Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters Part 34

"What thou didst send me, saying, Has the King of Armenia with his troops moved away? He has gone. Where is he dwelling? The commander of Uesi, the commander of the district of the Ukkai, came, they sacrificed in the temple, they say that the king has gone, he is dwelling in Uesi; the commanders returned and went away. In Mu?a?ir they sacrificed. What thou didst send, saying, Without the king's order let no one put his hand to the work, when the king of a.s.syria shall come, I will serve him, what I have [always] done I will keep doing, and this according to his hand (?)."

Evidently Urzana lived in Mu?a?ir and was anxious to be thought a faithful va.s.sal. An unknown writer(874) tells the king that

"five commanders of Armenia entered the city of Uesi, Seteni [_of whom we heard above_] commander of ... teni, ?a??adanu of the writer's district, or of Ukkai, Sakuata of ?aniun, Siblia of Alzi, ?utu of Armiraliu, these are their names. With three underlings, they entered Uesi. Now their forces are weak and weakening (?), the forces are (?), the king has set out from ?urushpia, he has come into Kaniun. What the king, my lord, sent me, saying, 'Send scouts,' I have sent a second time. The spies (?) came, these are the words they say, and the spies as yet have not started."

The whole tone of the letter and the fact that Ashur-ri?ua above acknowledges having received an order to send scouts make us think he is the unknown writer. But, of course, the king may have sent the order to other commanders as well. In an unpublished text we read that the commander of Uesi was slain.

The references to ?urushpia are also significant. We know that this city was once the stronghold of Sardaurri, King of Armenia, and was doubtless still attached to its old rulers. We have a letter written by Upa??ir-Bel, doubtless the Eponym of B.C. 706, and governor of Amedi. He writes in the same style as Sennacherib and Ashur-ri?ua:(875)

Concerning news of Armenia I sent scouts, they have returned; thus they say: "The commander of that district, and the deputy-commander with him, in ?arda, the district of the _sukallu_, keep ward from city to city as far as ?urushpia; weakness is written down, the messenger of Argista has come,"

and so on. The rest does not concern us here. But another letter,(876) evidently from the same writer, gives news from Armenia and a message from Argista, which the writer says he has answered, as the king directed. It also states that the commander keeps ward in ?arda. ?urushpia is also mentioned on fragments not yet published.

Other fragments occur which clearly belong to this group. Thus(877) a letter from an unknown writer names Ashur-ri?ua in connection with k.u.mai, Babutai, Ukkai, and Uliai, and narrates something about ten commanders.

The loss of nine commanders in Armenia, at one time, is the subject of a very fragmentary letter,(878) but it is not clear that it refers to this period.

To the same period seems to belong another letter of Sennacherib, probably to his father Sargon.(879) It begins with precisely the same formulae of greeting in the first seven lines. Then it goes on:

The chieftains of the land of k.u.mu?ai (Commagene) have come and brought tribute. Seven mule mares apiece they brought and tribute with the mules. The chieftains are in the house appointed for the k.u.mu?ai. They are fed at their own expense, they would journey on to Babylon [where Sargon evidently is]. They have brought _akla_ (?), they have received them here. As we have told the king, my lord, let him send quickly. They brought cloth and fruit each of them. The factors say that we have received seven talents from them, that the k.u.mu?ai are not contented, saying, "Our produce is reduced, let them bring the king's weavers and let them take charge." Let the king, my lord, send word to whom they shall a.s.sign them.

(M797) Another letter-fragment only preserves the opening address.(880) Another very defective letter(881) with the same introduction refers to Dur-Sargon,

"in the district of Kurban are excessively great floods, they go on."

We know from another source that this was the case, in B.C. 708, when the floods came into the lower part of the city, and the tribute could not be levied in the district.(882) Yet another fragment, opening in precisely the same manner, refers to a certain Nabu-e?ir-napshate and the city of Kal?u.(883) Here also we have too little left to make out any connected sense.

VI. Letters From The Last Year Of Shamash-Shum-Ukin

(M798) Another period on which the letters throw considerable light is the close of the reign of Shamash-shum-ukin in Babylon. This was coeval with the suppression of a great combined rebellion against the rule of a.s.syria.

From the historical texts of Ashurbanipal's reign we know the names of many of the actors in that great struggle. They are frequently referred to in the letters. Already G. Smith, in his _History of a.s.surbanipal_, 1871, had used the information given by some of the letters. This was utilized by C. P. Tiele in his _Babylonisch-a.s.syrische Geschichte_.

(M799) But much more may be made out when the letters are fully available.

Thus Nabu-bel-shumate, grandson of Merodach Baladan II., had been made King of the Sealands on the death of his uncle, Na'id-Marduk. When the revolt broke out, Ashurbanipal sent a.s.syrian troops to help Nabu-bel-shumate to repel Shamash-shum-ukin. During the long process of suppressing the revolt, it is clear that Nabu-bel-shumate conceived the idea of rea.s.serting the independence of the Sealands. He endeavored to gain the alliance of the a.s.syrian garrison, some he imprisoned, others may have joined him. On the fall of Babylon, in B.C. 648, he saw that Ashurbanipal's vengeance must overtake him, so he fled to Elam. He took with him a certain number of a.s.syrians, evidently to hold as hostages.

Ashurbanipal had a long score to settle with Elam. He began by demanding of Indabigash the surrender of Nabu-bel-shumate and the a.s.syrians with him. But before the amba.s.sador could deliver the message, Indabigash had been succeeded by Umma.n.a.ldash. Nabu-bel-shumate was evidently a difficult person to lay hands upon. At any rate, Umma.n.a.ldash's land was invaded and devastated. But when the a.s.syrian troops were gone, he again returned to his capital, Madaktu, and Nabu-bel-shumate joined him there. Again Ashurbanipal sent to demand his surrender. Rather than further embarra.s.s his host, and quite hopeless of protection or pardon, Nabu-bel-shumate ordered his armor-bearer to slay him. Umma.n.a.ldash attempted to conciliate Ashurbanipal by sending the body of the dead man and the head of the armor-bearer to him. Such is the story as Ashurbanipal tells it in his great cylinder inscription.

(M800) The letters make no less than fifty distinct references to him. The officers write many bad things of Nabu-bel-shumate, and it is plain that he had been a very vicious enemy. We have a number of letters from a writer of his name, who may well be the King of the Sealands before he broke with a.s.syria. Thus we read:(884)

(M801)

To the king, my lord, thy servant Nabu-bel-shumate. Verily peace be to the king, my lord; may Ashur, Nabu, and Marduk be gracious to the king, my lord. Cheer of heart, health of body, and length of days may they grant the king, my lord. As I hear, the King of Elam is deposed and many cities have rebelled against him, saying, "We will not come into thy hands." According to what I hear I have sent to the king, my lord. I have inhabited the Sealands from the time of Na'id-Marduk. The brigands and fugitives who came to the Gurunammu, five hundred of them, did Sin-bala?su-i?bi, when he caught them, lay in fetters and hand over to Natanu, the King of the U??ai, their ruler, whom the king had given them.

Then come a number of defective lines, from which not much can be made out. But there can be little doubt that this letter was written in the days when policy still kept him faithful to a.s.syria. There was another Nabu-bel-shumate, whose letters(885) begin quite differently, and refer to horses and troops. There is even a third, a _?epu_ of Birati, named by Tab-?il-esharra,(886) who was concerned in repelling a raid on Sippara, and is named in a contract of B.C. 686.(887) It is just possible that the second and third are the same man. But while we must exercise care in a.s.signing the references of the letters, we have a guide in the historical connection.

(M802) Bel-ibni was a very important officer who held the position of a _manzaz pani_, having the right of access to the royal presence and a place near the king on all state occasions. He is probably to be distinguished from the Bel-ibni set on the throne of Babylon by Sennacherib in B.C. 702. He is a frequent writer to the king during this period. Ashurbanipal placed him over the Sealand after the flight of Nabu-bel-shumate. The king's proclamation to the Sealanders(888) reads thus:

(M803)

Order of the king to the Sealanders, elders and juniors, my servants: My peace be with you. May your hearts be cheered. See now how my full gaze is upon you. And before the sin of Nabu-bel-shumate, I appointed over you the courtesan of Menanu.

Now I have sent Bel-ibni, my _dubau_, to go before you. Whatever order is good in my opinion which is [written] in my letters [obey].

Then after some defaced lines, he threatens that if they do not obey,

"I will send my troops."

This order is dated the fifth of Iyyar, B.C. 650. By that date Nabu-bel-shumate had fled. It is not easy to say whether Ashurbanipal had appointed a lady, once the _?arimtu_, or courtesan, of Menanu, as ruler of the Sealand before Nabu-bel-shumate, or whether he means to call Nabu-bel-shumate by this opprobrious epithet. Who is meant by Menanu is hard to see, unless it be the Elamite King, Umman-minana, the contemporary of Sennacherib, who had protected the family of Merodach-Baladan II.

(M804) We have a fragmentary letter(889) from the King of Elam, Umma.n.a.ldash, to Ashurbanipal, which says:

Letter of Umma.n.a.ldash, King of Elam, to Ashurbanipal, King of a.s.syria, peace be to my brother. From the beginning, the Martenai [_Elamite name for the Sealanders, from Marratu, __"__the Salt Marshes__"_] have been sinners against thee. Nabu-bel-shumate came from there. The crossing of the land ... over against Elam I broke down, [to keep him out]. Thou hast sent letters [_or forces?_]

saying, "Send Nabu-bel-shumate." I will seize Nabu-bel-shumate and will send him to thee. The Martenai whom from the beginning Nabu-bel-shumate brought us ... they are people who came by water from ... it entered into their minds and they came, they broke into La?iru and there they are. I will send to their border my servants against them and by their hands I will send those who have sinned against us. If they are in my land, I will send them by their hands; and, if they have crossed the river, do thou [take them].

The rest of the letter is hard to make out. It was dated on the twenty-sixth of Tammuz, in the Eponymy of Nabu-shar-a?eshu, probably B.C.

645.

(M805) Bel-ibni had a great hatred for Nabu-bel-shumate. For the latter had years before laid hands upon Bel-ibni's eldest brother, Belshunu, and put him in prison. This we learn from a letter to the king,(890) which, although the name of the writer is lost, is clearly from Bel-ibni. The first few lines yield no connected sense, but name Umman-s.h.i.+mash and the n.o.bles with him:

When they a.s.sembled they spoke evil words against their king. From those days they kept on plundering his land. Before the forces of the lord of kings, my lord, want, like a pestilence, entered the land. When the forces of the lord of kings, my lord, have arrived at Dur-ili, they shall not take a holiday; that smitten of Bel, accursed of the G.o.ds, Nabu-bel-shumate, and the sinners with him, they shall capture and give them to the lord of kings, my lord.

And the a.s.syrians, as many as are with them, they shall release and send to the lord of kings, my lord. Belshunu, my eldest brother, a servant of the lord of kings, my lord, now four years ago, did that smitten of Bel, that accursed of the G.o.ds, Nabu-bel-shumate, when he revolted, bind hand and foot with bronze and imprison him.

The rest is obscure, but names ?almu-shar-i?bi as sending news to the palace.

(M806) The Belshunu here named is probably the Eponym of B.C. 648, who was then governor of ?indana, who also dates a letter from the king to Umman-s.h.i.+mash, which names Bel-ibni. There are over fifty references in the letters to Bel-ibni, most of which directly connect him with these events. His duties in command of the Sealand brought him into relations with the many Elamites, who in the frequent revolutions in that land, fled for refuge to the a.s.syrians. Here is one of the best of his letters to the king:(891)

(M807)