Brilliant new resource for the field that might also be fun to peruse.

These administrative records from Neo-Assyrian palaces, forts, private archives, and elsewhere paint a detailed picture of what it was like to run the empire. Short thread https://twitter.com/opencuneiform/status/1357244265018118163
In 627 BCE king Esarhaddon decided he wanted his (not eldest) son Ashurbanipal to succeed him and had a treaty drawn up to ensure a smooth change of power.

"Seal of the god Aššur, king of the gods" are its first words and here's a copy from Tell Tayinat http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa02/P500551/html
In 627 BCE king Esarhaddon decided he wanted his (not eldest) son Ashurbanipal to succeed him and had a treaty drawn up to ensure a smooth change of power."Seal of the god Aššur, king of the gods" are its first words and here's a copy from Tell Tayinat http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa02/P500551/html
In 627 BCE king Esarhaddon decided he wanted his (not eldest) son Ashurbanipal to succeed him and had a treaty drawn up to ensure a smooth change of power."Seal of the god Aššur, king of the gods" are its first words and here's a copy from Tell Tayinat http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa02/P500551/html
The surviving archives of the Neo-Assyrian empire open up a window onto less glamorous details, like lists of goods received.

Here's a (kind of cute?) administrative record from the month of Ayyar (March/April) that's only 5 lines long about camels http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/atae/gpao/P428869/html
A letter from the ancient Assyrian king Sargon II to the governor of Kalhu (Nimrud) orders that 700 straw bales and reed bundles be delivered to a major city by a certain date.

“Should (even) one day pass by, you will die.” http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P224403/html
A man named Tab-sill-Esharra has been ordered to kill a bunch of locusts. Here’s his letter to the king updating him on the effort.

“the locusts here in the centre of the land…on the great mountain…I have removed” http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P336167/html
The ancient Assyrian king Sargon II writes to Mannu-ki-Adad about building a private army, including 1,119 men.

“Summon them wherever they are, they must be there before my eunuch arrives” http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334193/html
This administrative record from ancient Nineveh is so broken it reads like a bizarre poem.

"oxen, sheep...
on my side...
living there...
in your district...
Should it be the wish of...
to bring...
let me send the troops...
all their days..."

http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P314048/html
This letter warning about a guy named Bel-nuri who can't be trusted.

"This Bel-nuri cannot be trusted in what he says...yet you lifted him up and put him around your neck like a seal." http://oracc.iaas.upenn.edu/saao/saa01/P334693/html
A cylinder seal like this one not the animal
Anyway you get the picture.

This is an incredible online repository of mostly digitised, translated primary sources from ancient Assyria, along with all the other open access resources offered by @opencuneiform @Oracctivity ☺️

http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/projectlist.html
You can follow @Moudhy.
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