RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Assyria
copies from the south. The elegant style of Asshurbanipal's annals suggests that the formative period of Assyrian literature was just beginning, but the speedy collapse of the empire prevented any ripening into creative work.
VI. The History. — 1. Chronolog-y: The crucial datum is the mention of an eclipse in the eponymate of Pur-shagali in the month Sivan (May- June). A total eclipse occurred at Nineveh, June 15, 763 B.C., thus fixing the year of Pur-shagali's eponymate. The bearing of this on Assyrian chronology appears below. Other data are afforded by the Eponym Canon, found in the i. Sources library of Asshurbanipal, a sort of
and Re- calendar in which succeeding years suits. are named respectively for officers of state. There are several sets of these, all incomplete, but often overlapping each other, and in these synchronistic parts showing that they are not replicas of each other, but in some cases independent documents. They cover consecutively the period 902-667 B.C. and give the succession of the kings as well as of the eponyms, often including a short statement of the principal events of the year. In a succession like this, if the date of one is fixed, that of the rest follows; the eclipse just mentioned furnishes the desired fixed date. On these two sets of data hangs nearly all of Assyrian and Babylonian chronology, as well as that of some of the contemporary nations. The Canon of Ptolemy (Greek), is an appendix to the astronomical work of Claudius Ptolemseus, based on solar and lunar eclipses and using Babylonian sources. This was successfully employed to indicate the order in which the Eponym Canon should be arranged. The Synchronistic History of Babylonia and Assyria (cuneiform) gives an enumeration of Babylonian kings and contemporary Assyrian monarchs, and covers the periods 1400-1050 and 900-800 B.C. The Babylonian Chronicle (cuneiform) covers the period 744-668 B.C., during the Assyrian dominance, and therefore throws light on Assyrian chronology or corroborates results otherwise obtained. For the early periods dependence must be placed upon isolated data. Thus, Sennacherib, in the rock inscription at Bavian (Schrader, KB, ii, 116 sqq.) alleges that he restored to the temple E-kallati images carried off to Babylon by Marduk-nadin-ahi 418 years earlier in the days of Tiglath-Pileser I. This is practically corroborated by the Babylonian king's statement that in his tenth regnal year he gained a victory over Assyria. The date of restoration was 689 B.C., putting the date when the images were carried off at 1107 B.C., making the coronation year of the Babylonian 1117 b.c, and establishing the contemporaneity of the kings. Sennacherib mentions another fact which (though in round numbers and therefore slightly suspicious) places Tiglath-Nindar (or Ninib), son of Shalmaneser I, about the year 1289 b.c. Similarly, Tiglath-Pileser I (dated above) records a fact which places the death of his great-grandfather Asshur-Dan c. 1175 B.C. He also gives the date of the rebuilding of a temple by the patesi (see Babylonia) Shamshi-Ramman as 641 years earlier, thus placingthe latter c. 1815
b.c. Further data are obtained by mention of the ancestors of different monarchs. When Ramman- Nirari calls himself son of Pud-il, grandson of Belnirari, great-grandson of Asshur-Uballit, he serves a useful purpose by naming a succession of four kings. Tiglath-Pileser I announces that the Shamshi-Ramman whom he dates was son of Ishmi- Dagan, and that both were patesis of Assyria. This datum shows also that in their time Assyria was not independent, since patesi is not the title of an independent ruler. These data give results upon which in most cases agreement is reached by scholars within the margin of a year.
2. Ethnological Data: Gutium (Assyr. Kutu)
was situated northeast from Nineveh, and stretched
from the headwaters of the Upper
i. Peoples Zab to Lake Urumiah. It is proband ably referred to in Gen. xiv. The Places Namri occupied the southern part of
Named in the Zagros mountain range, between
Assyrian Media and Assyria, east of the Lower Annals. Zab. The Madai and Manda, later known as the Umman-Manda, were Aryan tribes beyond the Namri to the east of the mountains and toward the Caspian. The Kasshi, sometimes confused in the Old Testament (the unpointed Hebrew is the same) with Cush (Ethiopia), were northeastern neighbors of the Elamites and gave a long-lived dynasty to Babylonia. The Kaldu, later known as the Chaldeans, occupied the territory north and west of the head of the Persian Gulf and became rulers of Babylonia when the Assyrian empire fell. The Manni or Minni inhabited the territory between lakes Van and Urumiah, and were sturdy foes of the Assyrians. The Urartu or Armenians dwelt in the Armenian mountains and valleys northwest of Lake Van, and partly controlled the plains at the foot. They were perhaps the most difficult foes the Assyrians had to meet. The Mitanni, during the rise of Assyria, held Upper Mesopotamia c. 1400 b.c, and are supposed to have been a Hittite power. By their position they controlled the trade route between the Upper Tigris, the Mediterranean, and the West. Gozan, later Gauzanitis, was a district on the upper waters of the Chabur. Bit-Adini was the Aramean state north of the confluence of the Chabur with the Euphrates. Kummuh was a state considerably to the north of Bit-Adini on the southern spurs of the Taurus Mountains. In the northeastern part of Syria, north of where Antioch was situated later, not quite contemporary with each other were the Aramean states of Patin, Unki, Samal, Gurgum, and Yaudi — the latter for many years mistaken by Assyriologists for Judah, particularly as it had a king named Azriyahu nearly contemporary with Azariah of Judah. It lay between Samal and Unki (cf. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, i, 1893). Kue was the name of the eastern part of the coast of Cilicia. Northeast from Kue was the Muzri of Asia Minor (confused in I Kings x, 28 and II Kings vji, 6 with Egypt, though mentioned in connection with Syria and the Hittites in both passages; in the former passage the name Kue is perhaps concealed in the word ma-koh). Still farther to the north were the
Assyria