Tuesday, May 12, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

Assyrian Oracles on Bartatua and the Scythians

✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦

This is one of the hard Near Eastern anchors for early Scythian history. Bartatua is not a Greek legend here. He is king of the Scythians in a Neo-Assyrian divination tablet, negotiating marriage with Esarhaddon through messengers.

The question asked of Shamash is political and theological at once: if Assyria gives a royal daughter, will the Scythian king speak true words of peace and keep the treaty? The Scythian frontier enters the Assyrian state through omen, marriage, oath, and war policy.

The translation below is from the Akkadian transliteration in ORACC's edition of SAA 04 020, with two related Scythian invasion queries added for context.

Translation

Shamash, great lord, give me a firm yes to what I ask you.

Bartatua, king of the Scythians, has now sent his messengers before Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, concerning a royal daughter in marriage. If Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, gives him a royal daughter in marriage, will Bartatua, king of the Scythians, speak with Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, in good faith, with true, sound words of peace? Will he keep the treaty of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria? Will he do whatever is pleasing to Esarhaddon, king of Assyria?

Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command of your great divinity, Shamash, great lord? Will the one who can see see it? Will the one who can hear hear it?

Another query asks whether Scythian troops dwelling in the district of Mannea will move out from the border of Mannea, pass through Hubushkia, and take heavy plunder from Assyrian territory. A third asks whether the troops of the Scythians and the troops of the Cimmerians will emerge from a pass and invade Bit-Hamban. The tablets show the same fact from two sides: Scythian kings could be courted by marriage, and Scythian forces could be feared as raiders on the imperial edge.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the source text printed below. The English is an independent rendering from the source-language transliteration or Greek text, with existing public translations used only as controls for damaged or conventional passages.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: SAA 04 020, SAA 04 023, and SAA 04 035

Akkadian source text in romanized transliteration from ORACC. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

SAA 04 020, obverse 1-10: dUTU EN GAL-u sha a-shal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni. mbar-ta-tu-a LUGAL sha KUR.ish-ku-za sha i-na-an-na DUMU-MESH-ship-ri-shu a-na pa-an m dAshshur-ahhu-iddina LUGAL KUR-Ashshur ina UGU DUMU.MI-LUGAL ish-pu-ra. GIM m dAshshur-ahhu-iddina LUGAL KUR-Ashshur DUMU.MI-LUGAL a-na ash-shu-u-tu it-tan-nash-shu mbar-ta-tu-a LUGAL sha KUR.ish-ku-za itti m dAshshur-ahhu-iddina LUGAL KUR-Ashshur dibbi kinuutu shalmutu sha shulmee ina kittishu i-dab-bu-ubu. adee sha m dAshshur-ahhu-iddina LUGAL KUR-Ashshur i-na-as-sa-ra mimma sha ana UGU m dAshshur-ahhu-iddina LUGAL KUR-Ashshur tabu ippushu ina shulmiti ina pi ilutika rabiti dUTU EN GAL-u qabi kuni.

SAA 04 023, obverse 5-10: LUGAL.ERIM-MESH ish-ku-za-a.a sha ina nagii sha KUR Mannea ashbu-ma TA UGU tahume sha KUR Mannea DU-MESH-ku i-sar-ri-mu-u i-ka-pi-du-u TA neribi sha URU Hubushkia ana URU Harrania ana URU Anisus utsu-ne-e DU-MESH-ku-ne-e TA UGU tahume sha KUR Ashshur hubtu ma'du namra kabittu i-hab-batu ishallalu ilutika rabiti zue.

SAA 04 035, obverse 1-5: dUTU EN GAL-u sha a-shal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni. TA UD anni UD 25-KAM sha ITI anni ITI.SIG4 adi UD 24-KAM sha ITI tuba ITI.SHU sha MU.AN.NA niti 30 UD-MESH 30 MI-MESH shikin adanni. ina shikin adanni shuatu LUGAL.ERIM-MESH lu Ishkuzaia LUGAL.ERIM-MESH lu Gimirraia TA neribi sha URU ... ana Bit-Hamban.

Source Colophon

Akkadian transliteration inspected from ORACC/SAAo pages for SAA 04 020 (CDLI P236956), SAA 04 023 (P336050), and SAA 04 035 (P238891). ORACC credits Ivan Starr's Queries to the Sungod (SAA 4, 1990), lemmatization by Mikko Luukko, and release under CC BY-SA 3.0. The English rendering above is newly prepared from the Akkadian and checked against ORACC's translation.

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