Kurda

Map of Mesopotamia in 1770 BCE

Kurdâ (gur-daki) was a small ancient city-state and a Middle Bronze petty kingdom located in the region of the Sinjar Plain in Northern Mesopotamia which eventually became subsumed into Assyria. It is mentioned along with the Amorite states of Andarig and Apum.

Location

At its height the kingdom might have stretched from the Upper Khabur basin in what is today north-eastern Syria, to the steppes of Sinjar mountain, modern north-western Iraq. The capital city's location is debated; it was either located to south of Sinjar mountain, or along the Khabur river.

History

Middle Bronze

The city was the Amorite Numha tribe's center, it controlled a small area and included the nearby city of Kasapa. The east Semitic deity Nergal was Kurda's chief god.

In the 18th century BC, Kurda was involved in a military dispute with the neighboring kingdom of Andarig, which ended in peace. However, Kurda was later subdued by Andarig, under Atamrum, and its ally Elam. The kingdom tried switching its loyalty to Babylon but was stopped by the Elamites who were defeated by a Babylonian-Mariote alliance in 1764 BC, giving Kurda the chance to form an alliance with the kingdom of Apum to face Andarig. Various Archives of Mari around 18th century BCE mention Kurda as an independent Kingdom, sometimes in alliance with Babylon and sometimes allied with Mari.

Kurda annexed the city of Ashihum, then became a vassal of Babylon, and ended its relation with Mari in response to the latter role in supporting Andarig.

Middle Bronze Rulers

  • Aštamar-Addu - contemporary of Yaḫdun-Lim, ruler of Mari and father of Zimri-Lim. He is known to have had two sons, Sumu-Numḫa and Da’irum.
  • Bunû-Estar/Bina-Ištar - Said to have come from Kaspa, later the capital of Kurda. Went into exile in Zalwar while Kurda was under the control of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia ruled by Šamši-Adad I. At one point Šamši-Adad I demanded his return and a mutilated person was sent instead as a ploy. Bunû-Estar wrote "When a while back I lived in Zalbar, Samsi-Addu wrote the king of Zalbar for my return. Saying ‘Fine,’ the king of Zalbar managed to substitute for me a man turned empty ...".
  • Simaḫlânê/Simah-ilanê
  • Bunû-Estar - At some point early in the reign of Zimri-Lim in Mari Bunû-Estar briefly reclaimed the rule of Kurda, ejecting Simah-ilanê
  • Hammurabi of Kurda - in roughly the 6th year of Zimri-Lim's rule in Mari Hammurabi, grandson of Aštamar-Addu (via Da’irum) became ruler of Kurda. He was esentially a vassal of both Turukkû and Mari, this being allowable in the Amorite political structure. He took control of the city of Kasepa, which became the capital. At one point Hammurabi of Kurda came into conflict with Qarni-Lim of Andarig and Simri-Lim required them, both being vassals, to make peace.

Late Bronze

A Kurda is also mentioned in the Tell Fekheriye tablets of the Middle Assyrian Empire kings Šalmaneser I (c. 1263–1234 BC) and Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1233–1198 BC), as one of the conquered territories in the Mitannian Empire.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Liverani, Mario (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Routledge. p. 610. ISBN 978-1-134-75091-7.
  2. ↑ The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy, Mario Liverani, Routledge, Dec 4, 2013, 648 pages, see page 226
  3. 1 2 Ferdinand Hennerbichler (2010). Die Herkunft der Kurden: interdisziplinäre Studie. Peter Lang. p. 106. ISBN 9783631593271.
  4. ↑ M. B. Rowton, Urban Autonomy in a Nomadic Environment. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 32, No. ½ (Jan.-Apr., 1973), pp. 201-215
  5. ↑ Postgate, John Nicholas, The Archives of Urad-Serua and His Family: A Middle Assyrian Household in Government Service. Publicazioni del Progetto "Analisi electronic del cuneiforme" Corpus Medio-Assiro. Roma (Roberto Denicola) 1988, Zittierte Archiv-Nummer: 56
  6. ↑ Charpin, Dominique,. La "toponymie en miroir" dans le Proche-Orient amorrite. Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale. Volume 97 2003/1, pp. 3–34.
  7. ↑ Jean Robert Kupper (Liége) Les nomads en Mésopotamie au temps des roi de Mari. Société d’Èdition ’Les Belles Letters’, Paris 1957.
  8. ↑ Ferner in: Birot,, Maurice, Kupper, Jean-Robert, Rouault, olivier. Répertoire analytique (2e volume). Tomes I-XIV, XVIII. Première partie. Noms propers (ARM 16/1), Paris 1979: Kurda.
  9. ↑ Trevor Bryce (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. p. 516. ISBN 9781134159079.
  10. ↑ Daniel Fleming (2012). The Legacy of Israel in Judah's Bible: History, Politics, and the Reinscribing of Tradition. Cambridge University Press. p. 219. ISBN 9781107024311.
  11. ↑ Trevor Bryce (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. p. 373. ISBN 9781134159079.
  12. ↑ Martha A. Morrison, David I. Owen (1981). In honor of Ernest R. Lacheman on his seventy-fifth birthday, April 29, 1981, Volume 2. Eisenbrauns. p. 86. ISBN 9780931464089.
  13. ↑ Izak Cornelius (1994). The Iconography of the Canaanite Gods Reshef and Baʻal: Late Bronze and Iron Age I Periods (C 1500-1000 BCE). University Press. p. 91. ISBN 9783525537756.
  14. ↑ Trevor Bryce (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. p. 398. ISBN 9781134159079.
  15. 1 2 Dominique Charpin (2012). Hammurabi of Babylon. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 49. ISBN 9781848857520.
  16. ↑ Trevor Bryce (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire. p. 45. ISBN 9780415394857.
  17. ↑ Heimpel, Wolfgang (2003). Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-080-4.
  18. ↑ Trevor Bryce (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire. p. 76. ISBN 9780415394857.
  19. ↑ Gordon Douglas Young (1992). Mari in retrospect: fifty years of Mari and Mari studies. p. 13. ISBN 9780931464287.
  20. ↑ Wolfgang Heimpel (2003). Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary. p. 161. ISBN 9781575060804.
  21. 1 2 3 Sasson, Jack M., "“It is for this reason that I have not come down to my lord...” Visit obligations and vassal pretexts in the Mari archives", Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 107.1, pp. 119-129, 2013
  22. ↑ Guillot, Isabelle, "Les gouverneurs de Qaṭṭunân. Nouveaux textes (Textes no. 130 à 138)", in Charpin, D., Durand J.-M. (edd.), Recueil d’étudesà la mémoire de Marie-Thérèse Barrelet. = FM 3, (Paris: SEPOA), pp. 271–290, 1997
  23. ↑ Miller, Jared L., "Anum-Ḫirbi and His Kingdom", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 65-101, 2001
  24. ↑ Charpin, Dominique and Jean-Marie Durand, "Prétendants au trône dans le Proche Orient amorrite", J.G. Dercksen (ed.), Assyria and Beyond: Studies Presented to Mogens Trolle Larsen (PIHANS, 100; Leiden: The Netherlands Institute for the Near East), pp. 99-115, 2004
  25. ↑ Birot, Simaḫlânê, roi de Kurda, RA 66, pp. 131-139, 1972
  26. ↑ Smith, Sidney, "Yarim–Lim OF Yamhad", Rivista degli studi orientali 32, pp. 155-184, 1957
  27. ↑ Munn-Rankin, J. M., "Diplomacy in Western Asia in the Early Second Millennium B.C.", Iraq, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 68–110, 1956
  28. ↑ Bonatz, Dominik (2014-04-01). The Archaeology of Political Spaces: The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 73–5. ISBN 978-3-11-026640-5.

Further reading