Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (State Archives of Assyria) Paperback – June 30, 1993

This is Volume 10 of The State Archives of Assyria, series - ignore the number on my previous review referring to the correspondence of the priests of Assyria, which should have indicated that one was numbered 13! To recap, this volume covers a slightly wider time frame than the Priest's volume, beginning perhaps in the mid-670s BC and ending seemingly in 621 BC. Nethertheless most letters pertain to the last years of Esarhaddon and the first half of the reign of Ashurbanipal. As with the other volumes the texts are transliterated, translated, and have a robust academic and linguistic apparatus, including all the Sumerian logograms used, a glossary of all the cuneiform words used, and indices pertaining to personal names, other proper names, and subjects referred to in each letter. The State Archives series is undoubtedly pitched at those studying the cuneiform language or specializing in the ancient history of Iraq, but it is in the main accessible to the amateur, like myself. This volume is particularly interesting as the scholars include physicians and astrologers who lay bear the fears of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal and their ill-health. Assyrian royal inscriptions portray the kings as invincible and invulnerable - these letters reveal them as vulnerable and often ill.