As already pointed out above, the present correspondence makes no reference to Esarhaddon's long campaign against Šubria. Not even the name of the country is mentioned in any of the letters. Nevertheless, one of the letters may be vaguely linked to the Šubrian campaign, and if so, then it would relate to an extraordinary incident which happened at a late stage in the campaign. Namely, Esarhaddon might have asked scholarly advice for the interpretation of Asakku's magical properties when the Subrian ruler lk-Teššup made his last attempt to save his life by creating a scapegoat statue called Asakku with a golden coat and presenting it to Esarhaddon. The enquiry about Asakku in no. 164:10-12 might refer to this scapegoat Asakku statue.[[128]] Of course, this suggestion is entirely hypothetical and impossible to verify because of the fragmentary state of no. 164. Another possibility is that the passage pertains an astrological omen predicting an epidemic asakku-disease in the country.[[129]] In any case, the king's interest in hearing the scholarly analysis of Asakku's essence, power and sceptre, is unusual and favours the incident of the Šubrian campaign.
128 For the Asakku statue in and the incident during Esarhaddon's Šubrian campaign, see E. Leichty, Festschrift Tadmor, p. 54f. On the other editions of the text, see ipid. p. 56, including, e.g., Borger Esarh. p. 105:18ff.
Mikko Luukko & Greta van Buylaere
Mikko Luukko & Greta van Buylaere, 'Scholarly Advice during Esarhaddon 's Subrian Campaign?', The Political Correspondence of Esarhaddon, SAA 16. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 2002; online contents: SAAo/SAA16 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2025 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa16/NoteonanInfluentialFamilyofScholars/ScholarlyAdviceduringEsarhaddon'sSubrianCampaign/]