A Companion to Assyria

by Eckart Frahm

  The many humiliations Babylonia had suffered at the hands of Assyrian kings, especially in the seventh century, left the people there with a deep resentment against their northern neighbor. It therefore comes as no surprise that they seized the opportunity to take their revenge when it finally came. After Assurbanipal’s death in 631 BCE, Assyria suffered a period of weakness, which was exacerbated by the rise of the Medes, a new formidable military power in the east. Under the leadership of Nabopolassar, the Babylonians entered into an alliance with the Medes, and together they overthrew the Assyrian empire after a period of intense fighting that lasted from 627 to 609 BCE (Fuchs 2014). One final historical irony was that Nabopolassar, the new Babylonian king, apparently came from a family that had strong Assyrian ties – several of its members had served as high officials on behalf of Assyrian kings in the city of Uruk (Jursa 2007).

  In Babylonia, the memory of Assyria, and certain Assyrian practices and institutions, remained alive for many centuries to come (see Chapter 28 and Da Riva 2014). But in the core area of what had once been the state of Assyria, with cuneiform writing abandoned and political independence lost, the special relationship that had previously existed with the south seems to have fallen into oblivion fairly quickly.

  Abbreviations

  KAL 3

  = E. Frahm, Historische und historisch‐literarische Texte, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 3, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2009.

  RIMA

  = A.K. Grayson, The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia: Assyrian Periods, 3 volumes, Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1987–96.

  RlA

  = Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, Berlin: De Gruyter 1928–.

  SAA

  = S. Parpola (ed.), State Archives of Assyria, 19 volumes published, Helsinki: Helsinki University Press 1987–.

  YOS 13

  = J.J. Finkelstein, Late Old Babylonian Documents and Letters, Yale Oriental Series, Babylonian Texts, vol. 13, New Haven: Yale University Press 1972.

  References

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  Brinkman, J.A. 1973. “Sennacherib’s Babylonian Problem: an Interpretation,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 25, 89–95.

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  Fuchs, A. 2014. “Die unglaubliche Geburt des neubabylonischen Reiches oder: Die Vernichtung einer Weltmacht durch den Sohn eines Niemand,” in: M. Krebernik and H. Neumann (eds.), Babylonien und seine Nachbarn in neu‐ und spätbabylonischer Zeit, AOAT 369, Münster: Ugarit‐Verlag, 26–71.

  Gabbay, U. 2014. “The kalû Priest and kalûtu Literature in Assyria,” ORIENT 49, 115–44.

  Galter, H. 1986. “Das Samsi‐Adad‐Syndrom: Assyrien und die Folgen kultureller Innovationen,” in: H. Galter (ed.), Kulturkontakte und ihre Bedeutung in Geschichte und Gegenwart des Orients, Grazer Morgenländische Studien 1, Graz: dbv‐Verlag, 13–26.

  Galter, H. 1999. “Die Synchronistische Geschichte und die assyrische Grenzpolitik,” in: L. Milano et al. (eds.), Landscapes, Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East, HANEM 3/2, Padua: Sargon, 29–37.

  Galter, H. 2007. “Looking Down the Tigris: The Interrelations between Assyria and Babylonia,” in: G. Leick (ed.), The Babylonian World, New York/London: Routledge, 527–40.

  Grayson, A.K. 1975. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, TCS 5, New York: J.J. Augustin.

  Jursa, M. 2007. “Die Söhne Kudurrus und die Herkunft der neubabylonischen Dynastie,” Revue d’Assyriologie 101, 125–36.

  Köcher, F. 1952. “Ein mittelassyrisches Ritualfragment zum Neujahrsfest,” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 50, 192–202.

  Kravitz, K.F. 2010. “Tukulti‐Ninurta I Conquers Babylon: Two Versions,” in: J. Stackert et al. (eds.), Gazing on the Deep: Ancient Near Eastern and Other Studies in Honor of Tzvi Abusch, Bethesda: CDL, 121–9.

  Llop, J. 2001. Aportació a l’estudi de le
s relacions polítiques i militars entre Assyria i Babilònia durant la segona meitat del segon mil.leni a.C., PhD Diss., University of Barcelona (downloadable at http//:www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/2586).

  Llop, J. 2003. “Die persönlichen Gründe Tiglat‐Pilesers I., Babylonien anzugreifen,” Orientalia 72, 204–10.

  Llop, J. 2012. “The Development of the Middle Assyrian Provinces,” Altorientalische Forschungen 39, 87–111.

  Llop, J. and George, A.R. 2001/2002. “Die babylonisch‐assyrischen Beziehungen und die innere Lage Assyriens in der Zeit der Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Ninurta‐tukulti‐Aššur und Mutakkil‐Nusku nach neuen keilschriftlichen Quellen,” Archiv für Orientforschung 48/49, 1–23.

  Machinist, P. 1978. The Epic of Tukulti‐Ninurta I: A Study in Middle Assyrian Literature, PhD Diss. Yale, New Haven.

  Machinist, P. 1984/85. “The Assyrians and Their Babylonian Problem: Some Reflections,” Jahrbuch des Wissenschaftskollegs zu Berlin, 353–64.

  Maul, S.M. 1999. “Der assyrische König – Hüter der Weltordnung,” in: K. Watanabe (ed.), Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East, Heidelberg: C. Winter, 201–14.

  Maul, S.M. 2010. “Die Tontafelbibliothek aus dem sogenannten ‘Haus des Beschwörungspriesters,’” in: Maul and Heeßel 2010, 189–228.

  Maul S.M. and Heeßel N.P. (eds.) 2010. Assur‐Forschungen: Arbeiten aus der Forschungsstelle “Edition literarischer Keilschrifttexte aus Assur” der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

  Michalowski, P. 2009. “Assur During the Ur III Period,” in: O. Drewnowska (ed.), Here and There Across the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honor of Krystyna Lyczkowska, Warsaw: Agade, 149–56.

  Miglus, P. 2000. “Das Thronpodest des Salmanassar III. aus Kalhu und die damalige babylonische Politik der Assyrer,” in: R. Dittmann et al. (eds.), Variatio Delectat: Iran und der Westen – Gedenkschrift für Peter Calmeyer, AOAT 272, Münster: Ugarit‐Verlag, 447–67.

  Miglus, P. 2001. “Der Aššur‐Tempel des Königs Šamšī‐Adad I. und die mesopotamische Sakralarchitektur seiner Zeit,” in: J.‐W. Meyer et al. (eds.), Beiträge zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie Winfried Orthmann gewidmet, Frankfurt/Main: Johann‐Wolfgang‐Goethe‐Universität, 322–31.

  Moran, W.L. 1992. The Amarna Letters, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

  Neumann, H. 1997. “Assur in altakkadischer Zeit: Die Texte,” in: H. Waetzold and H. Hauptmann (eds.), Assyrien im Wandel der Zeiten, HSAO 6, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Orientverlag, 133–8.

  Parpola, S. 1983. “Assyrian Library Records,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 42, 1–29.

  Parpola, S. 2004. “Desperately Trying to Talk Sense: A Letter of Assurbanipal Concerning his Brother Šamaš‐šumu‐ukin,” in: G. Frame (ed.), From the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea: Studies on the History of Assyria and Babylonia in Honour of A. Kirk Grayson, PIHANS 101, Leiden/Istanbul, 227–34.

  Porter, B.N. 1993. Images, Power, and Politics: Figurative Aspects of Esarhaddon’s Babylonian Policy. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

  Steinkeller, P. 2007. “Tiš‐atal’s Visit to Nippur,” NABU 2007/15.

  Steinkeller, P. 2013. “An Archaic ‘Prisoner Plaque’ from Kiš,” Revue d’Assyriologie 107, 131–57.

  Veenhof, K. 1991. “Assyrian Commercial Activities in Old Babylonian Sippar: Some New Evidence,” in: D. Charpin and F. Joannès (eds.), Marchands, diplomates et empereurs. Études sur la civilisation mésopotamienne offertes à Paul Garelli, Paris: ERC, 287–304.

  Veenhof, K. 2008. “The Old Assyrian Period,” in: M. Wäfler (ed.), Mesopotamia: The Old Assyrian Period, OBO 160/5, Fribourg: Academic Press, and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 13–264.

  Vera Chamaza, G.W. 2002. Die Omnipotenz Aššurs: Entwicklungen in der Aššur‐Theologie unter den Sargoniden Sargon II., Sanherib und Asarhaddon, AOAT 295, Münster: Ugarit‐Verlag.

  Weissert, E. 1997. “Creating a Political Climate: Literary Allusions to Enūma eliš in Sennacherib’s Account of the Battle of Halule,” in: H. Waetzold and H. Hauptmann (eds.), Assyrien im Wandel der Zeiten, HSAO 6, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Orientverlag, 191–202.

  Westenholz, J.G. 2004. “The Old Akkadian Presence in Nineveh: Fact or Fiction?,” Iraq 66, 7–18.

  Wiggerman, F.A.M. 2008. “A Babylonian Scholar in Assur,” in: R.J. van der Spek (ed.), Studies in Ancient Near Eastern World View and Society Presented to Marten Stol on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, Bethesda: CDL Press, 203–34.

  Further Reading

  For a general assessment of Assyro‐Babylonian relations through the ages, see Galter 2007. Studies focusing on the political dimension of these relations during specific periods include Galter 1986 and Charpin and Durand 1997 (Old Babylonian), Llop 2001 (Late Bronze Age), Frame 2008 (858–612 BCE), Brinkman 1979 and 1984 (747–627 BCE), Brinkman 1973 (705–681 BCE), and Frame 1992 (689–627 BCE). On the role of the eastern Tigris region as a contested area in Assyro‐Babylonian border disputes from the 16th century BCE onwards, see Fuchs 2011. For Babylonian religion in Assyria in the Middle Assyrian period, see Wiggerman 2008. Frame 1999 discusses the roles of Marduk in Assyria and of Assur in Babylonia. On Sennacherib’s religious reform, see Machinist 1984/85 and Frahm 1997: 282–8. For Assyrian religious politics and their Babylonian background from 722 to 669 BCE, see Vera Chamaza 2002. Fincke 2003/04 provides an overview of the Babylonian tablets in Assurbanipal’s libraries.

  Note

  1 Because Assyria’s encounter with its southern neighbor was so formative for its civilization, the early history of this relationship is discussed here at greater length than Assyria’s early history with other regions is in this book.

  CHAPTER 16

  Assyria and the Far South: The Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf

  Eckart Frahm

  Introduction

  During the 12th century BCE, the complex state system that had emerged in Western Asia in the Late Bronze Age collapsed (see Chapters 6 and 8). The power vacuum left by this breakdown led to the rise of ethnic groups that had been heavily fragmented before but now began to metamorphose into cohesive political units, often organized along ethnic‐tribal lines. Besides the Phrygians, Hebrews, and Aramaeans, these groups also included the Arabs. The emergence of the Arabs as significant political players was primarily owed to the large‐scale introduction of domesticated dromedary camels in southern Syria and on the Arabian Peninsula around the turn of the millennium (Heide 2010; Sapir‐Hen and Ben‐Yosef 2013). Using camels allowed the Arabs to traverse stretches of desert that had been previously impassable and thus engage in a newly emerging international trade in spices and precious materials, as well as in super‐regional politics.

  When the Assyrians, in the course of the ninth century BCE, expanded their military reach beyond the Euphrates River, they came for the first time into contact with groups of Arabs infiltrating the Levant from northern Arabia and the Syrian desert. Soon after, the Assyrians were interacting with Arabs on a regular basis, not only militarily but also politically and economically. A significant number of Arabic personal and tribal names are attested in Late Assyrian sources (Zadok 1981, 2013), and there are Akkadian loan words in Arabic and vice versa (Krebernik 2008). In the eighth and seventh centuries, especially during Assyria’s imperial phase, even regions further south, such as the kingdom of Sheba in modern Yemen, came into the purview of Assyria’s kings.

  The following paragraphs provide a short overview of Assyro‐Arabian relations during the Neo‐Assyrian period. Assyrian interactions with people living in the region beyond the main deserts of the Arabian Peninsula are considered as well. The overview is mostly based on the testimony of Assyrian royal inscriptions, letters, and a few other cuneiform texts. Of the ca. 50,000 (mostly very short) pre‐Islamic inscriptions in Ancient North Arabian, only few seem to date to the Assyrian period, and the archaeology of northern Arabia is still poorly explored (for Dūmat al‐Gˇandal, see, e.g., al‐Muaikel 1994). The early rulers of Sheba in Sout
h Arabia left some more extensive texts, but none of them mention interactions with Assyria.

  From the Beginnings to the Reign of Tiglath‐pileser III

  The earliest reference to Arabs in any written source is found in an inscription on the so‐called Kurkh Monolith in which the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858–824 BCE) describes a battle he fought in 853 BCE in the vicinity of Qarqar on the Orontes River against an alliance of western and southwestern polities. The enemy coalition mentioned in the text included the kings of Damascus, Hamath, Israel, and several other states, as well as a certain “Gindibu’ the Arab” (Igi‐in‐di‐bu‐u’ kurar‐ba‐a‐a), who is said to have contributed 1000 camels to the allied forces (RIMA 3: 23). The designation kurar‐ba‐a‐a is an Akkadian nisbe form derived from Arabu (or, with Assyrian vowel harmony: Arubu, Aribi), the general term for Arabs used by the Assyrians. It corresponds to ‘Arāb(î) in the Hebrew Bible and the (later) ethnicon ‘arab employed by the Arab people themselves. “Gindibu’” is a cuneiform rendering of Arabic ǧundub, which means “locust” (Krebernik 2008: 257). Characteristically, Gindibu’ is the only member of the coalition who is said to have provided camels – the other allies sent chariots, horses, and infantry troops. As pointed out above, camels were closely associated with the Arabs from early on, and a number of Akkadian words for different types of camels (gam(m)alu, bakkaru, anaqātu, ibilu) can be shown to be loan‐words from Arabic (Krebernik 2008: 259).

  The few surviving Assyrian royal inscriptions from the first half of the eighth century, when the Assyrian monarchy was weak, do not report any encounters with Arabs. But a mid‐eighth century cuneiform inscription commissioned by Ninurta‐kudurri‐uṣur, a largely independent “governor” (šakin māti) of Suḫu and Mari in the middle Euphrates region, claims that this ruler organized a raid on a caravan “of the people of Tema and Šaba” near the town of Ḫindanu and took camels, wool, iron(?), and precious stones as booty from them (RIMB 2: p. 300). This is the first cuneiform reference to the important city of Tema (or Taymā’), a commercial hub and religious center in the Hejaz in western Arabia (Edens and Bawden 1989; Potts 1991). Unless a different Sheba further north is meant, it is also the first reference to Sheba in south Arabia, a main source of the ever more significant overland trade in incense and precious stones (Robin 1991–93; Galter 1993). It is quite likely that the caravan intercepted by Ninurta‐kudurri‐uṣur was on its way to (or back from) Assyria. From the reigns of Sargon II and Sennacherib, a few decades later, we have unequivocal evidence for commercial exchanges between Assyria, Tema, and Sheba.