Tablet Fragment from Nineveh, 671 BCE

Inscribed on a large clay tablet, of which only three fragments are extant, was a report on Esarhaddon’s military activities, including a lengthy description of the Egyptian campaign.

Most unique are the description of the northern Sinai Peninsula and the crossing of the desert by the Assyrian army with the help of the local nomads, impressed into service by Esarhaddon.

“I broke camp from Egypt and headed straight to Meluhha – a distance of thirty double-hours from Aphek that is in the district of Samerina to Raphia by the side of the Wadi of Egypt, a place where there is no river. I gave a drink to my army, drawing water from wells by means of ropes, chains (and) buckets.”

Mordechai Cogan, The Raging Torrent, Carta, Jerusalem, 2008. p.143-147.