Well, Seannacherib did not say anything but--although you can say that the
Assyrians did not normally admit defeat, they were on the other hand not
always able to conceal it, as in the case of Qarqar in 853 BCE. It is more
or less like old Pravda, there will be a number of code words. In the old
Kremlin, the note in the Pravda that there yesterday was a meeting in the
politbureau with friendly interchangings meant that probably some of the
participants were shot after the meeting.
> As for the missing Babylonian Chronicles, I suppose we have to assume
> that Babylon suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth in 590
> because there are no more records from it? ;-)
>
Well, so lucky are we not, I guess.