Kassites

Built well over 3,000 years ago (c. 1380 BCE), the Eugal (Sum. é.u.gal) ziggurat at Dūr-Kurigalzu in southern Iraq still dominates the landscape.  Although in a heavily deteriorated state, the original ziggurat, along with modern reconstruction efforts and other buildings unearthed during archaeological excavations at Dūr-Kurigalzu can be viewed using satellite imagery from Google Earth. This work explores possible celestial orientations for various points of the ziggurat, as well as possible sunlight and shadow scenarios pertaining to Mesopotamian justice and/or divination.

Architectural monumentality in Elam (southwestern Iran) may be defined by a number of variables including material consumption, scale, elevation, and labor input. While little evidence of Elamite palatial architecture survives outside of the cuneiform sources, several examples of monumental religious structures are attested. This chapter looks at the high terrace on the Acropole mound at Susa, dated to c. 4000 B.C., and the Late Bronze Age ziqqurrat built by Untaš-Napiriša at Choga Zanbil (ancient Al Untaš-Napiriša). Each was impressive as a feat of engineering, requiring the mobilization of significant human resources and the production of millions of bricks. In order to appreciate the scale of these structures and the resources required to build them, comparisons are drawn with the much better documented Etemenanki at Babylon.

“Taxation and Management of Resources in Kassite Babylonia: Remarks on šibšu and miksu.” In Economic Complexity in the Ancient Near East: Management of Resources and Taxation (3rd to 2nd millennium BC), edited by Jana Mynářova, Sergio Alivernini. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University 2020: 299-326.

Records concerning the campaign of a Babylonian king named Kurigalzu in Elam are incomplete. There are even different opinions on which Kurigalzu-I or II-was involved. In Part I of our research 1 we showed that according to the available evidence, this campaign was most likely carried out by Kurigalzu II. Here, we use this conclusion as one of the restrictions in building a model for Elamite-Babylonian synchronisms during the Middle Elamite period. The other restrictions are a requirement of model consistency and model parsimony. We formulate the restrictions for the model and then analyze the available data sources. We pay special attention to the building inscriptions and stele of Šilhak-Inšušinak and offer a new analysis of the stele inscription. Based on the totality of sources, we propose a reconstructed sequence of synchronisms between Elam and Kassite Babylonia that complies with all restrictions. We make an exception, however, for the so-called Berlin Letter, and analyze it separately, against the already built model. We show that the synchronism between the king Burna-Buriaš (II) and Untaš-Napiriša is highly unlikely and cannot be reconciled with the rest of our data. Thus, we claim that at the current level of knowledge it should not be used in the reconstruction. The built model complies with our restrictions. The reconstructed sequence of events puts Kurigalzu II's invasion before the reign of Pahir-iššan. It does not require the introduction of another Kidin-Hutran, leaving just one king with this name. The model implies a shorter time span for the Igihalkid dynasty, moving the date for the famous ziggurat in Choga Zanbil almost a century later, and simplifies the succession of Elamite kings.

Main (genealogical) part of the Basque language is North(east) Caucasian. Proto-Basque migration from Caucasus might continue (in several waves?) during the Neolithic period, from the Cardium Pottery/Impresso. The Basques spread in Northwest Europe with the Bell Beakers and R1b male haplogroup. Kura-Araxes/Khirbet-Kerak influence is not excluded

“Chronology is the backbone of history” is usually taught in schools but in the same time the first fall of Babylon is currently fixed today (2016) either in 1595 BCE or in 1651, 1531, 1499 depending on historians! In Egyptology the situation is still worse because each Egyptologist has his own chronology (+/- 20 years)! Such a difference in timeline prevents one from reaching the historical truth. It is for this reason that from Herodotus, the “father of history” (in fact the father of scientific and chronological inquiry), Greek historians gradually established a system of scientific dating in order to write a universal history. Many astronomical phenomena (observed and described by Babylonian astrologers), which are well identified such as eclipses, enable anyone today (with at least an undergraduate level) to synchronize these ancient dating systems and anchor them on absolute dates. As incredible as it may seem this is still not done (among the hundreds of thousands of theses in history there is none which focuses on chronology, except the one of Isaac Newton in 1728 entitled: Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended). The purpose of the present brochure is to give the chronologies of the main ancient civilizations (Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Sumerian, Hittite, Mitannian, Israelite, etc.) with their synchronisms as well as all absolute dating based on astronomical events (which have been precisely dated in a calendar) like eclipses, solar or lunar, and some Sothic risings.
GLASSTREE 2016 https://glasstree.com/shop/catalog/absolute-chronology-of-the-ancient-world-from-1533-bce-to-140-ce_514/

Hurro-Urartian might be Nostratic which was positioned between Indo-European (as a branch separated before Hittite-Luwian) and Altaic while its East Caucasian relations might be explained by the ascribing of Hurrian or rather proto-Hurro-Urartian to Kura-Araxes.

Chronology of Culture and History of Garmian district in the light of the archaeological evidence and the ancient records
(From Paleolithic to the late Sassanian period)
Dlshad A. Marf Zamua
Instructor at the Department of Archaeology, Sulaimani University-Kurdistan-Iraq  [email protected]
Abstract
The archaeological discoveries in the Garmian region along the Sirwan/Diyala river and its neighboring valleys and plains showed a rich culture began from the Lower Paleolithic in the earliest workshops of stone tool makers to the first villages during the Neolithic, then to the Chalcolithic Age. Besides, the author relies on the cuneiform records of the local and Mesopotamian rulers dealt with the history and culture of the region from different prospective. This paper deals with the chronology of culture and history of Garmian district from the Paleolithic to the late Sassanian period, the author relies on the results of the archaeological previous and recent discoveries and the cuneiform and other ancient texts, these evidence give a good sequence in order to understand the development of culture in the region and as well the cuneiform records give a rich details about the historical events and the local kingdoms of the region. This paper is the first attitude in rewriting the chronology of the region from both cultural and historical prospective in the light of both archaeological and cuneiform and other ancient records. Moreover, the author tried to make the results of the local archaeological field works and excavations become visible, which is not well known for the foreign scholars abroad.
ثوختة    نووسينةوةي كرؤنؤلؤجياي شارستانييةت و ميَذووي هةر ناوضةيةك كاريَكي ثيَويستة بؤ تيَطةيشتن لة ريَرِةوي رةورِةوةي شارستانييةت و ميَذووي ئةو ناوضةية. ئامادةكردني ئةم كرؤنؤلؤجيايةش بؤ ئةو ئامانجةية كة خويَنةران و تويَذةران لةريَطةيةوة وةك ئاويَنةيةك تيَطةيشتنيَكي طشتطيريان لةلا دروستببيَت كة ضؤن دةتواندريَت دووبارة ميَذووي شارستانييةتي كؤني طةرميان لةذيَر رؤشنايي بةلَطة شويَنةواري و تؤمارة كؤنةكاندا بنووسريَتةوة. بؤ ئامادةكردني ئةم كرؤنؤلؤجياية تويَذةر راستةوخؤ سوودي لة بةلَطة شويَنةوارييةكان و نووسينة ميَخييةكان و سةرضاوة كؤنةكاني تر بينيوة. هةروةها تويَذةرثشتي بةستووة بة تازةترين دؤزينةوة شويَنةوارييةكان و وردةكاري و هةلَسةنطاندن و خويَندنةوةي بؤ ئةو دؤزينةوة شويَنةوارييانةي كة ماوةي سةدةيةكة لة ناوضةكةدا ئةنجامدةدريَن و وةك ثيَويست سوود لة دةرئةنجامةكانيان وةرنةطيراوة بؤ نووسينةوةي ميَذوو و شارستانييةتي طةرميان.  لةريَطةي ئةم تويَذينةوةيةوة هةولَدةدةين ضةند ثرسياريَك وةلاَم بدةينةوة و ضةند لايةنيَك لة ميَذوو و شارستانييةتي طةرميان دةربخةين. لةم تويَذينةوةيةدا هةولَدراوة بؤ ثرِكردنةوةي ئةو ثضرِان و بؤشاييانةي لة ميَذوو و شارستانييةتي كؤني ناوضةكةدا هةن و بةبيَ زانياري ماونةتةوة، بةلَطة شويَنةوارييةكان بةكاربهيَنريَت بؤ ثرِكردنةوةي ئةو بؤشاييانةي دةربارةي ميَذوو و شارستانييةتي طةرميان تا ئيَستا ثرِنةكرابوونةوة، بؤ ئةوةي بزانين سةرةتا و دةستثيَكي شارستانييةت و ميَذووي ئةم ناوضةية ضةندة كؤنة؟ و  رؤلَي ئةم ناوضةي لة شارستانييةتي كؤني زاطرؤس و ميسؤثؤتاميادا ضي بووة؟

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The article deals with the ancient Near Eastern ethnic groups and tribes that used to occupy a territory of the modern-day Zagros Mountains range (Western Iran) from the 3rd millennium BC until the middle period of the first millennium BC. The main objects of the research are the major ethnic groups (The Gutians and the Kassites,) from the above-mentioned region, who had a visible impact on ancient Mesopotamia and therefore, are frequently referenced in the cuneiform sources. During the period of two millennia, the populous migrations from the east were a frequent occurrence in ancient Mesopotamia. In most cases, the migrations from the Iranian Plateau were caused by starvation and eventually had a violent nature, which is evidently represented in the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian texts. Presenting those examples could give us subjectively, but still, important information regarding the traits of the migrated tribes and ethnic groups. The origin of the above-mentioned ethnic groups and tribes is still unknown. Most of the languages do not show resemblance to any known language family. The Specific metaphors and adjectives, which were used to describe the Gutians in the Sumerian texts have been translated and analyzed to gather additional data regarding the lifestyle, cultural traits, and migrational patterns of the above-mentioned people. After reviewing the onomastic data, several assumptions have emerged, regarding the possible links between the Gutian and other, neighboring languages. According to the suggested theories, the largest ethnic groups from the ancient Iranian Plateau could have spoken the languages from different language families.

We analyzed synchronisms between Elam and Kassite Babylonia during the 14th and 13th centuries BC, listing all available sources for generating synchronisms in our system. Then, we and used all of them, excepting the Berlin Letter, to build a model timeline. The model  explains most of the known facts without introducing “extra” kings or making any arbitrary assumptions.
We then separately analyzed Berlin letter and compared facts in the Letter and in our model.

ABSTRACT: This lecture (no. 11.a) looks at four eastern regions of the Near East during the Late Bronze Age, namely (1) the Kingdom of Mittani/Maitani (also termed Nahrin, Naharin, the “Land of the Hurrians,” and Hanigalbat), (2) the Kingdom of Assyria, (3) the Kingdom of Kassite Babylonia (Third Dynasty of Babylon …), and (4) Elam and the Elamites (Susa and Anshan …). The "Sea Peoples" movements, raids, and settlement (see last lecture: no.13) do not really affect these regions directly --(other than the ripple effect via changing polities, new hybrid societies, some changing trade networks and commodities)--  and the kingdom of Assyria survives, albeit entering into a "Dark Age" of sorts (see next lecture: no. 12). In future course offerings, this lecture will be augmented significantly, but the current materials offer a basic look at the Late Bronze Age within Mesopotamia and related regions. UPDATED: 2022 Spring offering.

A study of glass axes made of blue glass (using cobalt from a non-Egyptian source) found at Nippur. The axes bear dedications of Kurigalzu II and Nazi-maruttash; dedications by Shagarakti-shuriash and Kashtiliashu may also be present. The axes have no known parallels and are the earliest examples of engraved Mesopotamian glass.

At least since the publication of Meissner's article "Warenpreise in Babylonien" it is known that Babylonian prices in the later first millennium are approximately 30% (sometimes more) higher than they used to be in the early second millennium. The when and whys of this change are less clearly understood. Towards the end of the 2nd millennium prices apparently skyrocketed at the same time when Babylonia returned to a general silver standard after the gold interlude in the Kassite period. Different explanations were suggested: either repeated negative supply-shocks in a period of economic decline, or a sinking purchasing power of silver due to an increased availability of silver in Babylonia.
This article revisits the the discussion of the Kassite gold and the Post-Kassite silver standards and offers a modified interpretation of the meager Post-Kassite textual data.

CLAY, A. T. (1906a) Documents from the Temple Archives of Nippur Dated in the Reigns of Cassite Rulers (Complete Dates), BE 14.-(1906b) Documents from the Temple Archives of Nippur Dated in the Reigns of Cassite Rulers (Incomplete Dates), BE 15.-(1912a) Documents from the Temple Archives of Nippur Dated in the Reigns of Cassite Rulers, PBS 2/2.

This article intends to analyze the iconography of the ‘naked goddess’, also called by scholars ‘nude female’, in Kassite glyptic, starting from her first appearance on seals in the Old Babylonian period. Some differences are highlighted, both in her attire and in the scenes where she is depicted. For example, while in Old Babylonian glyptic she is represented standing, completely frontal, the hands jointed under the breast, the feet also jointed, and the face surrounded by fluent hair, in Kassite glyptic she has both the feet and the face in profile. On the other hand, the Old Babylonian seals present a greater variety of scenes. Thus, although the Kassite ‘naked goddess’ may be considered an Old Babylonian heritage, this study aims at understanding and proposing an hypothesis about the specific meaning of the Kassite ‘naked goddes’.

A review of the dating of the housing at Ur in areas EM, YC, XNCF, AH and KPS. The paper demonstrates through examination of the stratigraphy and of the objects found in the ruins or in associated burials (pottery, faience items, scaraboids, glass objects etc) that only the remains EM may be dated to the Kassite period. The remaining areas are all 8th/7th century in date. The paper also presents a summary review of key events at Ur.

This volume contains editions of literary fragments from the Middle Babylonian period (ca. 1500–1000 BCE) kept in the Hilprecht-Collection in Jena. Presented in full are The Epic of Gulkišar (HS 1885+), a Mythological Narrative on Pa(p)nigara (HS 1886), a Ceremony in the Ekur (HS 1902), and the Games Text (HS 1893), with introductions, transliterations, translations, philological commentaries, hand copies and photographs.
All texts are of special interest; The Epic of Gulkišar is a Middle Babylonian copy narrating the heroic deeds of its eponymous Sealand I king against Samsuditana, the last king of the First Dynasty of Babylon, the Mythological Narrative on Pa(p)nigara portrays the otherwise poorly known deity Pa(p)nigara, the Ceremony in the Ekur tells us of an hitherto unknown ceremony carried out at the Ekur temple in Nippur, and the Games Text is unique in the fact that it enumerates a great variety of children’s games set in daily life Babylon.

Among the 6,637 beads found within the cache in the cella of the Temple of Ninkarrak at Tell ´Ašara / Terqa in 1979–80 (Area C), nine scarabs were discovered. The scarabs from Terqa represent the easternmost archaeological attestation of this specific type of object found in a sealed deposit dating to the later part of the Middle Bronze Age (i.e. late Old Babylonian period or “Khana Period”) discovered so far. It is in this perspective that the scarabs acquire special chronological significance.

In the Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1984-1985) a new fragment of the upper part of a boundary stone (kudurru) of the Second Dynasty of Isin was included as a purchase by the museum. This kudurru fragment preserves remains of iconographic motifs and cuneiform signs. Unfortunately, as yet there are no publications focused on the study of the iconography and inscription with photographs and drawings. This contribution provides an edition, translation, drawing and discussion of the kudurru fragment which is its first detailed study and also allows it to be given a specific date.

Analysis of the dates and distribution of dated texts of the Kassite period. The review highlights the areas of strength and weakness in the sequence of dated documents. It also highlights the early appearance of dated Kassite texts in the lower Diyala (16th century bce) and in the Gulf (14th century bce), and the evidence of kassite period administration eastwards along the Diyala corridor.

Die vorliegende Abhandlung widmet sich den archäologischen Belegen für Baudekor im Mesopotamien des zweiten Jahrtausends v. Chr. und versucht, unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener zeitgenössischer Quellen die unterschiedlichen Aspekte dieser architektonischen Ausdrucksform zu beleuchten.
Im Vordergrund stehen Sakralbauten, da die Fülle an Belegen sie als den bevorzugten und nicht selten einzigen Träger der hier behandelten Formen des Baudekors ausweist. Der plastische Baudekor an den Außen- und Hoffassaden altorientalischer Tempel ist neben ihrer monumentalen Bauweise einer der unmittelbarsten architektonischen Formalismen, mit deren Hilfe der sakrale Raum bildkräftig von der übrigen Stadtbebauung abgegrenzt wird. Die ostentative Morphologie sakraler Baukörper unterstreicht die architektonische Distinktion zwischen „Tempeln“, „Wohnhäusern“ oder „Palästen“, die im altorientalischen Sprachverständnis deutlich unschärfer zu Tage tritt. Darüber hinaus bilden die oft über Jahrhunderte gepflegten Sakralbauten innerhalb des wechselhaften urbanen Umfelds eine wichtige architektonische Konstante und stehen in dieser Hinsicht den zumeist kurzlebigeren Palast- und Profanbauten entgegen.
Die sakrale Architektur wird dadurch zu einem bedeutenden und vor allem dauerhaften Bezugspunkt für die räumliche Orientierung der Stadtbewohner und ist daher nicht nur als leblose, räumliche Kulisse der Gesellschaft zu verstehen, sondern als eigenständiges, aktives und lenkendes System, dessen Kommunikationspotential selbst nach Jahrtausenden nicht erloschen ist.



This study investigates the archaeological examples of architectural ornamentation in 2nd-millennium Mesopotamia. Diverse contemporaneous sources have been examined and analysed in the attempt to elucidate the differing aspects of this architectural form of expression. The emphasis is on sacred buildings as they provide the overwhelming majority of examples of those forms of architectural ornamentation that are treated here. Besides the monumentality of construction, the elaborate arrangements of buttresses and niches on the outer as well as on the courtyard façades of temples are among the most obvious architectural features that mark sacred space off from other urban buildings in the ancient Near East.
The ostentatious design of sacred buildings underlines the differences between 'temples', 'dwelling-houses' and 'palaces', a differentiation which is far from obvious from the terms used for different types of buildings in ancient Mesopotamian languages. The sacred buildings were carefully looked after throughout centuries, thus forming an important architectural landmark within a changing urban environment – in contrast to more short-lived palaces and other profane buildings. In this way, sacred architecture becomes a meaningful and long-lasting reference point for the inhabitants’ orientation: the sacred architecture of Mesopotamia was more than a lifeless backdrop fort he activities of the population, providing an independent, dynamic structure which guided these activities.

The history of mid-2nd millennium Babylonia is marked by a dire lack of sources. The Sealand kings who controlled part of it were long known to us only indirectly, but a recently published palatial archive now illuminates this
elusive polity from the inside. A study of this archive and a reassessment of historiographic sources shape this full exploration of the political, economic, and religious history of the First Sealand Dynasty, as well as the transmission
of its memory. This book is intended to provide a framework for further interpretations of evidence from that period in southern Iraq.
Publication date: March 2018 (Boston, Berlin: De Gruyter)

The Moon, the Sun and the planet Venus are the three main stars in Mesopotamian thought. They have a correspondence in the religious pantheon and they represent a very important divine family: Nanna/Sîn (the father), Utu/Šamaš and Inanna/Ištar (the sons). They beat the time, alternating night with day, and they are usually invoked in daily life or important ritual moments. Those stars take a prominent place in kudurrus reliefs: placed always in the upper part of the decoration, they are one of the rare representation of divine family in the ancient Near East. By analyzing them it is possible to note an iconographical change and some differences in their relative position. The aim of this paper is to identify pattern representations of the astral family on kassite kudurru reliefs, and to understand their meaning. It is possible that these patterns are not only divine symbols representations, but also a time image of the sky.

Elamite Karintaš and Avestan Kvirinta: Notes on the Early History of Kerend The toponym Kerend has a long history. This study explores the appearance of Kerend in pre-modern sources, beginning with the toponym Karintaš in the late second millennium BC. Kassite, Elamite and Assyrian rivalry for control over the central western Zagros mountains is discussed and the survival of the name in later antiquity is investigated. A derivative of the name appears in Claudius Ptolemy's Geography and in the Parthian Stations of Isidore of Charax, as well as in the late Antique Cosmographia of the Anonymous Geographer of Ravenna. A homonymous name from the area east of the Caspian Sea is also discussed, as are several unrelated names occurring in other sources (Achaemenid Elamite, Armenian).

The settlement of Tell Dehaila-1 was a large Old Babylonian city, located in the southern margins of the Mesopotamian alluvium 30 km west of Ur, on the edge of the Arabian desert and on the east bank of the ancient Eridu River that connected to the Euphrates. As the river shifted to the east, the city expanded onto the meander scar. With time, the silting of the Eridu River forced the inhabitants to build a canal from the western branch of the Euphrates originating downstream of Tell Homor. Opposite the central part of the city, a crevasse splay emerged, creating a marsh, one of the sources of water for Ur. Tell Khaiber, a small but important Sealand period site, is situated to the north of this marsh. Among the surface and stratified potsherds from Dehaila's riverside, probably a harbour, are forms comparable to the Sealand pottery from Tell Khaiber and to shapes from periods IIc (c.1800-1700 BCE) or IIIa (c.1650-1500 BCE) at Qala'at al-Bahrain (Dilmun). The resumption of trade between southern Mesopotamia and Dilmun in the Sealand period is also known from other sources. Otherwise, the Dehaila pottery collection so far shows typical Old Babylonian and Late Old Babylonian forms, with some Sealand and Early Kassite potential. After the end of urban life at Dehaila, part of the former settlement was used as a cemetery. A defensive trench, cutting into the edge of the former city, was built to the south to protect agricultural assets from nomads.

The divine determinative, or "dingir-sign", 1) in the writing of royal names in cuneiform has long been a part of the debate on the issue of royal deification in ancient Mesopotamia. 2) This brief article discusses the presence (and absence) of the divine determinative in the writing of the names of the kings of Babylon and thus contributes to the debate on royal deification in Babylonia. 3) It complements an earlier article centred on the divine determinative and the names of Assyrian rulers (KARLSSON 2020).

Babylonian narû, traditionally named kudurrus, were stone monuments with divine representations (generally through its divine emblems) and figurative scenes with anthropomorphic figures, together with an administrative text about a land grant. These narû originated in Kassite Babylon and were being used until Neo-Babylonian Period (ca. 1400-650 a.C.). The majority of them have been discovered in Susa without contextualizing, but the items which have been found in situ tell us that their original placement was Southern Mesopotamia.
In this paper, the main aim is to study the narû corpus, currently formed by 178 items, in a interdisciplinar way, that is to say, analyzing the information which their texts, iconography, materiality, archaeological context, etc. give us. This is the reason why the author of this article will try to define the corpus according to their own inscriptions and according to the main previous studies of several scholars on this subject. Then, the circumstances which could cause the rising and the historical and political events which could affect their development will be studied, together with the geographical context which they expand on. Subsequently, the content of their inscripctions and symbology of their iconography will be analyzed in a comparative approach. Finally, the main results of this research will be shown in a conclusions paragraph.