Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T01:25:40.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Old Akkadian presence in Nineveh: Fact or fiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Joan Goodnick Westenholz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The goal of this article is to investigate the enigma of the Old Akkadian presence at Nineveh. After reviewing the written and archaeological evidence for such a presence, the lack of evidence at Nineveh will be compared with the comparatively richer testimony of the Old Akkadian occupation at Assur. The thesis of this paper is that Šamši-Adad's claim that Maništušu was the original builder of the temple of Ištar of Nineveh should be regarded as suspect in the absence of any other data to back up his claim. I would like to make it clear that I am not insisting that Nineveh was a desolate site with no inhabitants during the Old Akkadian period. On the contrary, I do believe that it was inhabited at this time, although the evidence is meagre. However, who these inhabitants were is a question that needs to be answered. An official residence or presence of the Old Akkadians at the site seems unlikely, and I hope that I can prove this thesis to you.

The previously cited proof of an Old Akkadian presence in Nineveh rests on primary and secondary evidence. The primary evidence said to reflect such a presence implies Old Akkadian texts and objects. However, the Old Akkadian texts consist of a few fragments of two broken stone inscriptions bearing royal dedications of the Old Akkadian king Naram-Sin. The fragments were found in the area of the first-millennium Nabû temple. These dedications apparently recorded Naram-Sin's rebuilding of the Ekur in Nippur and were not concerned with any northern site. Consequently, the original inscriptions, of which these fragments are remnants, were probably brought to Nineveh in the seventh century from Nippur. They were carried there presumably at the same time as the Šulgi foundation document from Kutha and the Warad-Sin inscription from Ur, so they can hardly be used as evidence of an official Old Akkadian residence in Nineveh. Moreover, there is not one reference to the town of Nineveh in Old Akkadian sources.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 66: Nineveh. Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part One , 2004 , pp. 7 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrae, W. 1922. Die archaischen Ischtar-Tempel in Assur (WVDOG 39). Leipzig.Google Scholar
Astour, M. 1987. Semites and Hurrians in Northern Transtigris. In Owen, D. and Morrison, M. (eds.), Nuzi II: Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians. Winona Lake, Indiana: 3–68.Google Scholar
Bär, J. 2003. Die älteren Ištar-Tempel in Assur. Stratigraphie, Architektur und Funde eines altorientalischen Heiligtum von der zweiten Hälfte des 3. Jahrtausends bis zur Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. (WVDOG 105), Berlin.Google Scholar
Beckman, G. 1998. Ištar of Nineveh Reconsidered. CS 50: 1–10.Google Scholar
Beran, Th. 1988. Leben und Tod der Bilder. In Mauer, G. and Magen, U. (eds.), Ad bene et fideliter seminandum: Festgabe für Karlheinz Deller zum 21. Februar 1987. Kevelaer/Neukirchen-Vluyn: 55–60.Google Scholar
Birot, M. 1980. Fragment de rituel de Mari relatif au kispum . In Alster, B. (ed.), Death in Mesopotamia (CRRAI 26, Mesopotamia 8). Copenhagen: 139–50.Google Scholar
Birot, M. 1985. Les chroniques “assyriennes” de Mari. M.A.R.I. 4: 219–42.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1996. Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Braun-Holzinger, E. 1984. Figürliche Bronze aus Mesopotamien. Munich.Google Scholar
Buhl, Marie-Louise. 1978. Bronzekongehovedet fra Ninive. Louisiana Revy 18/3: 15–16.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. 1984. Inscriptions votives d'époque assyrienne. M.A.R.I. 3: 41–81.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. 1987. Šubat-Enlil et le pays d'Apum. M.A.R.I. 5: 129–40.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. and Durand, J.-M. 1985. La prise du pouvoir par Zimri-Lim. M.A.R.I. 4: 293–343.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. and Durand, J.-M. 1986. «Fils de Sima'al»: Les origines tribales des rois de Mari. RA 80: 141–83.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. and Durand, J.-M. 1997. Aššur avant l'Assyrie. M.A.R.I. 8: 367–91.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. and Ziegler, N. 2003. Mari et le proche-orient à l'époque amorrite, essai d'histoire politique (Florilegium Marianum V). Paris.Google Scholar
Dalley, S. 2001. Old Babylonian Tablets from Nineveh and Possible Pieces of Early Gilgamesh Epic. Iraq 63: 155–67.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1985. La situation historique des šakkanakku: nouvelle approche. M.A.R.I. 4: 147–72.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1987a. Documents pour l'histoire du royaume de Haute-Mesopotamie, I. M.A.R.I. 5: 155–98.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1987b. Villes fantômes de Syrie et autres lieux. M.A.R.I. 5: 199–234.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1987c. Différentes questions à propos de la religion. M.A.R.I. 5: 611–15.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1997. Les documents épistolaires du palais de Mari I. Paris.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 1998. Les documents épistolaires du palais de Mari II. Paris.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. 2000. Les documents épistolaires du palais de Mari III. Paris.Google Scholar
Durand, J.-M. and Guichard, M. 1997. Les rituels de Mari. Florilegium Marianum III: 17–98.Google Scholar
Eidem, J. 1985. News from the Eastern Front: The Evidence from Tell Shemshāra. Iraq 47: 83–107.Google Scholar
Eidem, J. 1991. An Old Assyrian Treaty from Tell Leilan. In Charpin, D. and Joannès, F. (eds.), Marchands, diplomates et empereurs, Etudes sur la civilisation mésopotamienne offertes à Paul Garelli. Paris: 185–207.Google Scholar
Eidem, J. 1992. The Shemshāra Archives 2, The Administrative Texts. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Frantz-Szabó, G. 1981. “Kulitta, Ninatta und,” RIA 6: 303–4.Google Scholar
Frayne, D. 1984. Notes on a New Inscription of Šar-kali-šarri. ARRIM 2: 23–7.Google Scholar
Frayne, D. 1992. The Early Dynastic List of Geographical Names (AOS 74). New Haven, Conn. Google Scholar
Gelb, I. J. and Kienast, B. 1990. Die altakkadischen Königsinschriften des dritten Jahrtausends v. Chr. (FAOS 7). Stuttgart.Google Scholar
George, A. 1993. House Most High, The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake, Indiana.Google Scholar
Grayson, , 1980. Königslisten und Chroniken, B. Akkadisch. RIA 6: 86–135.Google Scholar
Gut, R. 1995. Das prähistorische Ninive. Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Gut, R., Reade, J. and Boehmer, R. M. 2001. Ninive: Das späte 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr. In Meyer, J.-W., Novák, M., and Pruss, A. (eds.), Beiträge zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie Winfried Orthmann gewidmet. Frankfurt am Main: 74–129.Google Scholar
Harper, P. O. 1992. Mesopotamian Monuments Found at Susa. In Harper, P. O., Aruz, J., and Talion, F. (eds.). The Royal City of Susa. New York: 159–62.Google Scholar
Harper, P. O., Klengel-Brandt, E., Aruz, J. and Benzel, K. 1995. Assyrian Origins: Discoveries at Ashur on the Tigris. New York.Google Scholar
Harrak, A. 1988. La tête en pierre trouvée à Assur. Akkadica 58: 27–32.Google Scholar
Horowitz, W. and Watson, P. J. 1991. Further Notes on Birmingham Cuneiform Tablets, Volume I. Acta Sumerologica 13: 409–17.Google Scholar
Ismail, B. Kh. 1986. Eine Siegesstele des Königs Daduša von Ešnunna. In Meid, W. and Trenkwalder, H. (eds.), Im Bannkreis des Alten Orients: Studien zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients und seines Ausstrahlungsraumes: Karl Oberhuber zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft 24). Innsbruck: 105–8.Google Scholar
Joannès, F. 1996. Routes et voies de communication dans les archives de Mari. Amurru I: 323–61.Google Scholar
Kessler, K. 1980. Untersuchungen zur historischen Topographie Nordmesopotamiens nach keilschriftlichen Quellen des 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Klengel-Brandt, E. 1993. Die Reconstruktion einer altakkadischen Königsstatue aus Assur. MDOG 125: 133–41.Google Scholar
Lafont, B. 1988. La correspondance d'Iddiyatum. In Charpin, D., Joannès, F., Lackenbacher, S., and Lafont, B., Archives épistolaires de Mari I/2 (ARMT 26/2). Paris: 461–541.Google Scholar
Lafont, B. 1992. Quelques nouvelles tablettes dans les collections américaines. RA 86: 97–111.Google Scholar
Laroche, E. 1977. Glossaire de la langue hourrite II. Revue Hittite et Asianique 35.Google Scholar
Mallowan, M. E. L. 1936. The Bronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh. Iraq 3: 104–10.Google Scholar
Marti, L. 2002. Notes sur l'histoire d'Išme-Dagan. Florilegium Marianum VI: 541–4.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 1999. Ninive, Glanzvolle Hauptstadt Assyriens. Munich (trans. Ambros, E., Italian edn 1998).Google Scholar
McMahon, A. 1998. The Kuyunjik Gully Sounding, Nineveh, 1989 and 1990 Seasons. Al-Rāfidān 19: 1–32.Google Scholar
Menzel, B. 1981. Assyrische Tempel (Studia Pohl, Series Maior 10). Rome.Google Scholar
Michalowski, P. 1986. Mental Maps and Ideology: Reflections on Subartu. In Weiss, H. (ed.), The Origins of Cities in Dry-Farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium BC. Guildford: 129–56.Google Scholar
Michalowski, P. 1993. Memory and Deed: The Historiography of the Political Expansion of the Akkad State. In Liverani, M. (ed.), Akkad, The First World Empire. Padua: 69–90.Google Scholar
Molina, M. 1996. Tablillas Administrativas Neosumerias de la Abadia de Montserrat. Barcelona.Google Scholar
Moorey, P. R. S. 1982. The Archaeological Evidence for Metallurgy and Related Technologies in Mesopotamia, ca. 5500–2100 BC. Iraq 44: 13–38.Google Scholar
Nylander, C. 1980a. Who Mutilated “Sargon's” Head? In: Alster, B. (ed.), Death in Mesopotamia (CRRAI 26, Mesopotamia 8). Copenhagen: 271–2.Google Scholar
Nylander, C. 1980b. Earless in Nineveh: Who Mutilated “Sargon's” Head? American Journal of Archaeology 84: 329–33.Google Scholar
Oates, J. and Oates, D. 2001. The Late Third Millennium in the Khabur. In Meyer, J.-W., Novǎk, M., and Pruss, A. (eds.), Beiträge zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie Winfried Orthmann gewidmet. Frankfurt am Main: 386–9.Google Scholar
Oates, D., Oates, J. and McDonald, H. 2001. Excavations at Tell Brak 2: Nagar in the Third Millennium BC. London.Google Scholar
Oppenheim, A. L. 1948. Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets of the Wilberforce Eames Babylonian Collection in the New York Public Library. New Haven, Conn. Google Scholar
Parpola, S. and Porter, M. 2001. The Helsinki Atlas of the Near East in the Neo-Assyrian Period. Helsinki.Google Scholar
Pedersén, O. 1990. Review of Grayson, RIMA 1. BiOr 47: 686–707.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1968. Tell Taya (1967): Summary Report. Iraq 30: 234–64.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000. Ninive (Nineveh). RIA 9: 388–433.Google Scholar
Russell, J. M. 1996. Nineveh. In: Westenholz, J. Goodnick (ed.), Royal Cities of the Biblical World. Jerusalem: 152–70.Google Scholar
Sallaberger, W. 1999. Ur III-Zeit. In Attinger, P. and Wäfler, M. (eds.), Mesopotamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit (OBO 160/3). Freiburg, Switzerland: 121–390.Google Scholar
Sigrist, M. 2000. Sumerian Archival Texts II. Texts From the Yale Babylonian Collections I. Bethesda, Md. Google Scholar
Steible, H. 1991a. Die neusumerischen Bau- und Weihinschriften I (FAOS 9/1). Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Steible, H. 1991b. Die neusumerischen Bau- und Weihinschriften II (FAOS 9/2). Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 1986. Seal of Išma-Ilum, Son of the Governor of Matar. Vicino Oriente 6: 27–40.Google Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 1987. The Administrative and Economic Organization of the Ur III State: The Core and the Periphery. In Gibson, McG. and Biggs, R. D. (eds.), The Organization of Power: Aspects of Bureaucracy in the Ancient Near East (SAOC 46). Chicago: 19–41.Google Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 1989. Man-ištūsu, A. Philologisch. RIA 7: 334–5.Google Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 1998. The Historical Background of Urkesh and the Hurrian Beginnings in Northern Mesopotamia. In Buccellati, G. and Buccellati, M. (eds.), Urkesh and the Hurrians: Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 26). Malibu, Calif.: 75–98.Google Scholar
Strommenger, E. [1985–1986]. Early Metal Figures from Assur and the Technology of Metal Casting. Sumer 42: 114–15.Google Scholar
Strommenger, E. 1989. Man-ištūšu, B. Archäologisch. RIA 7: 335–9.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell and Hamilton, R. W. 1932. The British Museum Excavations on the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, 1930–1. Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 19: 55–116.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell and Hutchinson, R. W. 1929. A Century of Exploration at Nineveh. London.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. Campbell and Hutchinson, R. W. 1931. The Site of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nineveh, Excavated in 1929–30 on Behalf of the British Museum. Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 18: 79–112.Google Scholar
Veenhof, K. 2000. Old Assyrian Chronology. Akkadica 119–20: 137–50.Google Scholar
Villard, P. 1995. Shamshi-Adad and Sons: The Rise and Fall of an Upper Mesopotamian Empire. In Sasson, Jack M. (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East 2. New York: 873–83.Google Scholar
Walker, C. B. F. 1984. The Šamši-Adad I Inscription from Nineveh. ARRIM 2: 21.Google Scholar
Watson, P. J. 1986. Catalogue of Cuneiform Tablets in the Birmingham City Museum I. Neo-Sumerian Texts from Drehern. Warminster.Google Scholar
Westenholz, A. 2000. Assyriologists, Ancient and Modern, on Naramsin and Sharkalisharri. In Marzahn, J. and Neumann, H. (eds.), Assyriologica et Semitica, Festschrift für Joachim Oelsner (AOAT 252). Münster: 545–56.Google Scholar
Whiting, R. M. 1976. Tish-atal of Nineveh and Babati, Uncle of Shu-Sin. JCS 28: 173–82.Google Scholar
Whiting, R. M. 1990. Tell Leilan/Šubat-Enlil, Chronological Problems and Perspectives. In Eichler, S., Wäfler, M. and Warburton, D. (eds.), Tall al-Hamīdīya 2: Recent Excavations in the Upper Khabur Region (OBO, Series Archaeologica 6). Freiburg: 167–218.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, G. 1989. The Hurrians. Warminster.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, G. 1995. The Kingdom of Mitanni in Second-Millennium Upper Mesopotamia. In Sasson, Jack M. (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East 2. New York: 1243–54.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, G. 1996. L'état actuel et les perspectives des études hourrites. Amurru I: 175–87.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, G. 1998. Die Inschrift des Tišatal von Urkeš. In Buccellati, G. and Buccellati, M. (eds.), Urkesh and the Hurrians: Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 26). Malibu, Calif.: 117–44.Google Scholar
Yuhong, Wu. 1994. The Localisation of Nurrugum and Ninet = Ninuwa. N.A.B.U. 1994: 35–7.Google Scholar
Ziegler, N. 2002. Le royaume d'Ekallâtum et son horizon géopolitique. Florilegium Marianum VI: 211–74.Google Scholar