Assyrian Historiography | Page 7

after the
hunting feats, in the lost lower part of column IV, we may assume that
all that preceded is taken from that source. Furthermore, we are given
the other hunting exploits "which my [father] did not record." [Footnote:
Obl. IV. 33.] The numbers of beasts killed, which the scribe intended
especially to emphasize, have never, curiously enough, been inscribed
in the blanks left for their insertion. [Footnote: E.g., Obl. IV. 4.]
Opposed to the Annals proper are the Display inscriptions in which
chronological considerations and details as to the campaigns are
subordinated to the desire to give a general view of the monarch's
might. Two have been found in foreign lands, one at the source of the
Tigris, [Footnote: Discovery, J. Taylor, cf. H. Rawlinson,
_Athenaeum_, 1862, II. 811; 1863, I. 229. III R. 4, 6; Schrader, _Abh.

K. Preuss. Akad._, 1885, I. Winckler, _Sammlung_, I. 30: Budge-King,
127 n. 1. Meissner, _Chrestomathie_, 6; Abel-Winckler, 5; Menant, 49.
Winckler, KB. I. 48 f. Dated after the Arvad expedition as shown by
reference to Great Sea of Amurru, and of same date as Melazgerd
inscription, Belck, _Verh. Berl_.] the other near Melazgerd in Armenia.
[Footnote: From Gonjalu, near Melazgerd, Belck-Lehmann, _Verh.
Berl. Anthr. Ges._ 1898, 574. Photograph, Lehmann, _Sitzungsber.
Berl. Akad._, 1900, 627. Is this one of the "cuneiform inscriptions near
Moosh" reported to Taylor, _Athenaeum_, 1863, I. 229?] Drafts for
similar inscriptions have been found on clay tablets, written for the use
of the workmen who were to incise them on stone. Of these, one, which
is virtually complete as regards number of lines, seems to date from
year four as it has no reference to later events. [Footnote: S. 1874; K.
2805, Tabl. I of Budge-King, 109 ff. III R. 5; Winckler, _Sammlung_, I.
26 ff.; cf. Lotz, _op. cit._, 193; Tiele, Gesch., 159 n. 2; Meissner, ZA.
IX. 101 ff. Meissner's restoration of these as parts of one tablet in
chronological order will not stand in view of the fact that I is complete
in itself while there are variations in the order of Nairi and totally
different endings.] It would then be our earliest extant source. It is also
of value in dating the erection of the palace whose mention shows that
the tablet is complete. That the compiler had before him the document
used by the Annals in its account of the Nairi campaign [Footnote: Ann.
IV. 71 ff.] is proved by his writing "from Tumme to Daiene" for these
are the first and last names in the well known list of Nairi states. The
order of the tablet is neither chronological nor geographical. Another
tablet dates from year five to which most of its data belong. In the first
half, it follows the order of Tablet I, and in the remainder follows
closely the words of its source in the Annals, merely abbreviating.
[Footnote: K. 2806 with K. 2804, Tabl. II of Budge-King, 116 ff.]
Possibly in its present form, it may be later than year five [Footnote:
The badly damaged reverse of K. 2806 has one reference to the
Euphrates which may be connected with Obl. III. 24, probably of year
IX.] for a third tablet of year ten duplicates this first part. [Footnote: K.
2804, Tabl. V of Budge-King, 125 f.] Unfortunately, this latter gives
next to no historical data, but its reference to the "Lower Zab" and to
the "Temple of Ishtar" may perhaps allow us to date to this same tenth
year the highly important tablet which gives a full account of the

campaign in Kirhi and Lulume and which also ends with the restoration
of the Ishtar temple. [Footnote: K. 2807; 91-5-9, 196. III R. 5, 4; Tablet
IV of Budge-King, 121 ff. Winckler, AOF. III. 246. Hommel, _Gesch._,
511 f.] Here too and not with the Annals must be placed the fragment
with the Arvad episode. [Footnote: Scheil, RT. XXII. 157. Restorations,
Streck, ZA. XVIII. 186 n. 2. First attributed to Tiglath Pileser, Peiser,
OLZ. III. 476; Winckler, ibid. IV. 296; cf. AOF. III. 247.--Bricks I R. 6,
5; Scheil, _op. cit._ 37; Winckler, _Sammlung_, I. 31; Budge-King,
127. Other inss., King, _Supplement_, 453, 488.]


CHAPTER III
THE DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORICAL WRITING
(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 until the reign of his son Ashur
nasir