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Instructions for inscribing Sennacherib's seal*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

A. Kirk Grayson  and
J. Ruby
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Extract

An unusual little text of Sennacherib (Sm 1893), evidently a draft, seems to concern the making of a royal seal. That it is a draft and not a formal inscription is suggested by both the content of the text and its inelegant physical appearance — the tablet is roughly formed and is inscribed in a somewhat untidy hand in Neo-Assyrian script. Preliminary drafts of formal texts are not uncommon, nor are later copies, and these may be accompanied by a scribal note, often at the end of the text, indicating their purpose (see, for example, the comments in George, Iraq 48 [1986], p. 138, and the texts there listed). Our text is unique, however, in that it appears to contain directions to inscribe a text, followed by first and second drafts of that text.

The text has been labelled Sides 1 and 2, based upon the order in which it appears to have been written. The inscription begins with what seem to be instructions to engrave a text upon a stone, possibly a seal (Side 1: 1–2). No verb is preserved, but note that Side 1: 1 says ina UGU “[Write] upon (it) …” rather than Ša ina UGU “that which (is inscribed) upon (it)”, indicating that it is a draft, not a copy. Compare, for example, ina UGU NA4.KIŠIB SAR-ár “you write (it) upon a seal” (4R2 56 i: 10; cf. CAD K, p. 545a) versus šá ina UGU NA4.KIŠIB “that which (is inscribed) upon a seal” (Grayson, RIMA 1, A.0.78.28 rev. 13; cf. CAD K, p. 544b). What follows these instructions appears to be a draft of the text to be engraved. The latter opens with a label identifying it as Sennacherib's property, goes on to describe how he brought the stone from a city whose name is broken, and closes with a curse. This draft text takes up the remainder of Side 1 and is duplicated with some variations, presumably corrections, on Side 2. A line ruling at the bottom of Side 2 marks the end of the text.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 59 , 1997 , pp. 89 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1997 

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Footnotes

*

The text Sm 1893 is published here with the kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. A. Kirk Grayson originally deciphered Sm 1893 and prepared the copy (Fig. 1); J. Ruby prepared the text of this article. We would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada which supports the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project, whose archives were a useful resource in the preparation of this article.

References

* The text Sm 1893 is published here with the kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. A. Kirk Grayson originally deciphered Sm 1893 and prepared the copy (Fig. 1); J. Ruby prepared the text of this article. We would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada which supports the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project, whose archives were a useful resource in the preparation of this article.