The cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament - The Search For ...

82 THE CVNEIFOBM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
king of Tanis" * ; Smith's Assurbanipal 21, 98;
V Rawl. 1, 96.
13. The rulers of Noph (^J). This Aegyptian city is
also called in the Old Testament (Hosea IX. 6) ^b i. e.
Memphis, and appears in the cuneiform inscriptions in
the form Ir Mi-im-pi; see Smith's Assurbanipal 20, 89.
92 &c. ; also in the less accurate form ir Mi-im-pi
III Rawl. 29 notice line 21.
392 XX. 1. In the year when the Tartan came to Ashdod
(see note on 2 Kings XVIII. 17), namely when Sargon
(liillQ) ** king of Assyria despatched him, and he fought
against Ashdod and took it ... . This is the only passage
in the Old Testament where mention is made of this
powerful Assyrian ruler, the builder of Northern Niniveh
or Dtir-Sarruktn (see Vol. I, p. 85), the conqueror of
Samaria and father of Sanherib. His name was pro-
nounced in Assyrian Sarruktn, and is understood by the
Assyrians themselves either as Sarru-kinu "Firm (is)
* Besides this Sa-'-nu-Zoan we find in the same list another
place written in a difi'erent way (i r) S i - ' - n u. The latter was
ruled by a particular king having the specifically Assyrian name
Sarluddri (Smith's Assurb. 21, 93 = V Eawl. I. line 91). These two
places are distinct from one another. The fact that in Rassam's
Cylind. I, 131 we find ir Si-'-nu, whereas in Cyl. B. col. II, 1 (Smith's
Assurb. p. 32) we have the variant Sa-'-nu (Delitzsch), is scarcely a
proof that the two spots were identical, but simply confirms what we
know from other cases to be true, that the latter cylinder was less
carefully inscribed than the former. The scribe had combined the
two names, which resembled each other in sound. Observe too, that
in both passages (V Rawl. I, 30. 31 and I, 131) the town Si'nu is
mentioned in conjunction with Sais ; only the second time it is sepa-
rated by the intervening ir Pi(Bi)-in-di-di "Mendes".
** Also with Raphe in the gimel = 'Jij'ip J on this consult B. Stade,
de Isaiae vaticiniis Aethiopicis, Lips. 1873 p. 38 ann. and Franz