A Late Babylonian Tribute List?

Abstract

"... Gold and silver were the usual tribute demanded by the Assyrians and their successors from Egypt and Syria. Adad-nirari III (c. 803 B.c.) took 2,300 talents of silver and 20 talents of gold from Mari' of Damascus as part of the price for sparing that city.24 Shalmaneser III received 150 talents of gold from Metenna of Tyre,25 while Sargon II took 2,100 talents of gold from Carchemish alone. In 701 B.C., 30 talents of gold and 800 of silver were paid to Sennacherib by Hezekiah of Judah.26 These figures must be judged in the light of Solomon's claim to an annual revenue of 666 talents of gold from local sources, to which must be added annual imports averaging at least 140 talents in fine gold brought by merchants from Ophir (1 Kings ix, 28; x, 14). In addition there were special tribute payments of 120 talents from the Arabian queen and other foreign rulers (1 Kings x, 10, 25). Gold and silver were normally conveyed in the form of vessels taken from temples and storehouses. Ashurbanipal, who used 34 talents of gold to cover only two wooden columns in the Ashur temple, claims to have received gold from Egypt in dust form."2 It was early conveyed in 'packets' (nepesu),28 but ingots, like those making up the 40,000 talents of gold found by Alexander in the Persian palaces, seem to be more common in the Achaemenid era. ..."