Assyrians and Tarsus (1)

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Tarsus in Cilicia headed an Assyrian province in the late 8th century. After Sennacherib sent an army into Cilicia in 696 to quell a rebellion, Berossus says that he rebuilt Tarsus ‘in the image of Babylon’. The theme of building to replicate Babylon occurs in Assyrian texts, which suggests that Berossus used sources based on original records. Sennacherib installed in a new temple an Assyrian statue of Sandongod of Tarsus, equated since Hittite times with Marduk god of Babylon. Roman coins from Tarsus show that it was still worshipped in the time of Hadrian (117-138 CE), and the locals did not tear it down when the Assyrians left. The cult still flourished in St Paul’s lifetime. The cuneiform sources make clear that Sennacherib was more concerned to maintain the flow of tribute into Assyria than to curtail the activities of Greeks along the southern coast of Anatolia. Excavations at Tarsus do not contradict this, since there are no perceptible breaks in the archaeological sequence. The Greeks also remembered that Sennacherib left a statue of himself on the battlefield as a memorial of victory, and he ordered that an account of his courage and heroic deeds be inscribed in ‘Chaldean’ script for future times.

Bibliography

Stephanie Dalley

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