The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC)

The Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II was one of the most important and famous rulers of ancient Mesopotamia. In this volume of critically important ancient documents, Grant Frame presents reliable, updated editions of Sargon’s approximately 130 historical inscriptions, as well as several from his wife, his brother, and other high officials.

Beginning with a thorough introduction to the reign of Sargon II and an overview of the previous scholarship on his inscriptions, this modern scholarly edition contains the entire extant corpus. It presents more than 130 inscriptions, preserved on stone wall slabs from his palace, paving slabs, colossi, steles, prisms, cylinders, bricks, metal, and other objects, along with brief introductions, commentaries, comprehensive bibliographies, accurate transliterations, and elegant English translations of the Akkadian texts. This monumental work is complemented by more than two dozen photographs of the inscribed objects; indices of museum and excavation numbers, selected publications, and proper names; and translations of relevant passages from several other Akkadian texts, including chronicles and king lists.

Informed by advances in the study of the Akkadian language and featuring more than twice as many texts as previous editions of Sargon II’s inscriptions, this will be the editio princeps for Assyriologists and students of the Sargonic inscriptions for decades to come.

“Frame must be warmly thanked for the present edition, not only because of its quality, but particularly because of its completeness.”—Bieke Mahieu, Revue Biblique

Grant Frame is Professor Emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania, Curator of the Penn Museum’s Babylonian Collection, former Director of the Center for Antient Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the founder of the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period Project. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of numerous books, including A Common Cultural Heritage: Studies on Mesopotamia and the Biblical World in Honor of Barry L. Eichler and Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia July 11–15, 2016, both of which are available from Eisenbrauns.

List of Figures

Contents of Scores

Foreword

Preface

Editorial Notes

Bibliographical Abbreviations

Other Abbreviations

Object Signatures

Introduction

I. Assyria

Dur-Sharrukin

Assur

Kalhu (Nimrud)

Nineveh

II. The West and Northwest

Cyprus

Ashdod

Unknown (‘Beirut’ / ‘Hamath’)

Acharneh

Til-Barsip (Tell Ahmar)

Tell Tayinat

Carchemish

Melid (Arslantepe)

III. Iran

Qal’eh-i Imam

Tang-i Var

Najafabad

Persepolis

IV. Babylonia

Babylon

Uruk

Tell Haddad

V. Miscellaneous

VI. Uncertain Texts

VII. Royal Family and Officials

Minor Variants and Comments

Index of Museum Numbers

Index of Excavation Numbers

Index of Names

Concordances of Annals Line Numbers

Concordances of Selected Publications

Scores of Inscriptions (on Oracc)

Download a PDF sample chapter here: Introduction