Part 37 (1/2)

(M834) We have seen that in the second epoch the king had to fix the time when intercalary months should be inserted. In this period the calendar was very carefully regulated by astronomical observations. As a new month began on the day on which the new moon was seen, it is clear that a month would often exceed twenty-nine days, but that a new moon might sometimes be seen on the twenty-ninth. Nabua, the astronomer of the city a.s.shur, sends a number of such letters as:(921)

On the twenty-ninth, we kept watch, we did not see the moon. Nabu and Marduk be gracious to the king, my lord. From Nabua of a.s.shur.

So Nabu-shum-iddin writes:(922)

To the Gardener, my lord, thy servant Nabu-shum-iddin, the _rabute_ of Nineveh. Nabu and Marduk be gracious to the Gardener, my lord. On the fourteenth we kept watch on the moon. The moon suffered an eclipse.

The gardener, or rather irrigator, may be a royal t.i.tle. At present these observations are useless to us in our attempts to fix chronology, as we do not know the month and year of many of them.

(M835) The queen-mother was always an important personage in the state and she had very great influence indeed at court. But probably few ladies ever obtained a higher degree of power than did Naki'a, or Zakutu as she was also called, the wife of Sennacherib and mother of Esarhaddon. She had a sister Abirami.(923) The queen-mother resided in La?iru, but there seem to have been more than one city of the name. Her necklace, or some part of it, is in private possession and has been described by Professor Scheil.(924) She survived her son, and, with her grandsons, Ashurbanipal, Shamash-shum-ukin, and the n.o.bles of a.s.syria, issued a proclamation to the empire, declaring Ashurbanipal the true heir to the throne.

(M836) It is, of course, uncertain whether the person addressed as mother of the king is always Zakutu, since we cannot always date the letters. But the letter of Na'id-Marduk,(925) which names Ummanigash as King of Elam, was certainly addressed to her. Na'id-Marduk was a son of Merodach Baladan, who, in the reign of Esarhaddon, when his brother Nabu-zer-kinish-lis.h.i.+r was killed by Umma.n.a.ldash II., threw himself on the mercy of Esarhaddon and was by him made ruler of his ancestral domain of Bit Jakin, as a va.s.sal king. He speaks for himself:

To the mother of the king, my lord, thy servant Na'id-Marduk.

Peace be to the mother of the king, my lord. May Ashur, Shamash, and Marduk give health to the king, my lord. May they decree the cheer of heart of the mother of the king, my lord. From Elam they came to me, saying, ”They have seized the bridge.” When they came, I sent to the mother of the king, my lord. Now let the bridge be restored and the bolts of the bridge strengthened. They say, ”They have burnt it.” I have not sent them, we do not know. They came, it was gone. To the mother of the king, my lord, I will send. Do thou, my lord, send troops. The son of Ningal-iddina has gone to the King of (Elam?) and taken the side of ?ubanigash. [_Several lines follow with only fragments of sentences._] ”Since these are trustworthy reports, whatever the Chaldees in future send to the G.o.ds of the king, my lord. If a messenger of the King of Elam does not bring messages to me, he shall enter and I will see him, and whatever is his message, he shall explain until I understand.”

They came on the second of Ab, his messenger came to me to the border; he did not pa.s.s over to hinterland, and I sent my messenger to the palace. My lord, may he decide, and what is right for the house of my lord, fulfil.

It is evident that the writer regards the queen-mother as so thoroughly identical with the king that he does not scruple to address her as ”my lord.” Despite several lacunae the general sense is clear. After the break the pa.s.sage in quotation marks seems to be quoted from a report made to the writer. The sons of Ningal-iddina were Sin-tabni-u?ur, Sin-bala?su-i?bi, and Sin-shar-u?ur, all of whom were in important commands in Southern Babylonia. It seems probable that the events referred to in this letter are those which led up to the Elamite invasion of Babylonia, when they came raiding as far as Sippara. Esarhaddon was away at the time in the west. There is no record of how they were driven back.

Here is a letter from the king to his mother:(926)

(M837)

Message of the king to the king's mother: I am well. Peace be to the king's mother. Concerning Amushe's servant, what thou didst send me, as the king's mother has told me, I will at once order.

What thou hast said is extremely good. Wherefore should ?amunai go?

The meaning is obscured for us by our complete lack of information as to the persons concerned. We may conjecture that ?amunai was the servant of Amushe, but we do not know. However, we see that the queen mother gave good advice.

(M838) Zakutu must often have been a prey to great anxiety, left in command as she was in a.s.syria, with her warrior son nearly always away and such awkward neighbors as the Elamites. But she was on the whole faithfully served. It seems that the proud n.o.bles of a.s.syria became restless during Esarhaddon's long absences, for we learn from the Babylonian Chronicle that, in B.C. 670, Esarhaddon put a number of them to death. Here is a letter, however, from an attached subject:(927)

To the mother of the king, my lady, thy servant Aplia. May Bel and Nabu be gracious to the mother of the king, my lady. Every day I pray Nabu and Nana for life and health and length of days, for the king of lands, my lord, and for the mother of the king, my lady.

May the mother of the king, my lady, be bright. A messenger of good news from Bel and Nabu has come from the king of lands, my lord.

There is a suggestion in the mention of Nana that Aplia wrote from Erech.

He may be the Aplia afterwards a.s.sociated with Bel-ibni and Kudur in the south. If so, we may suppose that the messenger came from Esarhaddon, from Egypt, by way of Southern Babylonia. One would suppose that a messenger from Canaan, or the west, would reach Nineveh, before Chaldea. But, of course, the queen-mother may have been at La?iru. Only it is doubtful whether she lived there, while Esarhaddon was away.

It is more likely still that the Aplia is the same as the _rab ali_ of La?iru, who in B.C. 678 was over the house of the queen-mother there.(928)

(M839) Another letter(929) conveys a.s.surance of fidelity: