Sargon II 103

1For the restoration, see for example text no. 7 lines 124, 167, and 187. Or possibly [LUGAL DINGIR.MEŠ GAL].MEŠ, “[king of the great god]s”; according to J. Marzahn (personal communication), there is room for the longer restoration. ⸢EN^*⸣: The copy has ⸢^dEN⸣.

2Or possibly ⸢LUGAL⸣ [UB.MEŠ ...], “king [of (all) the regions (of the world) ...]” (Genge, Stelen p. 15).

3For the tentative restoration, see Genge, Stelen p. 15 and cf. Grayson, RIMA 2 p. 12 A.0.87.1 i 7–8.

4Following Genge, Stelen p. 15, Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 345 reads, ^dUTU [DI.KU₅^? GAL-ú^? ša^? AN-e^? DINGIR-u^?] ⸢ga⸣-aš-ru, “Šamaš, [le grande juge céleste, le dieu] puissant.”

5Following Genge, Stelen p. 15, Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 345 reads, mu-⸢ḫi⸣-[i-ṭu^? šá^? ṣa-al-pat^?] lem-ni, “celui qui per[ce à jour les perfidies] du méchant.”

6Cf. Grayson, RIMA 2 p. 12 A.0.87.1 i 9–10 ra-ḫi-iṣ kib-rat KÚR.MEŠ KUR.MEŠ AB.MEŠ-ti, “who storms over hostile regions, mountains, (and) seas.”

7Genge, Stelen p. 15 (partially followed by Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 346) tentatively suggests mu-šar-bu-u LUGAL-ti-ia, “the one who makes great my kingship,” based on Leichty, RINAP 4 p. 182 no. 98 line 8.

8The tentative restoration follows CAD Š/2 p. 45. Perhaps instead ⸢Ú⸣.[ḪI.A.(MEŠ) ...]; see text no. 65 line 187 and text no. 2 line 406.

9For aplu gitmālu, see text no. 116 line 4. Or IBILA [ke-e-nu]; see Tallqvist, Götterepitheta p. 30. Genge, Stelen pp. 16 and 161 tentatively suggests IBILA [SAG šá é-sag-íl], “[eldest] offspring [of Esagila]”.

10The lines are quite short and the suggestion that another god may have been mentioned between Nabû (i 15) and Ištar (i 20) (Frame, Orientalia 68 [1999] p. 42) seems unlikely.

11Possibly [mu-lat-ti KUR].⸢MEŠ⸣ zaq-ru-te, “[who splits/crushes the] high [mountain]s”; see 4 R pl. 26 no. 3:40 and cf. Genge, Stelen p.16 and Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 346.

12Possibly ⸢ša/šá-li⸣-ip ⸢šur⸣-uš za-ma-ni, “who tears out the roots of the enemy” (Genge, Stelen p. 16).

13Cf. mu-šak-ṣi-⸢rat^?⸣ a-⸢nun^?-ti^?⸣, “who makes (men) ready for battle” in text no. 116 line 7.

14H. Genge (Stelen p. 16) tentatively suggests sa-pi-nat tar-gi₄-gi₄, “who overthrows evil-doers.”

15See text no. 116 line 8.

16The traces do not seem to fit a-⸢na⸣-[ku], “I.” Following H. Winckler (Sar. 1 p. 174), possibly a-⸢li⸣-[kut maḫ-ri-ia], “who g[o before me],” but while the traces after A could fit the beginning of a LI sign, it is not clear that there would be sufficient room for the full restoration proposed. H. Genge (Stelen p. 17) suggests za-[nin é-sag-íl], thus “one who pro[vides for Esagila],” but the first sign is clearly A not ZA and the following traces would not fit the beginning of NIN.

17For the restoration, see text no. 7 line 10 and text no. 8 line 5.

18F. Malbran-Labat (in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 347) suggests ab-[šá-an ^daš-šur^?], “le j[oug d’Aššur].”

19For the restoration, see text no. 84 line 15´. Or, following F. Malbran-Labat (in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 347), possibly a-di [kim-ti-šú], i.e., “together with [his family].” There may not be sufficient room at the end of the line to restore either of the proposed readings.

20With regard to the use of the razor, see the note to text no. 1 line 369. Text no. 84 line 16´ has here [...]-at-te ù ṣur-ri, “[...] ... and flint blades.” Possibly restore [ú-ša-aṣ-riḫ], “[(and) utter cries (of mourning)]”; see Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 347.

21F. Malbran-Labat (in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 347) suggests a-na ár-[ni-šú-nu^?], i.e., “for [their] cri[mes],” instead of a-na ár-[kát u₄-me], “for the fu[ture].”

22There appear to be fewer traces of the sign before TI than copied by A. Ungnad (VAS 1 no. 71); collation would suggest that they could be the end of IG.

23The name Hamath is written in a variety of ways in the texts of Sargon; see Parpola, Toponyms pp. 14 and 146–147. In this text, we find Amattu (KUR.a-ma-at-tu) here and Ḫammati (KUR.ḫa-am-ma-ti) in ii 62.

24Or ⸢al⸣-[qa-a]; see text no. 74 v 28.

25The back of the stele (col. iii) may have contained (among other things) a description of Sargon’s campaign against Mutallu of Kummuḫu (which follows after the account about Ilu-bi’dī/Iaū-biʾdī in text no. 84, a cylinder that was composed close to the time of the Cyprus Stele) and of Sargon’s defeat of Merodach-Baladan, which would logically precede what is found in col. iv (see Frame, Subartu 18 pp. 54–55 n. 11).

26See Fuchs, SAAS 8 p. 33 n. 80 with regard to the reading 6-su, which has often been thought to be an error for 6 GÍN. Text no. 7 line 141 has 10 GÍN.

27Text no. 7 lines 146–147 have ša ul-tu u₄-me ru-qu-ti a-di i-^dnanna a-na^*(var. i-na) LUGAL.MEŠ-ni AD.MEŠ-ia ša KUR aš-šur.KI u KUR kar-^ddu-ni-áš ma-nam-ma, “from the distant past until now, none of the kings, my ancestors, neither in Assyria nor in Karduniaš ...” There would appear to be insufficient room at the beginning of iv 33 to restore [a-di i-na-an]-na or [EN i-na-an]-na. J. Lewy (HUCA 19 [1945–46] pp. 466–467) restores [i-na pa]-na at the beginning of iv 33 and translates this and the preceding line as “since the distant days of the seizing of Assyria [aforeti]me,” understanding “the seizing of Assyria” to refer to “the occupation of Assyria by Sargon’s ancestors and their people.” S. Dalley (in Reyes, Archaic Cyprus p. 51) translates “[since] far-off days [they had not paid?] the tax (ṣibtu) of Assyria, for none of the kings, my fathers [who preceded] me ....”

28The parallel passage in text no. 7 line 148 has at this point im-qut-su-nu-ti ḫat-tu (see also text no. 74 vii 35). The proposed restoration goes back to Smith, ZÄS 9 (1871) p. 71. To my knowledge, no other text uses kašādu with ḫattu and it is possibly for this reason that S. Dalley (in Reyes, Archaic Cyprus p. 51) restores instead “their [trib]ute”.

29Compare the description of the setting up of this stele “in the land Yāʾ, a region of the land Yadnana,” in text no. 74 vii 39–44. iv 43–46: A.T. Reyes (Archaic Cyprus p. 54) argues that the passage indicates “that the stele was set up facing a rock relief” (i.e., the royal image was on the stele and the images of the gods were on the rock relief). It seems more likely, however, that the passage describes only the stele, which has on it a depiction of the king standing in an attitude of prayer before symbols of several gods.

30For the tentative restorations, see Streck, Asb. p. 270 iv 2 and the on-page note to text no. 117 ii 70. In iv 45, possibly restore [e-ṣi-ir] or (following Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 348) [ab-ta-ni] instead of [e-si-qa]. Or restore [ta-nit-ti DINGIR].MEŠ and [ú-šá-áš-ṭir-(ma)], “[I had inscribed] ... [the praise of the] great [god]s”; cf. Leichty, RINAP 4 p. 186 no. 98 rev. 50 and 52.

31Malbran-Labat in Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 348 suggests ṣa-lam MAN-ti-ia / [šur-ba-a a]-⸢na^?⸣ TI.LA-ia, i.e., “for the sake of my life a [great] image of myself as king.”

32Possibly restore [KUR].⸢MEŠ⸣, “[of the land]s,” instead of [UN].⸢MEŠ⸣, “[of the people].” In Yon, Kition dans les textes p. 348, F. Malbran-Labat tentatively reads for the beginning of the line [KUR.MEŠ^? DÙ-ši]-⸢na^?⸣, i.e., “[all thei]r [lands],” but it is not clear that there would be room for all this and the traces at the beginning of the line would fit the end of MEŠ, but not NA.

33The proper restoration and understanding of these lines stating where the stele was to be set up is uncertain and a matter of extensive scholarly discussion. For the tentative restorations used here, see in particular Tadmor, Eretz-Israel 25 (1996) pp. 287–288 and Radner in Rollinger, Interkulturalität in der Alten Welt pp. 432–433. For the beginning of line 52, possibly simply [i-na KUR], [a-na KUR], [ina UGU KUR], or [e-li KUR], “[at/on Mount],” in which case the stele had either never reached its intended destination, or had been removed from it and taken to Kition, or never actually been intended to be placed there. H. Tadmor (Eretz-Israel 25 [1996] pp. 286–288) discusses parallels to, and the possible meaning of, the name Ba’il/Ba’al-ḫarri/ḫurri — West Semitic bl hr — and suggests that the stele was originally erected on a mountain peak, possibly in the mountain range around Mount Stavrovouni, about 20 km east of Larnaca. S. Dalley has suggested that in iv 52 one should translate ḫur-ri KUR-i as “mines,” and from this A.T. Reyes has suggested that the stele was set up in a place associated with the mines of Cyprus, presumably copper mines; see Reyes, Archaic Cyprus p. 54. For iv 53, possibly translate instead “[(that is situated) at the he]ad of the land of Adnana,” i.e., on a promontory. See also Naʾaman, Orientalia NS 67 [1998] p. 240 “[at the t]op (i-na [re]-eš) of the land of Adnana.” C. Saporetti (Studi Ciprioti e Rapporti di Scavo, 2nd fascicle p. 85 and n. 16) reads iv 52–53 as [ašar] baʾil ḫurri māti / [nišē] Adnana ulziz, “[Dove?] è larga? l’apertura del paese [delle genti?] del paese Adnana (l’)ho eretta.” Lipiński (Itineraria Phoenicia pp. 51–52) would restore these lines to read: “[in the House of the] Baal of Mount Hor [and the god]s of (I)adnana”, [ina É ^d]ba-il ḫur-ri KUR-i [u DINGIR].⸢MEŠ⸣ KUR ad-na-na; he assumes the stele was erected in a shrine on the acropolis of Kition (i.e., Bamboula) and near the ancient harbor. It has also been suggested this might refer to a mountain in Phoenicia; see also Bagg, Rép. Géogr. 7/1 pp. 111–112 sub Ḫurri. As K. Radner has noted, “there are no parallels for a temple that would be described as the shrine of an unspecified number of gods; in the Mesopotamian view, a temple has one owner and is identified by his or her name (although it can of course house additional deities)” (Radner in Rollinger, Interkulturalität in der Alten Welt p. 433 n. 22). R. Merrillees (Studies Hermary pp. 378–379) has argued that “it seems highly unlikely that the stele was ever physically erected on or near a mountain in Cyprus” and suggested that the stele was set up near one of Kition’s city gates where it could be seen by passers-by and that it was found “presumably in or not far from its original position.” Certainly, steles were most often set up in cities (normally either in or near temples or at city gates), and not in the countryside, where rock reliefs were the more common Assyrian monuments. .

34The tentative restorations are based upon H. Tadmor’s understanding of the passage (Eretz-Israel 25 [1996] p. 287); see also Grayson and Novotny, RINAP 3/2 p. 308 no. 222 lines 8–9 and p. 313 no. 223 lines 3–4. Possibly restore instead in line 55 something along the lines of [ša ina tukul-ti]-šú-un or [ša ina zík-ri pi]-šú-un, i.e., “[with the support of] the great gods” or “[at the command of] the great gods”(cf. Winckler, Sar. 1 p. 182 and Luckenbill, ARAB 2 p. 103 §188).

35[zik-ri^?] “[the names]”: For the restoration, see Leichty, RINAP 4 p. 186 no. 98 rev. 57. Possibly restore instead [ep-šet], “[the deeds],” based on text no. 117 ii 73. lit-ta-id-ma: Rather than translating this as “May he praise” and taking litta’’id from the verb nâdu (following CAD N/1 p. 104), we could translate it as “May he pay attention to,” taking it from the verb na’ādu (see AHw p. 693). (See also text nos. 105 ii´ 14 and 106 iii 12´.)

36With regard to the restoration, see also text no. 106 iii 15´.

37The restoration KI.TA instead of pa-an/IGI, “before,” follows text no. 9 line 106, text no. 43 line 77, and text no. 44 line 60.