The measurement of Sargon’s name and the astroglyphs of Esarhaddon and Sargon II

The riddle of measurement of Sargon’s name has puzzled scholars for more than 150 years without a satisfactory solution. The decipherment of the astroglyphic inscriptions of Esarhaddon and Sargon II (Roaf/Zgoll 2001; Zgoll/Roaf 2002) showed that they consist of the names and titles of those kings, being translated respectively as “Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters” and “king of the universe, king of Assyria”. Combining these readings it is proposed that Sargon’s number can be interpreted as “Sargon, king of the universe, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters”, the most important of Sargon’s titles. This talk, after considering previous suggested solutions to the riddle, will investigate possible ways, some more plausible than others, in which a reading of Sargon’s number as the name of Sargon and his titles might be reached.

Der Vortrag findet in Präsenz in der Bibliothek des Lehrstuhls für Altorientalistik (Residenzplatz 2, Tor A) statt. Gleichzeitig wird die Möglichkeit geboten, via ZOOM der Veranstaltung beizuwohnen - ZOOM-link: https://uni-wuerzburg.zoom-x.de/j/63895089309?pwd=RDhNL2pqdTJyVEtpRXN6SWM3b09zUT09 (Kenncode 976739)