Produced by Arno Peters, David Moynihan
Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofing Team.
A Source Study
By
ALBERT TEN EYCK OLMSTEAD
Associate Professor of Ancient History
To the serious student of Assyrian history, it is obvious that wecannot write that history until we have adequately discussed thesources. We must learn what these are, in other words, we must beginwith a bibliography of the various documents. Then we must divide theminto their various classes, for different classes of inscriptions areof varying degrees of accuracy. Finally, we must study in detail foreach reign the sources, discover which of the various documents orgroups of documents are the most nearly contemporaneous with theevents they narrate, and on these, and on these alone, base ourhistory of the period.
To the less narrowly technical reader, the development of thehistorical sense in one of the earlier culture peoples has an interestall its own. The historical writings of the Assyrians form one of themost important branches of their literature. Indeed, it may be claimedwith much truth that it is the most characteristically Assyrian ofthem all. [Footnote: This study is a source investigation and not abibliography. The only royal inscriptions studied in detail are thosepresenting source problems. Minor inscriptions of these rulers areaccorded no more space than is absolutely necessary, and rulers whohave not given us strictly historical inscriptions are generallypassed in silence. The bibliographical notes are condensed as much aspossible and make no pretense of completeness, though they willprobably be found the most complete yet printed. Every possible carehas been taken to make the references accurate, but the fact that manywere consulted in the libraries of Cornell University, University ofChicago, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania, andare thus inaccessible at the time when the work is passing through thepress, leaves some possibility of error. Dr. B. B. Charles, Instructorin Semitics in the University of Pennsylvania, has kindly verifiedthose where error has seemed at all likely.—For the English speakingreader, practically all the inscriptions for the earlier half of thehistory are found in Budge-Kjing, Annals of the Kings ofAssyria. 1. For the remainder, Harper, Assyrian and BabylonianLiterature, is adequate, though somewhat out of date. Rogers,Cuneiform Parallels to the, Old Testament, gives an up to datetranslation of those passages which throw light on the Biblicalwritings. Other works cited are generall