Glossary Society, writing and trade
Esarhaddon's prism
Also called: Prism of Esarhaddon
An Assyrian clay prism inscription of 673/2 BCE naming ten kings of Cyprus: the only complete ancient list of the island's kingdoms.
The prism of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon commemorates building work on a royal palace at Nineveh, and lists ten kings of Iadnana, the Assyrian name for Cyprus, among the rulers who contributed to it. Because it gives each king and his city, it is the first document to show the island divided into city-kingdoms. Some cities are easy to identify, such as Idalion, Paphos, Salamis, Soloi and Kourion; others, such as Qartihadasti, are still debated.
A list from the reign of his successor Ashurbanipal a few years later is identical, which has raised the question of whether it was simply copied. By the fourth century BCE the number of kingdoms had fallen to seven. See the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Full entry: Neo-Assyrian Empire and Cyprus
Related terms
- City-kingdom
One of the small independent kingdoms, each ruled from a city, into which Iron Age Cyprus was divided until about 310 BCE.
- Tribute
Regular payments of goods, precious metal or services that a subject ruler owed to a more powerful king in return for keeping his throne.
- Basileus
The Greek word for 'king', used for the rulers of the Cypriot city-kingdoms; the plural is basileis.