Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources
John MacGinnis
Ministry of Culture and Youth - KRG
The city of Erbil Ees at the foot of the piedmont of the Zagros mountains in a strategic position which made it a natural gateway between Iran and Mesopotamia. At the same time its command of the rich alluvial plains to the west ensured a flourishing agricultural base; the emergence of a city in this location was inevitable.
Erbil now claims to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, and not without reason: archaeological surface survey has indeed produced potsherds dating back to the Ubaid period (ca. 5500-4000 BQ. This combination of prolonged occupation and strategic location marks out Erbil as an exceptional site. Within the …
Contents
Foreword / 7
Preface / 9
Abbreviations / 11
Introduction / 13
Cuneiform writing / 15
Chronology / 17
First Millennium / 18
Late Second Millennium / 18
Late Third Millennium-Early Second Millennium / 18
Overview of the sources / 19
Uruk Period (4000-3000 BC) / 19
Early Dynastic Period (3000-2334 BC) / 19
Akkadian Period (2334-2193 BC) / 19
Gutian Period (2193-2120 BC) / 20
Ur IH (2120-2004 BC) / 20
0Id Assyrian/Old Babylonian (2004-1595 BC) / 20
Middle Assyrian (1595-1000 BC) / 21
Neo-Assyrian (1000-612 BC) / 21
Neo-Babylonian Empire (612-539 BC) / 22
Achaemenid (539-330 BC) / 22
Hellenistic/Seleucid (330-126 BC) / 22
Parthian (126 BC- 224 AD) / 22
The name of Erbil / 24
Historical Analysis / 25
Erbil in the Gutian Period / 26
Erbil in the Ur III Period / 26
Erbil in the early second millennium / 27
Erbil in the Middle Assyrian Period / 28
Erbil in the Neo-Assyrian period / 29
Istar of Arbail / 32
Milkia / 35
Erbil in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods / 36
Summary: from Erridu-Pizir to Alexander / 38
Iltar of Arbail / 40
Egalankalamma / 41
Milkia / 43
Conclusion / 43
The Sources / 45
Third Millennium Sources / 46
Ebla Texts / 46
Gutian Sources / 47
Erridu-Pisgr / 47
Ur III Sources / 48
Year names / 48
Year name for Shulgi year 45 / 49
Year name for Amar-Sin year 2 / 49
Votive Inscription / 50
Administrative Texts / 50
Texts from Girsu / 50
Texts from Drehem / 50
Early Second Millennium Sources / 52
Middle Assyrian Sources / 55
Historical sources / 56
Votive inscription / 57
Administrative texts / 57
Neo-Assyrian Sources / 67
Historical Texts / 67
Chronicles / 67
King Lists / 67
Assur-dan II (934-912 BC) / 68
Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) / 68
Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) / 69
Samsi-Adad V (823-811 BC) / 69
Sennacherib (704-681 BC) / 71
Esarhaddon (680-669 BC) / 72
Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC) / 74
Epigraphs prepared for reliefs / 81
Grants I edicts / 82
Votive Inscription / 83
Til Barsip Stele / 83
Administrative texts / 84
Oracular Pronouncements and Divination / 105
Oracular Pronouncements / 105
Divination / 109
Hymns and Ritual texts / 109
If tar of Arbail / 115
Royal inscriptions / 115
Treaties / 115
Letter formulae / 116
Personal names / 117
Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Sources / 118
Historical texts / 118
Neo-Babylonian Chronicle / 118
Behistun / 119
Administrative texts / 120
Babylonian / 120
Elamite / 120
Aramaic / 121
Astronomical Diary / 122
Bibliography / 123
Maps
The location of Erbil / 14
The Ur III empire / 26
The empire of Shamshi-Adad I / 27
The Middle Assyrian empire / 28
The Neo-Assyrian empire / 29
The Neo-Bablylonian empire / 37
The Achaemenid empire / 38
Sennacherib’s underground canal / 70
FOREWORD
The study and conservation of archeology and heritage, so as to demonstrate previously unknown historical facts without negatively affecting other people’s rights, is a national obligation.
The starting point of the Ministry of Culture and Youth has been a sense of responsibility for providing information on the rich and ancient history and culture of the Kurdistan Region. With the special guidance of H.E. Dr. Kawa M. Shakir, Minister of Culture and Youth of the Kurdistan Regional Government, we decided to commission this book to present some of these historical facts and events illustrated by sources existing in the museums and archives of other nations which are relevant to the history of the Kurdish nation, facts which successive central regimes tried hard to obliterate and distort. For example, a text of the era of Su-Sin IV, king of Ur, which mentions Irnanna as the governor of the Kurda region, located to the north of the Hamrin mountain range, north of Baghdad.
To achieve this, we contacted Dr John MacGinnis, McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, and Mr. David Michelmore, coordinator of the Erbil Citadel Conservation Master Plan. The Ministry commissioned these two experts to research archaeological and archive sources of other nations about what is recorded about the history and civilisation of the Kurds, particularly about Erbil - Hawler, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, the gateway to history and capital of the Kurdistan Region.
Finally, after two years we are able to present the results of Dr MacGinnis’s research, which has identified nearly 300 documents and sources dating from the Third Millennium BC to the conquest by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Arbela. The documents show that there were many wars and battles in the region, especially in Erbil, and unfortunately the victims of such conflicts were the people of Kurdistan.
In addition to this book, this rich archive has also been developed into an exhibition, which was shown at a magnificent party in February 2012 in the Royal Gallery - Amman, Jordan, and which will now be exhibited in other venues.
The book is published in three languages - Kurdish, English and Arabic. It is also in the process of being translated into French. In it we present easily comprehensible yet in-depth information about the history of the Kurdish nation, cradle of the first human civilisation.
We will live to participate with other nations living on this globe to enrich human civilization and to spread the values of virtue, knowledge, and wisdom.
Kanan Mufti
General Director
Ministry of Culture and Youth
Kurdistan Regional Government
Preface
This project of collecting and assessing the evidence for the history of Erbil as documented in the cuneiform sources has come about in the context of the work carried out for and by the High Commission for Erbil City Revitalisation (HCECR), the authority constituted by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and supported by UNESCO in order to develop and implement the regeneration of the urban centre of Erbil. This has resulted in the evolution of the Master Plan for Erbil, a comprehensive strategy for regenerating the historic city through a co-ordinated approach comprising the documentation, preservation, presentation and, utilisation of the architectural heritage. Necessarily, addressing the archaeological heritage (has formed an important part of this plan and in accordance with this an archaeological assessment of the citadel mound was carried out early in 2009 (subsequendy revised by the author for the HCECR in 2011-12). In addition to making a number of recommendations for addressing the archaeological heritage of the city, that assessment also recommended a comprehensive collection of the information preserved in cuneiform sources pertaining to the history of Erbil. The Ministry of Culture and Youth of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq therefore commissioned the collection of the cuneiform sources through the Consultancy for Conservation and Development Ltd, which has been responsible for the preparation of the Master Plan for the Citadel. In the event this research turned up nearly three hundred cuneiform texts making reference to Erbil over a time frame stretching from the late third millennium to the mid first millennium BC. Now that this is completed, excavations are planned, which will be informed by the historical material presented here.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who have helped and supported this project. First and foremost I would like to express my deep appreciation to Kawa Shakir Mahmoud, Minister of Culture and Youth of the Kurdish Regional Government, for his vision in commissioning this study, to Kanan Mufti, General Director, who is responsible for this activity within the Ministry of Culture and Youth, to Sami Alkhoja (UNESCO Programme Officer for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq) and to David Michelmore (Consultancy for Conservation and Development); without the support of these people this undertaking would not have happened.
I would also like to thank my colleagues in the field of Assyriology who have so generously given of their time and shared knowledge and expertise with respect to specialised areas of research: Heather Baker, Maria Giovanna Biga, Marco Bonechi, Grant Frame, Douglas Frayne, Jaume Llop, Mikko Luuko, Stefan Maul, Wiebke Meinhold, Jamie Novotny, Simo Parpola, Nicholas Postgate, Karen Radner, Gonzalo Rubio, Piotr Steinkeller, Adam Stone, Greta van Buylaere, Frans van Koppen and Magnus Widell. Their generosity has greatly contributed to the thoroughness and accuracy of the final text and is deeply appreciated. I would also like to express my thanks to Narmin Ali, Beatrice Andre-Salvini, Vera Bulgurlu, Stafford Clarry, John Curtis, Amira Eidan al-Dhahab, Elisabeth Fontan, Zeynep Kiziltan, Konstantinos Kopanias, Maria Grazia Masetti-Roualt, David Michelmore, Anne Mollenhauer, Nicholas Postgate, Julian Reade, Jason Ur and Dirk Wicke for help with the illustrations.
David Michelmore prepared the final text for printing. Amin Almohamad, Paula Ion, Muhammed Nureddin, Rene Turner, Manhal Shaya and Jason Ur assisted with editing the maps and images which illustrate the text.
To all the above I extend my profound thanks and gratitude.
John MacGinnis
Cambridge, December 2012
Introduction
Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources
The city of Erbil Ees at the foot of the piedmont of the Zagros mountains in a strategic position which made it a natural gateway between Iran and Mesopotamia. At the same time its command of the rich alluvial plains to the west ensured a flourishing agricultural base; the emergence of a city in this location was inevitable.
Erbil now claims to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, and not without reason: archaeological surface survey has indeed produced potsherds dating back to the Ubaid period (ca. 5500-4000 BQ. This combination of prolonged occupation and strategic location marks out Erbil as an exceptional site. Within the …
John MacGinnis
Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources
Ministry of Culture and Youth
Kurdistan Regional Government
Ministry of Culture and Youth
Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources
John MacGinnis
Kurdistan Regional Government
Ministry of Culture and Youth
Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources:
a Catalogue and Historical Assessment
by John MacGinnis
University of Cambridge
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Prepared for the Ministry by the
Consultancy for Conservation and Development Ltd
2013
ISBN 978-9933-9134-0-3
Published by the
Ministry of Culture and Youth
Kurdistan Regional Government
Erbil 2013
Registration No. issued by the
General Directorate of Public Libraries 72 for 2013
Illustration front cover - Nabonidus Chronicle, recording Cyrus the
Great passing near Erbil through the territory of his
Median allies en-route to invade Urartu in 547 BC (see p. 116)
British Museum, London - BM 35382
Illustration back cover - oblique aerial view of Erbil photographed on
14 November 1938 by the Royal Air Force on behalf of Sir Aurel Stein
University College, London UCLCA/IA/C/1,13855
