290 martti nissinen
Palace personnel and civil administration (64 individuals). the largest
number of people listed in the PNA with aramaic names belong to the
realm of administration, many of them occupying important positions.
the growth of the empire led to the creation of a new aristocracy depen-
dent on the king alone, rather than belonging to the old assyrian nobility.
this new ruling class—including the royal élite—was multiethnic, and
its emergence was not merely due to a natural development. the impe-
rial policy was not to protect the assyrian upper crust against foreign
influences—on the contrary, it becomes evident that non-assyrian ele-
ments were systematically incorporated into the aristocracy already in the
8th century B.C.119
the prominent presence of non-assyrians can be seen in the list of
Neo-assyrian eponyms,120 which includes a significant number of years
within two centuries named after 20 non-assyrian officials, five of them
with aramaic names:
833, 824, and 821 aia-halu (aram.), chief treasurer, commander-in-chief
764 Ṣidqi-ilu, governor of tušhan
763 Bur-sagalê (aram.), governor of Guzana
725 ammi-hatî/mahdie, governor of Nineveh
701 hanana, governor of til Barsib
700 mitunu, governor of isana
692 Zazaya, governor of arpad
689 Gihilu, governor of hatarikka
684 manzarnê, governor of kullania
677 abi-ramu (aram.), great vizier
676 Banbâ, second vizier
673 atar-ilu, governor of lahiru
668 mar-larim (aram.), commander-in-chief
667 Gabbaru, governor of dūr-sin-ahhe-riba
660 Gir-Ṣapunu
656 milki-ramu, cohort commander
655 awianu, governor of Que
651 sagabbu (aram.), governor of harran
649 ahi-ila ʾi, governor of Carchemish
620 sa ʾilu, chief cook119 see parpola 2007: 260f.
120 for the eponyms, see millard 1994.