Bar Rakkib and the end of Samal
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Bar Rakkib II
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The inscriptions of Bar Rakkib are the last in the line of Samalian
kings. One of Bar Rakkib’s most intact records, a dolerite building
inscription, was found in 1891. Unlike the other Samalian
inscriptions which are now in Berlin, the building inscription of
Bar Rakkib is housed in the Museum of Antiquities in Istanbul. It
consists of twenty lines, recounting the construction of a second
palace between 732 and 727 B.C.E.
The two inscriptions pictured here were also discovered in 1891. Bar
Rakkib II is an incomplete fragment of nine lines; at the right a
bearded man holds a drinking vessel and a fan. Symbols of deity
appear at the top. In the inscription, Bar Rakkib declares his
loyalty to Tiglath Pileser, "lord of the four quarters of the
earth," and expresses the favor shown to him by the god Rakkab El.
Bar Rakkib III shows a relief of a king seated on the left, and a
servant standing on the right. On the side of the stone is a servant
standing with fan in hand. At the top is an inscription that states,
"My lord is Baal Harran.
I am Bar Rakkib, son of Panamu."
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Bar Rakkib III, Front
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Like the previous inscriptions the letters of the alphabet are
carved in Luwian style bas relief. The inscriptions of Bar Rakkib
are not written in the Samalian dialect but are some of the first
ancient records to use imperial Aramaic. This dialect that by the
end of the Neo-Assyrian period had become the lingua franca of the
ancient Near East is also found in the Elephantine papyri and in the
Aramaic portions of Ezra and Daniel.
As in the memorial to his father, Bar Rakkib emphasizes his own
loyalty to Tiglath Pileser III. He refers to a deity unique to Samal,
known from Kilamuwa, Rakkab El. The Assyrian king causes him to
reign, in fact, on account of his loyalty to his father and to his
god Rakkab El. Thus by circumlocution Bar Rakkib credits both the
god and his forbears as well as as the king of Assyria for his
throne.
We know nothing else of any kings of Samal after Bar Rakkib. The
Assyrian kings after Tiglath Pileser III began to replace their
policy of vassal alliance with annexation and deportation.
Eventually, Assyria, and then Babylon and Persia would bring an end
to most of the independent, often culturally distinctive Iron Age
city states. But it was the Aramaic language that became the lingua
franca of these successive empires. With its concise and efficient
alphabetic writing system adopted from the Phoenicians, it was the
Aramaic language that would bring an end to the cuneiform system
used in Mesopotamia since the dawn of civilization.
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Bar Rakkib III, Side
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Commentary by Jeffrey Rose
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/ancient_texts/barrakkib.shtml |