182 SHAWn ZeLIG ASTeR Calah) 22. There is a general dispute as to the latest possible date for the texts in this corpus. kinnier Wilson dated many of these texts to the pe- riod 791-779. Later, Dalley and Postgate suggested different readings for some of the eponym dates in the tablets, and argued that some of the tablets date to the period of Tiglath-Pileser III 23. Fales took issue with this lowering of the dates, and noted that “the clearly legible limmu-dates point indisputably to the early part of the 8th century” 24. But notwithstanding this general dispute, the text which is central to our discussion, nD 6212, published as nimrud Wine List (hence- forth nWL) 4, can be clearly shown to date to the first third of the eighth century. Four of the wine lists clearly mention “Samarians” among their recipients, and nWL 4 is the most interesting because of its date. Although the eponym in which it was written has not been pre- served, several converging lines of evidence point clearly to its having been composed in the period noted. kinnier Wilson noted the presence in this text of wine recipients Ôilli-ißtar, Adad-uballiª, Mannu-k¥-Adad, and Ninurta-muk¥n-n¥ßi. These recipients bear the same names as the eponyms of the years 787, 785, 773, and 765, respectively. He argues that “certainly the first three [i.e., the individuals whose names be- came the eponyms of the years 787, 785, and 773] are likely to have been identical with those mentioned” in this text. on these grounds, he recommends dating this specific text to this span of years 25. Since kinnier Wilson’s discussion, an important prosopographical study has appeared which supports his conclusion. If Ôilli-ißtar, Adad- uballiª and Mannu-k¥-Adad were high-ranking officials, they could only have served together in the reign of Adad-nirari III. The Proso- pography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (henceforth PNAE) cites the following eighth-century individuals who bore these names: Ôilli-ißtar: 1) eponym of the year 787 and governor of Arbail; 2) official in Guzana in the reign of Adad-nirari III; 3) palace manager in Calah in the reign of Adad-nirari III. These may be the same indi- 22 J. v. kInnIeR WILSon, The Nimrud Wine Lists. A Study of Men and Administration at the Assyrian Capital in the eighth Century BC (London 1972); S. DALLey – J.n. PoSTGATe, The Tablets from Fort Shalmaneser (Cuneiform Texts from nimrud; London 1984). 23 kInnIeR WILSon, The Tablets from Fort Shalmaneser, 22. 24 F.M. FALeS, “A Fresh Look at the nimrud Wine Lists”, Drinking in Ancient Societies. History and Culture of Drinks in the Ancient near east — Papers of a Symposium Held in Rome May 17-19, 1990 (ed. L. MILAno) (Padova 1994) 361-380. 25 kInnIeR WILSon, The Nimrud Wine Lists, 2.