Katika maandishi saba yanayojulikana ya vidonge vya udongo na maandishi ya kikabari ya Waashuri kutoka vipindi tofauti, Waashuri waliita eneo lililohusiana na Palestina ya leo ‘Palashtu’, ‘Palastu’ au ‘Pilistu’, na waliwaita watu waliokaa katika eneo hili Wapalestina: ‘pa-la-as-ta-a-a’. Hili lilianza kwa Mfalme wa Ashuru Adad-Nirari III (kuanzia mwaka 811 KK hadi 783 KK) katika ‘maandishi ya Nimrud’ ya mwaka 800 KK, na kuendelea hadi Esarhaddon (aliyetawala kuanzia mwaka 681 hadi 669 KK).

In seven known Assyrian clay tablet and Cuneiform inscriptions from different periods the Assyrians called the region connected with modern Palestine ‘Palashtu’, ‘Palastu’ or ‘Pilistu’, and called the people who lived in this region Palestinians: ‘pa-la-as-ta-a-a’, beginning with the King of Assyria Adad-Nirari III (from 811 BC to 783 BC) in the ‘Nimrud inscriptions’ in 800 BC through to Esarhaddon (who reigned 681 to 669 BC)

miaka zaidi ya karne moja baadaye (Room 2006: 285; pia Smith, G. 1875: 115). Maandishi ya Nimrud yaligunduliwa mwaka 1854 na William Loftus katika uchimbaji wake huko Nimrud, mji mkuu wa kale wa Ashuru uliojulikana awali kama Kalhu. Ukiwa umo umbali wa kilomita 30 kusini mwa mji wa Iraq wa Mosul, Nimrud ulikuwa mji wa kimkakati wa Ashuru kati ya takriban mwaka 1250 KK na 610 KK. Ni miongoni mwa maandishi yaliyosomwa zaidi ya Adad-Nirari III, kwani yanajumuisha maelezo ya kampeni za mwanzo za Ashuru huko Palestina na Shamu. Maandishi ya Jiwe la Saba'a, andiko la utawala wa Asas-nirari III, yalitafsiriwa na Daniel Luckenbill (1881‒1927), mwanaashuru wa Kimarekani na Profesa katika Chuo Kikuu cha Chicago, kama ifuatavyo:

more than a century later (Room 2006: 285; also Smith, G. 1875: 115). The Nimrud inscriptions were discovered in 1854 by William Loftus in his excavations at Nimrud, a major ancient Assyrian city originally known as Kalhu. Located 30 kilometres south of the Iraqi city of Mosul, Nimrud was a strategic Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BC and 610 BC. They are among the best studied of the inscriptions of Adad-Nirari III, since they include a description of early Assyrian campaigns in Palestine and Syria. The text of the Saba’a Stele, the inscription of the reign of Asas-nirari III, was translated by Daniel Luckenbill (1881‒1927), an American Assyriologist and Professor at the University of Chicago, as:

Katika mwaka wa tano wa utawala wangu rasmi niliketi kwa heshima juu ya kiti changu cha kifalme na kuita nchi kwa vita. Niliamuru jeshi kubwa la Ashuru lisonge mbele kuelekea Ufilisti [Pa-la-áš-tu].

In the fifth year [of my official rule] I sat down solemnly on my royal throne and called up the country [for war]. I ordered the numerous army of Assyria to march against Philistia [Pa-la-áš-tu].

Nilivuka Mto Frati wakati ulikuwa umejaa maji mengi. Kuhusu wafalme wengi wenye uadui waliokuwa wameasi wakati wa baba yangu Shamshi-Adad, waliokuwa wamezuia kodi zao za kawaida, au kuwashinda [na] kwa amri ya Asur, Sin, Shamash, Adad na Ishtar, imani yangu [kwa] miungu ... nilipokea kodi zote ... ambazo walizileta Ashuru.

I crossed the Euphrates at its flood. As to the numerous hostile kings who had rebelled in the time of my father Shamshi-Adad and had wi[thheld] their regular [tributes], or overwhelmed them [and] upon the command of Asur, Sin, Shamash, Adad (and) Ishtar, my trust [in] gods ... I received all the tributes … which they brought to Assyria.

Nilitoa amri ya kuandamana dhidi ya nchi ya Dameski [Ša-imērišu].

I ordered [to march] against the country Damascus [Ša-imērišu].

(Luckenbill 1926: 260‒261)

(Luckenbill 1926: 260‒261)

Maandishi yanaendelea:

The inscription goes on:

Nilitiisha eneo lililoenea kutoka ukingo wa Frati, nchi ya Hatti, nchi yote ya Amurru, nchi ya Tiro, nchi ya Sidoni, nchi ya Humri, nchi ya Edomu, nchi ya Palastu, hadi bahari kuu ya jua linapotua. Nilitoza kodi (na

I subdued [the territory stretching] from the bank of the Euphrates, the land of Hatti, the land of Amurru in its entirety, the land of Tyre, the land of Sidon, the land of Humri, the land of Edom, the land of Palastu, as far as the great sea of the setting sun. I imposed tax (and)

rehema na baraka ziwe juu yao. (Grayson 1996: 212; angalia pia Luckenbill 1926; Smith, G. 1875: 115)

tribute upon them. (Grayson 1996: 212; see also Luckenbill 1926; Smith, G. 1875: 115)

Wapalestina pia wametajwa katika Barua za Nimrud, ambazo zina maandishi ya kikabari ya mawasiliano ya kifalme kutoka enzi za Tiglath-pileser III na Sargon II wa Ashuru. Mawasiliano hayo yanajumuisha barua ya Qurdi-Ashur-lamur kwa Tiglath-Pileser III, iliyoandikwa karibu mwaka 735 KK:

The Palestinians are also mentioned in the Nimrud Letters, which contain Cuneiform texts of royal correspondence from the reigns of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II of Assyria. The correspondence includes the letter of Qurdi-Ashur-lamur to Tiglath-Pileser III, dated c. 735 BC:

Kuhusu mtawala wa Tiro, ambaye mfalme alisema: ‘Zungumza naye kwa upole’, magati yote yako mikononi mwake. Raia wake huingia na kutoka katika maghala kwa hiari yao, na hufanya biashara. Safu ya milima ya Lebanoni iko wazi kwake; hupanda na kushuka watakavyo na kuleta mbao chini. Kwa mbao wanazoleta chini ninaweka kodi. Nimewateua wakaguzi wa kodi juu ya nyumba za forodha za safu nzima ya milima ya Lebanoni, nao hulinda bandari. Nilimteua mkaguzi wa kodi kwa wale waliokuwa wakishuka kwenda katika nyumba za forodha zilizoko Sidoni, lakini watu wa Sidoni walimfukuza. Hapo nilituma kikosi cha Itu'a kuingia katika safu ya milima ya Lebanoni. Waliwatia hofu watu, hivyo baadaye wakatuma ujumbe, wakamrudisha mkaguzi wa kodi na kumleta ndani ya Sidoni. Niliwaambia kwa maneno haya:

Concerning the ruler of Tyre, about whom the king said: ‘Talk nicely to him’, all the wharves are at their disposal. His subjects enter and leave the warehouses at will, and trade. The Lebanon range is accessible to him; they go up and down at will and bring lumber down. On the lumber they bring down I impose a tax. I have appointed tax inspectors over the customs [houses] of the entire Lebanon range, [and] they keep the watch on the harbour. I appointed a tax inspector [for those who[ were going down into the custom houses which are in Sidon, [but] the Sidonians chased him away. Thereupon I sent the Itu’a contingent into the Lebanon range. They terrified the people, [so that] afterwards they sent a message and fetched the tax inspector [and] brought [him] into Sidon. I spoke to them in these terms:

"Shuka mbao, fanya kazi yako juu yake, [lakini] usiwape Wamisri au Wapalestina [pa-la-as-ta-a-a] au sitakuruhusu upande milimani." (Imenukuliwa kutoka Saggs 2001: 155‒157)

‘Bring down lumber, do your work on it, [but] do not deliver it to the Egyptians or Palestinians [pa-la-as-ta-a-a] or I shall not let you go up to the mountains’. (Cited in Saggs 2001: 155‒157)

Miongo minne baadaye, kumbukumbu za Sennakeribu, rekodi ya maboresho katika mji mkuu wa Ashuru mnamo takriban 694 KK, zinawataja Wapalestina.

Four decades later, the annals of the Sennacherib, a record of improvements in the Assyrian capital in c. 694 BC, mention the Palestinians.

Kumbukumbu za kihistoria zinazungumzia "watu wa Kue na Hilakku, Pilisti na Tiro" ("Ku-e u Hi-lak-ku Pi-lis-tu u Sur-ri") (Luckenbill 1924: 104), wakati rekodi nyingine ya Waashuru ya mrithi wake, mkataba wa Esarhaddon, mwaka 675 KK, inamtambulisha du-u'-ri (Dor au Tantur) "katika wilaya ya pi-lis-te" (Pilistu au Peleset).

The annals speak of the ‘the people of Kue and Hilakku, Pilisti and Tyre’ (‘Ku-e u Hi-lak-ku Pi-lis-tu u Sur-ri’) (Luckenbill 1924: 104), while another Assyrian record of his successor, the treaty of Esarhaddon, in 675 BC identifies du-u’-ri (Dor or Tantur) ‘in the district of pi-lis-te’7 (Pilistu or Peleset).

Tabuni ya Waashuri ya awali, Prism A ya Sargon II, andiko lenye tarehe ya takriban 717 KK, ambalo linaeleza kampeni za Sargon II, linazungumzia kuingizwa kwa eneo la Pilistu katika Dola ya Waashuri. Pi-lis-te au Pi-lis-tu ni jina la Kiashuri la Wafilisti, wakati Peleset ni jina la Kimisri la mojawapo ya kile kinachoitwa Watu wa Bahari katika kipindi chote cha utawala wa Ramesses II na Ramesses III. "Nchi ya Peleset" inatumika katika andiko kutoka enzi ya Ramesses III. Matumizi ya Kimisri ya peleset yanarejelea maeneo yasiyo na mipaka maalum, ambayo huenda yanajumuisha pwani ya kusini na ya kati, lakini pia yanaweza kujumuisha maeneo ya ndani.

An earlier Assyrian tablet, Sargon II’s Prism A, an inscription dating to c. 717 BC, which describes describes Sargon II’s campaigns, speaks of the incorporation of the region of Pilistu into the Assyrian Empire. Pi-lis-te or Pi-lis-tu is the Assyrian name for the Philistines, while Peleset is the Egyptian name for one of the so-called Sea Peoples throughout the reigns of Ramesses II and III. The ‘land of the Peleset’ is used in an inscription from the reign of Ramesses III. The Egyptian use of peleset refers to indefinite areas which possibly include the southern and central coast, but might also include areas inland.