The Sukkallu Official and His Duties in the Light of Published Cuneiform Texts

Abstract

This study deals with the office of the sukkallu in the Neo-Assyrian state on the basis of published cuneiform sources, especially Neo-Assyrian letters, administrative and legal documents and royal inscriptions of the Sargonid period. First it sets out the terminology, from the Sumerian logogram SUKKAL to its Akkadian equivalent sukkallu, and then distinguishes the ordinary messenger and diplomatic envoy from the senior official whose functions could, depending on context, approximate those of a vizier, royal adviser, or administrative intermediary between the king and the machinery of government. The evidence shows that the sukkallu was not a postal official in the narrow sense. His office was a mixture of intelligence, reports, military affairs, and judicial and civil adjudication. Royal inscriptions indicate that SUKKAL was also used in a religious sense, as an epithet for gods such as Nabû and Nusku. The term must thus be interpreted within its textual context rather than assigned an invariant translation. The study concludes that the office of the sukkallu reflects a system in which royal decision-making was highly centralized, yet depended upon a stratum of senior officials capable of turning news, letters and reports into instruments of government, supervision and intelligence.