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THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES
THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI STUDIES
A Source Study By ALBERT TEN EYCK OLMSTEAD Associate Professor of Ancient History...
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
To the serious student of Assyrian history, it is obvious that we cannot write that history until we have adequately discussed the sources. We must learn what these are, in other words, we must begin with a bibliography of the various documents. Then we must divide them into their various classes, for different classes of inscriptions are of varying degrees of accuracy. Finally, we must study in detail for each reign the sources, discover which of the various documents or groups of documents are
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
(Tiglath Pileser I) We shall begin, then, our detailed study of the sources for Assyrian history with the data for the reign of Tiglath Pileser I (circa 1100 B.C.). Taking up first the Annals, we find that the annalistic documents from the reign may be divided into two general groups. One, the Annals proper, is the so called Cylinder, in reality written on a number of hexagonal prisms. [Footnote: Photographs of B and A, Budge-King, xliii; xlvii; of the Ashur fragments, of at least five prisms, A
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
(Ashur nasir apal and Shalmaneser III) After the death of Tiglath Pileser, there is a period of darkness. A few bricks and other minor inscriptions give us the names of the rulers and possibly a bit of other information, but there is not a single inscription which is important enough to furnish source problems. It is not until we reach the reign of Tukulti Ninib (890-885) that we again have an Annals [Footnote: Scheil, Annales de Tukulti Ninip II, 1909; cf. Winckler, OLZ. XIII. 112 ff.] and not
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
The main source for the reign of Shamshi Adad (825-812) is the official Annals which exists in two recensions. One, written in archaistic characters, from the south east palace at Kalhu, has long been known. After the usual introduction, it deals briefly with the revolt of Ashur dan apal. No attempt is made to differentiate the part which deals with his father's reign from that of his own, and the single paragraph which is devoted to it gives us no real idea of its importance or of its duration.
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
The sources for the reign of Sargon (722-705) [Footnote: Collected in Winckler, Kellschrifttexte Sargons , 1889.] have already been discussed in detail elsewhere. All that is here needed is a summary of results. [Footnote: Olmstead, Western Asia in the Days of Sargon of Assyria , 1908, 1 ff.] They fall into three well marked groups. The first includes the early inscriptions of the reign, which are miscellaneous in character. [Footnote: Sargon , 17 ff.] The circumstances under which Sargon came t
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
(Sennacherib and Esarhaddon) Of the sources for the reign of Sennacherib (705-686), [Footnote: The only fairly complete collection of sources for the reign is still Smith-Sayce, History of Sennacherib , 1878, though nearly all the data needed for a study of the Annals are given by Bezold, KB. II. 80 ff. Extracts, Rogers, 340 ff. Cf. also Olmstead, Western Asia in the reign of Sennacherib, Proceedings of Amer. Historical Assn. , 1909, 94 ff.] the chief is the Annals, added to at intervals of a fe
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
The reign of Ashur bani apal (668-626), stands preeminent for the mass of material available, and this has twice been collected. [Footnote: G. Smith, History of Assurbanipal , 1871; S. A. Smith, Keilschrifttexte Asurbanipals , 1887 ff.] Yet in spite of all this, the greater number of the inscriptions for the reign are not before us in adequate form, and there are problems which only a renewed study of the originals can solve. Once again we have the usual Annals as our main source. Earlier schola
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
This concludes our detailed study of the "histories" of the reigns which were set forth with the official sanction. Before summing up our conclusions as to their general character, it will be well to devote a moment to the consideration of certain other sources for the Assyrian period. Many minor inscriptions have been passed by without notice, and a mere mention of the mass of business documents, letters, and appeals to the sun god will here be sufficient, though in a detailed history their hel
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AJSL
AJSL
American Journal of Semitic Languages. Amiaud-Scheil A. Amiaud, V. Scheil, Les inscriptions de Salmanassar II, 1890....
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AOF
AOF
H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, 1893 ff....
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BM
BM
British Museum number; special collections are marked K., S., Rm., DT., or by the year, month, and day, as 81-2-3, 79. Budge E. A. W. Budge, History of Esarhaddon, 1880. Budge-King E. A. W. Budge, L. W. King, Annals of Kings of Assyria, I. 1902. G. Smith G. Smith, History of Assurbanipal, 1871. Harper R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, 1901....
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KB
KB
E. Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, 1889 ff....
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KTA
KTA
L. Messerschmidt, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur, I. 1911....
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L
L
A. H. Layard, Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character, 1851. Le Gac Y. le Gac, Les inscriptions d'Assur-nasir-apal III, 1907....
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MDOQ
MDOQ
Mittheilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft. Menant Menant, Annales dee rois d'Assyrie, 1874....
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PSBA
PSBA
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology....
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R
R
H. C. Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, 1861 ff. Rasmussen N. Rasmussen, Salmanasser den IPs Indskriften. Rogers R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament, 1912. Rost P. Rost, Keilschrifttexte Tiglat-Pilesers, 1893....
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RP
RP
Records of the Past, Ser. I. 1875 ff.; Ser. II. 1889 ff....
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RT
RT
Recueil de Travaux. S. A. Smith S. A. Smith, Keilschrifttexte Asurbanipals, 1887 ff. Smith-Sayce G. Smith, A. H. Sayce, History of Sennacherib, 1878....
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TSBA
TSBA
Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. Ungnad A. Ungnad, in H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte, 1909....
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