Fraud, Forgery, and Fiction: Is There Still Hope for Agum-Kakrime?

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the authenticity of one of the most controversial Kassite inscriptions known only from post-Kassite copies, the Agum-kakrime Inscription. I revisit the most common arguments brought up against the inscription's authenticity and then discuss it in the context of other Kassite inscriptions known from later copies. I additionally address the proposed financial motivations for possible forgers as well as potential anachronisms and the Sitz im Leben of the copies discovered in the library of Assurbanipal.