Again dozens of Assyrian cuneiform texts ...

A marvellous find during the 2004 excavation campaign: no less than 37 clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions! The documents date from 1200 to 1175 BC. They are letters, administrative texts, court records, hymns, omina and a treaty between the Assyrians and local nomadic tribes.

In previous years Tell Sabi Abyad has yielded hundreds of Assyrian clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions. Most tablets were found in the offices within the walls of the fortress, where the administration and the clerics were established. But the texts also appeared in the houses and workshops around the fortress. In 2004 more texts were found: 37 items this time.

The tablets were found between the remnants of a collapsed wall in an alley between two buildings. Of course the documents do not belong in this alley. We now have good reason to assume that they originally belonged in one of the buildings next to the alley and that they fell onto the street when the building collapsed.

The treaty between grand vizier Ili-pada of Assyria and the chiefs of the Nihsanu tribe of the Suteans is of historical importance. The Suteans, divided into a number of tribes, were nomads who lived across Northern Syria as far as Palestine. The treaty agreed that the Nihsanu Suteans would not give food and drink nor shelter to the enemies of Assyria, such as the Kassites, Suheans, Subareans and other Suteans. Ili-pada and the nomads' "great ones" (leaders) would protect each other's rights. Several sections regulate the purchase and borrowing of beer by the Suteans. A list of witnesses concludes the text.

The treaty is probably an "office copy" for local administrative use; the real, official document was not kept at the fortress of Tell Sabi Abyad, but at Ili-pada's chief residence (in Assur?). Such office copies were also found at other places, for example at the "ministerial departments" of Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast.

We come across the Suteans elsewhere in our texts as well. They pass information on to the Assyrians and appear to be acting as spies - a function for which they were well suited, considering the fact that they were travelling nomads and that they were therefore well informed about many matters all over the country.

Remarkable, too, are two literary texts, which were probably written on the occasion of the coronation of King Assur-nadin-apli. Both texts were written in the Assyrian capital of Assur and subsequently sent to the fortress at Tell Sabi Abyad. They are striking because of their exceptional choice of words and the smallness of the writing. They are hymns to the goddess Ishtar of Nineveh. These texts allude to her beauty and to the role of King Assur-nadin-apli as her lover.

If you want to know more about the results of the 2004 excavation campaign, please go to: 2004 expedition.