As Chart 17shows, the early sources (11th—9thcentury B.C.) register large numbers of bronze items in the booty lists, such as bronze utensils, kettles, casseroles etc. This reflects the fact that the early rulers laid an emphasis (both in royal inscriptions both on the palace reliefs of Assurnasirpal II) on seizing large numbers of bronze utensils, which – if these pieces were not melted down to reuse the metal as raw material for the weapon industry – obviously does not have a direct military relevance.
Fig. 36 shows, however, only the entries which refer to large amounts of bronze, which could come from bronze vessels as well, but in some cases the sources may refer to the bronze simply as raw material, vital for the arms industry. These entries may refer to a direct military importance, since the army needed huge amounts of bronze to manufacture pieces of defensive armament:
thousands of helmets, shields, and tens of thousands of armour scales for the scale armours yearly.
It is interesting to note that the royal inscriptions frequently mention tin (the primary alloy component of bronze) alongside with the bronze – often in large quantities. It seems that due to their shortage the alloy components were as important as the copper itself.
These entries in Fig. 36show quantities of bronze (and tin) which reached the critical level, and thus may be relevant in the context of the weapon industry. The amounts range from hundreds of talents to thousands of talents in weight. Shalmaneser III during his Western campaign of 857 B.C. received 300 talents of bronze, 1,000 bronze casseroles from Patinu, 90 talents of bronze from BītGabbari, and 30 talents of bronze from Carchemish. Adadnērārī III, during his campaign of 806 B.C., took a heavy tribute from Mari, king of Damascus, including 2,300 talents of silver, 20 talents of gold, 3,000 talents (approx. 90 tons) of bronze and 5,000 talents (approx. 150 tons) of iron. On another western campaign he also obtained 1,000 talents of copper
Sennacherib (704—681 B.C.) – GRAYSON –NOVOTNY 2012
4, 55-80 701 Hezekiah of Judah 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver Esarhaddon (680—669 B.C.) – LEICHTY 2011
1, iv:17-24 680 Adumutu, Arabs 10 minas gold
9, ii’:12’-21’ 671 Memphis, Tirপaqa/Taharqa? 6 talents, 19 minas of gold, 300 [...]
1019, 18-42 671 Memphis, Tirপaqa/Taharqa? 8,000 talents of silver ore … [... ta]lents of red gold Assurbanipal (668—631 B.C.) – BORGER 1996
Prisma A §57,
Elam, treasury of the palace and the temple
silver, gold, treasures which the kings of Elam from the distant past have collected; gold and silver, wealth and properties, which the former kings of Elam on seven occasions captured in Šumer, Akkad, and Karduniaš; red gold, shining silver, … which the former kings of Akkad and Šamaš-šum-ukƯn sent to Elam as tokens of their alliance
693The weaponry of the Assyrian army and the accompanying metal management of the Empire is going to be discussed in a separate volume of this project. For the helmet industry seeDEZSŐ2001, for the armour seeDEZSŐ2002, DEZSŐ2004A; for an overview seeBARRON2010. For further references seeDEZSŐ2012A, 15-16, notes 24-38.
from Amurrû, ›atti, Damascus, Samaria, Tyre, and Sidon. The largest amount recorded is known from the ‘Letter to God’ of Sargon II, describing the events of the 8thcampaign (714 B.C.) of the king, during which the Assyrian army looted huge quantities of copper and tin from the Palace of Urzana, king of Mu%a%ir, and 3,600 talents (108 tons) of bronze from the temple of ›aldi, also in Mu%a%ir. With all these data an important question is emerging regards the use of the metal:
were these quantities of bronze transported to Assyria, or were utensils and weapons manufactured on the spot to supply the troops with the necessary reinforcements? The written sources and pictorial evidence seem to imply that the finished products/goods were taken home to be redistributed between various actors of the Assyrian administration, the palaces and temples, while some part of the bronze would be melted down to produce equipment on the spot.
The palace reliefs of Sargon II record all the phases of the sack of the city: one of the slabs shows Assyrian soldiers sacking the temple of ›aldi,694while the other slab695shows three characteristic scenes of the looting: 1) Assyrian soldiers are carrying the spoil on their shoulders (shields, a cauldron);696 2) Assyrian officials are scaling the booty; 3) Assyrian soldiers are ‘recycling’
(cutting into pieces) the bronze statues of Urar#ian kings – which obviously only have value as raw material to be carried to Assyria or to be reused on the spot.
It is important to note that the bronze transported home played an important role in the financing of the military, including the individual soldiers, as well. In one of his letters written to his father, Sargon II, Sennacherib let the king know that: “The chariot grooms of the ša—šēpē guard [...] under my command are asking for plants [... and one] full talent of bronze [...] per one team of hor[ses ...] in accordance with what the ki[ng ...]. What exactly does the king, my lord, order?”697It is unfortunately not known whether the one talent of bronze per team of horses was an ad hocallotment or part of a regular allowance for the service (in this case to supply the horses with fodder?). In this case the bronze served as a general measure of value,698and not raw material to manufacture equipment or chariot fittings for the troops.
The bronze carried home ended up in two ways: 1) the utensils and weapons (seebelow II.3.1.3 Military equipment) were distributed and used, while 2) the bronze brought home as raw material was deposited in different storehouses and treasuries.699In one of his letters sent to Sargon II, Šarru
ēmuranni reported to the king that “On the 27thday, at dawn, we opened the treasury of metal scraps at the entrance to the house in the palace upon the terrace. [We] weighed 420 talents of bronze scraps and plac[ed] it in the storehouse [of] the cupbearer. We also weighed [x talen]ts of bronze objects [...]”700The letter let the king know that “alternatively, we can do the (inventory) of the Review Palace on the 29th and go in the remaining days to DūrŠarrukēn, to seal those tunics.”701The schedule of Šarruēmuranni was as follows: on the 27thhe surveyed the storehouse, on the 29thhe made the inventory of the Review Palace and on the remaining days he went to Dūr
694BOTTA– FLANDIN1849, pl. 141.
695BOTTA– FLANDIN1849, pl. 140.
696THUREAU-DANGIN1912, MAYER1983, 405-409.
697PARPOLA1987, 37 (CT 53, 307), Rev. 7-13.
698When Bēl-dūri, the major-domo for example acquired an orchard in the Land of the Palace Herald, he bought it [for x t]alents of bronze (MATTILA2002, 465 (ADD 467). The same was true for the copper. Hundreds of purchase and loan documents give the price, the interest, or the fine in copper. One of the letters of Aššur-mātka-tēra for example let the king know that “The exchange rate is extremely favourable in the land: one homer of barley goes for one mina of copper in Nineveh, one homer and 5 seahs (go for one mina of copper) in Ḫalaḫḫu, two homers (go for one mina of copper) in the steppe. 40minas of wool (go for) one mina of co[pper...].” (LUUKKO2012, 19 (ND2355), 5-15). For a comprehensive study seeRADNER1999, 127-157.
699A fragmentary letter would refer to copper objects to be deposited in a storehouse (FUCHS– PARPOLA2001, 362 (CT 53, 534).
700LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 206 (ABL 319+), 4-12.
701LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 206 (ABL 319+), Rev. 3’-8’.
Booty and tribute
Šarrukēn to make an inventory there as well. Between the 27thand 29thhe most probably stayed and worked in Calah, in the “treasury of metal scraps at the entrance to the house in the palace upon the terrace,” in the “storehouse [of] the cupbearer,” and in the Review Palace (Fort Shalmaneser), where workshops and military installations were built and which later was used as a storehouse (for example for furniture/ivories). Later he went to DūrŠarrukēn, where another Review Palace (Palace F) was built most probably to store military equipment and raw materials needed to equip the troops and to accommodate workshops and offices as well. These storehouses and review palaces702 shed some light on the infrastructure of the central metal (and other resources) management of the Empire, vital for the functioning of the military establishment.703
Fig. 36. Amounts of bronze captured.
Tiglath-Pileser I (1114—1076B.C.)–GRAYSON 1991,A.0.87.1
ii:16-35 Katmuপu, Kili-Tešub 180 copper kettles, 5 bronze bath-tubs
ii:36-57 Urratinaš, Šadi-Tešub 60 copper kettles, bronze vats, and large bronze bath-tubs
iii:103-iv:1 Murattaš, Saradauš, Lower Zab 120 copper kettles, 30 talents of copper bars TukultƯ-Ninurta II (890—884 B.C.) – GRAYSON 1991,A.0.100.5
76-79 884 indƗnu, Amme-alaba 2 talents of tin, 60 bronze ..., 10 minas of antimony preparation, 8 minas of antimony mineral 90-92 884 Mudadda of the city Sirqu [N] talents of tin, 40 bronze casseroles 93-94 884 Sirqu, arƗnu, the Laqû 30 bronze casseroles, 6 talents of tin
98-101 884 Snjru of BƯt-alupê, amatƗiia, (the) Laqû 32 talents of tin, 130 talents of bronze, 100 bronze utensils, 1 tub, 1(?) talent of …, 4 minas of antimony preparation
104-108 Dnjr-Katlimmu, … of the land Laqû [N] talents of antimony [preparation]
109-111 884 Qatnu 11 talents of tin, 50 bronze utensils Ashurnasirpal II (883—859 B.C.) – GRAYSON 1991,A.0.101.1
ii:119-125 879 BƯt-ZamƗni 100 talents of tin, 100 talents of bronze, 100 bronze casseroles, 3,000 bronze receptacles, bowls, bronze containers
iii:65-69 875 Carchemish, Sangara, king of the land atti 100 talents of bronze, bronze (tubs), bronze pails, bronze bath-tubs, a bronze oven
iii:72-77 875 Kunulua, the royal city of Lubarna, the
Patinu 100 talents of tin Shalmaneser III (858—824 B.C.) – GRAYSON 1991,A.0.102
2, ii:21-24 857 Patinu 300 talents of bronze, 1,000 bronze casseroles 2, ii 24b-27a 857 BƯt-Gabbari 90 talents of bronze
2, ii:28-29 857 Carchemish 30 talents of bronze Adad-nƝrƗrƯ III (810--783 B.C.) – GRAYSON 1991,A.0.104
8, 17-20 806 Damascus 3,000 talents of bronze 7, 5-8 ? Amurrû, atti, Damascus, Samaria, Tyre,
Sidon 1,000 talents of copper
Sargon II (721—705 B.C.) – THUREAU-DANGIN 1912,MAYER 1983
347-367 714 palace of Urzana, Muৢaৢir huge quantities of copper, tin 368 714 temple of aldi, Muৢaৢir 3,600 talents of bronze
702For a detailed description of the review palaces and other review centers seethe next volume of this project (in the chapter describing the musters).
703Such an example is known for example from the Royal Palace of Dūr-Šarrukēn, where 160 tons of scrap iron was found during the French excavations (PLACE1867, vol. I, 84-88). It is clear that some of the rooms of the Palace were used as storerooms during the last decades of the Empire.
Anyhow, it is quite clear from these booty lists and the other sources discussed above that the amount of bronze listed was not enough for the needs of the state, let alone for the weapon industry, so the Assyrians had to find and exploit copper and tin mines (and iron ore mines). One of the most important goals of the Assyrian Empire was to control the trade of metals, to conquer the territories rich in ore, and the metalworking centres of the Near East to exploit their resources.704