In Assyria, each year was named after a high official, called a limmu or līmu, and lists of these officials (eponyms) were compiled by the Assyrian scribes. The following list of the eponym officials for the reign of Sargon is based upon Millard, SAAS 2, especially pp. 46–48 and 59–60. Dated inscriptions that are included in the present volume are also noted below. A number of inscriptions whose dates may possibly be determined with some degree of confidence (e.g., instances with a clear terminus post quem for the inscription) are given in bold. Line rulings are found before the eponym for 722 and after the eponyms for 720, 706, and 705 in one or more exemplars of the eponym lists. [159]
| Year | Regnal Year in Assyria | Regnal Year in Babylonia | Eponym | Dated Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 722 | Accession year | Ninurta-ilāya, (governor of Naṣībīna) | ||
| 721 | 1 | Nabû-tāriṣ | ||
| 720 | 2 | Aššur-nirka-daʾʾin | 89, 106? | |
| 719 | 3 | Sargon, king of Assyria | ||
| 718 | 4 | Zēru-ibni, [160] governor of Raṣappa | ||
| 717 | 5 | Ṭāb-šar-Aššur, treasurer (masennu) | 73 | |
| 716 | 6 | Ṭāb-ṣil-Ešarra, governor of the Inner City (Aššur) | 117 | |
| 715 | 7 | Taklāk-ana-bēli, governor of Naṣībīna | ||
| 714 | 8 | Ištar-dūrī, governor of Arrapḫa | 65 | |
| 713 | 9 | Aššur-bāni, governor of Kalḫu | 43 | |
| 712 | 10 | Šarru-ēmuranni, governor of Zamua[161] | ||
| 711 | 11 | Ninurta-ālik-pāni, governor of Siʾme | 76, 82[162] | |
| 710 | 12 | Accession year | Šamaš-bēlu-uṣur, governor of Arzuḫina[163] | |
| 709 | 13 | 1 | Mannu-kī-Aššur-lē'i, governor of Tillê | |
| 708 | 14 | 2 | Šamaš-upaḫḫir, governor of Ḫabruri | 105[164] |
| 707 | 15 | 3 | Ša-Aššur-dubbu, governor of Tušḫan | 13, 84, 103, 111 |
| 706 | 16 | 4 | Mutakkil-Aššur, governor of Guzāna | 2, [165]7–9, 12, 15, 74, [166]116 |
| 705 | 17 | 5 | Nasḫur-Bēl, governor of Amedi[167] | 67 |
159 See Ungnad, RLA 2/5 (1938) pp. 415–416 for texts with double dates, giving the equivalencies between some of the eponym years and regnal years, including some giving the equivalencies between Sargon's Assyrian regnal years and his Babylonian ones; note also Millard, SAAS 2 pp. 70–71.
160 One copy of the eponym list (exemplar A5) has Aššur-mātu-upaḫḫir (maš-šur-KUR-ú?-paḫ?-ḫir?; see Millard, SAAS 2 p. 46) or Aššur-mātka-tēra (maš-šur-KUR-⸢ka⸣-GUR!!-⸢ra⸣; see Finkel and Reade, Orientalia NS 67 [1998] p. 252) instead of Zēru-ibni. I. Finkel and J.E. Reade (ibid.) suggest that he may have been field marshal (turtānu) and that having died or been removed from office, he was replaced by Zēru-ibni as eponym.
161 He is at times also given the title governor of the land of the Lullumu; see Millard, SAAS 2 p. 120.
162 Also, text nos. 63 and 102 if they prove to be duplicates of the Nineveh Prism (text no. 82).
163 Šamaš-bēlu-uṣur was transferred to the governorship of Dēr possibly sometime in 710 or shortly thereafter (see Baker, PNA 3/2 p. 1193 sub Šamaš-bēlu-uṣur 4).
164 Fuchs (Khorsabad p. 387) tentatively assigns this text to Sargon's fifteenth regnal year (707).
165 Likely also the other versions of the Khorsabad Annals (text nos. 1 and 3–6).
166 Perhaps also text no. 83 if it proves to be a duplicate of text no. 74.
167> Or Nasḫir-Bēl; see Streck, PNA 2/2 p. 932. He is at times also given the title governor of the city Sinabu (e.g., text no. 67 line 9; see also Millard, SAAS 2 p. 109).
Grant Frame
Grant Frame, 'Eponym Dates', RINAP 2: Sargon II, Sargon II, The RINAP 2 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2021 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap2/RINAP2Introduction/DatingandChronology/EponymDates/]