2014 Volume 49 Pages 19-29
The fluctuation between the first and third person in the text on the Tell al-Rimāḥ Stela has been regarded either as a way, in which Nergal-ēreš takes to himself credit for the described achievements, or as a clumsiness of the scribe who conflated multiple source materials into the text. While the textual features may suggest that the inscription was copied from written source, it seems that the scribe deliberately omitted the description of entrustment of receiving tribute, which is supposed to be described in the source text. Another possibility is that in the original text, all the verbs are expressed in the first person, and in this case, our scribe intentionally changed the first person of the verb in the description of receiving tribute to the third person. The unusual use of the third person in the text might have been employed by the scribe so that the subject of the verb could alternatively be construed as Nergal-ēreš, instead of Adad-nērārī III. This scribal art, however, does not reflect the intention of Nergal-ēreš but of Adad-nērārī, the most possible commissioner of the inscription. The apparent clumsiness found in the change between the first and third person might alternatively be regarded as a scribal technique to achieve two purposes: to credit the king for the military exploits; and to lead the readers to alternatively see Nergal-ēreš as a possible candidate for the one who received the tribute.
