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The Assyrian Iron Age: The History of Iron in the Assyrian Civilization Author(s): Radomír Pleiner and Judith K. Bjorkman Source: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 118, No. 3 (Jun. 7, 1974), pp. 283-313 Published by: American Philosophical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/986447 . Accessed: 18/09/2013 13:17 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . American Philosophical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.135.12.127 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 13:17:27 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: The Assyrian Iron Age: The History of Iron in the Assyrian Civilization

The Assyrian Iron Age: The History of Iron in the Assyrian CivilizationAuthor(s): Radomír Pleiner and Judith K. BjorkmanSource: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 118, No. 3 (Jun. 7, 1974), pp.283-313Published by: American Philosophical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/986447 .

Accessed: 18/09/2013 13:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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Page 2: The Assyrian Iron Age: The History of Iron in the Assyrian Civilization

THE ASSYRIAN IRON AGE

The History of Iron in the Assyrian Civilization

RADOMIR PLEINER

Archaeological Institute, Czechoslovak Academy of Science

and

JUDITH K. BJORKMAN

INTRODUCTION *

This paper is not to be considered as a philo- logical contribution, but as an historical sketch on the use of a technical material from the eco- nomic, technical, and sociological points of view, in which, of course, written evidence is subjected to philological criticism. The arrangement of individual sections is based roughly on the chro- nological sequence of the features of the use of iron as they each begin to appear in Assyrian history; then such features are discussed in a comprehensive manner for the rest of the As- syrian period.

Traditionally, iron is depicted as a metal which caused a rapid technological revolution after it began to appear in quantity, in the latter part of the second millennium B.C. Historians often point to the general abundance of iron ore de- posits, to their ease of reduction, and to the rela- tive hardness of iron. But this picture is over- drawn, and the first steps of the Iron Age were extremely slow,1 even in areas adjacent to the presumed homeland of the new technology.

Iron, both meteoritic and smelted, was origi- nally a precious metal with an ornamental and possibly symbolic significance. It later became an important technical material on a world-wide basis, even being used occasionally as a medium

* The following abbreviations, related to the cunei- form tablets, are used in this paper: CAD The As- syrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the Uni- versity of Chicago (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary); K. = tablets in the Kouyunjik collection of the British Mu- seum; LE = left edge (of a tablet); ND = Nimrud collection, Institute of Archaeology, London, also, the field numbers of tablets excavated at Nimrud; rs = re- verse (of a tablet) ; vs = obverse (of a tablet).

1 The view of Oppenheim (1964: p. 332) is more credible than that of Deroy (1966), who tries to see rapid and far-reaching changes concerning the entire trade over the Mediterranean and Central Europe of the second millennium B.C.

of exchange, and sometimes feared as a symbol of war and of the evil of the contemporary age. These slow processes of change took place be- tween the early third millennium B.C. and the nineteenth century A.D.2 However, at certain times and places a more accelerated rate of change in the spread of the use of iron can be observed. In Central Europe, for instance, the sixth cen- tury B.C. (the beginning of the common use of iron by warriors) and the first century B.C. (when a full fledged iron civilization was reached here the crucial periods. Comparable stages can be noticed elsewhere: in Greece it was the eleventh century (for iron weapons) and the eighth cen- tury (for a fully-realized Iron Age); in India, possibly the eighth and the fifth centuries B.C., and in most of Persia we note a very rapid and concentrated development in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Seemingly more advanced were some regions in northwestern Iran, like that around Lake Urmia (Hasanlu of the Manaeans), and in Urartu. In the eastern Mediterranean the development may be compared rather with that of Greece, having its critical points in the eleventh and in the ninth or eighth centuries B.C.3 As to Mesopotamia and Anatolia the situation is far from being clear and does not present a solid curve of evolution. But these were the countries first acquainted with the metal iron, as early as the third and early second millennia B.C. In Mesopotamia, we have the earliest specimens of both meteoritic and terrestrial iron, and in the same area the first terms denoting that metal were born.4 During the greater part of the second

2 Unless specifically stated, all chronological data in this paper mean B.C., which abbreviation will in subse- quent chapters be omitted.

3 R. Pleiner, 1969a; 1969b; 1971; J. C. Waldbaum, 1969.

4This discussion omits the early use of and nomen- clature for iron in Egypt. As to the origins of nomen- clature for iron, we must content ourselves with a cur-

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 118, NO. 3, JUNE 1974 283

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284 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL, SOC.

millennium, in Mesopotamia and north Syria, iron remained a very expensive curiosity used for manufacturing ceremonial or display weapons, jewelry and other luxury items. The word is as rare in the written records as is metallic iron itself among archaeological finds from that time.5 In eastern Anatolia, a slightly different situation can be observed. In the Hittite documents of the second half of the second millennium B.C. iron occurs relatively often, although-according to the contexts-it was apparently a precious and rather unusual material there also.6 One of the Hittite rulers left us the first known written evi- dence on the deliberate production of iron by smelters somewhere in Cilicia.7 The Assyrians were, at that time, near neighbors to the moun- tains of eastern Anatolia. This may have had an influence on the Assyrian use of iron; in order to weigh this possibility, it is to be shown how the Assyrians developed iron in their own civili- zation.

No history of technology has yet devoted a full study to Assyrian iron.8 As early as 1884, Lud-

sory survey (see Falkenstein, 1956: 1: p. 65, Sollberger, 1963: p. 177; Landsberger, 1950: pp. 331-332, fn. 14; 1965: p. 291, fn. 25; Bjorkman, 1973: pp. 114-115). In Akkadian, the common word for iron was pacrzillu, which, written syllabically, occurs earliest in an Old Assyrian text from Kiiltepe (see Bilgi?, 1947: p. 440, fn. 80, and Artzi, 1969: p. 268). Its ideogram, AN.BAR, occurs earliest in a copy of the Lugalbanda Epic (see Wilcke, 1969: p. 56, line 110).

5E.g., Alalakh tablets (Wiseman, 1953b: p. 107, No. 410), the Qatna Inventory (Bottero, 1949: p. 18, and lines 165, 175, 245, and 310), in the El-Amarna corre- spondence (royal gifts), in the Ugarit-Ras Shamra docu- ments. For the high price of iron, see Neugebauer, 1935: 3: pp. 42-44; Kohler and Ungnad, 1911: pp. 48- 49, No. 1221; Schwenzner, 1915: p. 31. Archaeological objects are so rare that it is not necessary to list them here.

6 Iron in the Hittite culture is a very important sub- ject. A special study is proposed on this theme, and no attempts are made to discuss it here. But it should be mentioned that besides the commonly used ideogram AN.BAR, we also know the actual word pronounced by the Hittites: hapalki-, an ancient Proto-Hattic term, adopted also by the Hurrians (see Laroche, 1957 and 1966; Kiimmel, 1967: p. 370; Hoffner, 1967: p. 52; Kammenhuber, 1969: pp. 436-437). It is even possible that this word was copied from ancient texts by As- syrian scribes, assuming the restoration proposed by Landsberger (1968: p. 108, fn. 34, line 3).

7 This is the famous letter, KBo I 14, concerning the making of iron in Kizzuwatna; see, e.g., Goetze, 1940: pp. 29ff., and Zaccagnini, 1971.

8E.g., Rickard, 1932: 2: pp. 241-242; Richardson, 1934: p. 557; Witter, 1942: pp. 33, 45; Coghlan, 1956:

wig Beck wrote a chapter on Assyrian iron- making in his Geschichte des Eisens.9 It is, of course, out-of-date, because much of his presenta- tion was based on incorrect early translations of cuneiform texts. More recently, short informa- tional sections were compiled by Robert Forbes for his books, Metallurgy in Antiquity and Vol- ume IX of Studies in Ancient Technology.10 Though meritorious in many respects, Forbes's work suffers from various deficiencies-lack of criticism of the sources used, imbalance in his choice of material, and misleading references. Because of this, Forbes's contributions are not up to the level of an article written about forty years earlier by Amelia Hertz." With so many new publications of texts and of archaeological remains, as well as the steady progress in As- syriology, the topic of Assyrian iron is clearly open to re-examination.

There are two groups of sources available for study: the archaeological evidence, and the writ- ten documents. Both groups, however, have serious disadvantages. With regard to the arch- aeological evidence, the geographical distribution is very limited, since there are only three im- portant sources of Assyrian iron artifacts, Khors- abad, Nineveh, and Nimrud. The collections acquired by old excavations there (Place and Layard 12) can be evaluated only partially. The results of new discoveries, except for the Ameri- can campaigns at Khorsabad,13 are published only in part.14 From a few other localities there are only small collections of iron objects for review.15 pp. 132, 137, 180; Wilsdorf, 1952: pp. 90-92, and 1954: p. 77.

9 Beck, 1884: 1: pp. 102ff. 10 Forbes, 1950: pp. 447-449, and 1964: pp. 249ff. 11 Hertz, 1925: pp. 89ff. 12Place, 1867-1870: 1: p. 84; 3: p. 263; Layard,

1849 and 1859. A fraction of the many objects dis- covered by Place is kept in the Louvre; many finds made by Layard are in the British Museum.

13 Loud, 1936; Loud-Altman, 1938: p. 99. The ob- jects are in the Oriental Institute Museum at Chicago and in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

14Mallowan, 1950 and 1954 and 1966: 1-2; Stronach, 1958; Oates, 1962. Institute of Archaeology (Western Asiatic Dept.), University of London. New evalua- tions of that material are being prepared by Mrs. K. R. Maxwell-Hyslop, and by Dr. J. E. Curtis.

15 E.g., Tell Rifa'at (Seton-Williams, 1967a, b), Tell Halaf (von Oppenheim, 1962: pp. 47ff.), Mari (Parrot, 1964: p. 21). Some objects found in the Assyrian levels in the sites of north Syria and Anatolia are mentioned in the present paper (Carchemish: Woolley-Barnett, 1952: p. 198; Woolley, 1921. Gozlii Kule: Goldman, 1937; 1963: pp. 359ff.). Those from the corresponding levels in Palestinian sites are not described.

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VOL. 118, NO. 3, 19741 THE ASSYRIAN IRON AGE 285

Perhaps the various new excavations carried out recently in northern Iraq and northwestern Iran will throw more light on the existing collections of iron artifacts. Worse than the limited geo- graphical spread, is the fact that very few As- syrian iron objects have been touched by analyst or metallographer.16 Since analyses are not avail- able in a greater number, the archaeological find- ings can be used merely as material which is illustrative of and complementary to the informa- tion of the texts.

Though there are numerous Neo-Assyrian tablets which mention iron, none of them de- scribes technical processes such as the extracting or working of iron.'7 Iron technology was ob- viously completely out of the sphere of interest of scribes, scholars, and officials. Thus, we are entirely dependent on indirect evidence drawn from areas which are more accessible-the econ- omy, and the use of iron in warfare and in every- day life. An additional limitation of the cunei- form tablets lies in whom they concern: the majority of texts, with few exceptions, deal with the top strata of Assyrian society. They were written on behalf of the king, and even in pro- fane economic affairs they concerned mainly the life of his court. Any attempt to estimate the situation beyond the walls of the palace must take this into account.

We have tried to go through all the relevant documents using the primary references, not only to avoid misunderstandings and mistakes which are still frequent in the secondary literature, but also to consider the references in their natural 'contexts. Individual facts recorded in the docu- ments are naturally of different values; the at- tempt was made to consider them, instead of

16 Very modest remarks on technology are expressed by the renowned metallurgist of the nineteenth century A.D., John Percy, concerning the casting or smithing technique (see Layard, 1859: appendix, 571ff.). The experiences of Iraqi native smiths who recognized the perfect quality of Assyrian iron objects are described by Place, 1867-1870: 1: p. 88. Desch (1929: p. 265) analyzed a piece of Neo-Assyrian iron from Khorsabad, but he only notes that it is free from nickel and there- fore non-meteoritic. Recently, one of us (Pleiner) has had the opportunity to investigate f our specimens f rom the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago. Preliminary results are mentioned in this study. We are inf ormed by Professor K. Maxwell-Hyslop, London, that certain objects from Nimrud have recently been submitted to examination.

17 On glass-texts from the eleventh and seventh cen- turies, see Thompson, 1936: pp. XXIII-XXXVI, and Thompson, 1925: pp. 7, 52, 131ff.; and Oppenheim, 1970. For an alchemical text on alloying, see Oppenheim, 1966b.

mechanically listing the occurrences of the vari- ous functions of iron.'8 Comparisons with arch- aeological evidence, so far as it was available, were of great value in several cases.

1. IRON AS USED BY ASSYRIAN KINGS

From the point of view of primitive users, iron is a strange material. It does not look particu- larly nice, being blackish or bluish, nor does it shine without being highly polished. Moreover, it easily and quickly acquires a red coat of rust, and gradually the entire mass converts to hy- droxides. In wrought form, iron is not very hard; if it is poor in carbon, it is not as hard as worked alloys of copper, which have the addi- tional advantages of being easy to cast and to hammer in the cold state. In spite of this, in the early period, iron was treated as a precious, ex- pensive metal. The reason could have been its similarity to meteoritic iron (though the latter may have a better appearance-brighter shine, more resistance to corrosion 1). It also seems likely that the first iron smelted from ores, being otherwise inaccessible, was a rare and sought- after material.

If iron ever had any supernatural significance for the ancient Mesopotamians, one could expect that such significance was lost after man discov- ered that iron could be manufactured by metal- lurgical processes like other metals. As a matter of fact, in the long run, and in some places, iron came to be regarded as one of the least of the metals. As early as the seventh century in the Greek world, for instance, Hesiod identifies his own time, the Age of Iron, as the worst age. In the following pages, it will be shown how the Assyrians' general attitude toward iron changed during their history.

But for a long time iron remained a precious rarity, because of the difficulties of producing and working it. Because of the reoxidation which would occur in a primitive hearth, the final yield remained minimal, if there was any at all, and attempts to separate the metal from the slag unavoidably resulted in further losses. The car-

18 A reference to annual tribute is more important than a text mentioning iron in large quantities placed in the treasury during celebrations at the court; simi- larly, a blacksmith at the court means more than an iron dagger of an officer, but the mention, in a single docu- ment, of twenty blacksmiths in a provincial town, is more significant than frequent allusions to palace black- smiths.

1 LaPaz, 1969: pp. 67, 79-83; note the descriptions of objects: "bright like silver."

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286 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

bon content depended on chance (on the average, it was rather low), so that the quality of this laboriously prepared material varied widely. One understands why the Greek tradition reaching back into the second millennium called iron, 7rOX/tKp rTOS .

It is in this light that we must see the early occurrence of iron in Assyria of the late second millennium-it was a metal reserved for kings.

When Shalmaneser I (1274-1245) decided to rebuild the Eharsagkurkurra temple in Assur, he put valuable offerings in the new foundations: "I placed precious stones, silver, gold, iron, copper, tin, aromatic herbs . . . ," he wrote in his in- scription.2 A similar foundation deposit occurs much later, when the palace of Sargon II (721- 705) was built at Khorsabad-inscribed tablets made of both metals and stone were found. How- ever, it is possible that in this latter case the word parzillu had been added.3 Nonetheless, it appears that in ancient times iron was regarded as a very precious material.

A Middle Assyrian administrative text lists four daggers of bronze, one of iron, and a lance of habalginnu, which may be a certain kind or alloy of iron. They are apparently stored in a "bronze-house" (bit siparri) .6

A century after Shalmaneser I, another king expressed pride in his royal hunting weapon of iron. "I dispatched them (the wild bulls) with my strong bow, iron (tipped) suki7du-arrows and pointed mulmullu-arrows," proclaims Tiglath- Pileser I (1115-1077).4 Several centuries later we meet a royal iron arrow (mulimullu). In this case it is not an actual weapon, but a votive sym- bol of victory, inscribed and erected by Tiglath- Pileser III (744-727) after his successful con- quests.5

In the early first millennium iron became more common, but its use was still limited to kings and prominent people. The iron dagger had been

2 Messerschmidt, 1911, No. 13 rs IV, line 20. CAD A/1 58 and A/2 129b.

3 Winckler, 1889, Displ., line 160. Cf. Landsberger, 1965: pp. 285-286. Metal tablets of that kind were found by Place at Khorsabad (1867-1870, pl. 74). None of them was of iron. Cf. E. Pottier, 1917: pp. 122-123.

4 Budge and King, 1902: p. 85, VI, lines 66-67. CAD Z 63a.

5 Rost, 1893: 3: p. 28, Ann. 16: p. 160. He read AN.BAR as "Ninurta," but since the weapon is dedi- cated to the might of the god Assur, iron is certainly more likely.

6 Postgate, 1973: pp. 9, 14. The text dates to the reign of Shalmaneser I.

a prized possession of royalty since the third millennium, and such splendid weapons often served as royal gifts. There is a late account from the Rassam Cylinder of Assurbanipal (668- 627): having pardoned Necho, he gave him golden jewelry and a splendid iron dagger, in- laid with gold and with his royal name inscribed on it. Assurbanipal used his own iron dagger for hunting, as stated in the caption of a relief.8 Iron daggers belonging to prominent political figures are mentioned in various other inscrip- tions of the late eighth and seventh centuries. Sargon II left several variants of an episode concerning the suicide of the Urartian king, Rusa (Ursa): "with his own iron dagger he ended his life," or, "he stabbed himself through the heart like a pig," is written in the documents. Later, in the record of another defeat, the grand- son of Merodach-Baladan and his shield-bearer helped one another commit suicide with iron dag- gers. Ituni, the general of the Elamite king Teumman, having seen his battle was lost, cut off his bow and jewelry with his iron dagger; Nabfi-damiq, the ambassador of the same king, ended his life with an iron dagger. Death by the iron dagger was also mentioned in narrative liter- ature, as the legend about the Elamite Kuturna- hfite shows.9 So the role of those daggers, which are depicted on Assyrian reliefs (fig. 1) ,10 was a rather depressing one, as was that of Assyrian iron weapons in general, as will be shown below. In the seventh century, iron daggers were still worth taking as booty: Sennacherib took them from the Judean king, Hezekiah, after his sur- render."

To return to the period when iron was in fact limited to royal use, it would seem that its fre- quency in this highest level of society must have been greater than the rare references indicate. At least one Middle Assyrian king had a black-

7Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 14-15. Rm A, col. II, line 12. 8 Streck, 1916, 2: pp. 308-309, Jagdinschrift, line 4:

"Then I stabbed him (the lion) later with my iron girdle dagger (patru parzilli sibbija) (and) he died."

9Rusa: Winckler, 1889 1: pp. 112-113; Prunkinschrift line 77; op. cit., p. 27. Grandson of Merodach-Baladan: Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 60-61, col. VII, line 36. Ituni: Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 314-315, line 3. Nabui-damiq: Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 124-125, Cyl. B, BI :56. Kuturna- bhite: Jeremias, 1917: pp. 82-93, III 2 rs line 3.

10 E.g., slabs from the palace of Sennacherib (Boston Museum of Fine Arts, British Museum, etc.). Cf. Layard, 1849: 2: p. 299; Contenau, 1934 (dagger hilts with corresponding iron blades missing, Louvre).

11 Luckenbill, 1924: 2: p. 60, Rassam Cylinder, C 1, line 57.

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VOL. 118, NO. 3, 1974] THE ASSYRIAN IRON AGE 287

smith at his court. Ninurta-tukulti-Assur (twelfth century) had one named Marduk-bel- usur, who was paid two sheep 12 like other mem- bers of the king's staff.

2. ASSYRIAN IRON IN WARFARE

Daggers, as was shown above, were among the earliest objects produced from iron, and it was the important people of society who were privi- leged to own them. Assyrian history presents a very interesting picture of how the patar par- zilli became an actual weapon for fighting and how it became a symbol of military power.

The first quantity of iron daggers sufficient to equip military troopls is mentioned in the Annals of Tukulti-Ninurta II (890-884). One hundred of them were taken as spoil from Dfir-Katlimu in Laqi.1 From the pointed shape of such dag- gers, a literary simile appeared in texts from this period: "the peak of the mountain rose like the point of an iron dagger." But earlier similes had referred in the same way to daggers made of bronze, so that the mention of iron here may have reflected only the increasing use of that metal in military raids since about 880.2 Under Shalmaneser III, iron daggers or short swords must have been widely used in the army, since one of the texts speaks of sharpening "iron dag- gers that subjugate the foe." 3 The dagger also may have taken part in the devastation of enemy cities, like Ullhu in the days of Sargon's eighth campaign: "The mighty wall, which is made of stone . . ., with iron axes and iron daggers I smashed like a pot." 4 Officers and guards of the late eighth century wore iron daggers.5 Around 700 and later, these weapons also ap- peared in administrative and economic documents, lists, and inventories. One of these, the tablet ND 3480, mentions 280 daggers, of which 97 were made of iron; they must have been display objects, since 37 had silver ornaments on wooden knobs and one was fitted with gold.6 Records

12 Ebeling, 1933: No. 43, line 15; cf. Weidner, 1936, 19. 1 Scheil, 1909: pp. 22-23, rs, line 25. 2 Budge and King, 1902: 1: pp. 306-307, Annals, col.

i:49, col. ii :40. Shalmaneser III: Rawlinson, 1870, 7-8, i, line 19.

3 Lambert, 1961: pp. 150-151. 4Schroeder, 1922: p. 141; cf. Meissner, 1922: p. 116,

line 217, and E. Salonen, 1965: p. 51. 5 Harper, 1892+: No. 85 rs, line 7, cf. Waterman

1930+: 1: pp. 58-59, on drunken officers; ibid., pp. 332- 333, line 14 (prefect's men with drawn iron daggers).

6 Wiseman, 1953a: p. 147; other references to daggers: Parker, 1961: p. 22 (ND 2374, line 14).

FIG. 1. Ceremonial weapons as illustrated on sculptures in various Assyrian sites (after Layard) (1) hilts from a set of girdle daggers; (2) scabbard tip of a sword.

of eighth-century Guzana-Tell Halaf recall bar- racks life with written reports telling of Assyrian officers who demanded "500 arrowheads (liter- ally, nails, 18sikkati) of iron, 5 daggers of iron (patri parzilli) ," and confirming the delivery of iron daggers to different men.7 In the times of Assurbanipal there was a "house of daggers" called bit patri,8 which might have been a store- house or arsenal, but the real meaning is un- certain.

Several Assyrian daggers of that period were found in the excavations at Nimrud, but only some of them were depicted.9 They have flange- shaped hilts, and are about 30 cm. in length-in fact, they can be called short swords. In spite of Mallowan's remark on the high-quality steel of a piece picked up in Fort Shalmaneser (S 67),10 we know nothing about the properties of the metal and of the techniques used by the As- syrian sword-smiths, since no investigation of these matters has been published. Simple iron daggers were uncovered in Carchemish (inner town, and house D) 11; they date from the very end of the seventh century. One is about 18, the other about 28 cm. long. The Assyrian

7Friedrich, 1940: p. 50 vs 5-6; No. 54, vs 4-5. 8 Peiser, 1896: pp. 136-137, broken context. 9 Mallowan, 1954: p. 161, from the Palace of Adad-

Nirari III: ND 3365; Stronach, 1958: p. 180, pl. XXXV :7 (ND 6177) ; other pieces of the collection (University of London): ND 3314, 2524, 6177, 3359. A nice piece ca. 40 cm. long is in the British Museum (NW Palace, Nimrud, No. N 2845).

10 Mallowan, 1966: 2: p. 441, fig. 367. According to information kindly supplied by Professor K. Maxwell- Hyslop, the sword is presently the subject of a tech- nological examination.

IL Woolley, 1921: p. 81, fig. 14; pl. 23a :14.

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288 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

~~~~~i 3 4

6 ~~7 8

- ~~~~~~~~9

FIG. 2. Assyrian iron weapons from Nimrud: (1) short sword, 35.5 cm.; (2) dagger, 21.7 cm; (3) spear- head, 16.2 cm.; (4) lance head, 24.8 cm.; (5-8) ar- rowheads, 7, 6, and 6.5 cm.; (9) battleaxe (sym- bolic). (1, 9)-New Palace; (2) not located (courtesy British Museum) ; (3-4) Fort Shalma- neser N.W. 15; (5) N.W. 12; (6) N.W. 4; (7) AB Palace; (8) N.E. outer wall (after D. Stro- nach).

paintings at Till Barsip, described by Thureau- Dangin,12 depict a curved dagger resembling a scimitar.

The Assyrians did not hesitate to use their iron weapons, so that as early as the eighth century, patar parzilli became a metaphor for slaughter and bloodshed. The citizens were "put to the iron dagger," people were threatened by the

12 Thureau-Dangin, 1936: room XXIV.

"flaming iron dagger," and "those who escaped it, died of hunger in the desert." 13

Moreover, the iron dagger came to denote (especially in the royal correspondence) the king's army or military power in general. This follows from the style of reports or decrees dat- ing from the time of Assurbanipal, where the action of a patar parzilli .sa sarri is a reference to what the king's troops had done.14 These armies were seen as a tool of the god Assur him- self: "with the aid of the iron dagger of Assur, my deity, you consumed that whole country with fire." 15

It is still a question to what extent iron was applied for making other thrusting weapons. The texts give little evidence about it, though many lances or spears of iron are found in levels of the late eighth and seventh centuries (fig. 2). A great number of spears and arrows continued to be manufactured of bronze. A later, Neo- Babylonian document 16 indicates that even in the sixth century, about fifty per cent of the spears were still made of nonferrous alloys.

As to the finds from Nimrud, especially from Fort Shalmaneser, lance-heads of iron had sim- ple leaf-shapes and long sockets (varying in length from 24 to 38 cm.) 17 while shorter pieces should be described instead as spearheads, suita- ble to be fitted as hand-launched missiles.18 There is a text which speaks of a quiver for spears (IR kittdhi), but it is not clear whether the following word, iron, means that the quiver is of iron, or if the spears are iron-tipped. The passage appears in a progress report on the fin-

13 Harper, 1892+: No. 310, line 9 (riots in Kibatki) Deller and Parpola, 1968, 464 (massacre of the Qadar tribe); Thompson, 1940: pp. 87-88; Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 32-33, Rassam Cyl. col. III :125; ibid., col. iv :59 (sanctions).

14 Waterman, 1930+: 2: No. 1010, line 10; ibid., No. 1321, line 5.

15 Waterman, 1930+: 1: No. 297, line 5 (Assurbani- pal to the people of Uruk); Waterman, 1930+: 2: No. 1321, line 5. For the translation in the text, see Pfeiffer, 1935: p. 35:31.

16 Moore, 1935: No. 14, lines 6-9 (list of weapons: 56 spears, 26 of iron; 116 spears of another type, 46 of iron).

17 Stronach, 1958: p. 178, pl. XXXII :1, 4-5 (ND 6172, 6175-6176, 6112, 6059); Mallowan, 1966: 2: p. 403, fig. 333:a.

18 Nimrud: ibid., fig. 333 :e (ND 6172 B); Carchem- ish: house D, Woolley, 1921: pl. 23a:7-8, 13. Other lances or spear heads in the British Museum: ND 3350, 3355, 3595, 3346, cf. Mallowan, 1954: p. 59 (houses at the east wall of the acropolis at Nimrud).

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ishing of a war chariot, for which various fittings, mainly of bronze, were made.19

Both iron and bronze found wide application in the famous Assyrian archery, which played such an important military role. Archaeological excavations have provided a collection of arrow- heads originating in the late eighth and seventh centuries. The iron points are of a trapezoidal shape and have a tang. Those from Fort Shal- maneser (fig. 2:5-8) are 3.5 to 5 cm. in length, but some are 7 cm. long. Similar types were found in house D at Carchemish. Barbed arrows were rare.20 In Fort Shalmaneser lance-, spear-, and arrowheads were found not only in the pal- ace, but also in individual houses. An accumula- tion was found in NW 15 (5 lances, 3 spears), which might have housed a squad of guards.

Relatively early, iron was used for the manu- facture of protective armor. The first evidence comes from the mid-ninth century. Shalmaneser III's record of an Urartean campaign mentions coats of scale armor for horses (siri(am) parzilli ina muhhi S7SCmes). 21 From Nimrud, Mallowan presents strange iron plates 7 by 9 cm., with holes, which are claimed to be a part of a horse's armor.22

Horse blankets fitted with metal plates or scales may be seen on some reliefs, e.g., that from Sennacherib's palace or from Sakchegozii (eighth century). 23 However, there is no certainty that these are iron scales.

This same observation can be made about all weapons shown on reliefs, where daggers, lances, and armor in realistically depicted shapes occur since Assurnasirpal II in the ninth century. Ex- cept in one case,24 there is no information in the texts accompanying the reliefs, about the material of which the weapons are made. So we do not know which of the hauberks, helmets, and scale armor represent iron work (fig. 3). As to the

19 Landsberger, 1969a: p. 31. 20 Nimrud: Mallowan, 1954: pp. 59ff., from room 5

and 43 (ND 3500, 3623, 3633) ; Stronach, 1958: p. 179, pl. XXXII :1-3, 5 (ND 6069, 6181-6182, 6424); Mal- Iowan, 1966: 2: fig. 402:c. Carchemish: Woolley, 1921: pl. 23:3-6. Barbed arrowhead: Nimrud-Fort Shalmane- ser, room NW 14, Stronach, 1958: p. 179, pl XXXIII:6 (ND 6176).

21 Lambert, 1961: pp. 150-151, line 22. 22 Fort Shalmaneser SW 7, cf. Mallowan, 1966: 2: p.

480, fig. 336:b-c (ND 7555). 23 Barnett and Falkner, 1962: pl. XVI. Sakchegozu:

cf. the orthostat V in Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (VA 971, cf. Klengel, 1965: pl. 45).

24 Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 308-309 (Jagdinschrift).

tablets, they speak of both iron and bronze. A record mentioning explicitly 2 hauberks with iron scales and 1 with bronze scales (2 gurpissi sa parzilli, 1 gurpissi sa URUDUMIES) is from the collection of military reports found at Guzana- Tell Halaf.25 It is wryly amusing to quote one report on armament lost in the river: "Those are (things) . . . which the river took away: one hauberk of iron (1 gurpis parzilli), . . . (etc.). "y 26 Scale armor, cuirasses, and breastplates were al- ways the most expensive articles of warfare, so that the documents above throw some light on the apparent affluence of the royal army's military supplies in the eighth century.

The palace arsenals must have contained much scale armor. Let us quote Layard: As we approached the floor, a large quantity of iron was found amongst the rubbish; and I soon recog- nized in it, the scales of the armor represented on the sculptures. Each scale was separate, and of iron, from two to three inches in length, rounded at one end, and square on the other, with a raised embossed line in the centre. The iron was covered with rust, and in so decomposed a state, that I had much difficulty in detaching it from the soil. Two or three baskets were filled with these relics.27

This description is so accurate that one can see before his eyes the more recently discovered iron scales from Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, room NW 15, and 17. These are of various sizes (from 3 to 8.4 cm. in length). Some of them are square on both ends; they have holes for sewing onto a leather coat or tunic, and ribs in the central axes. Fragments of scales were also found in a house at the eastern acropolis wall. Iron scales are also known from Tell Rifa'at.28 Assyrian iron scale armor represents one of the very early uses of that kind of warrior's protec- tive equipment in the history of warfare (fig. 4).29

23 Friedrich, 1940: p. 49 vs lines 1-2; CAD G 140. 26 Friedrich, 1940: p. 52 vs lines 1, 3, rs 10. 27 Layard, 1849: 1: p. 341. Many samples are still

in the British Museum (No. 134569, from Tarbisa and Nineveh).

28 Stronach, 1958: p. 179, pl. XXXIV:1-6 (ND 6338); Mallowan, 1954: p. 139 (ND 3396); Seton-Williams, 1967: p. 25 (Tell Rifa'at).

29 Possibly their first pupils in that respect were the Scythians on the other side of the Black Sea, where iron scales dating from the late seventh century were found in the kourghans (Melyukova, 1964: pp. 71-73). Later the Medes and Persians wore iron scale armor, as Hero- dotus tells us (VII 61); in the treasury of Persepolis there were a number of iron scales (Schmidt, 1957: pp. 97-98, fig. 19). A Babylonian account presents the full equipment of an "iron-side" serving in Persian times, including the scale armor (Ebeling, 1952). Earlier

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I I )9

y

i'al { I~~~~~~~

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X 1 0 2 XT t ; f~~~~~~~~1

FIG. 4. Archaeological evidence of Assyrian body armor of iron: (1-2) Nimrud, possibly scales of a cuirass for a horse, 9 and 6 cm.; (3-4 and 6-7) Tarbisa-Sherif Khan and Nineveh. (3) 2.5 cm. one scale; (4) 4 cm.; (6-7) 6.5 cm.; (5) Nimrud, 3 cm. (1 and 2) after Mallowan; (5) courtesy Archaeological Institute, London; (3-4 and 6-7) courtesy British Museum.

Pointed helmets are depicted on nearly all As- syrian sculpture, and those on Assurnasirpal's monuments seem especially well executed. Lay- ard found one perfect specimen of an iron helmet in a chamber close to room AA at Nimrud. It had two copper inlaid strips in the lower part, but it fell into pieces like the other crested hel- mets from the same place (fig. 5).30 There are no textual references to iron helmets.

Shields were often made of organic materials, occasionally also of bronze with riveted iron handles.3' On reliefs such as those in Senna- cherib's and Assurbanipal's palaces at Nineveh, may be seen shields with elongated strips. Finds from Scythian graves show that quite similar shields were covered with iron bands (seventh- sixth centuries).32

It is striking that no record mentions iron as tised for fittings of Assyrian war machines like the hellepolis or battering rams, represented on reliefs and quoted in texts.33 Layard mentions only "a large blunt spear head, just as we find than the Assyrian examples are some iron scale speci- mens from Syria (Hama), and Palestine (Megiddo), which also reached Egypt (Tanis). No discussion of these objects is proposed here.

?0 Layard, 1849: 1: p. 341; 2: p. 339. In the British Museum there is now an Assyrian iron helmet (No. 22469); recent X-ray examination revealed inlaid fig- ures of the king and his attendant above the brow (R. D. Barnett, 1953).

31 Layard, 1859: pp. 163-164. 32 Melyukova, 1964: p. 78; Mancevic, 1969. 3 E. Salonen, 1965: pp. 25-38.

from the sculptures, was used during sieges to force stones from the walls of besieged cities." 34

3. IRON FROM TRIBUTE AND SPOILS

The military consumption of iron increased steadily. Before we proceed to the further ap-

FIG. 5. Assyrian pointed iron helmet from Nineveh. X-rays revealed a pattern of bronze inlay along the rim, showing the king and his attendant. Courtesy British Museum.

34Layard, 1859: p. 165.

FIG. 3. Assyrian protective armor as illustrated on sculptures at Nimrud and Nineveh: (1-3) scale armor of the archers; (4, 6) ditto of cavalry and chariotry; (5) horse cover (possibly scaled) ; (7-8) shields (presumably covered by metal bands); (9) mounting of a chariot wheel. (1-6) ninth and eighth centuries; (7-8) seventh century; (9) eighth-seventh centuries. (1-5 and 9) Nimrud; (6-8) Nineveh. (1-3 and 7-8) after Barnett- Forman; (4-6 and 9) after Barnett-Falkner.

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plications of the metal, it should be shown where some of it came from. The question of sources can be partly answered by royal inscriptions which inform us of historical events, viz., As- syrian raids and conquests. Iron, along with other metals, and goods such as textiles, furni- ture, wood, cattle, etc., were taken from the enemy as spoils (sallatu) ;or as regular tribute or taxes (maddattu).' These represented a considerable flow of wealth to Assyria.

The reports of spoils and tribute must be viewed critically, since in at least one case the amounts of metal vary greatly in two reports of one event. Reading many inscriptions may give the impression that the scribes used stock phrases in describing booty and tribute, and that their historical reliability is in some doubt. But, in fact, iron does not occur in all the lists, and its frequency of mention increases and decreases in a sort of curve during about two centuries. Moreover, there are changes in the actual quan- tities referred to, and, finally, the exploited areas are not evenly spread over the conquered terri- tories but are grouped in certain regions. For these reasons, the information can be evaluated as a whole, despite the difficulty of evaluating in- dividual accounts.

Iron was usually named as a raw material, sometimes with the quantity expressed in talents (biltu, ca. 30 kg.), and rarely in the form of artifacts. It has already been mentioned that Tukulti-Ninurta II (890-884) recorded among his spoils one hundred iron daggers. Simultane- ously, he took iron from the land of Zamani (in the northwest), and from the city of Sfiri in the west (in Bit Khalupe: 1 or 2 talents) .2 It is remarkable that in those days, 30-60 kg. of iron were worth mentioning in the royal annals. In the time of Assurnasirpal (883-859), more sig- nificant amounts were noted in lists of spoils and tributes. But it must be pointed out that iron was reported in the records of only 4 of 77 raids on cities and countries. From Suri, in Shupria (mountains in the north, facing Urartu), and from lahani (in the west near Hattina), an

1 Cf. Martin, 1936; Jankowska, 1947: especially p. 263. 2 Schramm, 1970: p. 148, line 16 (unusual sign for

AN.BAR, cf. pl. I); ibid., p. 149, line 21; cf. Scheil, 1909: pp. 10-11; ibid., pp. 22-23, rs, line 18-1 talent, while Schramm recently has proposed 2 talents (op. cit., p. 153); the sign is not very clear. The new restoration of AN.BAR on rs 24 (ibid.) is a matter of debate. Precious metals in the Annals are in tens of minae, tin in tens of talents, copper in hundreds of talents. Cf. Schroeder, 1922: No. 92 (iron?).

unspecified amount of iron was taken, the inscrip- tions tell us. From Hattina (Orontes River, Syria) 100 talents were taken, from the environ- ment of Carchemish, 250 talents, and from Tu- shkha in Nairi (in the north, near Lake Van) 300 talents, all as tribute.3 Other metals in these lists were generally given in tens of talents for silver, and about 100 talents for bronze and tin. The metals were later deposited in the treasuries of the new palace in Kalhu (Nimrud).4 Thus, iron was a part of these valuable commodities. A similar situation existed during the reign of Shalmaneser III (858-824). Iron from Hattina, Bit Adini (upper Euphrates) and the Cilician Que is mentioned without figures, but Carchem- ish, again, had to pay a tribute of 100 talents, apparently annually. A smaller amount of 30 talents was required from the prince Haianu (living near the promontories of Mount Amanus, northern Syria), but Hattina was charged with 300 talents.5 The concentration of sources of booty and tribute in the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean is obvious. The amounts of the metals are a little greater than a few years earlier: talents of gold; silver, up to 100 talents; copper in hundreds of talents. In one of the rec- ords we read for the first time that all metals including iron were obtained "without number." Shamshi-Adad V (823-811) was able to leave only one report during his short reign, and the context on the tablet is badly broken, but it con- cerns a unique source for iron booty: Baby- lonia.6

Next comes a huge booty from Damascus, re- ceived by Adad-Nirari III (810-783). It ap- parently indicates an enormous increase in iron production in certain regions around 800, but close inspection of the report prompts us to be

3 Budge and King, 1902: p. 284, line 84-Sfiri; Iahiani: ibid., p. 370, line 78 in col. iii (the word iron not re- stored here, but e.g., in Pritchard, 1969: p. 274); Shupria Budge and King, 1902: p. 241, rs, line 52; Uattina: ibid., p. 369, col. iii, line 74; Carchemish: ibid., p. 366, col. iii, line 66; Tushkha: ibid., p. 238, col. ii, line 122.

4 Stated in three of the inscriptions. 5 Hattina: Schrader, 1889+: 1: pp. 146-147; Black

Obelisk, line 155 (Michel, 1954-1959: p. 227) ; Mono- lith, cf. II:21 (Amiaud-Scheil, 1890); Adinu: ibid., pp. 138-139; Balawat, 6: line 7 (cf. Michel, 1967: p. 33); Que: ibid., pp. 144-145; Black Obelisk, line 135 (Michel, 1954-1959: p. 222); Uattina, Uaianu, Carchemish: ibid., pp. 160-163; Monolith, col. ii, lines 22, 25, 27. Hulin (1963, 65) draws attention to the fact that the tribute of iron coming from Qalpurunda of Uattina is men- tioned only for the year 857; in subsequent years iron is not mentioned.

6 Weidner, 1934: p. 95 rs col. iv, line 21.

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careful about the figures: the Nimrud slab just referred to, lists 5,000 talents, i.e., about 150 tons of iron, but the account of the same event in the Stele of Rimah gives only 2,000 talents. And it may be that the real booty was even smaller, since yet a third record of this event, described on the Stele of Saba'a, has only 60 talents in the relevant place. However, the name of the metal is destroyed, so that in this last case it is not certain that iron was meant.7

Tiglath-Pileser III (744-722) neglected to give the figures of his receipts of iron, which is a serious hindrance for us in making comparisons with previous texts. Instead of numbers, he left a long list of towns from whiclh iron was to be delivered, together with other goods. The ter- ritorial extent of those requisitions is again illus- trative: countries in southern and eastern Asia Minor (Tuhana, 1tunda, Tuna, Tabal, Kasku in the hinterland, and Que, Sam'al, Gurgum, more or less in Cilicia), rich towns on the upper Eu- phrates River (from Melidu, over Commagene- Kummuhu, down to Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad in north Syria), then all the important sites on the Mediterranean coast (Byblos, Tyre, Ashkelon, Gaza), a part of the inner Palestinian kingdoms, as well (Judea, Moab, Edom, Am- mon), and Arabia.8 Even if Tiglath-Pileser III had received only relatively small quantities of iron from each place, in the neighborhood of 200- 300 talents, he must have collected more than his predecessors usually did. It is interesting that a literary text, called the "Letter to Gilgamesh," requests the incredible quantity of 90,000 talents of high-quality iron, together with fantastic num- bers of herds of cattle and horses, etc.9 This may be an indirect reflection of the great demands for tribute in those times.

Under Sargon II, in the late eighth century, reports mentioning spoils and tributes continue, but the incidence of iron in them declines. Be- sides mentioning iron from the place called Lamunu (unidentified),1 the most impressive and instructive evidence is the huge list of spoils

7 Nimrud slab: Schrader 1889+: 1: p. 191, col. i, line 19; Tell el-Rimnah: Page, 1968: pp. 142-143, line 6 (ibid. on Saba'a).

8 Rost, 1893: 3: pp. 35, 37, line 84, and lines before 154; ibid., p. 72, rs, line 12 (clay tabl. inscr.).

9 Gurney, 1957: col. vi, line 25. The Sultantepe text was copied from an older original, but some phrases (as stated, loc. cit., p. 127) are paralleled only in the Annals of Tiglath-Pileser III.

10 Lie, 1929: pp. 36-37, line 226; Parpola (1970: p. 224) reads KUR La-m7uii-u,tz (mountain of iron).

from the Urartian city of Musasir, conquered during Sargon's eighth campaign. The list is written in the form of a letter to the god Assur, and names metal utensils (ude en parzilli) with the notation that "they were numberless." 11 This list is unique among booty lists in giving the specific names of iron objects taken-braziers, nesupu (implements for operating the fire), nasri (hooks?), arifthe and b7t businni (lamps). But the number of iron items is small in this list, com- pared to objects made of other metals.'2 None- theless, the overall gain from Sargon's raids was not small, since an excavated store of iron bars, picks, and chains contained about 160 tons of iron (which would be approximately 5,300 talents). When discovered by Place at Khorsabad, the heap was described as a huge iron wall.'3 The delivery of such booty is described in the Annals and in the so-called Display Inscription: "I took my abode and instituted a feast of music. Gold, silver, utensils of gold (and) silver, precious stones, bronze, iron, utensils of bronze, all kinds of shrubs (evergreens), choice oil . . . I re- ceived." 14

In Babylon, Sargon also offered gifts to the god Bel, among them bronze and iron in vast quantities (sa niba la i.b^) .'5

Sargoni's successor, Sennacherib (704-681), omitted iron from his lists of spoils, except for the episode with the Judean king Hezekiah, whose iron daggers were already mentioned (see above, page 286), and from whom an additional, un- specified amount of iron was taken.

The above-mentioned reports, which give valu- able insight into the economic history of a realm, indicate clearly the increasing quantities of iron, from small quantities shortly after 900 to con- siderable amounts around 800. The number of places from which it came also increases (fig. 6). We may consider, therefore, that the zenith of this sort of supply was in the second half of the eighth century. It may well be that deliveries continued, but there are no more lists and quan- tities of iron. It is obvious that not all countries possessed an amount of iron worth taking as trib-

:1 Thureau-Dangin, 1912: line 369. 12 Thureau-Dangin, 1912: line 365. 13 Place, 1867-1870: 1: pp. 84ff. (room 86, here

wrongly given as 84, cf. 2: p. 264, and Loud-Altman, 1938: p. 99).

14 Variants to Annals 439 (Winckler, 1889: pp. 76- 77); above translation, Luckenbill, 1927: 2: section 74; cf. CAD A/2 129b.

15 Variant to Winckler, 1889: 1: pp. 124-125; Prunkin- schrift-line 142.

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294 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

places exploited:

15 10 15 20 25 by one ruler -0 rulers l l I I I ~~~~~~~~~in 500 years _

900 ...,. .

Tukulti-Ninurta 11

Assurnasirpal 11

Shalmaneser lII

_Samri-Adad V

800- *E E E E E E E E E E E ! 0 0 * Adad-Nirari III

no records

Tiglath-Pileser III

Sargon 11 700

c . Sennacherib

thousands| | | of talents :z 1 23 4 5

tons 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 1650

quantity of iron received

FIG. 6. Assyrian iron income: an attempt to express graphically the data in the extant records (the quantity for Sargon II, according to Place's report on the Khorsabad store). In the legend at the top "in 500 years" should read "in 50 years."

Hatti

Me 0 ~Uppu, V

0 l100km A GUM

u Guz~e h a,,a Du>?,,

-n \< pF0\ <S Sharrkir ------A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nineveh t==< = =< 2Jr ~~~~~~~~~~~~Til Barsip, iee,.' , ~~~~~~____ --\ I___u_ b Ih)

: ~~~~~ -~~~~~ - * _ \o r1as~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~upe Ahr* \o'f - - __ -_H= _ _ _ hs Fs \ / p .

A

-2Hamath \

__ . _ .__ _ __ N I I _Babyl

Aa- l- A s a_ \ MO

IG, G

FIG. 7. Assyrian iron incomie a map of recorded places and territories (cartographical background after Olr-nstead, 1923).

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ute or spoil. In the majority of cases, iron flowed from the west and northwest, from north Syria and southeastern Anatolia. Some also came from the north (Urartu), especially in the earlier pe- riod. Around 750, all of the Phoenician coast and the Palestinian regions were able to deliver iron for the Assyrians. Babylonia, south of As- syria, is named only once. And we never hear of Elam, Media, and Persia (fig. 7).

After the campaigns, the booty came to the royal treasury. Sennacherib distributed it to his officers and soldiers.'6 From the Khorsabad dis- coveries, we know what shape this iron had, when it was not worked into artifacts. Bi-pointed bars of very good iron were found, pierced by a hole in one end, probably to facilitate transportation. It is usually suggested that the bars were so shaped in order to demonstrate that their iron could be forged. No technical information is available on the method by which the holes were made; probably they were drifted into the metal body while it was hot. It is very unlikely that the holes were drilled with the use of an abrasive. It was not possible to take enough samples from the artifacts to investigate such details.

These bars were different in size and weight. Place gives weights up to twelve kg. (over 20 minae), but the heaviest of the eight bars still preserved in the Louvre does not exceed 9 kg.; the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago pos- sesses bars of 2 and 4 kg. (4-8 minae); there were also two pieces found at Nimrud. A single piece from Susa (Louvre), is only similar in shape, and from what stratum it came is not known. (fig. 8).17 Apparently, iron stored in

16 Luckenbill, 1924: 2: p. 60. 17 Place, 1867-1870: 1: pp. 84ff.; 3: pl. 71. The list

of objects in the Louvre contains the following data on the weights:

A 24106 - 4.930 kg A 24110 - 5.565 kg 24107 - 5.316 kg 24111 - 6.085 kg 24108 - 4.718 kg 24112 - 8.780 kg 24109- 3.478 kg 24113- 8.425 kg

(after A. Caubet). The more recent American excava- tions uncovered additional bars, cf. Loud-Altman, 1938: pl. 62, 213-217. The objects are in the Oriental Insti- tute Museum, Chicago, and in the Iraq Museum, Bagh- dad. There are two fragments of bars from Nimrud in the British Museum, London: one of them is a smaller piece (N 1963) with the ends broken; the other is the upper part of an intentionally sectioned bar (N 1962). These bars prove that their metal was deliberately re- moved for another use. A small bi-pointed bar from Susa (Louvre, SB 9159) differs in details from the above pieces; according to P. Amiet the circumstances of its discovery are not known, but it probably belongs to a Neo-Assyrian context.

2 t

7

,11 n 1

FIG. 8. Iron bars: (1-10) Khorsabad; (11) Susa; (12- 13) Nimrud. (1-8) courtesy Louvre: (1) AO 24106, (2) AG 24107, (3) AG 24111, (4) AG 24110, (5) AG 24112, (6) AG 24108, (7), AG 24109, (8) AG 24113; (9-10) courtesy Griental Institute Museum, Chicago, A 12261 and A 12462; ( 1 1) courtesy Louvre SB 9159; (12-13) courtesy British Museum, N-1963, N 962 (chopped piece). Scale: 1:10.

the treasury supplied production needs, at least on behalf of the court and of the troops.'8 But we do not know if this was really the only source of iron. Unfortunately, any evidence on local Assyrian smelting operations is still lacking, al- though suitable iron ore deposits were not very far from Nineveh and Dur-Rarrukin (K(horsa- bad) in the northern mountains.'9

In the late eighth and seventh centuries, iron is also mentioned in economic documents and in state letters from Nineveh and Nimrud. Unfor- tunately, most of the references are in tablets in which the context is badly broken. Sometimes

18 The king himself would distribute iron for various purposes, cf. Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 400-403, No. 556, or Pfeiffer, 1935: No. 145, p. 116.

19 Layard, 1849: 1: p. 223, etc.

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296 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

iron is requested,20 or simply stated in quantities from 2 to 27 talents.21 It is mentioned together with copper 22; both metals could be stored in the palace (bit reduite) under the supervision of an official.23 Sometimes orders are given to transmit iron in quantity to certain persons of the palace staff.24

4. TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS

While iron weapons (as symbolic and cere- monial objects) have existed since the time when man first learned how to shape that metal, iron tools appeared very slowly.' As in modern his- tory, so also in Assyrian times, technical inno- vations were first extensively used by the mili- tary; the earliest recorded use of iron tools is by the troops, as sapper implements. Usually (for instance, in the eleventh century) such tools had been made of bronze, which retained its position for that purpose for two more centuries. They were denoted as aqqulat siparri, bronze picks.2 It is believed that as early as the times of Tukulti- Ninurta II implements of iron for his sappers were introduced. In his Annals there is a place where (iron) hatchets or axes (kalappate . . . parzilli) has been read,3 but a new revision shows that the reading is uncertain.4 Nevertheless, sev- eral years later such iron hatchets were in use without any doubt (cf. fig. 3 :6). The scribes of Assurnasirpal II (883-859) distinguished axes or hatchets (kalapput) made of iron, and picks (aqqltlat) made of copper or bronze.5 Sargon's

20Parker, 1954: p. 44, ND 2691; Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 442-443, No. 633, rs line 24.

21 Parker, 1954: p. 50, ND 2774, 5, rs line 2. 22Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 412-413, No. 580 rs, line

8; ibid. 2: pp. 229-231, No. 1033, rs line 5. The latter document might refer to iron fetters called siparri par- zilli.

23Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 310-311, No. 447, line 10. 24 Not published, see Oates, 1962: p. 18, on ND

10006; 40 minae of iron in a very broken context, see Waterman, 1930+: 2: pp. 514-515, No. 1460, line 6.

1 Strictly speaking, weapons are the most specialized tools, taken from the point of view of general develop- ment.

2 E.g., Assur-bel-kala (1074-1057) in his Annals, col. 1, line 33 (see Weidner, 1936: p. 83).

3 Scheil, 1909: pp. 20-21, rs:1. Cf. Hertz, 1925: p. 89. 4 Schramm, 1970: p. 152, reads: ina kalappate ina . . .

AN.BAR?, but translates (p. 57) only "mit Hacken ...." The construction is a little unusual, so that even

the AN.BAR can be considered doubtful (H. Hunger and J. Renger, personal communication).

5 Assurnasirpal: Budge and King, 1902: p. 322, col. ii, line 76; ibid., p. 331, line 96. Sargon: see Meissner, 1922: p. 117.

soldiers, felling trees in the orchards of Ulhu, used iron axes of the kalappu type. They may have looked like those depicted on the ivory plaque from Nimrud, where a scene also shows the felling of trees.6

In the mid-eighth century, picks of the aqqulat type began to be manufactured of iron, in addi- tion to bronze. Documents of the reign of Shal- maneser III (858-824) mention both metals.7 The use of iron aqqulu's is attested during the march against Urartu. In the seventh century, iron picks were used on a large scale for earth work and quarrying. They served during the digging of a long irrigation canal from Kisiri to Nineveh, and prisoners of war used them to quarry the white marble of Baladai for the sculp- tures of the splendid palace of Sennacherib (fig. 9).8 We have an idea of how they might have looked. Among the iron objects stored in maga- zine 86 at Khorsabad, large picks with rounded shaft-holes, piled in a heap, were recognized (fig. 10:1). They were mostly heavy, 14-16 kg. each, and over 60 cm. long.9 A slightly different type, which should be called an axe-adze, was found by Layard at Nimrud, and by Woolley at Car- chemish.10 A typical implement for working the soil was the hoe, the well-known marru of Neo- Babylonian documents.11 We do not know this implement from Assyrian records, but it did ex- ist, for there is, again, archaeological evidence: it was a tool with a blunt blade formed from an iron strip, terminating in two lobes, which created a sort of open socket, which was sometimes se- cured by an iron nail to prevent the hoe from falling off its shaft (fig. 10:2).12

6 Mallowan, 1966: 1: p. 60, fig. 24. Cf. the bas-relief at Nineveh (Layard, 1859: p. 500), or the man carry- ing the saw and some axes, from the scene of the mov- ing of the bull-colossus (Sennacherib's palace, Nineveh -Layard, op. cit., p. 91).

7Bronze and copper: Schrader, 1889-1890: pp. 154- 155, monolith col. 1, line 19 (a-qul ere siparri). Iron: Lambert, 1961: pp. 150-151, line 33 ([. a]k!-kui!-lat parzilli).

8 Luckenbill, 1924: 2: p. 98, Annals A 1, line 89 (canal); ibid., p. 126, building inscriptions M-R, line 5 (quarries).

9Place, 1867-1870: 1: p. 88; 3: pl. 71:4. 10 Nimrud: Layard, 1859: p. 165; Carchemish: Wool-

ley, 1921: pl. 23a:1. A very thin axe occurs in the col- lections of the British Museum (Nimrud, N 2045).

11 From the late seventh century, those from a Nabo- polassar text should be quoted: Strassmeier, 1889: No. 5. The documents of the sixth century contain a large number of references.

12 The Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, No. A 11669, also 17562, and 17536; cf. Loud-Altman, 1938:

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FIG. 9. Workmen carrying implements. Seventh cen- tury. Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, British Museum.

The iron plow appears only once in a textual reference,13 as a metaphor in the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon (680-669): "May Shamash plow up your cities and districts with an iron plow" (GIS.APIN s.a AN.BAR). This would indeed be weak evidence for the use of iron plows in agriculture, if there were not iron plowshares in Sargon's Khorsabad store. They are narrow, pointed hook-plows with lobes for attaching the wooden part, 20-40 cm. long (fig. 10:10).14 In terms of additional agricultural tools, some curved knives or blades were discovered which are remi- niscent of sickles (fig. 10:5). In Neo-Babylo- nian tablets, iron sickles occur as NIG.GAL.LA.- .MJE? AN.BAR, but not often.15

A few remaining tools are represented by some artifacts found in the course of archaeological

p. 99, pl. 62:218, 220. Nimrud: Mallowan, 1954: p. 144, 152-153 (ND 3352, room 30, ND 3347, room 31, also ND 3290, 3351); Stronach, 1958: pl. XXII:15 (ND 6164).

13 Wiseman, 1958: pp. 69-70, col. vii, line 545; see also Pritchard, 1969: p. 539.

14 Place, 1867-1870: p. 87; 3: pl. 71:1-3. A plow of iron is also mentioned from the Assyrian level at G6zlii- Kule in Cilicia (seventh century, in a house where Sennacherib's tablets were imbedded in the floor, cf. Goldman, 1937: p. 277).

15 Archaeological objects: Khorsabad-Loud-Altman, 1938: p. 99, pl. 62:195 (Iraq Museum, Baghdad); Nim- rud-Stronach, 1958: p. 180, pl. XXXV:8 (ND 6165); Mallowan, 1954, rooms 19 and 43 (ND 3631, 3360). Texts: here the question remains open. Harper, 1892+: No. 1191 :13, mentions an implement of iron, which is read by Waterman (1930+: 3: p. 316) as singallu, but this does not fit the context of the letter. According to the suggestion of Professor A. L. Oppenheim, the read- ing mingallut (for the usual ni(n)gallu), "sickle," would make more sense (cf. Aramaic mingala, sickle, von Soden, 1959+: p. 387a).

3a

5

S-= 4 82

2a

FIG. 10. Assyrian iron tools: (1) pick; (2) hoe; (2a) scheme of the polished and etched section from the edge (white = ferrite, gray = pearlite) ; (3) adze; (3a) polished and etched section; (4) knife; (5) sickle; (6) kniife with traces of wooden handle; (7) hammer; (8) part of a long saw; (9) sledge- hammer; (10) plowshare. (1-3 and 9) Khorsabad; (4-6 and 8) Nimrud; (7) Nineveh. (1, 9, 10)-1: 7; 2, 3, 5, 7.-1: 4; 4, 6.- : 4; 8.- : 20. 1, 9, 10 after Place; (2, 3) courtesy Oriental In- stitute Museum, Chicago; (4, 6) courtesy Archaeo- logical Institute, London; (5, 7) courtesy British Museum; (8) after Layard.

field work, particularly chisels 16 and saws.17 The saw of Nimrud was supposed to have been used for stone cutting. It is equipped with tangs for wooden handles and with 4 rivets (fig. 10:8). The American Khorsabad excavation brought to light another tool which is part of a carpenter's

16 Nimrud: Mallowan, 1954: pp. 143, 145 (ND 3361, 3363).

17 Nimrud: Oates, 1962: p. 16 (ND 50987); Layard, 1859: p. 165. A contemporary Urartian example from Karmir Blur shows that this highly specialized tool was not unique at that time. Cf. the man with a saw, and the man with a bundle of saws, on the bull-moving scene, Sennacherib's palace, Nineveh (Layard, 1859: pp. 91 and 113).

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298 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

FIG. 11. Fetters. After Layard.

inventory-a nice adze, now in the Oriental In- stitute Museum at Chicago (fig. 10:3).18

Knives, the universal tools of everyday life, oc- cupy last place. Mention of them is rare in the Assyrian texts. The sites of Khorsabad, Nim- rud, Tell Halaf, Carchemish, and Gozlu-Kule in Cilicia have yielded some examples (cf. fig. 10:4).19 It is difficult to estimate what the "ob- jects resembling the heads of sledge-hammers" represented, which were discovered at Nimrud 20 more than a century ago.

5. THE STORY OF IRON FETTERS

As soon as iron became more available, it was used by Assyrian rulers in quantity for making bonds and fetters, manacles and handcuffs, for ease of deportation of captives and for securing men in prisons. In the Annals of Sargon II, for instance, we read that he put the king Tarhiunazi with all his warriors into iron fetters.' The act of putting conquered kings into irons became for Assyrian rulers an expression of power, and the phrase, "I threw him into bonds and fetters of

18 The Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, No. A 12452, from the Nabfi Temple at Khorsabad (cf. Loud- Altman, 1938: p. 99, pl. 62:221-misleadingly described as a socketed axe).

19 The phrase patar parzilli may include some knives. A. Salonen translates it as "butcher's knife" in a literary text (Lambert, 1960: p. 146 :52; cf. A. Salonen, 1965: p. 25), but the reason for this is not obvious. A small iron dagger (GIR.TUR AN.BAR) may be, in fact, a knife (Deller, 1966: p. 208). Archaeological evidence -Khorsabad: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, No. A 17591 (bronze rivets on the handle); Nimrud: Mal- lowan, 1954: p. 161 (ND 3356), and numerous examples in the London University Collection. A special form is represented by the type with a tongue-shaped handle (cf. ND 6128, here fig. 10 :6); Carchemish: Woolley, 1921: pl. 23a :10-12; Gozlu-Kule: Goldman, 1937: fig. 34 (remains of wood on the handles; notice iron awls with bone handles, fig. 35).

20 Layard, 1859: p. 165. There are iron hammers among Assyrian tools; they were found in Khorsabad (Place, 1867-1870: 3: pl. 71:8) and Nineveh (British Museum, No. 55/12-5/337, here fig. 10 :9).

1 Winckler, 1889: 1: pp. 32-33, Annals, line 186, etc.

iron," developed essentially into a symbol of that power. Long before, however, bronze had been used for manufacturing such instruments of bru- tality. There are several records of bronze fet- ters,2 the metal of which finally became a synonym for the bond itself, until the late eighth century, as is clearly indicated from some examples in the royal correspondence.3 But various kinds of iron fetters are mentioned so frequently in the Neo- Assyrian period that they represent a specific page of political history.

The records start with Tiglath-Pileser after the middle of the eighth century, and their number increases during Sargon's reign, culminating in the seventh century, as is shown in table 1. This does not mean that fetters were not in use in the Neo-Babylonian period, but Neo-Babylonian rec- ords are of a different type; they speak more about usual legal practices with ordinary prison- ers. The fact that the types of available texts from the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian pe- riods differ greatly should keep us from making oversimplified distinctions between the two cul- tures. Nonetheless, the Assyrian emphasis on the use of iron fetters as a political act is strik- ing. Several terms are used for fetters: one was biritu parzilli, another, isqatu parzilli, both indi- cating, possibly, cuffs joined by chains. Usually they are both named together, or even with a third sort, called sissu. This is supposed to be the type with a bar linking the rings (fig. 11) .4

The word "ring" (s'emir parzilli) is used rarely. In the later seventh century, under Assurbanipal, prisoners could be fettered very severely, on both hands and feet (qata u s e pa; aha u sepj). Ex- pressions such as, "I seized him alive with my (own) hands, I threw him into bonds and fetters of iron," or, "Abiate' and Aammu, sons of Te'ri, my hand captured alive in the midst of (the) battle," relating to the king himself,5 are probably literary hyperbolae. Very revealing is the sym- bolism in the conduct of the repentant king of Shupria, who, in asking Esarhaddon for mercy, "made an image of himself, wrapped it in sack-

2 For references, see CAD B 254b-255a. 3Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 104-105, No. 154, lines 6,

7, and rs 1; cf., ibid., pp. 320-321, No. 460 (alternating siparri and semir parzilli). Cf. siparri parzilli in broken context, Waterman, 1930+: 2: p. 221, No. 1033 rs 5.

4 Cf. CAD $ 215a. The isqatu has been explained by von Soden (1963, 155) as a loan-word from Aramaic hizqa, ring (-* izqatu, in spite of the etymology assum- ing is qati, wood for hands), cf. CAD I/J 205.

5Luckenbill, 1924: p. 39 H 2 iv :50; Streck, 1916: 2: p. 75, col. ii:19.

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TABLE 1

Ruler Reference Concerning Akkadian Terms Meaning

Tiglath-Pileser III Rawlinson and Norris, 1866: Zakiru and nobles birltu parzilli iron fetters (744-722) pp. 67:20; Rost, 1893: pp.

58-59 Sargon 11 (721-705) Lie, 1929: p. 212 ruler bir4tu parziili iron fetters

Winckler, 1889: 1: pp. 32-33, Tarihunazi and his bir4tu parzilli iron fetters line 186 warriors

Winckler, 1889: 1: pp. 86-87, Mita (Midas) and his bir4tu parzilli iron fetters line 42 family

Weidner, 1944: p. 41 Assur-le'u and Iti bir4tu parzilli iron fetters Pritchard, 1969: p. 286b; Iamani bir4tu parzilli iron fetters

CAD S 214b; CAD B 255a Winckler, 1889: 1, Annals of lamani qata u sepa biritu hand and foot,

Room XIV, line 14 parzilli iron fetters Pfeiffer, 1935: p. 200; Marduk-eriba siparri parzilli iron fetters

(= Harper, 1892 +: p. 154) Sennacherib Luckenbill, 1924: p. 39 iv 50; Suzubu summannu u bir4tu bonds and fet-

(704-681) Schrader, 1889-1890: 2: parzilli ters of iron pp. 102-103, line 39

Essentially the same passage about Padi of Ekron biritu parzilli iron fetters occurs in four places: the Taylor Prism (Schrader, 1889-1890: 2: pp. 92-93, line 71), the Oriental In- stitute Prism (Luckenbill, 1924: p. 31 ii 75), the Bull Inscription from the Palace at Nineveh (Luckenbill, 1924: p. 69, line 23), and the Octa- gonal Sennacherib Prism in the Iraq Museum (Heidel, 1953: pp. 134-135, col. iii, line 18).

Esarhaddon Borger, 1956: p. 105 ii 19 image of the king of biritu [parzilli] iron fetters (680-669) Shupria

Assurbanipal Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 12-13 i Egyptian kings bir4ti parzilli isqati iron fetters, iron (668-629?) 131 parzilli. .. qata u cuffs.. .hand

stepa and foot Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 162-163 Sharruludari and isq&ti parzilli bi4itu cuffs and fet-

vs 45 Necho parzilli ters of iron Streck, 1916: 2: p. 28 iii 59 Dunanu and isqati parzilli biriti iron cuffs, iron

Sam'gunu parzilli... qatd u fetters,... se~pa hand and foot

Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 328-329; Dunanu qata u sepa biritu hand and foot, Weidner, 1932-1933: p. 183 parzilli iron fetters ii 24

Weidner, 1932-1933: p. 185 Dunanu biritu parzilli iron fetters rev. iii 8

Streck, 1916: 2: p. 42 v 4 Imbappi qate u sepa biritu hand and foot, parzilli iron fetters

Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 74-75, 24 Abiate' and Aammu qate u sepa birUtu hand and foot, parzilli iron fetters

Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 134-135, Abiate"s people qata u sepa biritu hand and foot, 45; Piepkorn, 1933: p. 85 parzilli iron fetters

Streck, 1916: 2: p. 20 ii 109; two Cimmerian isqati parzilli biriti cuffs and fet- Piepkorn, 1933: p. 49:2 governors parzilli ters of iron

Harper, 1892 +: p. 460; brother of the letter's semir parzilli. MES iron rings on his Pfeiffer, 1935: p. 32 author ina Eahi u' sep] hands and feet

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300 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

3

FIG. 12. Various utensils and ornaments: (1) iron lamp with spout, 0 8.5 cm.; (2) finger-ring with non- metallic bead, 0 2.5 cm.; (3) bracelet, 0 8.5 cm.; (4) tripod with bronze joints and legs, height 60 cm.; (5-6) bronze bells with iron clappers. (1 (?), 3 (?), 6) Nineveh; (2, 4) Nimrud. (1, 3-4, 6) courtesy British Museum; (2) courtesy Archae- ological Institute of London; (5) after Loud and Altman.

cloth, put (iron feters on it, as befitting a slave." 6 The method of removing the fetters is seen in a letter to Assurbanipal. When the prisoner was freed, the guards broke off "the iron rings on his hands and feet."

A survey of texts in which the uses of iron fet- ters are mentioned is given in table 1 on p. 299, rather than a description of every occurrence.

6. OTHER KINDS OF UTENSILS

Other kinds of iron artifacts appear at the end of the eighth century, a little later than iron bonds and fetters. Their milieu tells us that we are still near the Palace.

We have a description of a ceremony taking place during the king's dinner hour in the winter time. An officer engaged in keeping the fire going in the dining room was to follow special regulations:

(and) a poker( ?) of iron (nesepi parzilli) he brings in and the glowing censer he carries out. A ser-

6Borger, 1956: p. 105, col. ii:19. 7 Pfeiffer, 1935: No. 32; Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp.

320-321, No. 460, rs 10.

vant proceeds to the Tebet service, he holds an iron poker( ?) (n&supu parzilli), a fire hook (and) iron tongs( ?) (massanu parzilli) in his hand. If fire or charcoal (gumdru) falls off the brazier (kaninu) he takes it and puts it on the brazier.'

Here we seem to see iron tongs, which might have been of a tweezer-type as found in room 6 of house D at Carchemish; 2 made of bronze they are known from several sites in the eastern Medi- terranean in Bronze Age levels. The tool called nesupu is connected with operating a fire. It may be a shovel to collect ashes and charcoal fallen from the brazier and to keep the glowing fuel on it. We find it among the booty from Musasir, in inventories, and as part of a bride's doiwry as well. Finally, it occurs in a list of utensils belonging to a certain Tdb9drb1tpapdhi.3 The shape of this implement remains unknown and its function somewhat conjectural.4

Iron bridle-bits and various rings possibly be- longing to harnesses for horses have been dis- covered sporadically in archaeological diggings.5 It is not certain whether iron vessels were made by hammerwork in Assyrian workshops, though the finding of iron helmets proved that no tech- nical difficulties would have hindered their manu- facture. A ritual concerning a purification pro- cess for a woman who wished to attract the love of her husband, recommends the use of an iron pot (GIS.MA.TU AN.BAR).6 There is an iron oil lamp in the Assyrian collection of the British Museum, but the exact provenance of this item is not certain (fig. 12:1).

"Iron in the service of music": this could be the title for sets of bronze bells with iron clappers (fig. 12:5-6). In the ruins of Nimrud about 80 such bells were found during Layard's excava- tions.

There is also a small group of ornaments. In 1 Muller, 1937: pp. 62-63, col. ii, lines 5ff. 2 Woolley, 1921: p. 129, pl. 23a :9 (130 cm long). 3 Thureau-Dangin, 1912: line 365; Parker, 1961: p.

33 (ND 2490-2609), line 41; Parker, 1954: p. 37 (ND 2307 rs line 33); Postgate, 1970: No. 18, pp. 152-153, line 16.

4 It is usually interpreted as an iron scraper, but von Soden, 1959+: p. 781b, puts the word together with a container for butter and oil, frequently mentioned in Neo-Babylonian records. Therefore A. L. Oppenheim (personal communication) suggests the function of col- lecting, rather than of raking.

5 Stronach, 1958: pl. XXXIV:1-2. What sort of rings are meant in a Nabopolassar text (Strassmeier, 1889: p. 120, No. 17, line 1-esinu HAR) is difficult to imagine.

6 Scheil, 1921: p. 25, rs col. ii, line 8; not followed by Thompson, 1936: pp. 86-87, who translated "iron."

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the Nimrud collection of London University is an iron finger ring with a non-metallic bead (fig. 12:2), and in the British Museum there are iron bracelets, but their provenance is not specified. In Khorsabad, American field work has brought to light several small, even minute, pieces of iron which may be pendants. They were discovered in a well near the Nabfi Temple.7

There is a remaining group of texts which mention the names of iron artifacts of unknown shapie, and there is a group of objects with un- known names; their common factor is that the purposes of both elude us. For instance, in the list of spoils in the Letter to Assur (late eighth century) there are (besides the aforementioned nesepu-implements) also nasri and aruithe of ircn. In the dowry list occurs a magattu of iron, and in the list of iron objects of the estate of TTb- sarbitpap1hwii there is a pdtu AN.BAR.8 These items cannot presently be identified.

A set of excavated objects is puzzling as well: a small point rolled from thin iron sheet, a lyre- shaped object called a fitting but resembling me- dieval fire-steels (both from Khorsabad), a frag- ment of T-shaped iron from Tell Halaf,9 and the like.

Finally, in the written records iron objects are mentioned which cannot be identified because the context has been lost by damage to the tablet.

7. IRON FOR CONSTRUCTION

Wrought iron is a very tough material, suita- ble for making supports of every kind. In As- syria, this application appears in the latter part of the eighth century. Large copper vessels, cauldrons, and pans stood on heavy iron tripods furnished with rings and hoops. From the NW Palace in Nimrud came a big iron tripod with bronze joints, displayed now in the British Mu-

7Nimrud: Layard, 1859: p. 150; British Museum No.'s 135461-1; Khorsabad: Loud-Altman, 1938: p. 98, pl. 60:162-164; Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

8Nasru and aruthe: Thureau-Dangin, 1912: line 365; cf. Parker, 1961: p. 32 (ND 2490-2609) line 40. After CAD A/2 324a, a foreign word; von Soden, 1959+: p. 755a, suggests "Aufhangehaken" for nasru; magattu: Parker, 1954: p. 37 (ND 2307) line 34; von Soden, 1959+: p. 576b, proposes it is a "Kratzer fuir Back- steine"; patu: Postgate, 1970: p. 152, No. 18, line 17; Parker, 1961: p. 22 (ND 2374) suggests that the iron border of an object is meant.

9 Khorsabad: point-Oriental Institute Museum, Chi- cago, A 11672; lyre-shaped object-Loud-Altman, 1938: p. 99, pl. 62:191, Iraq Museum, Baghdad; Tell Halaf: von Oppenheim, 1962: 4: pl. 37, 222 (now lost).

seum (fig. 12:4). Coghlan mentions a fragment of such a tripod, found at Nimrud, weighing about 1 kg. In spite of its corroded state, there are visible laminations in the metal, which may have been welded together from several pieces. This fragment may have originated in Layard's famous hoard of toreutic ware, discovered in a treasury room next to chamber AA in the North- west Palace.1 Layard especially directs attention to the legs of the tripods. They were made of bronze and shaped like animal's legs, but their core was of iron. Apparently, iron rods had been fixed in molds and then overcast with molten bronze.2 A structure which was probably also on a stand is the iron kanfinu, a brazier which used charcoal for heating.3 The kanftnu heated the king's dining room, as we have already noticed (p. 300).

Good evidence for skilled iron work are the three iron wheels unearthed in room 15 of the Nabfi Temple at Khorsabad. Their bad state of preservation and the necessity to save the wheels led to restoration by means of a sort of plaster. Thus many important details of the construction are now lost. But it can be seen how iron spokes were inserted into naves cast of bronze, and two iron rims or tires were possibly riveted together. The wheels were found on a pile, removed from or prepared for a carriage. They are small (about 22 cm. in diameter) and could be a part of a ceremonial wagon (fig. 13).4

The Khorsabad excavations offer another strik- ing example of the application of iron for struc- tural purposes-heaps of big chain links and caul-

1 Layard, 1859: pp. 151-152, 163; British Museum No. 135464; cf. Coghlan, 1956: pp. 4, 137, 180, 202, pl. I:2; Pitt-Rivers Museum No. 1953.6.1.

2 Layard, op. cit., appendix by Percy, p. 572. This technique used to be widely applied in Europe, e.g., in the Hallstatt Period.

3Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 60-61, No. 91, line 10; cf. Pfeiffer, 1935: p. 146; CAD I/J 218b; Thureau-Dangin, 1912: line 95; in the same document occur kanfinu's of silver and of bronze. Cf. von Soden, 1959+: pp. 481- 482; in Postgate, 1970: No. 18, line 15, is the term kanni AN.BAR, which is translated as "stand."

40riental Institute Museum, Chicago; cf. Loud-Alt- man, 1938: pl. 24 :e, p. 62. It is to be noted that the excavations at Tell Halaf uncovered the ceremonial carriage for a hearth, a piece of temple inventory (von Oppenheim, 1950: 2: pp. 43ff., fig. 14-15, pl. 12; twelfth century). Another question is whether iron was used for the construction of actual wagon wheels. The clamps visible on sculptures may have been of iron, as shown on some archaeological finds outside Assyria (see Kos- sack, 1971).

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FIG. 13. Eight-spoked iron wheel with a bronze nave, from Khlorsabad. Presumably from a ceremonial wagon, 0 23 cm. Courtesy Oriental Institute Mu- seum, Chicago.

dron hooks (fig. 14:1-2), discovered there in the days of Victor Place.5

An additional question is to what extent had iron found employment in building operations in the strict sense ? Later, the Persians and the Greeks used huge quantities of iron fo.r clamps to join the stone blocks of their palaces, and tem- ples, and the same technique was described by Herodotus (I 178) in the case of the bridge at Babylon. It had been claimed that the Assyrians also used iron clamps, but upon checking the evidence,9 it was revealed that the relevant ob-

g~~~~~~~~

j ects are made of lead. There are some holes in blocks of stone which resemble cavities for joints, but they are empty, without any trace of clamps or dowels.1 Olmstead says that in the Palace of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077) there is a basalt bull whose eye is fastened in by an iron wire, but the case needs to be checked. An old translation which speaks of iron fittings for the palace of Tiglath-Pileser I is based on a restora- tion ( [AN.] BAR), but the early date of the text makes it more likely that the restoration should be [UD.KA.]BAR, "bronze," instead." Nails made of iron are relatively rare. For instance, in Khorsabad (still in the late eighth century) copper nails were much more common. There is one large iron nail, 22.5 cm. in length, in the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago (fig. 14 :6).

5 Place, 1867-1870: 1: p. 84; 3: pl. 70:7-9. 6 Ibid. 3: pl. 70 :4-5; cf. Beck, 1884: p. 137 (after

Liger, La ferronerie). 7 Olmstead, 1923: fig. 62 (Assurbanipal's palace at

Nimrud); cf. Loud-Altman, 1938: p. 16. 8 Budge and King, 1902: p. 114, rs line 7.

2

5

I -

7 1 9

FIG. 14. Structural iron and fittings: (1-2) hooks and chains, 63 cm.; (3) nail, 4.3 cm.; (4) nail with side rivet, 6.5 cm.; (5) mounting, 3.2 cm.; (6) mounting of a door pivot slab, 26 cm.; (7) long nail, 25.5 cm.; (8-9) ring, 12 cm.; (10) door hinges, width of one pair, 9 cm. (1-2, 6-7) Khorsabad; (3-5, 8-10) Nimrud. (1-2) after Place; (4-5, 8-10) courtesy Archaeological Institute of London; (6) after Loud and Altman; (7) courtesy Oriental In- stitute Museum, Chicago.

Door pivots from the same locality turned in large cups hammered of iron sheet. Together with strips extending upward from the rims of the cups, they measured about 30 cm.9 In con- clusion, it can be said that some iron was needed for building at that time. This is confirmed by a written document, but it should be noted that this material is allocated by the king, and not in very large quantities. An official supervising the building of a temple writes: "Let the king send us quickly (furthermore) three talents of iron.

9 Nail: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, A 11668; pivot cups: ibid., A 11666-7; cf. Loud-Altman, 1938: pp. 16, 72, pl. 37E, pl. 62:224; door pivots: ND 10 991.

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. . ." 10 The drain crossing the eastern wall of the palace of Assurbanipal was found to be blocked by an iron grid.1' Exactly the same situation is described later, in Neo-Babylonian times, by Nebuchadnezzar (604-562) in his building inscription: "so that no robber or sneak- thief should enter through the outlet of the water of the canal I provided its outlet with . . . iron (bars), I . . . -ed the iron grate(?) by means of crossbars and reinforced its joint(s) ." 12

8. BLACKSMITHS

In Mesopotamia, specialized handicrafts de- veloped during the fourth millennium, and per- haps even earlier. Metalworking was of course one of the typical forms of specialization, requir- ing as it did skill and experience. Metalworkers and smiths (the most common term for which was LU SIMUG = nappahu) played an impor- tant part in the production and economy of the temple, the palace, and in urban communities.'

This early specialization developed branches of its own. Some early smiths, probably some- where in Anatolia, discovered the art of smelting iron ores and made the first attempts to work this new metal, which was in its physical and mechanical properties so different from other metals. They gained new experience, and some of them became gradually more skilled in work- ing iron than others.

From the literate period in Mesopotamia there are suggestions that some of the metalsmiths in the towns and temples were under a sort of or- ganization. The essential nature of this is, how- ever, not yet clear. There has been some discus- sion of the role of various supervisors, head men or superiors of certain groups.2 Good evidence

10 Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 400-403, No. 566, rs :lff. CAD A/1 97b. The iron is described as zakru, the meaning of which is uncertain.

Olmstead, 1923: pp. 497-498, fig. 9. 12 Langdon, 1912: No. 5, col. ii, lines 5, 8; translation,

CAD H 243b. 1 Cf. Jusifov, 1960: pp. 7-8; Bjorkman, 1968; E.

Salonen, 1970. 2 Cf. Mendelsohn, 1940; Oppenheim, 1969: p. 18; Jusi-

fov, 1963: p. 13; Bjorkman, 1968: pp. 160ff. Metalwork- ing as a craft had its divine patrons. However, there is no evidence that metalworkers were part of any cul- tus related to those patrons. These gods appear, in- stead, in royal inscriptions such as this: "in a skillful way devised by myself I had gates, which were covered with . . . , made of reddish bronze according to the technique of the Coppersmith God" (dNappahu): Luck- enbill, 1924: p. 140, line 5; CAD E 233b. Cf. Bjork- man, 1968: pp. 241ff.

for structures resembling the guilds of medieval Europe is lacking.3

The first reference to a blacksmith comes from the twelfth century. According to the relevant text, already mentioned above (pp. 286-287), such a craftsman belonged to the staff of the royal palace and shared in receiving rations in sheep.4 The reports of the tenth and ninth centuries are un- fortunately silent, but the eighth and seventh cen- turies see most blacksmiths still in close connec- tion with the court. In the texts, blacksmiths (nappah parzilli) are often distinguished from coppersmiths (nappah siparri). Numbers of them are named in lists of palace personnel, next to cooks, fishermen, couriers.5 They are paid in goods.6 However, it would be erroneous to im- agine that the classification by professional name meant a strict distribution of work. There is written evidence that some of the blacksmiths (napppah parzilli) worked in non-ferrous metals, copper and bronze. An economic document from Nineveh contains a memorandum on the delivery of 75 talents of material, both iron and copper, to a certain blacksmith at Assur, for work.7 On the other hand, in workshops manufacturing bronze objects, artifacts of iron were also re- ported to be made. Even later, in Babylonia of the sixth century, there were smiths (nappahu) who worked both copper and iron.8 So the pro- cess of specialization, caused by the different prop- erties of the material and begun early (probably among palace smiths), was slow, and most smiths had to master a broader field of operations. Not only the texts but also the artifacts demonstrate this breadth: we have already noted iron wheels with bronze naves, iron daggers with bronze hilts, cast tripod legs with iron reinforcements, and the like.

Other kinds of work, bi-pointed bars, and large chains, and heavy tools apparently manufactured

3 Cf. Mendelsohn, 1940; Weisberg, 1967; Renger, 1971: p. 494.

4 Cf. Weidner, 1936: p. 19. 5 Notice 70 ( ?) coppersmiths and 14 blacksmiths in

Kalhu-Nimrud, according to ND 2497 B 1, cf. Parker, 1957: p. 35 (eighth century); after Johns, 1898+: 2: p. 153, another 17 smiths are named in K.971, R 3 (Nineveh-palace? town?).

6 Rations for 12 blacksmiths of the Kalhu palace: Parker, 1957: p. 58 (ND 2803, col. i, line 14).

7Johns, 1898+, No. 812, lines 3-6. We are especially indebted to H. Hunger and J. Renger, Oriental Institute, for basic information.

8 Landsberger, 1967: p. 31; for Neo-Babylonian evi- dence: Moore, 1935: p. 112, line 11 (see also pp. 108- 109).

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304 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

in sets, are indicative of a true blacksmith. It is not impossible that a sort of specialization took place on another level, viz., the production of dif- ferent types of goods.

The question may arise as to what social posi- tion in Assyrian society was held by stniths and blacksmiths. In general, archaeological sources fail to answer problems of that kind, especially since no grave identifiable as that of a metal- worker has yet been found in Mesopotamia. As to the available records, at least some informa- tion may be obtained. There were two classes of metalworkers: servants of temple and palace, and craftsmen in cities, working at least some of the time on a private scale. About the latter, we know very little. Remarks on palace blacksmiths have just been discussed. Presumably, there were differences also within this group-some of them may have been slaves, since the Assyrian kings used to deport skilled craftsmen from the conquered cities and lands and settle them is As- syria.9 But there are no textual references to slaves who were metalworkers. There exist nu- merous legal documents in which royal gold- smiths, coppersmiths, and blacksmiths appear in the final clauses,10 so that we know that metal- workers could be invited to be witnesses to vari- ous legal transactions. The favorable social status of blacksmiths in this period is indicated by the fact that napp4h parzilli subsequently oc- curs as an ancestral name in the Neo-Babylonian period."1

The royal blacksmiths were apparently sup- plied with raw materials from the palace trea- sury; 12 sometimes they were even able to con- vert it wrongly to their own use. There is an illustrative text about that in a Kouyundjik letter: "The iron which the king, my lord, had given to the smiths for work, they sold to the merchants of Calah. . . ."' 13 This, incidentally, demonstrates the channels by which this material might get beyond palace walls to the public.

Besides palace blacksmiths, there were also craftsmen in the towns. We have heard of a blacksmith in Assur; 17 blacksmiths worked at

9 E.g., Sennacherib (Luckenbill, 1924: 2: p. 24 H 2 col. i :33); cf. Meissner, 1920: p. 230; Jusifov, 1960: p. 7.

10 Parker, 1957: pp. 130, 134 (ND 5452:13, and ND 5469:19, 21).

"- Kriickmann, 1933: p. 194, 8. See Oppenheim, 1964: p. 81.

12 Waterman, 1930+: 1: pp. 400-403, No. 566 rs:lff. 13 Pfeiffer, 1935: No. 145, p. 110, CAD D 175a.

Nineveh; 14 both blacksmiths and coppersmiths were registered in the census of Harran, a pro- vincial town which had nothing to do with the Palace. The tablet just mentioned lists 22 black- smiths, but only 7 coppersmiths.15 This is one of the most significant documents attesting to the common use of iron in the seventh century, at least in the vicinity of Harran.

As to the wealth of those workers, there is limited amount of information. They probably did not belong to the poorest groups of inhabi- tants, because the above-mentioned census indi- cates the ownership of houses. There is no evi- dence that they owned fields, though this might be connected with more intensive specialization in their craft. Blacksmiths also possessed slaves. A legal text concerns a sale of a slave-girl who was the property of the sons of a blacksmith.:' Neo-Babylonian documents offer more informa- tion on blacksmiths. In rough outlines, it cor- responds to that just described, but the Neo- Babylonian sources offer more facts concerning the position of smiths within a highly developed temple economy and organization. However, this topic is outside the purpose of the present contribution.

9. IRON IN MEDICINE

A large corpus of medical texts was found in Assurbanipal's Library in Nineveh. In some of these, iron and its ores play a part. However, the tablets are mainly copies of texts which date back to Old Babylonian traditions, and thus their significance in the Assyrian culture is not entirely clear.' This is unfortunate, since some terms re- ferring to unique uses of iron are found only in the medical texts: "iron powder" (filings ?- ZID.ZfD [=qem] AN.BAR),2 "washed iron" (AN.BAR HU.LUH.HA),3 "male and female"

14 Johns, 1898+: 2: p. 153, quoting K.971. 15 Johns, 1901: No. 7, LE II, line 3. There is the

term "1 ribit" added to the word "blacksmiths," ex- plained by Johns as a quarter of the city (cf. Bezold, 1926: p. 249 s.v. rebitu). But the context is very broken and it is not possible to make this term specific with any certainty.

16 Johns, 1898+, No. 711, line 7; cf. Kohler and Ungnad, 1913: No. 55, p. 48.

1 Cf. Oppenheim, 1964: p. 291. Of course, medicine was practiced at the Assyrian court, as the royal cor- respondence shows.

2Thompson, 1923: pp. 85, 2, 9; Thompson, 1936: pp. 81, 87.

3 Wilson, 1957: pp. 40, 41, 43.

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VOL. 118, NO. 3, 1974] THE ASSYRIAN IRON AGE 305

iron.4 Another unique feature is an apparent ap- preciation of iron's magnetic qualities.5 The role of iron in these medical texts, whatever their age or source, fails to show that iron was in- vested with more mysterious or occult qualities than other metals or organic substances.6

10. THE SYMBOLISM OF IRON

As we have already noted, iron daggers were sometimes a symbol for great slaughter and blood- shed, iron fetters were a way of expressing the king's power, and steep mountain peaks were likened to sharp iron daggers. The use of the word "iron" in these cases may have added a note of fierceness or implied strength, but this is not universally true; similar texts occur without men- tion of any metal, or cite bronze instead of iron.'

It should be observed that iron was apparently not mentioned with awe or fear, because of some association with meteorites.2 Its magnetic qual- ities seem to have been appreciated in medical texts, to a minor extent, but oddly enough, not elsewhere in the literature. On very rare occa- sions iron was dedicated to the gods, usually along with other metals.3 Its use on these occa- sions was probably related to the intrinsic value of iron rather than any symbolic meaning.4

The hardness of iron is alluded to in a curse on those who would violate the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon: May all the gods who are named in this treaty tablet . . . turn your soil into iron, so that no one may cut a furrow in it.5 Hardness also seems to be a distinguishing char- acteristic of a substance called kisru, one of the meanings of which is, apparently, "iron mete- orite. "6

4Wilson, 1957: pp. 40ff. This does not seem to refer to magnetism, since copper, coral, and pumice are also called "male and female" in medical texts.

5 Scheil, 1921: No. 17, p. 27; Thompson, 1936: pp. 86- 87. Cf. Biggs, 1967: p. 18, No. 2, lines 9-11.

6 Contra, e.g., Woolley, 1965: p. 279. ' See, for example, Luckenbill, 1927: 1: pp. 229, 233

(Tiglath-Pileser I); ibid. 1: p. 366 (Adad-Nirari II) and ibid. 2: p. 142 (Sargon II).

2 See Bjorkman, 1973: pp. 94ff. 3 The two occurrences of iron foundation deposits have

been mentioned above, in Section 1, as well as the iron arrowhead inscribed and dedicated to Assur (Section 1).

4 See the remarks by R. S. Ellis, Foundation Deposits in Ancient Mesopotamia (Yale, 1968), p. 135.

5 Translation from Pritchard, 1969: p. 103 (=539), line 63 (=526).

6 Landsberger, 1968: pp. 116-117, fn. 71; Bjorkman, 1973: p. 115ff.

An additional metaphorical use of iron exists, though it has not yet been found in any Assyrian text. In some Hittite legal texts dating from the sixteenth to the thirteenth century, the following occurs:

the words of the tabarna, the Great King, are of iron (sa AN.BAR), not to be rejected, not to be broken (etc.) .7

As Oppenheim has observed, iron here repre- sents permanency and indestructibility. A re- lated nuance occurs in two Neo-Babylonian texts, in which cattle leased from the temple are char- acterized as, "they will not die," and the phrase, "they are made of iron," is added. The literal meaning is that under the terms of the lease any cattle which do die must be replaced. But here we see iron used as a symbol of a sort of death- lessness. The Assyrians were chronologically and geographically embraced by the cultures in which this metaphor was used-perhaps the Assyrians never made use of the metaphor, but the possibil- ity still exists that they may have. In any case, using only the evidence cited in this section, we see that in the Near East as a whole, iron ac- quired connotations which made it reminiscent of both death and deathlessness 8 (though these did not necessarily co-exist).

11. NOTES ON ASSYRIAN IRON TECHNOLOGY

Strictly speaking we know nothing about the technology of smelting in southwestern Asia, ex- cept that the so-called direct process of extraction was utilized. There have been no archaeological discoveries of forges or smithies in Assyrian sites, and no smelting sites have been excavated.' There is, moreover, no evidence in the texts.

A couple of documents refer to iron ores: hae- matites were called s'addnu (NA4 KA or NA4 KA.GI.NA). But in the published sources, they were mentioned only in connection with the dec- orating of palaces since the time of Tiglath-Pileser I in the eleventh century.2 Magnetite (s.adanu

7See Oppenheim, 1955. 8 This is, of course, not a real contrast, but simply two

facets of the same characteristic-strength. ' Some sort of hearth and slagged materials, an-

nounced by Williams (1951), are apparently not rele- vant to iron technology.

2 Schrader, 1889-1890: pp. 44-45, lines 11-13, on trans- porting materials from the mountains of Nairi. Ap- plications: e.g., Borger, 1956: No. 64:22, p. 95, or Streck, 1916: 2: pp. 296-297, line 21. On the identification of haematite, see Thompson, 1936: pp. 81-82.

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306 RADOMIR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

sabitu, NA4 KA.GI.NA.DIB.BA) and its de- posits were also known, but occur basically as a substance for preparing medicaments or as a part of material for magic rituals. Deposits of both minerals were situated not very far from the As- syrian centers of population, mostly in the north.3 A heap of haematite, found in one of the rooms at Nimrud and thought to be a possible link to smelting operations,4 lacks evidence of any metal- lurgical activity.

The ancient Assyrians and their predecessors knew charcoal (gumndru, p mtu) ,5 another funda- mental raw material for metallurgy, but there is not the slightest evidence that it was used for smelting iron ore. They had terms for metal- lurgical furnaces (kflru, utfinu) 6 and for their different parts, but these all concern non-ferrous metallurgy or glass-making. They noticed slags, those products of every smelting or even remelt- ing activity (anzahhu, hahi', kurbannu s'a if7ttn) ,7 but the contexts never refer to the extraction of iron. One can go so far as to say that the sources do not indicate that the Assyrians carried out smelting of iron at all, even though it would seem likely that they practiced the art.

The phrase, "iron smelted from the earth," in the Papullegarra Hymn strongly suggests a tech- nological procedure, but it is to be translated an- other way, because the crucial word, miqtu, con- cerns the fall of an iron meteorite.8

No better situation exists with the blacksmith's technology. The external appearance of Assyrian artifacts proves that smiths had sufficiently mas- tered the basic operations of red hot shaping: stretching, bending, rolling sockets, splitting, up- setting.9 The use of some of these processes, such as hammering sheet metal, was self-evident, for we have proof in the form of sheet-work arti-

3 Cf. Layard, 1849: 1: p. 223; Thompson, 1936: p. 88; North, 1955: p. 521; Oates, 1962: p. 18; Borger, 1956: No. 27, p. 56, but cf. CAD $ 44a on this text.

4 Oates, loc. cit. 5 Ebeling and Kocher, 1953: p. 116 :10; cf. CAD G

133a; A. Salonen, 1964: p. 337. 6 Ebeling, 1919: p. 94:7; cf. von Soden, 1959+: p.

308; CAD H 30b, 225b; CAD K 571. 7 Thompson, 1936: p. XX; Waterman, 1930+: 1: p.

403 :6; Ebeling, 1919: p. 367. The translation of a medi- cal text proposed by J. V. Kinnier Wilson (1957: p. 41, ND 4368) is misleading, since it contains a phrase concerning "the soot of a fuirnace (smelting) magnetic iron." In fact, no smelting activity is involved in the context. Kurbannu sa ittfin: see CAD K 403b.

8 Pinches, 1924: pp. 65, 71. 9 On sharpening iron daggers, cf. Lambert, 1961: pp.

150-151.

facts: helmets, door-pivot cups, armor scales. Upsetting is included in making rivet- and nail- heads, both from iron and from alloys (to be used, e.g., in dagger or knife handles).10 Some chain links indicate fire-welding, but Place's drawings reveal that many links were open and merely clasped.1"

A blacksmith's equipment is insufficiently at- tested: objects resembling sledge hammer heads at Nimrud and Khorsabad, iron tweezer-tongs, both in a text and as an archaeological object, ref- erences to bellows,12 that is all.

Cold working is not attested at this present stage of investigation, except that the production of filings is posited by terms like qem AN.BAR in medical texts. Unfortunately, the use of files on Assyrian iron artifacts of the sixth century, announced by Coghlan,'3 is not well documented.

Some space should be devoted to a discussion of Assyrian steel. There is no evidence of an explicit term for it,14 but very suggestive terms appear in the famous Gilgamesh Letter of the Sultantepe tablets: iron with numerous qualities was to be delivered-pure, of high quality, choice, tempered, precious, beaten, having no flaw. But the nomenclature, given as zaku, damqu, nasku, latku, beru, aqru, and maahsu, merely denotes high quality, so to say superlatives, relating mainly to good forging (mahsu), and to eventu- ally testing the metal (latku). No term refer- ring to tempering can be recognized.'5 This very specific operation, the heat treatment of steel, oc- curs as a translation of the word salamu from the Cappadocian tablets, but this denotes, rather, some unidentified operation concerning the color (becoming dark or purple) of the ami7tu-metal.16 Confusion also surrounds the term sarapu which used to be translated as refining, melting, or even

10 E.g., Tell Halaf (von Oppenheim, 1962: pl. 36:210). Cf. the iron fitting of the gate wings at Carchemish (Woolley and Barnett, 1952: p. 198, pl. 48a), etc.

11 Place, 1867-1870: 2: pl. 70:9. 12 Nappahati, cf. Reiner, 1958: p. 43, line 75. There

may be some relationship between the origin of the word nappah, "smith," and the verb napahu, "to blow (the fire)." For sledgehammers: Layard, 1859: p. 165; Place, 1867-1870: 3: pl. 71:8; British Museum No. 55/12-5/337.

13 Coghlan, 1956: p. 132 (referring to a personal com- munication of A. Oldeberg).

14 Formerly, the word hapalki- was interpreted to mean steel, because it is a relatively rare term and seemed to denote a special sort of iron. Recently, it was recognized that it simply means "iron" in Hattian, Hittite, and Hurrian; see footnote 6 in the Introduction.

15 Gurney, 1957: lines 25-26. 16 CAD $ 70b (ad CCT 5 113a:11).

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smelting.17 What the word really means is the reheating of materials (the firing of clay, or the heating of metal), as follows from the fact that considerable losses of the metal substance take place (by oxidation). This reheating, accom- panied by hammering, could produce better qual- ity; indeed, non-metallic impurities would be ex- pelled and the metal structures (ferrite and pearl- ite) involving varying carbon contents would be homogenized.

Under these circumstances, any evidence can come only from the examination of existing iron artifacts. Some observations made by Place de- serve attention: he describes the perfect malle- ability of the Assyrian steel of the bi-pointed Khorsabad bars, worked by native Iraqi smiths under his supervision.'8 In the light of this re- port, it is important to say that two specimens (No.'s 366 and 367) taken from a pointed bar had the structure of a hard, eutectoid carbon pearlite steel with some minor decarburized spots.19 This might indicate that the use of steel in Assyria was common and that tools were made with steel edges.

Unfortunately, the situation does not fit such a simple pattern. Concerning the dagger from Nimrud, which Mallowan 20 suggests is made of steel, no positive information is available. Two implements from Khorsabad, recently investigated in the Archaeological Institute, Prague, are-on the contrary-very simple artifacts. The hoe (sp. No. 368) and the adze (sp. No. 365) were both made of a very pure but soft wrought iron or very mild ferritic-pearlitic steel (fig. 10 :2a, 3a). No attempts to improve the edges by car- burizing, welding on steel plates, and subsequent quenching or tempering could be observed.

Hard steel in a bar or in an ingot, and soft iron in the cutting parts of tools indicate that both the ores and the metallurgical process could pro-

175aripu A: CAD $ 102b ad CCT 4 4a:39-41. For different translations of the word in the same text, cf. CAD A/2 98a (smelting), and CAD K sub kisru (melt- ing), and CAD $ 102b (refining).

18 Place, 1867-1870: 1: p. 88; 2: p. 264; the state- ment there, that Romans and Greeks were not familiar with steel, is however, wrong.

19 The author (Pleiner) is very much indebted to the Director of the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, for permission to take all these samples; they bear the num- bers of the metallographical catalogue of the Archaeo- logical Institute, Prague. The results of the metallo- graphical investigations will, we expect, be published separately.

20 Mallowan, 1966: 2: p. 44, fig. 367.

vide a highly carburized metal. But there is no evidence that the smiths were able to recognize and deliberately choose or select suitable types for manufacturing implements or their working parts. Of course, the number of objects examined is too small, and no general conclusions are permis- sible at this present stage. It is interesting, con- cerning the carburizing and tempering of steel, that Luristan smiths of the eighth and seventh centuries, in the eastern neighborhood of Assyria, did not know these processes, whereas the Greeks at that time were, for example, familiar with quenching.21

12. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSYRIAN IRON CIVILIZATION

A short summary of facts leads to the follow- ing preliminary conclusions: the use of certain objects made of iron apparently began very early in the Middle Assyrian period (attested in the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries). Iron, as a me- teoritic and an accidentally produced material, was known in Mesopotamia more than a millen- nium earlier. In the thirteenth century, the in- tentional extraction of iron took place under the Hittites, northwest of Assyria. But after the fall of the Hittite empire, no sudden explosion of the iron industry, as suggested by many scholars, took place, at least in Assyria. The use of iron remained more or less limited to the royal court.

Its first practical use was attested for military purposes, including the first types of iron tools. These gradually replaced bronze implements, and at the end of the eighth century they were made in well-developed forms. In the seventh century there were earth works undertaken on a large scale with iron tools. An earlier period, at least the second half of the eighth century, saw the introduction of several additional types of iron objects, many of them for household use. Of special significance was the use of iron plowshares (Khorsabad) and possibly also sickles in agri- culture. The introduction of iron as a structural material for buildings was slow, and only at the end of the seventh century were there signs of any important applications in that field.

Without any doubt there was a full-fledged iron civilization in the seventh century in Assyria. In making comparisons with other cultural areas, for example, with Europe, it must be stated that the use of non-ferrous alloys as a technical material

21 Persia: Pleiner, 1969b: pp. 28ff.; Smith, 1971. Greece: Pleiner, 1969a: p. 10 (cf. Od IX 391).

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308 RADOMiR PLEINER AND JUDITH K. BJORKMAN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

13 1 2 11 1 0 9 8 7 centuries [_Y_ C l I I I lIB.C.

symbolic tablets

ceremonial weapons 7//o 0

court blacksmiths / / Y/

arms & armor

army sapper tools C

spoils & tribute

bonds & fetters l C0

quality iron requested co .> 0

agricultural implements 0

knives

digging & other tools Ca

CD other utensils _ .C

structural iron

city blacksmiths

applications of iron I IIIV [\tages of

1 _~~~~~2 WA7A//m/ 3

FIG. 15. Development of the Assyrian iron civilization. Explanation: (1) written records; (2) archaeological evidence; (3) interpolation and reconstruction. An additional, early textual reference to an iron dagger (Post- gate, 1973) was found too late for incorporation in the figure. This text dates to the second half of the second millennium.

for tools and weapons continued longer in the Near East, where these metals co-existed with iron until the second half of the first millennium. The cause may have been not only the unusually long tradition of bronze technology, but also in a greater abundance of accessible copper ores.

Assyrian sources are largely devoid of any- thing concerning the technology of iron smelting. There are neither allusions in written records, nor discoveries of smelting sites, nor dated iron slags among archaeological remains. The only infor- mation on the mode of supply of iron (together with other metals, too) consists of lists of spoils or tributes in royal inscriptions of the ninth to mid- eighth centuries. Then any records of that type cease. Later, trade in iron must have developed outside the palace.

Little is known about the techniques applied in working iron. According to the texts, iron was recognized as worse or better, and this conscious-

ness of good quality had existed at least since the ninth century. But these reports are not very eloquent. The first metallographical investiga- tions indicate that hard steel occurs, e.g., in the pointed bars, but this does not mean that tools were equipped with steel edges; they could be manufactured entirely of mild steels or of wrought iron, as the examined samples show. Neither are we informed on the technologies for improving tools, such as methods of carburizing, welding, quenching, or tempering. New analyses may bring further information.

Two turning points can be observed in the use of iron in Assyria. Shortly after 900, what is called the Iron Age began. About two centuries later, a well-developed and full-fledged civiliza- tion based on iron had been established. It is interesting that in Greece the development was more rapid; a similar statement can also be made about the Syro-Palestinian coastal area. It seems

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VOL. 118, NO. 3, 1974] THE ASSYRIAN IRON AGE 309

that iron played a more catalytic role there, as in other peripheral areas. In the countries where it was first known, iron remained for a long time a very useful and very widely applied addition to other technical materials (fig. 15).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors of the present study come from different countries. R. Pleiner is with the Ar- chaeological Institute of the Czechoslovak Acad- emy of Sciences at Prague, and J. K. Bjorkman is from Syracuse, N. Y. They were helped by many scholars, first individually and then both together, and lastly at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. There the manuscript was finished. The authors appreciate the under- standing of Professor G. R. Hughes, Director of the Institute, who gave them much practical and necessary support, especially by enabling them to study in the new Regenstein Library. Special gratitude is to be expressed to Professor A. Leo Oppenheim, who kindly read the manuscript, offered much valuable advice and rendered the most decisive help.

Many members and associates of the Institute's Assyrian Dictionary Department were always ready to help in translating and checking texts and in finding the relevant literature: Dr. Erica Reiner, Professor Hans Giiterbock, Dr. Johan- nes Renger, Dr. Hermann Hunger, and Dr. Robert Biggs. Dr. Richard Caplice, from the Pontifical Institute, Rome, joined them in their kindness while on his one year's stay in Chicago. Dr. G. Swift and Miss Judith Franke of the Museum Office were very kind, concerning the study of archaeological iron objects kept in the Oriental Institute Museum.

On both sides of the ocean we were given valu- able advice and help, from Professor Dr. Lubor Matous and Dr. Blahoslav Hruska, at the De- partment of Cuneiform Studies, Caroline Univer- sity in Prague, and similarly from Dr. Ake Sjo- berg (who secured the contact between the two authors in 1968), Curator of the Babylonian Sec- tion of the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. To all of them belong our heartfelt thanks.

Further effective help came to Dr. Pleiner from the British Museum, London (Dr. R. D. Barnett, Dr. T. C. Mitchell, and Dr. J. E. Curtis, Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities) as well as from the Archaeological Institute, Univer- sity of London (Dr. Barbara Parker), and from

the Louvre, Paris (Dr. M. Amiet and Mlle Annie Caubet). There our studies of archaeo- logical objects were completed. The most sin- cere thanks are due to all the scholars who so willingly supported the work.

The stipend for Dr. Pleiner's stay in the United States was kindly sponsored by the International Research and Exchanges Board, New York, whose staff, Dr. Allen Cassof, Dr. John Mat- thews, and Mrs. Vivian Todd, were extremely helpful in arranging the program, etc. The study was enabled by Professor Dr. J. Filip, Director of the Archaeological Institute at Prague, who showed great understanding and released Dr. Pleiner from his duties for the necessary period.

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