ABSTRACT
1.1 These notes, which are intended as supplementary to Dr Dalley’s paper, cover three topics, the lists of tribute and booty as evidence for the Assyrian sources of supply, technical innovations, and the textual sources concerning craftsmen in bronze working in Assyria.
On the lists of tribute and booty.
The Assyrian lists of tribute and booty are of importance as showing where at least a part of the Assyrian supply of bronze and copper came from; we have no information on imports of metals to Assyria by way of trade. Iron is included in the following summary of the data to give a more complete picture of metal imports. The import of these raw materials is by itself one proof of metal-working in Assyria.
An analysis of the Assyrian tribute lists as evidence for the sources of supply for the Assyrian empire was made already forty years ago by N B Jankowska (Jankowska 1969). Although only a limited amount of new information has appeared since then it may be useful to present a slightly revised summary of the relevant information here for two reasons: her summary does not give a clear picture of the chronological variations in Assyria’s recorded acquisitions of metalwork, and it does not distinguish between tribute and booty. She does not make this distinction on the grounds that the materials in question were identical in composition whether they were offered as tribute or seized as booty. That may be correct, but since the quantities differ a lack of precision in presenting the data may somewhat distort our picture of the pattern of supply. On the other hand the fact that large quantities of copper or bronze are taken from a city or country does not necessarily imply that that city or country was a primary source of supply for either raw materials or finished goods. In most cases larger quantities or greater varieties of material appear in the lists when cities are being sacked and all their available resources are being removed. Tribute is exacted in much smaller quantities. Despite that caution, the Assyrian texts provide the fundamental historical evidence for the significant role which the states of south-east Anatolia played in metalworking in the early first millennium BC.
The fact that lists of tribute and booty mention bronze almost to the 112exclusion of copper need not reflect economic reality. It may rather reflect scribal fashion or ignorance; note the case where in making “bronze” figures Sennacherib has “copper” poured into the mould. Comparison of the various royal annals suggests that what is reported by way of tribute or booty varies not just reign by reign, but even campaign by campaign according to either the scribe or contemporary interests (e.g. in the Annals of Ashurnasirpal II, section 2.2.3). The lists of tribute and booty also suggest that when taken as tribute from certain areas some items, e.g. “casseroles”, may have been viewed almost as we would view ingots, as being the standard acceptable form for tribute regardless of utility. After the 8th century references to bronze, copper and iron in lists of tribute and booty become much less common. This probably does not represent a real change in supply and demand, but rather just a change in fashion in composing inscriptions; one may compare the relative absence of military and political information in the inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. It certainly does not suggest that Assyria’s enemies no longer had access to these materials.
From Ashur-dan to Ashurnasirpal II. References in this section are to the appropriate paragraph in Grayson 1976.
Ashur-dan II (934–912).
From the land Kadmuhu as booty - bronze, tin, precious stones (S 364).
Tukulti-Ninurta II (890–884).
From the Nairi lands as booty - iron(?), bronze, …, bronze, tin, iron, pots (S467).
From the land Suhu at Anat as tribute - a bronze bathtub (S471).
At Hindanu on Euphrates as tribute - 2 talents of tin, …, 60 bronze … (S472).
At Sirqu on Euphrates as tribute - 40 bronze casseroles, …, 30 bronze casseroles, 6 talents of tin (S473).
At Sum on Habur as tribute - 32 talents of tin, 140 talents of bronze, 100 bronze utensils, one tub, …, 2 talents of iron (S474).
At Dur-katlimmu as tribute - [N] talents of iron, …, 100 iron daggers (S473).
At Qatnu as tribute - 11 talents of tin, 50 bronze utensils (S475).
At Shadikannu as tribute - 3 minas of [..] bronze … (S475).
Ashur-nasir-apli II (883–859), according to the “Annals”.
In his accession year and year 1:
From Gilzanu and Hubushkia as tribute - bronze casseroles (S545).
In this same eponym:
From Kadmuhu and Mushku as tribute - bronze casseroles (S547).
From Shadikannu and Qatna as tribute - bronze casseroles (S547).
At Suru on Habur as booty - bronze, iron, tin, bronze casseroles, bronze pans, bronze pails, much bronze property (S547).
As tribute imposed on the land Laqu - tin, bronze, bronze casseroles (S547).
From Hindanu as tribute - tin, bronze (S547).
113In the eponym year of my name:
Imposed on the land Nirbu as tribute - bronze casseroles (S530).
From the lands Nairi - bronze casseroles as tribute (S331).
From Bit-Yahiri, Bit-Bahiani, and the land Hanigalbat as tribute - tin, bronze casseroles (S553).
Eponym of Ashur-iddin: Nil.
Eponym of Miqti-adur:
From Zamru in Zamua as booty - many bronze utensils, bronze tubs, bronze casseroles, bronze bowls, bronze tureens (S562).
From Zamru in Zamua as booty - bronze tubs, bronze casseroles, bronze bowls, bronze vessels, many bronze utensils (S563).
From the land Sipirmena as tribute - bronze, bronze …, bronze rivets (S564).
Imposed on the land Zamua as tribute - tin, bronze, bronze casseroles (S565).
Eponym of Sha-ilima-damqa:
From Kibaku near the land Kadmuhu as tribute - bronze casseroles (S567).
From the land Habhu as tribute - bronze casseroles, bronze tubs, bronze armour (5568).
From the city Sura as tribute - bronze casseroles (S568).
From the cities of mount Kashiyari as tribute - bronze casseroles and bronze armour (S568).
From the land Nirdun as tribute - bronze casseroles, bronze armour (S570).
From Bit-Zamani as booty - 100 talents of tin, 100 talents of bronze, 300 talents of iron, 100 bronze casseroles, 3000 bronze receptacles, bronze bowls, bronze containers (S574; cf. S641).
Eponymy of Dagan-bel-nasir:
From the city Shadikannu as tribute - tin, bronze casseroles (S577).
From the city of Bit-Halupe as tribute - tin, bronze casseroles (S577).
From the city of Sirqu as tribute - tin, casseroles (S577).
From the city of Supru as tribute - tin, casseroles (S577).
From the city of Naqarabanu as tribute - tin, casseroles (5577).
From the city of Hindanu as tribute - tin, casseroles (S577).
From Suhu on Euphrates as booty - tin, casseroles (5577).
From the land Laqu as booty - tin, bronze, bronze casseroles (S580).
Another campaign:
From Bit-Aoini and Til-abni as tribute - tin, bronze (S583).
Another campaign:
From Bit-Bahiani as tribute - tin, bronze, bronze casseroles (S584).
From Azallu as tribute - tin, bronze, bronze casseroles (S584).
From Bit-Adini as tribute - tin, bronze, bronze casseroles (S584).
114From Sangara king of the land of Hatti as tribute - 100 talents of bronze, 250 talents of iron, bronze (tubs), bronze pails, bronze bathtubs, a bronze oven (S584).
From the city Kunulua in the land Patina as tribute - 100 talents of tin, 100 talents of iron (5584).
From the land Yahanu as tribute - tin, [iron, bronze] (S585).
From the kings of the Mediterranean coast as tribute - tin, bronze, a bronze casserole (S586).
Eponym of Shamash-nuri:
Nil.
From Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III. References in these sections are to the appropriate paragraph in Luckenbill 1926. Note that Luckenbill incorrectly translates URUDU as “bronze” and UD.KA.BAR as “copper”.
Shalmaneser III (858–824).
According to the Black Obelisk:
From Cilicia (KUR qa-ú-a-a) as tribute - iron (S583).
From Patina as tribute - tin, bronze, iron (S585).
From Gilzanu as tribute - tin, bronze vessels (S589).
From Jehu as tribute - tin (S593).
From Patina as tribute - tin, “fast” bronze, (ZABAR ar-ḫu) bronze vessels (S593). “Fast bronze” is the name given by the Assyrians to a copper compound used in making glass.
According to the Monolith:
Imposed on Patina as annual tribute - 300 talents of bronze, 300 talents of iron, 1000 vessels of bronze (S601).
From Hajanu of Mount Amanus as tribute - 90 talents of bronze, 90 talents of iron (S601).
From Sangara of Carchemish as tribute - 30 talents of bronze, 100 talents of iron (S601).
From the kings of the Mediterranean coast and the upper Euphrates as tribute - tin, bronze, bronze vessels (S603).
From the kings west of the upper Euphrates as tribute - tin, bronze, vessels of bronze (S610).
According to the Bronze Gates of Balawat:
From Bit Dakuri as tribute - bronze, tin, iron (S625).
From Bit Yakin as tribute - tin, copper (S625).
From the Ashur annals:
From Melid as tribute - tin, bronze (S636).
115Shamshi-Adad V (823–811).
From Urash in Gizilbunda as booty countless utensils of silver, red gold, and bronze (S719).
Adad-nirari III (810–783).
From Damascus as tribute - 3000 talents of bronze, 5000 talents of iron (S740).
Tiglathpileser III (744–727).
Year 2: From Bit-Abdadani as tribute - 500 talents of copper nenzu (S768).
Year 3: From Unki (as booty) - 100 talents of bronze [….] nenzu (S769).
From Sargon II to Ashurbanipal. References in these sections are to the appropriate paragraph in Luckenbill 1927.
Sargon II (721–705).
The booty from the sack of Musasir in his eighth campaign, 714 BC, included a vast haul of metalwork (S22 and 172–4), but particularly 3600 bilat siparri šibirtu, 3600 talents (c. 100,000 kilos) of bronze as scrap.
On the import of metalwork from Syria in his tenth campaign (S28) see Dr Dalley’s paper above.
The Display Inscriptions (S74 and S87) contain references to “gifts”, i.e. tribute, of bronze, iron, and vessels of bronze with no source specified.
Note that there is no mention of copper among the tribute listed on the Cyprus (Larnaca) stele (S179–189).
Sennacherib (704–681).
From Hezekiah of Judah as booty - vessels of bronze, iron, copper, tin, iron (S284). On the bronze implements brought from Dilmun see Dr Dalley’s paper above. Two letters from the Nineveh archives are also relevant to the import of bronze and copper from Dilmun (Harper, nos. 791 and 458, translated in Waterman, nos. 791 and 458; see also Landsberger 1967: 50):
ABL 791, from Bel-ibni to Ashurbanipal.
“As for the property of Nabû-bēl-šumāte … which they brought from Dilmun … 26 talents of bronze, 9 copper …, 4 Giš in-ia-a-nu of bronze …” (Landsberger 1967: 50).
ABL 458, probably part of the same correspondence. “… Now I sent to the palace Idru the muribbānu of Hundaru who brings the tribute of Dilmun. If it pleases the king, my lord, the perfumes, bronze and timbers belonging to the merchants of BTt-Najalu, which the king, my lord, has given, - let them speak with them and …”
116Ashurbanipal (668–627).
The only relevant reference to booty in the historical inscriptions is the removal of 32 royal statues in gold, silver, copper and alabaster from the Elamite royal citites, Susa, Madaktu and Huradi (S810). A letter from Nabû-ušabši at Uruk to Ashurbanipal (Oppenheim 1967: 156–7) mentions the dispatch to Ashurbanipal of the bronze munē’u (“turners”) from the harness of three horses sent as a gift from Elam to the temple of Ishtar at Uruk.
Sennacherib’s innovations.
Assyrian kings from Ashurnasirpal II to Esarhaddon adorned the wooden doors to temples and palaces with bands (miserru) or plates (lē’u) of copper or bronze. Sennacherib claims to have been responsible for a change in the manufacture of these ornamental bands. The tablet K.1356 [Luckenbill 1924: 139–142] contains a copy of his inscription on the restoration of the Bīt-akītṣeri which included a gate decorated with scenes of the battle between the gods Ashur and Tiamat. The following translation of Obv. 5–6 and Rev. 2–9 of the text is largely based on a series of translations appearing at various places in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, the text having been collated by CAD staff from photographs (CAD M/l: 396).
“I had a gate made of red bronze … (executed) in the workmanship of (the god) Ninagal according to my own clever idea”.
“I am capable of undertaking the casting of objects in silver, gold and bronze, …, melting from more than 1000 talents to (as little as) 1 shekel, fusing(?) them together, fashioning them skilfully. If you do not believe the account of smelting that bronze, I swear by the king of the gods, Ashur, my creator, that I myself had smelted the casting of the place where this inscription is written and the emplacement where the reliefs of Ashur and the great gods who went into battle with him into the midst of Tiamat are drawn. For future generations, in order that it may be known, I increased the tin in (that cast). Know through this that I myself had that cast smelted.”
Although Assyrian scribes were probably no more expert in metalworking techniques than modern Assyriologists, the essential fact emerges that Sennacherib claims to have made a change in the proportions of metal used in casting the ornamental metal friezes for his gates.
Sennacherib’s bīt kutalli inscription, for the arsenal on Nebi Yunus at Nineveh, contains another reference to the proportions of alloy used in casting: “Four pillars of bronze alloyed with one-sixth part of tin [4 timmē siparri ša šeššašunu anāku ballū] I erected upon (the pavement) and laid on top as a roof boards of cedar plated with silver” (Luckenbill 1924: 13, 83–84; 1927: S432). It should not be assumed that this particular alloy necessarily represents Sennacherib’s innovation.
Another small technological change is described in the account of the new palace at Nineveh: “In order to be able to draw well-water every day, I had ropes, cables of bronze and chains of bronze made; and in place of the poles of a šādūf I set up tree-trunks and palm-trunks over the walls” (Luckenbill 1924: 110, 45–9; Luckenbill 1927: S393). In other words using 117metal cables he was drawing well-water from within the palace rather than raising river water by šādūf.
The craftsmen.
NAss administrative texts contain references to nappāhu (SIMUG) smith, nappāḫ hurāṣi (SIMUG GUSKIN) goldsmith, nappāḫ parzilli (SIMUG AN.BAR) ironsmith, nappāḫ erî (SIMUG URUDU) bronzesmith, and nappāḫ siparri (SIMUG ZABAR) coppersmith. Only the latter two are relevant to the present topic, and their appearance in the surviving archives is infrequent. This is doubtless due to the nature of the archives, being primarily concerned with royal households. So the picture given by the texts quoted is not typical for the Assyrian economy as a whole and gives us next to no information on how the metalworking industry was organised.
nappāh erî (SIMUG URUDU).
ND 10009 (Dailey and Postgate 1984: 144–149, no. 87) is part of a small group of texts concerning taxes delivered by the abarakku-steward or his deputy for Arbil. It may be dated to the late 8th or 7th centuries, possibly to the reign of Sargon. The editors tentatively translate lines 33–36: “x homers of sown land in Urza village, 24 (homers) in Samakka village, the x-men, the Seleppaean(s), the coppersmith(s) and the carpenters shall harvest, x homers of sown land in x-village, the blacksmith(s) shall harvest”.
ND 10017 (Dailey and Postgate 1984: 152–154 no. 90) may come from the same archive and concerns contributions to be made in kind or in service by various people. The editors tentatively translate lines 9–12: “If the urāsu-builders give service with the bitumen(?) workers in the deputy abarakku-steward’s department, the coppersmith and the blacksmith are exempted from it”.
In a fragmentary administrative text, K.1965: 5 (Johns 1901: no. 868), SIMUG URUDU occurs in a broken context together with [SIMU]G KU3.GI, goldsmith, [B]UR.GUL, seal-cutter, and KAB.SAR, jeweller.
nappāḫ siparri (SIMUG ZABAR)
This craftsman occurs as a witness together with a goldsmith in a contract from Kalhu dated 661 BC (Parker 1957: 127), and as a witness in a silver loan contract from Nineveh dated 711 BC (Johns 1898: no. 5; Kohler, and Ungnad 1913: 374 no. 635) together with an Aramean smith (l si-i-tu-ri LÚ SIMUG).
A census from the Harran area of the late 8th or early 7th century lists seven SIMUG Z[ABAR] and 22 SIMUG ZABAR with an apprentice (Fales 1973: 65, no. 22 i 1–6 and left edge ii 3).
