Sargon II's Prisms
{{Infobox artifact
| name = Sargon II's Prism A
| image =
| image2 =
| image_caption =
| material = Clay
| size = 6.4 x 4.4 cm
| writing = Akkadian cuneiform
| created = c.710 BC
| discovered = Mid 19th century. Combined identification in [1903]
| location = British Museum
| id = }}
{{refimprove section|date=November 2020}}
Sargon II's Prisms are two Assyrian tablet inscriptions describing Sargon II's (722 to 705 BC) campaigns, discovered in Nineveh in the Library of Ashurbanipal. The Prisms today are in the British Museum.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/assyrianhistorio00olmsrich/assyrianhistorio00olmsrich_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "Assyrian historiography, a source study"|accessdate=2015-11-15}}{{Cite web |title=Phoenicia, Philistia, and Judah as Seen Through the Assyrian Lens |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1430825341&disposition=attachment |website=OhioLink EDT Center}}
An excerpt of the text as translated by Luckenbill as below:
"... Philistia, Judah, Edom, Moab ...".{{cn|date=November 2020}}
Known fragments
=Prism A=
=Prism B fragments=
- (A) K. 1668a + K. 1671: two columns, with 64 and 63 lines[https://archive.org/details/cu31924026800320/page/n363/mode/1up Catalogue of the cuneiform tablets in the Kouyunjik collection of the British museum], p.328, Fragment of a terra-cotta prismoid, 7 3/4 in. high, one side 2 7/16 in. Parts of two columns, with 64, 63 lines respectively, with very neat and clearly written, but partly mutilated and defaced Assyrian characters. The lines of Column I are more or less mutilated at their beginnings, and those of Column II are mutilated at their ends almost throughout. Remains of an inscription of Sargon II. [K. 1668 a + K. 1671]
- (B) K. 1672: two columns, with 9 and 8 lines[https://archive.org/details/cu31924026800320/page/n363/mode/1up Catalogue of the cuneiform tablets in the Kouyunjik collection of the British museum], p.327-9
- (H) K. 1669: one column, 34 lines, in 2 sections
File:Sargon's Prism B fragments.png|Prism B fragments
Text
Here is some of the text from journal article : Inscribed Prisms of Sargon II from Nimrud.{{Cite journal |last=Gadd |first=C. J. |date=1954 |title=Inscribed Prisms of Sargon II from Nimrud |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4199590 |journal=Iraq |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=173–201 |doi=10.2307/4199590 |issn=0021-0889}}
Sargon, great king, mighty king....king of Sumer and Akkad.
Favourite of the great gods; upon me
the gods Assur, Nabu and Marduk
Bestowed a kingdom without peer and
promoted the favourable calling of my name to the highest place.
who took care of Sippar, Nippur, Babylon, and Brosippa,
talents of gold
730 talents shekel (of silver?) for the work upon Esarra the shrine of the god Assur I (laid out?)
and make it shine like the light of day.
With 16 ta(lents of) bright (gold)....
(The man of Sa)maria who with a king
(hostile to) me had consorted together not to do service and not to bring tribute and they did battle
in the strength of the great gods, my lords
I clashed with them
7280 people with (their) chariots
and the gods their trust, as a spoil I counted, 200 chariots as my royal muster.
I mustered from among them
the rest of them
I caused to take their dwelling in the midst of Assyria
The city of Samaria I restored and greater than before
I caused it to become. People of lands conquered by my two hands
I brought within it; my officer
as prefect over them I placed, and
together with the people of Assyria I counted them
The people of the land of Musur and the Arabians
I caused the blaze of Ashur my lord to overwhelm them...{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4199590 | jstor=4199590 | title=Inscribed Prisms of Sargon II from Nimrud | last1=Gadd | first1=C. J. | journal=Iraq | year=1954 | volume=16 | issue=2 | pages=173–201 | doi=10.2307/4199590 | s2cid=163001436 }}
See also
External links
- [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=312018&partId=1&searchText=K.1671 The Prism in the British Museum]
- [https://archive.org/stream/assyrianeponymca00smitiala#page/128/mode/2up The Assyrian Eponym Canon], George Smith, 1875, page 129
- Catalogue of the cuneiform tablets https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcunei00brituoft
- {{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/diekeilschriftt00wincgoog/diekeilschriftt00wincgoog_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "Die keilschrifttexte Sargons"|year=1889 |publisher=Leipzig, E. Pfeiffer |accessdate=2015-11-15}}
- http://www.isaiah666.com/sargon_annals.pdf Palestine
- {{cite web|url=https://umdrive.memphis.edu/kjohnsn5/www/prism.pdf|date=4 September 2006|title= Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts|pages=287–288 |accessdate=2015-11-15}}
- {{cite book|title=Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan|author1=Mazar, A.|author2=Mathias, G.|author3=Studies, I.J.|date=2001|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=9781841272030|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DYqmySvBlwC&pg=PA260|page=260|accessdate=2015-11-15}}