Nimrud Tablet K.3751
The Nimrud Tablet K.3751, also known as Kalhu Palace Summary Inscription 7 is an inscription on a clay tablet dated c.733 BC[1] from the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (745 to 727 BC), discovered by George Smith in 1873 in Nimrud.[2] The tablet describes the first 17 years of Tiglath-Pileser III's reign, and was likely composed in or shortly after his 17th year.[3] It contains the first known archeological reference to Judah (Yaudaya or KUR.ia-ú-da-a-a).[1]
Nimrud Tablet K 3751 | |
---|---|
The text of the tablet in Rawlinson's Editio princeps | |
Material | Clay |
Writing | Akkadian cuneiform |
Created | c.733 BC |
Discovered | 1873 |
Present location | British Museum |
Identification | K 3751 |
The text consists of 50 and 35 lines of inscription on the two main pieces. It is the most detailed of Tiglath-Pileser III’s summary inscriptions, and contains the only known complete building account of Tiglath-Pileser III from Nimrud.[4]
Though it has the identification code K 3751, where K stands for Kouyunjik (usually the Library of Ashurbanipal), it was most probably actually discovered at Nimrud since it was inscribed by the excavators with "S.E. Palace Nimroud".[5]
The most well known excerpt of the text, including the reference to king Ahaz (written in the inscription as Jeho-ahaz, his longer name) of Judah, as translated by the University of Pennsylvania's RINAP project (The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period), is as below:
"In all of the (foreign) lands that ... [... I received the paymen]t of Kuštašpi of the land Kummuḫu, Urik(ki) of the land Que, Sibitti-biʾil of the city [Byblos, Hiram of the land Tyre, Pisīris of the city Carchemish, Ēnī]-il of the land Hamath, Panammû of the city Samʾal, Tarḫulara of the city Gurgum, Sulu[mal of the land Melid, Dadīlu of the city Kaska, U]assurme of the land Tabal, Ušḫitti of the city Tuna, Urballâ of the city Tuḫana, Tuḫam[mi of the city Ištunda, Urimmi of the city Ḫubišna, (rev. 10´) Ma]ttan-biʾil (Mattan-Baʾal) of the city Arvad, Sanīpu of the land Bīt-Ammon, Salāmānu of the land Moab, ...[... of ..., ... of ..., Mi]tinti of the land Ashkelon, Jehoahaz of the land Judah, Qauš-malaka of the land Edom, Muṣ...[... of ..., ... of ..., (and) Ḫa]nūnu of the city Gaza: gold, silver, tin, iron, lead, multi-colored garments, linen garments, the garments of their lands, red-purple wool, [..., all kinds of] costly articles, produce of the sea (and) dry land, commodities of their lands, royal treasures, horses (and) mules broken to the yo[ke, ...]."
References
- The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gosta W. Ahlstrom, Steven W. Holloway, Lowell K. Handy, Continuum, 1 May 1995 Quote: "For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (II Rs 16.7 = K. 3751), dated 734-733, are the earliest published to date."
- The Philistines in Transition: A History from Ca. 1000-730 B.C.E., Carl S. Ehrlich p174
- Tadmor 1994:154, 238–259)
- COS 2, 289, 2.117D
- Identifying Biblical Persons In Northwest Semitic Inscriptions, Lawrence J. Mykytiuk
External links
- COS 2, 289, 2.117D (The Context of Scripture. 3 volumes. Eds. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. Leiden: Brill, 1997-2002)
- RINAP 1 Tiglath-pileser III 47, ex. 01
- http://bibleresources.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/archaeology-series-20tiglath-pileser.html?m=1
- http://rbedrosian.com/Classic/Luck/arab282.htm
- The tablet at the British Museum
- http://cdli.ucla.edu/P313082