Sarru-kīn II.

Sarru-kīn II and a dignitary

Šarru-kīn II. , Biblically also Sargon II. Was from 721 to 705 BC. King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and namesake of the Sargonid dynasty.

He carried the titles “governor of El , illustrious priest of Aššur , chosen by El and Dagān , great king , mighty king (Šarru dan-nu) , king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four regions, darling of the great gods, more legitimate Ruler to whom Aššur, Nabu and Marduk have entrusted an unparalleled kingdom. "

Origin and advancement

Sargon II was the successor of Shalmaneser V. Like this he was apparently a son of Tiglath-Pileser III. The ancestry of Tiglat-Pileser emerges from a knob tile in whose inscription Sargon is referred to as the son of his predecessor. A letter to Sargon has also survived in which the scribe describes Tiglat-Pileser as the “father” of the king. Both documents have been discussed by F. Thomas.

It is often assumed that he came to power as a usurper, i.e. through an overthrow. Since he did not directly succeed his father in rule, he was certainly not considered an heir to the throne during his lifetime. A document in which Sargon confirms old privileges of the city of Aššur reports on the circumstances of his accession to the throne . It says that Shalmaneser V disregarded the old privileges of the city by imposing slave labor on its citizens. That is why the god Enlil overthrew him and made Sargon king in his place. The document, which was published by Henry William Frederick Saggs and translated into English, reveals, according to R. Labat, "all too clearly the usurper's coup", "instead of covering it up". As a critically secured minimum, one can infer from the Assyrian privilege that Shalmaneser’s rule ended violently - this is behind the religiously disguised speech that Enlil overthrew him - and that it was Sargon who profited from it. He presents the fall of Shalmaneser as divinely willed and therefore legitimate. So he welcomed him in any case, even if he himself should not have been involved in an overthrow against his predecessor.

In any case, as successor to Shalmaneser, he had to be exposed to certain suspicions and therefore had to have a special need for legitimation. The name Sargon ( Akkadian sharru kin = “the king is legitimate” or, in Neo-Assyrian times, also understood in the sense of “legitimate king”), which the person who was not originally intended to be king, was certainly not born from birth, can be understood as a sign of this that Sargon II endeavored “to present his succession to the throne, which is certainly not legal by human standards, also to the outside world as in accordance with the will of the gods and legally” (W. v. Soden).

Apart from the literal meaning of the name, Sargon II placed himself with this designation in the tradition of the Sargon of Akkad , of which it was known that he had not become king in the usual "legal" way. With his dubious accession to the throne, Sargon II was able to place himself in the tradition of an important role model.

A document that the traditions about Sargon of Akkad were maintained and continued in the time of Sargon II is probably the so-called Akkadian Sargon legend , which tells of the lower origins of Sargon of Akkad and how he became king through the love of Ishtar . As such, he performed deeds that are considered to be the authoritative model for all later kings. The text transmission as well as the linguistic version of this legend indicate that it originated in Neo-Assyrian times; the accomplishments ascribed to Sargon by Akkad seem to belong more to Sargon II. Therefore, this document seems to suggest that Sargon II justified his irregular succession by referring to Sargon of Akkad. The fact that domestic political problems arose shortly after his accession to the throne also fits in with the fact that Sargon's accession to power falls at an unstable time in which usurpation is easy to imagine.

Reign and death

The sources for the many military undertakings of Sargon, who certainly belongs to the rulers "who fought most of the Assyrian wars" (Merrill 601), are the royal inscriptions (edited by A. Fuchs), in some cases other sources such as the report on the "Eighth campaign" of 714, published by W. Mayer. The following chronology can be established for the campaigns:

• 720 BC BC: The uprising in Syria is put down and the Egyptians are defeated at Raphia .
• 717 BC Chr .: Victory over Karkemisch.
• 716 BC Chr .: construction of a base on the Egyptian border; Battle of Wadi al-Arish
• 714 BC BC: Eighth campaign directed against Urartu : overthrow of the Manneans , devastation of large parts of Urartus, whose capital, Tushpa, however, cannot be conquered; Sack of Musasir
• 711 BC Chr .: A new uprising in Palestine is put down; the land of the Philistines becomes the province of Asdod .
• 709 BC Chr .: Victory over the seven kingdoms of the island of Ia 'in the area of ​​Iadnana or Atnana (Cyprus), handed down through the Kition stele .
• 705 BC Chr .: Sargon II fell in Iran in the fight against the Kimmerer .

Sargon's inscriptions are of course propagandistically colored and therefore not reliable in all statements. The following example may stand for this: 720 BC In BC, Sargon II attacked an alliance of Babylonians and Elamites under the leadership of the Chaldean Marduk-apla-iddina II , who had unlawfully ascended the Babylonian throne. However, Wolfram von Soden claims, referring to a Babylonian chronicle, that the Elamite king Humbanigash I led the battle against the Assyrians and won there against Assyria. Marduk-apla-iddina II, however, appeared too late for the battle. In any case, each party claimed victory for itself, and Sargon II withdrew.

With regard to Sargon II's work within Assyria, it should be mentioned that he founded a new main residence with Dur Šarrukin (Akkadian for Sargons Castle ). Previously, as in the reign of his predecessors, this was in Kalach .

The fact that the Great King died in the war against barbarians and remained unburied caused great consternation in the world of that time. One consequence of this was that his successor Sennacherib did not finish the construction of the still unfinished Major Sharrukin. Although the completed buildings may still be used, this was no longer the main residence. This was moved from Sennacherib to Nineveh in his own newly built palace .

Sargon II and Biblical Israel

As the Great New Assyrian King, Sargon II also left traces in the Bible . They should be discussed separately here because they concern a basic text of European culture.

His name is mentioned in the book of Isaiah ( Isa 20,1  EU ). The Hebrew form of the name - Sargon instead of Akkadian Sharrukin - has become common from this point.

The triumphant song about the overthrow of the world ruler in Isa 14  EU alludes to the shameful death of Sargon II . This is particularly evident in verses 18-20, according to which the king did not find a tomb. The fact that the song is introduced in verse 4 as directed against the King of Babel ( Babylon ) does not speak against this interpretation. The Babylonians followed the Assyrians in taking control of the whole of the Middle East and Israel . Therefore, there is no problem in the assumption that a song originally related to the death of Sargon II was later held up as a warning to Babylonian kings (in fact probably primarily their followers within Israel).

If the thesis advocated in biblical studies is correct that the biblical story of the birth, suspension and salvation of Moses ( 2 Mos 2: 1–10  EU ) is modeled on the Akkadian legend of the Sargon, so that the biblical story of Moses is a counter-image to the Mesopotamian great kings should, then this would be an Israelite reaction to an ideal of kings, which was probably initially propagated by Sargon II.

A particular problem is the question of how Sargon II was responsible for the conquest of Samaria in 722 BC. And was thus responsible for the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. In the "Annals" found in Dur Šarrukin, this conquest is attributed to Sargon's first year of reign. In the so-called Kalah prism of Sargon II it says:

" ²⁵  The Samarians, who harbored a grudge against ²⁶  my royal [predecessor] ²⁸  , ²⁶  and, in order not to show submission ²⁷  and pay tribute, ²⁸  [...] waged war - ²⁹  in the power of the great gods, my lords, ³⁰  I fought with them. ³¹  27,280 inhabitants plus chariots ³²  and the gods in whom they trusted, ³⁴  I counted ³²  as booty. ³³  200 chariots for my royal army ³⁴  I raised among them, ³⁵  and their remains ³⁶  I settled in Assyria. ³⁷  I converted Samaria and made it bigger than before. ³⁸  people from countries that I had conquered with my hand, ³⁹  I let move into it. ⁴⁰  I appointed a general as governor over them ⁴¹  and counted them among the inhabitants of Assyria. "

- Kalah prism Sargon II.

After that, Sargon would have waged war against Samaria and taken the city. In a Babylonian chronicle, however, the destruction of the city is still attributed to his predecessor Shalmaneser V. The biblical account of the events in 2 Kings 17  EU ascribes the taking of Samaria without naming the "King of Assyria". He took the city after three years of siege (verse 5). Before that it is said that Shalmaneser went against the last north Israelite king Hosea (verse 3).

Probably the different source versions can be combined in such a way that the conquest of Samaria can actually still be ascribed to Shalmaneser, who died shortly afterwards, so that Sargon made the area an Assyrian province, deported the upper class and settled new inhabitants in Samaria and the surrounding area (according to Donner , History of Israel 2, 346 and arguably the majority of experts). It is also possible that Shalmaneser died or was murdered during the long siege of Samaria, so that Sargon actually took and destroyed the city.

family

Sargon was married to Queen Atalia , who together with Yâba , the wife of Tiglat-Pilesars III. , was buried in Kalhu .

literature

Editing and editing of sources

• Rykle Borger : [Translation of various inscriptions from Sargons II.] In: O. Kaiser et al. (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament (TUAT) I, Gütersloh 1982–1985, pp. 378–387.
• Andreas Fuchs: The inscriptions of Sargon II from Khorsabad. Goettingen 1994.
• Walter Mayer: Sargon's campaign against Urartu - 714 BC Chr. Text and translation. In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 115 (1983), pp. 65–132.
• HWF Saggs: Historical Texts and Fragments of Sargon II. Of Assyria, 1. "The Assur Charter". In: Iraq 37 (1975), pp. 11-20.
• F. Thomas: Sargon II., The son of Tiglat-Pilesers III. In: M. Dietrich, O. Loretz (Ed.): Mesopotamica-Ugaritica-Biblica . Festschrift for K. Bergerhof (= Old Orient and Old Testament. Volume 232). Kevelaer et al. 1993, pp. 465-470.
• Simo Parpula, Kazuko Watanabe (eds.): Correspondence of Sargon the Second , State Archives of Assyria, Helsinki University Press, Part 1 (Letters from the West), 1987, Part 2 (Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces), 1990, with the editors Giovanni Lanfranchi, Simo Parpola, part 3 (Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces), 2001, edited by Parpula

Historical representations

• Josette Elayi: Sargon II, King of Assyria , SBL Press 2017
• Herbert Donner : History of the people of Israel and its neighbors in basics 2 vols. (= Outlines of the Old Testament. Vol. 4/1 and 4/2). 2nd edition, Göttingen 1995.
• Dietz-Otto Edzard : History of Mesopotamia. From the Sumerians to Alexander the Great. Munich 2004, pp. 207-213.
• René Labat: Elena Cassin , Jean Bottéro , Jean Vercoutter (eds.): The ancient oriental empires III. The first half of the 1st millennium (= Fischer Weltgeschichte . Volume 4). Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1967, pp. 58–68.
• Wolfram von Soden :  Assyria . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 3. Edition. Volume 1, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1957, Sp. 650-655.
• Wolfram von Soden: ruler in the ancient Orient. Berlin et al. 1954, pp. 94-105.
• Wolfram von Soden: The Middle East in Antiquity. In: Golo Mann et al. (Ed.): Propylaea World History II: High cultures of the middle and eastern Asia. Frankfurt am Main et al. 1962, p. 99 ff.
• Klaas R. Veenhof: History of the Old Orient up to the time of Alexander the Great (= floor plans for the Old Testament. Volume 11). Göttingen 2001, pp. 255-259.

Web links

• Grant Frame: The inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var. Orientalia 68. 1999, pp. 31–57 (PDF file; 4 MB) - Images for the article (PDF file; 15.9 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ AT Olmstead: The Text of Sargon's Annals. In: The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures 47/4, 1931, pp. 259-280.
2. ^ Translation by Rykle Borger , in: O. Kaiser et al. (Ed.): Texts from the Environment of the Old Testament (TUAT) I, Gütersloh 1982–1985, p. 379.
3. ^ Translation by Rykle Borger , in: O. Kaiser et al. (Ed.), Texts from the Environment of the Old Testament (TUAT) I, Gütersloh 1982–1985, p. 382.
4. ↑ Rykle Borger : [Translation of various inscriptions from Sargons II.], In: O. Kaiser et al. (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament (TUAT) I, Gütersloh 1982–1985, p. 401.
5. ↑ Wolfram von Soden :  Assyria . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 3. Edition. Volume 1, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1957, Sp. 650–655, here Sp. 652.
6. ↑ series State Archives of Assyira , Helsinki University Press

predecessor	Office	successor
Salmānu-ašarēd V. (Shalmaneser V.)	Assyrian king 721–705 BC Chr.	Sîn-aḫḫe-eriba (Sennacherib)
Marduk-apla-iddina II. (Merodach-Baladan)	King of Babylonia 709–705 BC Chr.	Sîn-aḫḫe-eriba (Sennacherib)