As for Babylonia, no letter refers to events before 710. Up to this year the Assyrian king had had no time to launch the large-scale attack necessary to regain his most appreciated province. The situation along the border was not peaceful either. According to the Babylonian chronicle, "from the accession year of Merodach-baladan until the tenth year [Sargon] was belligerent towards Merodach-baladan."[[115]] Therefore one expects at least some letters to refer either to the loss of Babylon in 722/1, to the battle of Der in 720, to the quarrel with the Tu'muna-tribe,[[116]] or to the border-fighting of the following years, but there is no hint whatsoever.
In fact the letters dealing with Babylonia can be divided into two parts: The letters reporting on administrative matters within Babylonia such as building activities or the settling of deportees must have been written after the conquest of Babylonia. The second group reports on political or diplomatic developments in connection with Merodach-Baladan. The events mentioned here are far too dramatic for being mere results of border skirmishes. And it is remarkable that no letter seems to report on Merodach-Baladan's campaign of 712 which is mentioned in the Babylonian chronicle.[[117]] If the sample of letters dealing with Babyloman affairs covered Sargon's whole reign, an important event like that would have been mentioned in at least one letter. On the other hand, as seen above, quite a number of letters refer clearly to the campaign of 710 or to the following years. Therefore, in my opinion, all the letters referring to Babylonia were written in 710 or later.
The letters from the Zagros-provinces were all written after Sargon's campaigns in Western Iran, the last of which took place in 713.[[118]] The earliest cross-references between letters from the Zagros-area and datable events elsewhere are provided by two letters sent by Aššur-belu-uṣur (nos. 60 and 61). He describes his difficulties when in winter or early spring he had to deliver his tribute to the king in Babylon. Northern Babylonia was captured during the campaign of 710 and afterwards Sargon proudly resided in Babylonia for the next few years, returning to Assyria in 707.[[119]] Therefore Aššur-belu-uṣur could have met the king in Babylon during the winter of 710/709 at the earliest. The circumstances described in no. 60 were unusual; troops and tribute had to be brought so early in the year that the roads in the mountains were still blocked by snow, which caused losses (60:5-16). Only in spring 709 was Sargon in need of troops and supplies at such an early time of the year. Only then he stayed in Babylon and prepared his campaign against Bit-Yakin which was to begin in Iyyar (Apr.-May).[[120]] It is very likely that this unconvenient and costly delivery in spring 709 i s meant when another letter sent by the same official mentions bulls and sheep which had been delivered to Babylon in Nisan (Mar.-Apr.) "last year" (61 r.4-9). Furthermore we are told that the king's order to deliver a gift in Kanun (Dec.-Jan.) arrived only one month later (61:3-8). This must refer to the winter of 709-708. In the year before (709) the king had changed the date of delivery from Nisan (Mar.-Apr.) to Tishri (Sep.-Oct.), probably to avoid new losses caused by the winter (61 r.4-9). Since the sender of 61 would have prefered to deliver once more in Tishri (61 r.12-13), it can be assumed that the hardships described in 61 r.9-11 were those of Nisan (Mar.-Apr.) 708.
A terminus ante quem for the letters from Western Iran is provided by the silence about the campaign against Karalla in 706. In this year Sargon once again decided to delegate the military operations to his "magnates."[[121]] Therefore one would expect at least some reports or remarks similar to those on the campaign against Ellipi in 707. The complete absence of it even in nos. 74 and 75, where Karalla is mentioned, suggests that the letters of Sargon's last two years must have been kept separate from those published here. Moreover, all of the datable letters from the Assyrian provinces in Western Iran were written exactly during the years when the king had his residence either in Babylon or moved back to Assyria. Therefore it seems that at least these letters were first sent to Babylon, then brought to Assyria to be stored away when the court prepared to move to Dur-Šarrukin.[[122]]
Among the letters dealing with the Elamite frontier only a few can be dated to 707. Others may have been written earlier or even later.[[123]]
Apart from the war against Merodach-Baladan, the two most important key events are the death of Daltâ shortly before Kislev (Nov.-Dec.) 708 and the Assyrian campaign to finish the war of succession in Ellipi, which was over in Tishri (Sep.-Oct.) 707. These events mark the beginning and the end of the short period in which the mention of "Bit-Daltâ," the "son of Daltâ" and Nibê as king of Ellipi would make sense.[[124]] All together these are five elements which can be found in letters sent not only from Western Iran, but also from the eastern Tigris region and from Der.
115 Grayson Chronicles p. 75:41f.
116 Ann. 18-23.
117 Grayson Chronicles p. 75:43-44: "The tenth year: Merodach-Baladan ravaged Bit- .. -ri (and) plundered it."
118 Ann. 165-194.
119 Fuchs Sar. p. 382 and Millard Eponyms, p. 48 sub 707.
120 Ann. 329-330.
121 Millard Eponyms p. 48 sub 706; Frame, Or. 68 (1999) 37:37-44.
122 According to letter 226 Sargon's court stayed in the Palace of Nineveh for some time, probably in Tishri (Sep.-Oct.) 707, when ceremonies in nearby Dur-Šarrukin were performed and until the new palace was completed in Iyyar (Apr.-May) 706 (cf. Millard Eponyms p. 48 sub 707 and 706). This might explain why so many letters of Sargon's reign were found in Nineveh.
123 Parpola even proposes a connection between some of the letters and Sennacherib's campaign of 693. Cf. Festschrift Dietrich.
124 For details see above the section on the war of succession in Ellipi.
Andreas Fuchs
Andreas Fuchs, 'Key Chronological Events', The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part III: Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces, SAA 15. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 2001; online contents: SAAo/SAA15 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa15/AnAttempttoProvideaChronologicalFramework/KeyChronologicalEvents/]