Two pairs of basalt lions found at the East and West Gates of Arslan Tash (ancient Ḫadattu) are inscribed with Akkadian, Aramaic, and Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions of Ninurta-bēlu-uṣur, governor of Kār-Shalmaneser. The still unpublished text of the lions stationed in the East Gate reportedly states that Ninurta-bēlu-uṣur was a eunuch (LÚ.SAG) of the powerful turtānu Šamšī-ilu. Therefore, the inscriptions must roughly date to the first half of the eighth century (ca. 780–752), the period during which Šamšī-ilu held the office of eponym three times (780, 770, and 752, during the reigns of Shalmaneser IV, Aššur-dan III, and Aššur-nārārī V respectively). Thus, these inscriptions were possibly composed before Tiglath-pileser III became king in early 745. Since the Akkadian texts were not edited with the inscriptions of Shalmaneser IV, Aššur-dān III, or Aššur-nārārī V in Grayson, RIMA 3, they are arbitrarily treated here because Tiglath-pileser III had bull colossi placed in principal gateways of the city Ḫadattu (see text no. 53). The edition presented in this volume includes only the Akkadian text of the West Gate lions; the Akkadian inscription written on the East Gate lions is not edited here (see the commentary).
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap1/Q003617/] or the score [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/scores/Q003617/score] of Tiglath-pileser III 2001
Sources [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/sources/P450259,P450260]:
In 1927, French excavators unearthed four inscribed stone fragments, all of which may have been part of two colossal lions stationed in the West Gate of Arslan Tash. F. Thureau-Dangin copied and edited the Akkadian text written on two of those fragments (Arslan-Tash pp. 85–89 and figs. 28–29 nos. 1–2). The third piece (no. 3), which is now lost, is reported to have preserved only the end of one line of an Akkadian inscription ("... ia-ni"), as well as traces of an Aramaic inscription (contents not recorded). The fourth fragment (no. 4) has fifteen lines of an Aramaic inscription; that text was written on the surface of the lion that abutted the wall next to which it was placed.
In the mid-1980s, the Syrian Directorate General for Antiquities and Museums brought additional fragments of two pairs of lion colossi from the West and East Gates of Arslan Tash (four statues in total) to the Aleppo Museum and the Museum of Raqqa. Two of these lions were reconstructed at the entrance of the city park of Raqqa (= Galter's A2 and B2; see Galter, Studies Hunger p. 200 Abb. 5 and p. 206 Abb. 16). Utilizing all available fragments, H. Galter was able to establish feasible reconstructions for all four lions; for details on Galter's sigla of lion fragments, see Studies Hunger, esp. p. 199 Abb. 4, p. 200 Abb. 5, p. 202 Abb. 8 and p. 206 Abb. 16. H. Galter, W. Röllig, and D. Hawkins have made great strides in our present understanding of these Akkadian, Aramaic and Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions.
The north lion of the West Gate (our ex. 2; = Galter's B1; see Galter, Studies Hunger p. 202 fig. 8) is reconstructed from seven fragments. Some of the pieces are now in the Aleppo Museum (Galter's B1.3–6; B1.3 = Thureau-Dangin's no. 2), while others are in the Museum of Raqqa (Galter's B1.1–2 and 7); one fragment (Galter's B1.8 = Thureau-Dangin's no. 3) is now lost. The south lion of the West Gate (our ex. 1; = Galter's B2) is reconstructed from several fragments; those pieces are now included in a reconstructed sculpture in the northern entrance of the city park of Raqqa. Four other fragments of the south lion are in the Aleppo Museum and in the Museum of Raqqa (Galter's B2.1–4; B2.2 = Thureau-Dangin's no. 1). Both of the West Gate lions are inscribed with a bilingual Akkadian-Aramaic text, with the two versions placed side by side. This pair of colossi does not bear Hieroglyphic Luwian texts, unlike their counterparts in the East Gate.
The middle parts of seven lines are preserved on ex. 1. The interline measurement is said to be 4–5 cm on average. Ex. 2 (= Galter's B1.1+2 and B1.3) preserves the first parts of nine lines, all of which are inscribed on the surface of the lion that abutted the wall next to which it was placed. The transliteration of ex. 1 is based on F. Thureau-Dangin's copy, which he made from a squeeze (Thureau-Dangin, Arslan-Tash p. 85 fig. 28; reproduced in Galter, Studies Hunger p. 209). The transliteration of ex. 2 is based on Röllig's copy (Studies Parpola p. 277), as well as on his score edition and detailed commentary. Only the Akkadian text is edited here and the edition more or less follows that of Röllig since the text was not collated from the originals. The master text is a conflation of exs. 1 and 2. A score is presented at the back of the book (p. 191). For a copy and edition of the Aramaic text written on these two lions, see Röllig, Studies Parpola pp. 272–278.
The south lion of the East Gate (= Galter's A2), now in the northern entrance of the city park of Raqqa, bears a legible nine-line Akkadian inscription, as well as a nine-line Aramaic text and a four-line Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription. All three texts are written on the colossus' wall-facing surface. According to Galter (AOAT 318 pp. 175–176; and Melammu 5 pp. 449–450), the Akkadian inscription records that Ninurta-bēlu-uṣur constructed Ḫadattu's wall and gates, in which the lion colossi were stationed. That inscription not only calls him governor (bēl pīḫāti) of Kār-Shalmaneser, but also a eunuch (LÚ.GAL) of Šamšī-ilu. The text concludes with a curse against any ruler who damages this governor's inscription. The contents of the Aramaic text are said to more or less duplicate those of the Akkadian text. The Luwian inscription (Hawkins, CHLI 1/1 pp. 246–248, and 1/3 pls. 103–105), however, has different content. Photographs of the Akkadian inscription have been published by Galter (Melammu 5 p. 449 fig. 6) and Hawkins (CHLI 1/3 pls. 103 bottom and 105), but they are not sufficiently legible to provide a reliable edition of the whole text and therefore no edition of it is included here. This lion is also excluded from the catalogue as it cannot be confirmed that its Akkadian text is a duplicate of exs. 1 and 2.
The north lion of the East Gate (= Galter's A1), now in the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum of Aleppo, is reported to bear the same texts as the south lion of the East Gate (= Galter's A2). All three texts are written on the wall-facing surface and are said to be in worse condition than those written on the south lion. No edition, copy, or photograph of the Akkadian inscription has been published and therefore no edition of that text is included here. Moreover, this lion is excluded from the catalogue as the authors cannot confirm that this lion's Akkadian text is a duplicate of the one inscribed on the West Gate lions.
A private votive inscription of a servant of Tiglath-pileser III on a metal (bronze?) disk was found during the Chicago Oriental Institute excavations at Tell Taʿyinat in the 1930s. Since no copy or photograph of the object has been published and since the original was not examined, the present edition is based on J.A. Brinkman's published transliteration. Metal circlets with similar votive inscriptions have been found at Tell en-Naṣbeh and Zinçirli (see Vanderhooft and Horowitz, Tel Aviv 29 [2002] pp. 318–327); E. Frahm (personal communication) kindly brought this information to the authors' attention.
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In April 1989, the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and Heritage discovered a tomb hidden under the pavement of Room 49, a room in the domestic wing of the North-West Palace at Kalḫu. Several objects with inscriptions of Assyrian queens from the second half of the eighth century, as well as several other inscribed articles, were found in that tomb (Tomb II). The treasures of this sensational find included: three items belonging to Yabâ, queen of Tiglath-pileser III (a stone funerary tablet and two gold bowls); two objects belonging to Bānītu (or Banītu), queen of Shalmaneser V (a gold bowl and an electrum cosmetic container); three items belonging to Atalia, queen of Sargon II (a gold bowl, a crystal jar, and an electrum mirror); a duck weight, a cylinder seal, and at least eight beads, two of which bear short labels of the Babylonian kings Kurigalzu and Marduk-zākir-šumi. The inscriptions on the five items belonging to the queens of Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V are edited in the present volume as Tiglath-pileser III nos. 2003–2005 and Shalmaneser V nos. 2001–2002. For new editions of all of the Tomb II inscriptions, see al-Rawi, New Light on Nimrud pp. 119–138.
As pointed out by A.R. George, the name of Atalia and possibly that of Yabâ are northwest Semitic, suggesting that these two ladies "were thus probably of Syrian or Levantine birth, entering the Assyrian harem as a result of diplomatic marriages or as spoils of the many western campaigns undertaken by the Assyrian armies of this period" (Minerva 1/1 [1990] p. 31). S. Dalley believes that Yabâ and Atalia were princesses from Jerusalem (SAAB 12/2 [1998] pp. 83–98); however, see the reservations of Younger Jr. (VT 52/2 [2002] pp. 207–218) on this matter. Moreover, Dalley (New Light on Nimrud pp. 171–175; and JSOT 28 [2004] pp. 387–401) has recently suggested that Banītu (an alternative interpretation of the name Bānītu) is an Akkadian translation of West-Semitic Yabâ (meaning "beautiful") and that Yabâ and Banītu (that is, Bānītu) are one and the same person. This would imply that Yabâ maintained her pre-eminent rank in the harem after the death of Tiglath-pileser III, during the reign of Shalmaneser V.
A stone funerary tablet of queen Yabâ was discovered in a side niche of the antechamber of a tomb hidden in the North-West Palace at Kalḫu, under the pavement of Room 49. The tablet has fourteen lines inscribed on its obverse and eight lines on its reverse, for a total of twenty-two lines of text. The inscription states that Yabâ died a natural death and curses anyone who might place someone else in her tomb or remove her from her final resting place. Yabâ is designated only as "queen," MUNUS.É.GAL (probably read as šēgallu/sēgallu; see Parpola, SAAB 2/2 [1988] pp. 73–76, and Borger, MZ pp. 346–348); note that the two other inscriptions of hers, those written on bowls (text nos. 2004–2005), state that she was the queen and wife of Tiglath-pileser. Despite Yabâ's warning, a later queen reused her tomb and sarcophagus; excavators found the bodies of two women in Yabâ's sarcophagus. It has been suggested that the bodies are those of Yabâ and Atalia (Sargon II's wife), and that the latter was buried with the former and with the property of Bānītu (Shalmaneser V's wife), family heirlooms that she inherited (Kamil in Damerji, Gräber pp. 12–13). An alternative view is to regard the bodies as those of Bānītu and Atalia (George, Minerva 1/1 [1990] p. 31). However, if one regards Banītu (that is, Bānītu) and Yabâ as one and the same lady (see the general introduction to text nos. 2003–2005), with the name Banītu being an Akkadian translation of the West-Semitic name Yabâ (not necessarily Hebrew), then this explains why only two bodies were found in this tomb.
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The text was copied and edited, with elaborate philological notes, by Fadhil in 1990. Since the original was not available for study, the present edition is based on the copies and editions of Fadhil and al-Rawi, with the help of published photographs.
A gold bowl of Yabâ, queen and wife of Tiglath-pileser III, was discovered by the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and Heritage in 1989, in a tomb hidden under the pavement of Room 49 of the North-West Palace at Kalḫu. The object was found in this queen's sarcophagus, together with another inscribed bowl of hers (text no. 2005). The text, which is written on the rim of the bowl, explicitly states that Yabâ was the "queen (and) wife of Tiglath-pileser (III)." Since the original was not available for study, the present edition is based on the published copies and editions of Kamil and al-Rawi, with the help of published photographs.
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A gold bowl of Yabâ, queen and wife of Tiglath-pileser III, was discovered by the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and Heritage in 1989 in a tomb hidden in the North-West Palace at Kalḫu, under the pavement of Room 49, in the domestic wing of that palace. The rim of the bowl bears a similar inscription to text no. 2004, but without her designation as "wife" (Akk. altu). Since the original was not available for study, the present edition is based on the published copies and editions of Kamil and al-Rawi, with the help of published photographs.
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A brick fragment acquired by the Yale Babylonian Collection (New Haven) in 1986 is inscribed with an inscription dedicated to a Tiglath-pileser by Kīdītê, one of his provincial governors. The provenance of the object is not known. Only the left side of the inscribed face remains and the edges of that face have been sawn and rounded to give the appearance that the brick is complete; the back and right side of the brick are broken away. The inclusion of the title šar mātāti [šarḫi?] "[magnificent] king of the lands" (line 2) might suggest that the king to whom this brick was dedicated was more likely Tiglath-pileser III, rather than one of the two earlier by the same name, since that royal title is first attested for Ashurnasirpal II (883–859). Because the attribution to Tiglath-pileser III cannot be confirmed, the text is included here arbitrarily.
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Hayim Tadmor & Shigeo Yamada
Hayim Tadmor & Shigeo Yamada, 'High Officials and Royal Women', RINAP 1: Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V, The RINAP 1 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap1/Tiglath-pileserIII:TextIntroductions/HighOfficialsandRoyalWomen/]