-1115 BC),201if not Tukultl-NinurtaI.202

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Compositionsand series tablets fromthe Ashurbanipal'slibraries

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Religious texts (585) Akkadian religious texts, varia (116)

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18625;18630;18653;18677;18679;18699;18727;18730; various incantationsor rituals(49): 80-7-19,160; 81-7-

Sumerian ãsipútu (3) Bilingual religious texts in archaic script(3)

Medical texts (81)

Bilingual ãsipútu (91) Lexical texts(56)