A Stela of Adad-nirari III and Nergal-ereš from Tell al Rimah

A Stela of Adad-nirari III and Nergal-ereš from Tell al RimahAuthor(s): Stephanie PageSource: Iraq, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Autumn, 1968), pp. 139-153Published by: British Institute for the Study of IraqStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4199848 .

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I39

A STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERES

FROM TELL AL RIMAH

By STEPHANIE PAGE

A STELA of Adad-nirari III was found during the eventful season of Spring I 1967 at Tell al Rimah. It stood in position inside the cella of a Late Assyrian

shrine, set beside the podium, a placing that is unparalleled among the find spots of other royal stelae.' It was inscribed on the face with twenty-one lines, of which nine had been deliberately erased in antiquity; the writing ran across the skirt of the king, who was sculptured upon it slightly less than life-size, but not over the frame or sides of the stone (see Plate XXXVIII). The stela is I '30 m. high and measures o'69 m. in width at the base; it is parabolic in shape. It is made from a single slab of hard grey, crystalline " Mosul marble ", in an excellent state of preservation. No traces of paint were visible on the surface as it was unearthed.2

In the same shrine were found two pairs of lion-heads made of a softer, lighter limestone (see Plate XXXVII). They had served as column-bases; the tongues were extended and sculptured as the blades of daggers, and these sword-tongues formed the lower part of the column-base with the heads above. The top of each head was round and flat to hold the column itself. One pair stood in position at the door jambs of the antecella guarding the entrance to the cella; one of a second pair was found lying, out of its original context, behind the stela in the cella, and its twin was also out of context, lying outside the main doorway to the antecella. Both pairs had been inscribed, but the inscription had been very thoroughly erased. It began on the band just below the ears and continued downwards, probably to the end of the blade-tongue; it proved impossible to make an accurate estimate of the length of the inscription. The writing covered both the sides and the front. All that could be read was the phrase bu-kdr dA-nim on the top band of one lion, but this was sufficient to suggest that the inscription was the same as that on the stela. It is just possible, however, that it omitted an account of Adad-nirari's titles and victories in the West. The erasure of the divine invocation, if not of the

I The stela of Esarhaddon at Zincirli stood in the city gate (F. Von Luschan, Ausgrabwsgen in Sendscherli, I, p. iI). The monolith of AMur-na~ir-pal II stood in a corridor in the N.W. palace at Nimrud (D. Oates, Iraq 14 (1952), 24). A stela of A??ur-na?ir-pal II stood at the entrance to the Ninurta temple at Nimrud (A. H. Layard, Nineveb and Babylon, 351 and C. J.

Gadd, Stones of Assyria p. I29). Most other stelae have been found out of context, or excavated in such a way that the context was obscure.

2 I am grateful to Professor D. J. Wiseman, Mr. David Oates and Professor R. Ellis for their help with this article.



140 STEPHANIE PAGE

king's name too, was a deed of sacrilege that was avoided in the selective obliteration on the stela.

Comparable monumental inscriptions that definitely date from Adad- nirari III's reign are: the Saba'a stela,3 found west of Sinjar, dedicated to Adad and set up by Nergal-eres, governor of Rasappa; the Calah Slab;4 a pavement slab5 and two statues of NabCu from Nimrud;6 a fragment of a stela from the Khabur area,7 found by Rassam at Tell Arban,8 and a fragment of a stela of unknown provenance.9 Other sources for the reign are scarce; there are the classical stories of Semiramis (Sammu-ramat in Akkadian) related by Hero- dotus ;10 she was the mother of Adad-nirari III, and it was to Semiramis and her reigning son that BeI-tarsi-iluma governor of Calah dedicated the two statues of Nabfu. Direct historical information on clay comes from the Eponym Chronicle11 and from a broken entry in the Synchronistic History.12

The importance of the Rimah stela lies not only in the fine sculpture that is carved upon it, but also in new details of history. It appears to cover the same major event as the Saba'a stela and the Calah Slab, namely the taking of tribute from the king of Aram at Damascus; but in addition it mentions Ia'asu of Samaria; it contains the earliest known cuneiform reference to Samaria by that name, and it brings new evidence to the problem of Semiramis and her possible co-regency with her son. It features Nergal-eres, a man whose importance was suspected from the Saba'a stela; his fame is now confirmed on the Rimah stela, where his name has almost been obliterated by a deliberate hand. He describes a series of new settlements that have been inaugurated in his province, peopled with subject population who may have been transported during the course of the Syrian campaign. The stela also provides the Late Assyrian name of Tell al Rimah, which is Zamahi or Zamahu; no occur- rence of the name in the nominative has yet been found, therefore the final vowel is uncertain. A caution must be added: that if the stela originally stood in another town and was moved from that town to Tell al Rimah, Zamahu/ Zamahi is the name of that town and not the name of Tell al Rimah.

The divine symbols and their identity

The divine symbols that are sculptured on the stone are arranged in two groups, in front of and behind the king's head (see Plate XXXVIII). This is different from the grouping of symbols on the stelae of Shalmaneser 111,13

3 E. Unger, " Reliefstele Adadniraris III aus Saba'a und Semiramis," PKOM 2 (19I6).

" IR. 3 S. I and E. Schrader, KB, I 90.

6 1R.35.3 and KB, i88.

'IR.35.2 and KB, I92.

7 BM.I3x124 to be published by A. R. Millard and H. Tadmor with a photograph.

8 H. Rassam, Asshur and the land of Nimrod, p. 3 I 3.

9 BM. i5020. It measures approximately IO x 8 inches. See also n. 58.

10 Herodotus History Bk. X ? 814.

11 RLA sub Eponymen. 12"' 34, pl. 41.

Is BM.nx8884.



STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERES FROM TELL AL RIMAH 141

Shamshi-Adad V'4 and Agsur-nasir-pal II," since on all those stelae there are fewer symbols, and they are all set in front of the king's head. The division of symbols before and behind the king's head is found on the Arban stela fragment'6 although the latter are missing; and on the Saba'a stela, although there the division makes no attempt at symmetry.

Behind the king's head are: an eight-pointed disk or star which is often held to be Ishtar's symbol, but which more probably belongs to Shamash; the crescent moon of Sin and the seven dots of the Seven Gods (Sibitti). In front of the king's head are: the stylus of Nabiu:, the marru or spade of Marduk, and the double-forked lightning of Adad, all three standing on pedestals that have two steps on the right-hand side (four of the symbols on the Saba'a stela stand on triple-stepped pedestals).'7 Above them are the winged disk of Assur and a horned, star-studded helmet topped by a fleur-de-lys, which, as in the Kassite period, represents Anu, Enlil and Ea; perhaps here Anu alone as the father of Adad in the inscription.

The Royal Figure

The king's dress is in most respects very closely paralleled on the stela of Shamshi-Adad V.18 His robe is not the commoner, elaborate type with diagonal draping and fringes on all the edges, but a plainer garment with crossed straps at the front. He wears a flat-topped crown with a knob on top and with ribbons falling over both shoulders; a heavy pendant earring and rosette- bracelets; he carries a mace with a tassel on the end, held at an angle different from that of Shamshi-Adad V. He wears the same Maltese cross hung around his neck, in contrast to a necklace of several little divine emblems worn by both Shalmaneser III and Assur-nasir-pal on their stelae.'9 In addition the Rimah figure has a belt ornamented with a lotus-like design.20 A major dif- ference between the Rimah stela and all the other royal stelae cited is: that the king on this stela is shown in truer profile, for his left shoulder is hidden by his body.

Tran,sliteration (see Plate XXXIX)

i. ana dAdad beli .ur-bi-e etel ildani URU-ri bu-kar dA-nim e-dif-fia-4 ra-lub-bi 2. siri gd-gal famde u ersitim mu-Iad-Za-nin nub!i a-ib 4Za-ma-hi bili rab6 bdli-Jd

14 BM.xx8897.

15 The Kurkh monolith (plate I in: A:xyrian Scaulp- urets in the British Museum from Shalmaneser III to

Sensmherib) and the stela from the Ninurta templc at Nimnud (see note I).

16 See note 7.

17 The triple lightening on the Arban stela stands on a pedestal that is stepped on both sides, as are the

pedestals for the emblems of Nabui and Marduk on the stela of Bel-harran-bel-u*ur.

"I See note 14.

"I E. D. Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods, 113.

20 Cf. the belts of officials on the Carchemish reliefs; for a good photograph see E. Akurgal, The Art of the Hittites, pl. II9.

(19214) C



142 STEPHANIE PAGE

3* "Adad-nirari sarru dan-nu Yar4 kiJJati Jar4 muLAJ-Jur apal "Sam-fi-dAdad Jar4 kilfati far4 m`Af-fur apal mdSul-ma-nu-aJarid Jar4 kib-rat arba'i

4. "narkabdti sabi kariJi lu ad-ki ana "tuHat-te alaka lu aq-bi ina iJtit Jatti . dmAmurruKI rndHat-te a-na si-hir-ti-Jd ina Jipi-ia lu 4-Jak-niJ biltu ma-da-tu

6. a-na arkat u4-me Wli-J-nu lu 4-kin 2 lim biltu kaspu i lim biltu er4 2 lim biltu partillu

7. 3 limn lu-bil-ti bir-me u ",`kite ma-da-tu la "'Ma-ri'i la 'Imeri-Jd im-hur 8. ma-da-tu Jd "'Ia-'a-su Sa-me-ri-na-a-a m'Sur-a-a xSi-du-na-a-a 9. im-hur ana tam-tim rabite Id fli-me d?am-i lu a-lik sa-lam bili?ti-ia

io. ina 41Ar-ma-di la qabal tam-tim lu-u aZ-qu-pu ana '"Lab-na-ni i I. lu e-li nguJiJri i me 'le-ri-ni dan-nu-te hi-li-ib-ti ekalli ekurrdti-ia

I 2. lu ak-kis ma-da-te sd Iarrdni Id 'Na-'i-ri kald-1-nu lu-u im-hur 13. ina u4-me-J4-ma a-na 'uNergal-ereJ amlld-kin mtRa-sa-pi mJsLa-ki-e 4. "Sir-qu? ["JAn-[at] "'Su-hi x x x (x) is?-bat? man-Za-Zu Ii? x x x (x)

I 5 . li aq-bi lD,xr-dInanna 1 2 4tkap-ra-ni-14 JlKdr-dSin 0 o 4kap-ra-ni-Id i 6. aDir-EN- x 3 3 ukap-ra-ni-i4 ̀Dzfr-AJ-Jur 20 zokap-ra-ni-J4 JlDir- [1ndNer]gal-eres 17. 33 41kap-ra-ni-J4 "Dfir-dMarduk 40 4`kap-ra-ni-4 "Til?M-nAdad-nirari i8. i me 26 kap-ra-ni-J4 Dir-EN?-KuR-Sa;?-an ?-ga-ri z8 alkap-ra-ni-I ina

M'UA-.Za-al?-li? I9 4Dfir-'"Adad-nirari I 5 4kap-ra-ni-fd ina ',4'La-ki-e 1 dAdad I 4 kap-ra-ni-d ina

'Qat-ni 20. naphar 3 me 3I aldni ERI.ME? Ia mNergal-erel ina Zi-kir bili-Id is-ba-tu-ma

e-pu-J4 2 i. Id madlumi an-nu-ti iltin luma i-pa-li-tu-ma ildni rabdti it-Zi-iI li-kil-mU-u.

List of ideograms in order of appearance

DIS ana A aplu dI[N dAdad MAS alaredu EN bieu LIMMU arba'i NIR.GAL etella GISGIGIRMES ifnarkabdli DINGIR.MES ildni ERIM.HA.MES rdbi MAH ?fsru KI.KALxBAD.MES kardli AN-c Jami DU-ka alaka KI-limn erstiitn i-et i/itl

HL.NUN nubJiu MU.AN.NA Ia/lu GAL-e rabi KURMAR.TUKI1 mJtAmurru

mioERIN.GAB mAdad-nirari GIR.II.MES l-

SLY kislatu GO.UN bilut

21 I am most grateful to Christopher J. Dalley for taking excellent photographs of the erased inscription, which were of great help in reconstructing the text. A series is shown on Plates XL-XLI.



PLATE XXXIX

A Al -L A

JL iL

AL

A"

ALM

'UAL

iL

AL

A A

AL 6.

JL A,

JL

ib.

k L.-

A I JL I A,

A,,k

e A.L.L

A, JL

-AL A, AL

14 4

LL I A

X L A,

A, -41 'LA, A, A

LO N (19214) C2



I43 STEPHANIE PAGE

EGIR arkalu 8.KUR.MES ekurrdli

UGU iei SAR4.MES-ni Jarrd

KL).BABBAR kaspm DC.MES kakd

URUDU erg mdPALIL.KANM mdNergal-ereJ

AN.BAR parZillu BAD dine

TIJGKAD subxkifi Meg Inanw, Iflar

KURANSE-M mdtim&i-.14 d30 dSin

GAL-te rabfie dAMAR.UTU dMarduk

EN-ti bel/ti PAB nap ane

MURI3B qablu URU.MES-ni aldid

CG19R fgufiri MIU.MES Jumi

L.GAL ekallu l-en if/in

Translation

To Adad, the greatest lord, hero of the gods, mighty one?, first-born son of Anu, who alone is fiery, the lofty irrigator of heaven and earth, who provides the rain that brings abundance, who dwells in Zamahi/u, the great lord, his lord:

I, Adad-nirari the mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, heir of Shamshi-Adad the king of the world, king of Assyria, heir of Shalmaneser the king of the four regions, mobilised chariots, troops and camps, and ordered a campaign against the Hatti land. In (my) first year I made the land of Amurru and the Hatti land in its entirety kneel at my feet; I imposed tribute and regular tax for future days upon them. He (sic) received two thousand talents of silver, one thousand talents of copper, two thousand talents of iron, three thousand multi-coloured garments and (plain) linen garments as tribute from Mari' of the land of Damascus. He received the tribute of Ia'asu the Samaritan, of the Tyrian (ruler) and of the Sidonian (ruler). I marched to the great sea where the sun sets, and erected a stela (" image ") of my royal self in the city of Arvad which is in the middle of the sea. I went up the Lebanon mountains and cut down timbers: one hundred mature cedars, material needed for my palace and temples. He received tributes from all the kings of the Nairi land.

At that time I ordered Nergal-eres, the governor of Rasapa, Lake, Sirqu?, Anat, Suhi and x to ...... Du1r-Inanna with its I 2villages, Kar-Sin with its io villages, Diir-EN-x with its 33 villages, Duir-Aggur with its 20 villages, Diir-Nergal-eres with its 33 villages, Diir-Marduk with its 40 villages, Tell?- Adad-nirari with its i26 villages, DIr-EN-KUR-Sa?-an-ga-ri with its z8 villages in the district of Azalli?, Diur-Adad-nirari with its IS villages in the district of Lake, the city of Adad with its I4 villages in the district of Qatni, a total of 331 towns of subject peoples which Nergal-ereg founded and built in the name of his lord.

Whoever shall blot out a single name from among these names, may the great gods fiercely destroy him.



STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERES FROM TELL AL RIMAH I44

Philological notes 1. i. The Saba'a stela also begins with ana (DIg) which is shown on E. Unger's

copy, but not in his transliteration. The Rimah text maintains the oblique or dative case in the epithets of Adad whereas the Saba'a stela reverts to the nominative or vocative.

uRu-ri: this appears to be an error. Possibly URU iS intended as part of SILIG, the ideogram for !agapfru or sagapuiru, meaning " mighty ", with -ri as phonetic complement. Sagapiru is used to describe Adad in KA V.I7I.7; and Ninurta is given the same epithet by ?am3ni-Adad V in IR.29 line 2. For two ways of writing the sign 9ILIG, see MSL.III, p. II9 and I46.

1. 2. MAH: sfru has been chosen as likely among several possible equivalents (see A. Deimel SL. sub voce).

di'b 41Zamahi: unless the stela was found out of its original context, Zamahi or Zamahu is likely to be the name of Tell al Rimah in the Neo-Assyrian period, and the temple in which the stela stood was dedicated to Adad.

mu!aZanin for mu&aZnin: for other examples of the overhanging vowel at this period, see GAG.i8d (Neo-Assyrian letters) and K. Deller, Or. 26 (1957) p. I48 (Assyrian monumental inscriptions).

. 4. ERIM.HA.MES: The plural determinatives are also doubled in line 5: GIROIL.ME9.

1. 6-7. The quantities of tribute paid by Mari' vary enormously in the three sources; the explanation may lie in the differences between the stelae: that the Calah Slab is a metropolitan summary of events whereas the Saba'a stela is a very provincial work of which the text may have been composed sooner after the events that it describes.

Calab Slab Saba'a stela Rimab stela silver 2,300 (biltu) IOO 2,000

gold 20 100 + ?

iron 5,000 6o (commodity illegible) 2,000

garments no number specified - 3,000 bronze 33,000 copper - 1,000

1. 7. mMari': for the identity and title of this king, see discussion below, p. 149. int imeri-3r: the Saba'a stela has 'Dimafqi; the Calah Slab, as if to dis-

tinguish between land and city, has both m"imeri-fw and lDimaJqi. 1. 8. Ia'asu: this is probably Jehoash rather than his father Jehoahaz; see

argument that Hebrew J changes to Akkadian s, whereas Z does not change (p. 148 below).



I45 STEPHANIE PAGE

m"USamerinaia: this is the earliest, cuneiform, contemporary mention of the name Samaria, which was always called B&t-Humri by Shalmaneser III. Sargon H, much later, refers to it as 'fSamerina. M. F. Unger inferred from the lack of early references to Samaria by that name that Bit-Humri was the official name for both city and country, Shomeron its popular designation, at the end of the ninth century. This new evidence shows that the two were equal alternatives.22

1. 9. imbur . . . alik: the change of subject between third and first persons singular is characteristic of many Assyrian royal inscriptions, e.g. Annals of Tukulti-Ninurta II (V. Scheil) obv. 52-54 et passim.

idI-me: this could be read as an ideogram SILIM with -me as phonetic complement. However it seems directly comparable, if taken entirely phonetically, to Itul-me in the annals of Tiglath-Pileser III.13I and Shalmaneser III Obelisk 27. But to read ril-me here is to assert a value Aiil for DI that does not occur elsewhere outside the name dji-ma-nu, according to Von Soden.23

. io. azqupu: for the phrase .salma Zaqdpu, to " plant " a statue or stela, cf. the monolith inscription of Shalmaneser II col. 1i.1o: "Atalur asar salmu la AN-birbi zaqpu alik sa/ma ki .Salmi-!U UreZiZ.24

The subjunctive azqupu appears to be an error, since the verb is not subordinated.

1. i i. 'gu.ire is in apposition to i me iverini dannfte and is therefore plural in effect. It is either a collective singular here, or ME9 after 'UR has been omitted accidentally.

1. I2. DU. The second vertical in this sign is incomplete; the stone-mason has almost written the sign NI before realizing his mistake.

1. 13. Nergal-ere!: spelt dPALIL-KAM as on the Saba'a stela. 4Ra.api: as governor of Rasapa, he held the limu office in 803 and in 775 B.c., as the sixth eponym official after the king in both reigns.25

I. i5. Dir-Inanna or Dfir-Ishtar: most unlikely to be the same place as the Dur-Igtar that is mentioned in the inscription of Sennacherib at Bavian, and which is thought to be North of Nineveh, perhaps on the R. Khosr.

12 41kaprdni-Jd: all the numbers in this text, which were reconstructed with the legible total in mind as well as from traces and spacing, are open to correction.

Il M. F. Unger, Israel and the Aramaeans of Damascus, 6i and 64.

"1 W. Von Soden, Das Akkadiscbe Syllabar, Acda Orientalia 27 (1948), 77.

24 K. Balkan, Letter of Kintg Anum-/irbi of Afama to Varsbama of Kanisb, 3S.

"b R.LA H, 420-422.



STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERES FROM TELL AL RIMAH I46

The phrase 'x (adi) 41kaprdni-sw& is paralleled in the annals of Assurnasir-pal II: AKA p. 327 col. II 89: 4Matiatu adi fikaprdni-3u; and on the Kurkh monolith obv. line 44. It is also used by Tukulti- Ninurta II (V. Scheil, Annals, p. 14 line 49 and note 49, p. 36): mafkandte la "O'Utu'a adi 4lkaprani-runu. Halsu is similarly used with the URU determinative, e.g. E. Weidner, AfO zi (1966), p. 40.

1. i8. Two URU determinatives are omitted in this line.

Dz7r-EN?-KuR-Sa?-an?-ga-ri. The sign EN could also be read as RI. If the reading Sangari is correct, this place appears to be named after Sangara, who was king of Carchemish during the reigns of Assur- nasir-pal II and Shalmaneser III. The name has no determinative, however; and it would be unusual for the Assyrians to continue using the name of a king who had resisted them; therefore this is a very tentative reading.

Azalli: the reading of the signs is not certain. Azalli/Izalla has been identified fairly convincingly with the area of Mardin and north-west of Mardin, by E. Forrer (Provinzeinteilung, 22-23) who combines the evidence of JADD II 742 obv. in which "'Barzanista is stated to be in Izalla (spelt KUR.NI.NI.LI) and the evidence of the annals of Aggur- nasir-pal (LAR I, ?480) in which the king marches westwards from the upper Tigris to Barzanistun through the pass of Mt. Amadani, which Forrer suggests is modem Mt. Metina, and on to the city Amedi and Mt. KaNiari which is generally considered to be the modern Tur Abdin. The exact location remains tentative because there are so few fixed points in the argument; but it seems definite that Azalla was in mountainous country and north of the upper Khabur. Forrer supposes that it belonged to Harran province because he connects it with Huzitina, but Azalla and Huzirina are not mentioned together in any text. In any case, Azalla lies outside the area generally considered to be Rasappa province as defined on the Saba'a stela. If the reading and interpretation of Sangari are correct, Azalla includes the westem border of Harran where it must have touched on the territory of Carchemish at its height under king Sangara. There are two possible conclusions, if the reading Azalla is correct here. Either Nergal-ereg co-operated with the governor of Harran in the resettlement scheme; or Azalla was included in Rasappa province, and Rasappa comprised a larger area than was previously supposed.

1. 16-19. The fact that two of the towns are named after Adad-nirari and one after Nergal-eres, and that all are of the simple D&r-x type, indicates that all are new settlements.



147 STEPHANIE PAGE

1. I9. URU dIM: this is unlikely to be the full name of a city, since it means only " the city of Adad ". Perhaps it should be read d`<Djr>dAdad. Qatni: for the position of Qatni on the R. Khabur, see LAR I, ?373 and 443.

1. 2o. alani ERI.MES. It is not certain whether ERLMES is a noun in apposition to URU.MES or a noun in a genitival relationship, or an adjective. But it probably refers to subject peoples who were transported and " settled" in the new towns.

ina Zikir beli-txi. The deference implied in this phrase leaves the reader in no doubt about the public loyalties of Nergal-eres.

isbatu-ma epuiu: sabdtu here appears to mean " to inaugurate, plan ", even "to allot an area for a building scheme ". Epflu may include both building and administration.

1. 2I. !d: used as an indefinite relative pronoun without antecedent.

The date of the co-regency and the campaign to Damascus Adad-nirari Ill took tribute from Damascus in his ffth year according to the

Saba'a stela,26 his first year according to the Rimah stela. The reasons for thinking that each stela describes a different event seem trifling: that there are discrepancies in numerical quantities of tribute, and that the Rimah text mentions Ia'asu of Samaria whereas the Saba'a text does not. If the same campaign is recorded in both texts, the evidence for a five-year co-regency with Semiramis is clear. Adad-nirari's father Shamshi-Adad V died in 8IO B.C., the co-regency lasted from ho-8o6, and Adad-nirari took tribute from Damascus in 806.27

However, the eponym chronicle Chi does not mention that Adad-nirari went to Damascus in that year.28 In 8o6 he marched against the Mannai, and not until 802 did he venture as far as the Mediterranean coast, ana mubbi tamtim. The Rimah text says that he reached the sea in 8o6, for he set up a stela in Arvad, ta qabal tdmtim. The sources as they stand appear to be irreconcilable without a major emendation, but temptation to emend will be resisted while we examine the evidence.

Both E. Unger29 and A. Poebel30 have discussed the difficulty of reconciling the eponym chronicle with the Saba'a stela. Unger's explanation was that the chronicle was unreliable, and he quotes the thirtieth year of Shalmaneser III as an example, for which the chronicle gives Mannai as the goal, whereas the Black Obelisk gives Parsua. Without entering into a discussion of the exact

26Saba'a stela line iI: in4a IMU.5.KAM ina kussf farriti rabi! uaibu-ma. I take rabi! as meaning " as full regent " or " as one who is of age " with E. Unger, against A. Poebel's almost meaningless " majestically " in JNES 2 (1943), 8:, since the ycar stated in the Rimah text confirms Unger's argument.

27 See A. Poebel, JNES 2 (1943) for exact dating of this reign and its eponyms.

28 RLA II, p. 428 ff. Il E. Unger, PKOM 2 (i9i6), 17.

30 A. Poebel, JNES 2 (1943), 82-84.



STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERES FROM TELL AL RIMAH 148

positions of Mamnai and Parsua at that time, it appears that this evidence of unreliability is little more than a quibble, and that more evidence is necessary before one can discard safely the chronicle's testimony. Poebel's explanation was that the ffth year of the Saba'a stela is to be counted from 8o6 B.C. when Semiramis ceased to rule as co-regent; therefore the account given on the Saba'a stela dates from 8oI B.C. He explains the fact that the entry in Cbi ana mubbi tdmtim is in fact for the previous year 802, by insisting that Adad-nirari ordered the campaign a year in advance. As if he realized the weakness of this argument, he propounded an alternative explanation: that two campaigns took place in 8o6, and that the eponym chronicle reported one of them only, which is plausible if Adad-nirari led only the expedition to Mannai in person. If this is so, the eponym chronicle is accurate but misleading, as is the use of the royal first person on the monumental inscriptions. So far, then, there is one date, 8o6, given by the Rimah stela and the Saba'a text together, and a different date, 802, from the evidence of Cbi, for a second Mediterranean campaign.

Ia'asu of Samaria

The discussion of Ia'asu and his identity is one both of chronology and of phonetics. The first link between Israelite and Assyrian dating is the battle of Karkar, securely dated (by eponyms from the eclipse of 763 B.C.) to the year 853, when Ahab opposed Shalmaneser III in the latter's sixth year of reign. The second link is 841, when Jehu opposed the same king in the latter's eighteenth year. Between the two, twelve years elapsed; similarly between Ahab's death and Jehu's accession according to the Old Testament twelve years passed.3' Therefore 84I was the first year of Jehu's reign. Jehu, after twenty-eight years of reign,32 was succeeded by Jehoahaz, whose reign of seventeen years33 thus dates from 814 to 798. (As E. R. Thiele has shown, the year of Jehoahaz' death and Joash's accession was counted twice by contemporary chronologers.34) According to this reckoning, Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, is to be identified with the Ia-'a-su of the Rimah text, since he was king of Israel in Samaria in 8o6 which is the date suggested above for the Rimah stela. But the conclusion cannot rest without an examination of the phonetic evidence.

When a West Semitic or Hebrew word is written in cuneiform Akkadian, there are certain consonantal changes that occur regularly. One of these changes is from Hebrew shin to Akkadian s, as in the following examples, which date from the ninth to seventh centuries B.C.

Sa-mve-ri-na Il:?DU! A-d-si-'i ;V1011 La-ki-su W%t Ur-sa-li-mui Din.,

I cannot find an example where that change does not occur.35

21 II King' 3.I. I' n Kings io.36. " II Kings 13.I.

34 E. R. Theile, JN-ES 3 (I944), 152.

35 See also H. Tadmor, JCS I2 (1958), 39-40.



149 STEPHANIE PAGE

Another regular rule is that the z in a Hebrew word remains t when it is written in Akkadian, in cases where cuneiform is not ambiguous. The za sign can also be read sa, the az sign as.

Ha-(aZ)-Za-at-a-a rT.;t7 Gu-za-na

Ha-za-' -il Ia-u-a-tib

Az-ri-a-u Ha-Za-qi-ia-u r'rpTF

A third piece of evidence is that during Tiglath-Pileser III's reign, king Jehoahaz of Judah was spelt in Akkadian Ia-u-ha-zi.

These three factors are a strong influence against identifying Ia-'a-su on the Rimah stele with Jehoahaz son of Jehu, despite the chronological evidence. The name Jehoash, abbreviated to Joash for both the king of Judah and the king of Israel who bore that name, is therefore a more convincing candidate for Ia'asu. Not only does the sibilant behave according to rule, but also the he rightly disappears in Akkadian, whereas a heth would have stood firm.

Joash was Jehoahaz' son, and he began to rule in Samaria in 798. Therefore a third expedition to Syria-Palestine must be added to those of 8o6 and 802,

which took place either during or after 798 B.C. The amounts of tribute given on the monumental inscriptions therefore may not be directly comparable (see p. i44). But why does the Rimah stela say ina ititt siatti, " in my first year", of a campaign that dates from 798 or later? The answer must be that two or more campaigns are conflated, and the account all referred to the first year of reign, perhaps with the intention of representing failure to break Damascene power in the first year as success that was in fact attained much later, probably after the death of Hazael; perhaps because the king led the early attempts that failed, and a governor led the later attempt that succeeded.

Mari' of Damascus

The inscribed ivory from Arslan Tash36 saying RStn xN'17i shows that Hazael, king of Damascus, had a title (j)NZ-#V. If he held the title as king, it is likely that his son Ben-hadad also held it on becoming monarch. Hazael ruled " all the days of Jehoahaz ",3 which implies that he died either in the same year as Jehoahaz or later. (This verse, like so many, is suspected of corruption by enthusiastic commentators for no compelling reason.38) If la'asu is Joash, Mari' may be either Hazael, or more probably his son Benhadad. Benhadad is chiefly remembered for his failure to keep Israelite territory which his father had won for Damascus, and which the energetic king Joash son of Jehoahaz won back.39 There is no verse in the Old Testament that records either Adad-nirari's intervention in Damascus or tribute given by Joash

36 F. Thureau-Dangin, Arrlan Tash, 13 5- 38. 37 II Kin,gs 13.22.

'l Int. Ciii. Comm,. sub mcoce. " If Kings I37.25.



STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERE? FROM TELL AL RIMAH 1 50

to the Assyrian monarch. One can only guess that, when the Assyrians appeared at the gates of Damascus, perhaps for the third time, intent on breaking the power of the Syrian king, Joash took his chance to side with them by sending a present that was put on record by Assyria as tribute, in order that he might retrieve Israelite territory from Syria while Benhadad was weakened and while the Assyrians were anxious for help in depriving him of lands and power. The presents offered by Samaria, Tyre and Sidon were dependent on the discretion of the individual rulers, on precedent, and on fear of threats, and were not tributes exacted by force.

This new explanation for Joash's power when he retrieved the land from Damascus need not invalidate Pognon's suggestion that the victory of Zakir, king of Hamath and La'ash, over Benhadad and his allies may have enabled Joash to act.40 For there is no hint in the brief Biblical account that the Assyrians actually gave the land to Joash as part of their plan to weaken Damascus.

Nergal-erel Nergal-ereg held the office of limu as governor of the province of Rasappa

twice: in 803 under Adad-nirari III, and in 775 under Shalmaneser IV. Rasappa was at that time one of the largest of the Assyrian provinces. Its governor, from the time of Adad-nirari III until Tiglath-Pileser III, was the first to hold the limu office after the regular five state officials (the king, turtdnu, nagir ekalli, rab-fak;, abarakku and rdkin-mdti). Both E. Unger4l and E. Forrer42 have attempted to define the enormous area of Rasappa province from the information given on the Saba'a stela; Nergal-ereg governed at least from the Khabur River where it joins the Euphrates and Lake to the lower end of the Middle Euphrates at Anat and Siiru, throughout the Jezira that stretches between the Jebel Sinjar and the Euphrates. The chief geographical contribution to be made since those two scholars wrote on the subject is the identification of Apku with Tell Abu Marya,43 which is therefore not Mare.44 Mare may perhaps be identified with Tell Hariri, Mari of the Old Babylonian period, for there are Neo-Assyrian remains there.0 The identification of Nimit-Istar remains unknown." If Azalli is rightly restored in line i 8 of the Rimah text, and if Azalli belonged to the province of Rasappa, Nergal-eres' territory extended West of the R. Khabur, but this is very uncertain.

Not only was Nergal-ereg governor of a huge province and twice holder of the limu office; he also wrote his name on two (and probably more) inscrip-

4? H. Pognon, Inscmptions . . . . de Mossoul, 178. 'I E. Unger, PKOM 2 (1916), 27. ' E. Forrer, ProvinzeinIeilung der Assyrisches Reich,

pp. 13-15. "s F. Stephens, JCS 7 (I9 3), 73 ff. and J. Bottiro,

Semitica I (1948), 25-32. i Erroneously identified by E. Forrer, op. cit., I4.

Both Apku and Mare are governed by Nergal-ereg according to the Saba'a stela, line 23.

4' A. Parrot, Syria i6 (i935), Io. "' The contexts are all fragmentary in Harper 813

and 814, and on the unpublished tablet K.xgz8. I am grateful to Dr. R. D. Bamett of the British Museum for allowing me to look at the latter.



I51 STEPHANIE PAGE

tions that were set up in his territory, and of which the king was nominally the author, the earliest example known of the phenomenon. His example was followed, but clearly on a larger and more dangerous scale, by Bdl-harran- bel-usur, the nagir ekalli of Shalmaneser IV and Tiglath-pileser III, whose stamping-ground was Tell Abta, only 25 km. south of Tell al Rimah,47 whose bid for self-expression is witnessed in the stela that records his own building works, and which is modelled along the same lines as royal building inscriptions from capital cities.

Equally striking is the case of Shamshi-ilu, turtfnu of Shalmaneser IV, who inscribed two monumental lions that stood at the entrance to Til Barsip, Kar-Shulman-asharid.48 Shamshi-ilu went so far as to omit the king's name altogether, inserting his own name, rank and official titles instead; and he inscribed an account of campaigns that he personally conducted against Urartu, embroidering the narrative with poetic hyperbole and his own bravado. Shamash-res-usur, who was governor of Suhi at a later period (the reign is not known),49 also wrote inscriptions and used his own name and the first person singular, describing his own lust for fame as the motive for introducing bee-keeping into his province. Of these men, Samsi-ilu was the only one whose name and titles were deliberately erased.

The evidence seems to show that the governors of the western provinces displayed a tendency to independence during and after the reign of Adad-nirari III. The reason may be that central government with its control over federal administrators was weak; that the king was sustaining military defeats, and encouraged his governors to take the initiative at a time when Urartu was growing strong, infiltrating mto contiguous countries and disrupting Assyria's trade-routes. Such encouragement was known at the end of Shalmaneser III's reign, when the king appointed his turtan Daian-A-sur as leader of at least four annual campaigns in place of himself, and publicly admitted the fact in his inscriptions. Anonymity was not an absolute rule for governors who set up local monuments in the West and there is no evidence that Nergal-ereg over- stepped the limits imposed by royal authority on setting up the Rimah stela, for he piously relates his plans for new settlements in the name of his lord (line 20).

New Settlements in Rasappa Province The erased part of the inscription (Plates XL-XLI) deals with new settlements

planned and put into practice in various parts of the province, or with old settlements that were expanded and renamed. It was common practice under the Late Assyrian empire to transport people from newly-conquered lands.50

47 E. Unger, Die Stele des Bil-barran-bil-usur . .. PKOM 3 (1917), 5.

48 F. Thureau-Dangin and M. Dunand, Til Barsip, 141-151.

"I F. H. Weissbach, BbyloWische Mscellet,, IVDOG, 4 (1903).

60 E.g. LAR I ?484. Ag?ur-na?ir-pal depopulated the areas that later became Rasappa province.



PLATE XI,

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~U,iF

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PLATE XL.I

4$- * >/f =?* A" - ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .k ...

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7 W"V~~~~~" 4.)

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16~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.



STELA OF ADAD-NIRARI III AND NERGAL-ERES FROM TELL AL RIMAH I 5 2

The fact that two towns are named after Adad-nirari and none after any earlier monarch indicates that all are named or renamed during that reign. The groups of villages presumably belong to the administrative area of the town after which they are written, and each town belongs to a larger district such as Lake and Qatni, the new settlements being widely dispersed throughout the province. Since the text has just described campaigns against Damascus and the Nairi lands, it is probable that the subject peoples were transported from those lands to the new settlements to weaken centres of resistance.

The erasure and the motive Why was the half of the stela text that contains Nergal-eres' name and

resettlement scheme erased? We have seen that he did not abuse his authority either by the wording of the text or by inscribing his own name. Did the resettlement scheme with its 331 towns and villages fail to take place? Even if it did fail, whatever the reason, the Assyrians would not chisel away a record that could stand as an ideal programme, just as a defeat in battle was usually not omitted but described as a victory, to please the gods.

Did Nergal-eres become unpopular with Semiramis at the end of her life? She might have seen in him a threat to her offspring, and have contrived his disgrace. On analogy with Nabonidus' centenarian mother Adda-guppi', old age was far from heralding the decline of woman's power at court.51 The date of her death is uncertain, but may perhaps be inferred from the entry karru, mourning, in the eponym chronicle for 788 B.c.52 Alternatively, Nergal-eres may have been unpopular with Adad-nirari, but supported by Semiramis, and Adad-nirari dared not demote him until her death. The fact that Shalmaneser IV reinstalled him in his old position suggests that the motive was personal jealousy and therefore transitory; the reason for possible jealousy must be sought by parallels, since the text itself gives no indication. Or did the erasure take place under Shalmaneser IV, after 775 ?

The eponym chronicle does not mention that the king led a campaign against Damascus in 8o6 nor c. 798. On page I48 a reason was suggested: that there was more than one campaign in a single year. On analogy with Daian- Assur the turtanu of Shalmaneser III, Mutarris-Asur the rab-sake of Shamshi- Adad V54 and Shamshi-ilu the turtanu of Shalmaneser IV,55 it is possible that Adad-nirari sent a governor on campaigns in his place. If he did, the silence of the eponym chronicle is explained. And who was more suited to lead an expedition to the West than Nergal-eres'? For he governed the largest province together with a large population, from which a second army could be recruited;

51 C. J. Gadd, The Harran inscriptions of Nabonidees, AS 8 (I958), 35-92.

T12 Nabonidus Chronicle col. II lines 14-I5: ina mnitAkkadiKl biklU ina muppi ummi iarri filkunat, showing that the death of the queen mother was an

occasion for national mourning fit for mention by a chronicler.

53LAR I ?584-588. 54 LAR I ?7I7.

65 See note 48.



I 5 3 STEPHANIE PAGE

he controlled much of the route that led from Assyria westwards, whether along the Euphrates or along the road south of the Jebel Sinjar. After his success, when he marched back replete with loot and captives, he settled slaves and transported foreigners in the new towns that he had planned, not content with existing settlements, to which he gave uninspired appellations that never- theless pay homage to the reigning king and his gods (Diir-Adad-nirari and Duir-Assur). If he successfully conducted one or both of the 8o6 and c. 798 campaigns in contrast with dubious victories scored by Adad-nirari, he may have inspired jealousy, or have headed a faction against the throne late in that reign or the following one.

A tablet mentioning Nergal-eres was found at Nineveh5" in which Adad- nirari Ill gave a grant of land, and Nergal-eres was involved, possibly as the recipient. But very little is known about the reasons that caused such grants to be given, and at present it is impossible to use the text in a reconstruction of history.57

A stele was found in pieces outside the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh; the text dates to Adad-nirari's reign, and promises that Rasappa province shall include Hindanu, and that no successor of Adad-nirari shall remove Nergal- eresh from the post of governor there, nor detach Hindanu from Rasappa. This looks like an attempt by the king to defend Nergal-eresh from a faction that was trying to divest him of power, and is probably a part of the situation that led to the erasure of the Rimah stele.58

Conclusion During the reign of Adad-nirari III, an Assyrian army marched to the Levant

on three occasions, in 8o6, 8o2 and 798 or later. Only one of these campaigns, that of 802, was led definitely by the king himself. Nergal-eres may have led one or both of the 8o6 and c. 798 campaigns on behalf of the king. The first two campaigns were inferred from the Saba'a stela with the Calah Slab, and from the eponym chronicle; the identification of Ia'asu the Samaritan with Joash king of Israel in the Rimah text has led to the theory of a third campaign in 798 or later. Still uncertain remain the motive behind the erasure of that half of the text which deals with new settlements, and the degree of power to which the governor of Rasappa was entitled at the beginning of the eighth century B.C.

l J. Kohler and A. Ungnad, Ansyriscbe Rechsur- kunden no. 3 = ADD. no. 803 and 399.

"I The text TR.4001 cannot be connected definitely with Nergal-ere?. The name dSulmanu-ajarid in line I I

is possibly to be restored; very little is legible except 4iZa-ma-,i in line S and 41Ni-mit-15 in line i3. See Iraq lo (x968), 87.

68 LAAA 20 (I 93 3), i I 3.



Documents

A Stela of Adad-nirari III and Nergal-ereš from Tell al Rimah