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Re: CHAT: reign names

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 18:18
> Thomas Wier wrote: > > Heck, if Sargon II of Assyria (r. 722-705 BC) can be called > > thus because of Sargon I the Great of Akkad (r. 2371-2315 BC), I > > suppose anything can happen. > > Hm? I seem recall recently to've read words to the effect that Sargon > of Akkad reached such fame that _two_ Assyrian kings adopted his name. > There was no Sargon III of Assyria, so I've assumed there was a Sargon > I of Assyria sometime between Sargon of Akkad and Sargon II.
There is indeed a Sargon I of Assyria, but he belongs to a period when Assyria was a vassal of Babylon, and it is not even known how long he reigned; it was around the time of Hamurabi. I was given to understand (and this may be wrong) that by the time of Sargon II of Assyria, over a thousand years later, it was the first Sargon that was really salient, and that Sargon II conscientiously took that throne name to echo the Great One's martial glory. But I suppose the question is ambiguous; I'm not even sure the Assyrians used regnal numbers. ========================================================================= Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally, Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of 1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter. Chicago, IL 60637

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Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>