ISRAeLITe eMBASSIeS To ASSyRIA 179 to the kingdom of Israel, Judah’s sister kingdom. This point is impor- tant for the interpretation of biblical prophetic passages originating in the kingdom of Israel. This article focuses on documents which strongly suggest that Israel maintained diplomatic contacts with Assyria during at least part of the period 796-745 BCe. These sources provide detailed accounts of visits that Israelite emissaries made to the Assyrian palaces. Before proceeding to discuss the documents themselves, the nature of these visits requires some elaboration. III. emissaries of vassal states visiting Assyrian palaces All vassals to Assyria were required to send emissaries on annual visits to the Assyrian palace to bear tribute. These visits were an ex- tremely important means of conveying Assyrian ideology to the vassal and to convince the vassal to submit. Morrow notes, based on several Assyrian letters and the studies of Bär, that the evidence “points to extensive interaction with Assyrian officials throughout the process of bearing tribute” 12. This point was recognized by Israel eph’al, who notes that tribute-bearing ambassadors arrived at the capital in a caravan which grouped together ambassadors from several countries. They maintained contact with the Assyrian administrators along the way, and were under their supervision as they travelled in a caravan to Assyria. After arrival, the ambassadors would be received and would remit tribute together in a royal ceremony. Since they arrived together, it appears that they were told to arrive at a specific time, and this point will figure prominently in our subsequent discussion 13. 12 MoRRoW, “Tribute from Judah”, 188; J. BäR, Der assyrische Tribut und seine Darstellung. Eine Untersuchung zur imperialen Ideologie im neuassyrischen Reich (AoAT 243; kevelaer – neukirchen-vluyn 1996). 13 See I. ePH’AL “The Significance of Assyrian Imperial Rule According to Administrative Texts Relating to ebir nari”, Israel and its Land. Inscriptions and History (ed. Z. TALSHIR) (Beer-sheva 2010) 31-69, here 58-59 (Hebrew). This dis- cussion is partially based on SAA I 110, which describes how tribute-bearing emis- saries from egypt, Gaza, Judah, Moab, and Ammon arrived together in Calah. See S. PARPoLA, The Correspondence of Sargon II. Part 1: Letters from Assyria and the West (State Archives of Assyria volume 1; Helsinki 1987), letter number 110, also known as nimrud Letter 16, nD 2765, IM 64159. This letter provides im- portant information regarding the mechanisms governing these contacts ca. 716 BCe. The fact that the emissaries are described as a group indicates the organiza- tion of a common caravan from a single staging area to enable them to enter the king’s presence together.