The kingdom of Simurrum
- Oct 20, 2013
- 17 min read
The stela of Iddi-Sin, King of Simurrum celebrates and commemorates the victories of this King against his enemies, mostly tribes of West Iran. The stela is carved with 108 lines of cuneiform inscriptions and was found at Qarachatan, Pira Magroon mountain, Sulaimaniya, Iraq. Old Babylonian era, circa 2003-1595 BCE. It is currently housed in the Sulaimaniya Museum, Iraq.
This rock relief is one of a group of similar works that were carved on the high cliffs of the eastern border of Mesopotamia. It was made to commemorate the victories of lddin-Sin, King of Simurrum, probably located along the Little Zab river, which flows westward from the Kurdistan Mountains into the Tigris.
This area was marked by numerous battles between the Mesopotamian cities, among them Ur, and their opponents, during the last two hundred years of the third millennium. Despite the long and well-documented rivalry between Ur and Simurrum, the rock relief exhibits features typical of the Mesopotamian tradition, namely the depiction of an apparently young king trampling his enemy in front of a goddess and carrying a scepter surmounted by two volutes.
The inspiration for this theme of a victorious ruler was the stele of Naram-Sin, King of Akkad (2254–2218 BCE). The scene occurs not only on later rock reliefs, but also in miniature art, such as cylinder seals. The seven-column inscription in the background ends with a call to the great gods to bestow terrifying curses upon anyone daring to erase lddin-Sin’s name from the monument.
The Shahrizor is an area well-suited for a combined palaeoenvironmental, historical andarchaeological project. The initial results of our work show that after the Pleistocene, when sedentarysocieties began to develop in the region, favourable climate and vegetation made the Shahrizorattractive for settlement. Many tell sites, including the large site of Bakr Awa (SSP 10), developedon the Pleistocene terraces.
For the first periods of settlement, we find evidence at the very early Neolithic site of Bestansur (SSP 6) that is comparable to sites such as Jarmo, but otherwise otherearly Neolithic remains are so far sparsely attested in the valley. While the survey has yielded materialculture attributed to the Hassuna culture, the Halaf has largely been missing in the survey finds sofar, though attested on excavated sites.
For all the prehistoric periods, we expect that some of thesesettlements are obscured or buried by alluvial infilling in the plain or deeply stratified within multi-period tells. On the other hand, different economic strategies (e.g., agro-pastoralism) are likely tohave played a role in affecting the archaeological visibility of these periods. Late Neolithiccommunities may have lived in small, inconspicuous settlements characterized by frequent shifting.
By the fourth millennium B.C., we begin to see evidence for multiregional influences andconnections in the Shahrizor, with material culture finds alternating between southern and northernMesopotamian and Iranian styles. Historical sources allow us to identify the important and long-lived kingdom of Simurrum as the local power in the second half of the third millennium and in thefirst part of the second millennium, with a change in material culture emerging when historicalinformation on the kingdom fades.
There are major gaps and missing settlement data for the firsthalf of the third millennium and again for the mid-second millennium
B.C. In the later secondmillennium, the Shahrizor was part of the Kassite state, as suggested by historical and archaeologicalsources. Settlements of the first millennium B.C. and later are more abundant, indicating that theShahrizor was an important settlement zone from that time onwards. During this time, we begin tosee advanced soil formation and a decrease in regular alluviation.
With the environmental and archaeological records informing us on climatic, landscape, andsettlement trends in the region, historical data provide us with the political history of the region fromthe later third millennium B.C. onwards.
In different historical periods, the Shahrizor has alternatedbetween being divided into relatively small independent states, forming the core region of a territorialstate or being integrated within larger regional empires. In many periods, the region formed part of the border zone between states and, therefore, was subject to political conflict and competition betweenlarger entities. Due to its favourable geographical position, it emerges in many periods as an importanttraffic and cultural corridor, linking Northern and Southern Mesopotamia with Western Iran.
The kingdom of Simurrum (also Šimurrum) has been described as a Hurrian state (Hallo 1978), and while this idea may have a certain appeal, it isimportant to emphasise that only some of the rather few Simurreans known by name bear Hurrianorigins, while others have Akkadian or unclassifiable names.
The kingdom of Simurrum attested so far in textual sources for a period fromthe 24th to the 18th century B.C., had its core region in the Shahrizor. Mesopotamian sources referto its inhabitants as “highlanders” (Sallaberger 1999: 306), and there is general agreement that Simurrum is located to the east of the Tigris between the Lower Zab and the Diyala (e.g., Westenholz 1997: 142), with its capital city of the same name situated on the upper stretches of the Diyala (Sirwan).
On the basis of a consideration of the relationship between Simurrum and other sites,Douglas Frayne (1997a: 104; 1997b: 264–66; 1999: 151) proposed identification with the (unexplored) settlement mound at Kelar on the right bank of the Diyala in the extreme southeast of theprovince of Sulaymaniyah, now occupied by the 18th century A.D. castle of Qal’at Širwana. But more recently, he suggested another location, now in the Shahrizor (Frayne 2011: 511: “the wide river basin west to the modern Av-i Tangero”).
For geographical, geopolitical, and economic reasons the area just north of Darband-i Khan in the south-eastpart of the fertile and easily defendable Shahrizor would indeed seem the most likely general location of the city. As we shall see below, the position of Mount Nišba and of the rock reliefs of the later kings of Simurrum offer additional arguments in support of this hypothesis.
With a recorded history of close to half a millennium, Simurrum was one of the most stable political entities in the Middle East at that time. Intensified research in the Shahrizor, most prominently the excavations in Bakr Awa where strata coinciding with the existence of Simurrum are currently being excavated (Miglus et al. 2011), are bound to greatly enhance the rough sketch of its history, which can be drafted on the basis of sources from the kingdoms of southern Iraq, from Akkad to Isin and Ešnunna, as well as from more limited local sources.
Simurrum is first attested as an enemy of Sargon of Akkade (r. 2334–2279 B.C.) and his grandsonNaram-Sin (r. 2254–2218 B.C.), as commemorated in three year names celebrating the victories of the Akkade rulers (Frayne 1993: 8, 87); one of these gives us some insight into how they perceived the political setup of Simurrum: “Year Naram-Sin was victorious against Simurrum in Kirašeniweand captured Baba, ruler (ENSI) of Simurrum, and Dubul, ruler (ENSI) of Arame”. The title ENSI is used for rulers whose power base is a city that serves as the centre of a regional state known under the same name. While the site of the battle, Kirašeniwe, undoubtedly is Hurrian in origin, the name of the ruler of Simurrum, Baba, is of unclear etymology.
Simurrum outlived the existence of the kingdom of Akkade and is next attested as an enemy of Erridu-pizir, king of Gutium (whose dates of reign remain unclear). According to the inscription on his victory statue, “KA-Nišba, king of Simurrum, instigated the people of Simurrum and Lullubum to revolt”, and the subsequent invasion of Simurrum is described (Frayne 1993: E2.2.1.2).
Here, Simurrum is for the first time seen under the rule of a king (Akkadian šarrum). His name invokes that of Mount Nišba, the sacred mountain worshipped as one of the highest gods of Simurrum (Cavigneaux and Krebernik 2001: 584–85). KA-Nišba commands not only his own people but also those of Lullubum, and this is the first time that the close association of Simurrum and Lullubum finds expression.
Lullubum is best identified with the high plateau between the Qara Dagh and the Binzird and Beranan ranges, stretching along the southwestern perimeter of the Shahrizor from the Lower Zab to the Diyala. Lullubum’s relative proximity to the Kirkuk region is obvious from two administrative texts from Gasur (Yorgan Tepe; later known as Nuzi) showing that cattle, sheep, and goats from Lullubum were brought to Gasur, while grain was sold to Lullubum (Klengel 1966: 251–52). Subsequently, the kingdom of Simurrum was in contact with the rulers of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
The Mesopotamian sources allow us to follow the relationship between the southern Mesopotamian state of Ur and Simurrum over half a century and trace its dramatic changes. A decade-long military conflict briefly led to the annexation of Simurrum, then under the rule of the Hurrian-named Tappan-Darah, (Owen 2000: 820–24).
The year names of Šulgi of Ur (r. 2094–2047 B.C.) are the best source for this, with four of them celebrating a defeat of Simurrum: “Year Simurrum was destroyed (for the second / third / ninth time)”; considerable importance is assigned to these victories by also naming the following year(s) after the previous year’s event. The grand finale is “Year in which Šulgi … defeated Urbilum (Arbela; modern Erbil), Simurrum, Lullubum and Karakina in one day” (Sallaberger 1999: 142–43), indicating an alliance of these four principalities against Ur which culminated in a joint battle.
This, or possibly already an earlier one of Šulgi’s victories, led to the temporary end of Simurrum’s independence and the temporary instalment of a governor dispatched from Ur, Šilluš-Dagan, who is well attested in the archival sources (Owen 2000: 820, 825–37). The chronology is not entirely clear at present but Ur’s control was decidedly short-lived and Simurrum very quickly regained its independence.
Simurrum subsequently appears in Ur III administrative records as an allied state, with a diplomatic presence at the royal court of Ur (Sharlach 2005: 18 fn. 4, 21 fn. 31). The Simurrean diplomat Kirib-ulme, whose name is Hurrian, is attested in active service for four years (years 8 and 9 of Amar-Suena, r. 2046–2038 B.C., and years 1 and 2 of Šu-Sin of Ur, r. 2037–2029 B.C.; Sharlach 2005: 24).
A decade later, however, Ur was again at war with Simurrum, with Ibbi-Sin of Ur (r. 2028–2004 B.C.) commemorating a victory against Simurrum in his year names (Sallaberger 1999:173). Soon after, the kingdom of Ur collapsed, while Simurrum survived, now attested as an ally of Išbi-Erra of Isin (r. 2017–1985 B.C.; Frayne 1990: 707).
For this time, we have monuments, including some with cuneiform inscriptions in the Akkadian language, that were commissioned by the rulers of Simurrum themselves. So far, we know of thekings Iddi(n)-Sin, whose name is Akkadian, and his son Anzabazuna, whose name is of unclear linguistic affiliation; both are also attested in the sources from Ešnunna during the reign of Išbi-Erraof Isin (Whiting 1987: 38; Frayne 1990: 485, 707).
Some of their officials are known from inscribed cylinder seals: the names Teheš-atal and Zili-ewri (Frayne 1990: 4.18.2.2001–2002) are Hurrian, while Ili-dannu (Shaffer et al. 2003: 34) bears an Akkadian name. The kingdom of Simurrum has been described as a Hurrian state (Hallo 1978), and while this idea may have a certain appeal, it is important to emphasise that only some of the rather few Simurreans known by name bear Hurrian origins, while others have Akkadian or unclassifiable names.
The monuments of the kings of Simurrum are rock reliefs and stelae that mark the extent of their military campaigns. The location of these monuments in the region of Bitwata (Fouadi 1978; Frayne1990: 4.19.1–3; Farber 1998; Shaffer et al. 2003) in a valley off the Rania Plain and in the area of Sar-i Pol-i Zohab (Frayne 1990: 4.18.1; Fig. 4), respectively, indicate the northern and southern reaches of the control of Simurrum at that time.
On the other hand, the find spot of an inscribed stele found at the entrance to the valley of Zewiya (or Zayway) in the Pir-a Magrun range (Ahmad 1997: 115) and the rock relief of Darband-i Gawr in the Qara Dagh range (Strommenger 1963) are both situated in the mountainous regions stretching alongside the Shahrizor Plain, within easy reach of modern Sulaymaniyah, and make it abundantly clear that the Shahrizor was a part, and most probably the centre, of the kingdom of Simurrum.
When Daduša of Ešnunna and Samsi-Addu of Ekallatum made the lands west of the Zagros fringes the arena of their war in 1781 B.C. (Ziegler 2011), the once powerful kingdom of Simurrum seemingly did not play any active role in these conflicts. Simurrum’s decline is evidenced by the fact that its vassals defected to Samsi-Addu at that time (Eidem and Læssøe 2001: nos. 1 and 2).
Some fifteen years later, we encounter an unnamed king of Simurrum as a refugee and pawn in the power-brokering of the rising adjacent powers Turukkum and Gutium (Lackenbacher 1988: no. 491; Eidem and Læssøe 2001: 24, 55). The latest known attestation for the city of Simurrum gives it as the place of origin of a slave woman being sold in Babylonia in 1723 B.C. (27th regnal year of Samsu-iluna, r. 1749–1712 B.C.; van Koppen 2004: 12, 15).
There are a considarable number of Tocharian and Iranian loan words in Old Turkic — although a good number of these may have been acquired, especially in the case of Soghdian terms, during the Tùrk impérial period, when the Soghdians were a subject people, an important mercantile-commercial element in the Tùrk state, and culture-bearers across Eurasia. It also should be noted here that the early Tùrk rulers bore names of non-Turkic origin.
Turukkaeans (Tur meaning sword) Turukkum, Turukku – Tur-uk-ka – Tur-kush (Ku-shan Empire) were an ancient near eastern people in the northern parts of Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age. In particular, they inhabited the Urmia basin and the valleys of northwestern Zagros Mountains. Turukkum appears to have consisted of a group of kingdoms whose populations were of mixed stock, perhaps predominantly Hurrian but with significant Semitic components.
The Turukkaeans were long considered to be a semi-nomadic tribal people who repeatedly raided the cities and kingdoms of northern Mesopotamia. But according to Eidem and Laessøe, evidence provided by the Shemshara archives indicated that Turukkum was made up of a number of polities with a relatively complex political organization and systems of noble lineage sharing territorial power.
The kingdom of Itabalhum seems to have been the most important of these polities. Itabalhum (Itab/pal) was an ancient kingdom of the Turukkaeans in the middle part of the Bronze Age. It is located in the northwestern parts of Zagros mountain region.
The kingdom was attested in the texts of Shemshara (Shusharra). As viewed from Shemshara the Turukkean kingdom of Itabalhum appears to be a peripheral polity, with a largely Mesopotamian material culture.
The Turukkaeans were a constant threat to the security of the Old Assyrian kingdom during the reign of Shamshi-Adad I (1796 – 1775 BC) and his son and successor Ishme-Dagan. The name of Hammurabi’s 37th year records his defeat of Turukku.
The Tocharians or Tokharians (/təˈkɛəriənz/ or /təˈkɑriənz/) were inhabitants of medieval oasis city-states on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). Their Tocharian languages (a branch of the Indo-European family) are known from manuscripts from the 6th to 8th centuries AD, after which they were supplanted by the Turkic languages of the Uyghur tribes.
Some scholars have linked the Tocharians with the Afanasevo culture of eastern Siberia (c. 3500 – 2500 BC), the Tarim mummies (c. 1800 BC) and the Yuezhi of Chinese records, most of whom migrated from western Gansu to Bactria in the 2nd century BC and then later to northwest India where they founded the Kushan Empire.
The Kushan Empire was an empire in South Asia originally formed in the early 1st century CE under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria around the Oxus River (Amu Darya), and later based near Kabul, Afghanistan.
The Kushans spread from the Kabul River Valley to defeat other Central Asian tribes that had previously conquered parts of the northern central Iranian Plateau once ruled by the Parthians, and reached their peak under the Buddhist emperor Kanishka (127–151), whose realm stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic Plain.”
The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, a possibly Tocharian, Indo-European nomadic people who had migrated from the Tarim Basin and settled in ancient Bactria.
Archaeologically, the post-Simurrum period is likely to coincide with the presence of the so-called Shamlu Ware at sites across the Shahrizor plain. The Shamlu (also: Shamloo, Shomloo) tribe was one of the seven original and the most powerful Qizilbash tribe of Turcoman origin in Iran.
In the western Zagros presumably at the same time as reports about political unrest increase and the palace of Shusharra is destroyed, another site in the Shahrizor Plain, named Tell Shamlu, shows significant changes in its pottery sequence. The mound was excavated due to the construction of the Dar-band-i Khan Dam in 1959/60 (Janabi 1961). Ten layers were diferentiated, of which Layers V – X can bedated to the Middle Bronze Age.
According to the excavator, Khalid al-Janabi, the site was uninhabited for a short time during the old Babylonian period. The layers following this gap in occupation (VI,VII) are marked by a new group of pottery, very different from the wheel turned and plain old Babylonian types of level VIII. They are replaced by very distinctive, handmade vessels, the so-called Shamlu Ware.
Tis pottery is red burned with a polished red surface, though some dark grey examples also occur. Decorated specimens are incised with standing bands of several curved lines, each one incised individually rather than by a comb. Te spaces in between can be filled with schematic floral and faunal motives.
An analysis of the different styles of decoration in the stratigraphic context of this pottery allows us to make a distinction between older and younger Shamlu Ware (Müll 2011, 296 – 300), though exact dates for their respective duration are still missing due to lacking references from other excavations in the wider area of the Shahrizor Plain.
Afer a short period, the repertoire of hand-made vessels finally becomes replaced by commonold Babylonian pottery types (level V). Up to now Shamlu Ware has been attested in 15 other sites of the Shahrizor Plain and in the Tanjero River valley, examined during the Darband-i Khan Dam salvagecampaigns (Janabi 1961) and surveyed by the author in 2009/11. Single pieces from excavated sites are reported from Yorgan Tepe (Starr 1937/39, Pl.62 l.), Tell Shemshara (Hamlin 1971, 103, 119), and Dinkha Tepe in the Urmia region.
During the second half of the 2nd millennium the region slowly recovers. With the decline of the Mittani rule, the kings of Ashur started a building program of new founded residences and cities as physical landmarks along the Tigris and interritories further east (Jakob 2011; Miglus 2011;Müiil / Sulaiman 2011). But they also started in-corporating new tenure land with technological improvements in irrigation techniques.
In the Middle Assyrian residential and cultic city of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, modern Tulul al-Aqr, remnants of an ancient canal, which is also attested in written sources as pattu mešari – “canal of justice” (Bagg 2000, 37), were traced by Walter Andrae and Walter Bachmann (Andrae 1977, 175; Dittmann 1995, 89). They can be connected to a wider network of irrigation features, partly datable to this period (Altaweel 2004, 68).
The new possibility to irrigate the upper terraces of the Tigris River are reflected in the Late Bronze Age settlement patterns of this region, which clearly show a spread of sites in those areas that had not been settled extensively before (Müill 2011, 69, Plate 27, 1). These developments are based on the technological improvements of large scale irrigation as well as the socio-political changes that made the evolution of the Assyrian state during the Late Bronze Age possible (cf. Jakob 2003, 24f.).
During the Neo-Assyrian period one can observe a territorial expansion far beyond the upper terraces of the Tigris in places not suitable for rain fed agriculture. One can observe that the very nature of the settlement patterns changes in comparison to the Early and Middle Bronze Age.
While earlier sites only succeeded under naturally favourable conditions, now settlements emerged under conditions improved by the anthropogenic changes to the landscape. Smaller rural sites spread in bigger distances from regional centres due to more independence from climate conditions as well as security guaranteed by state power (cf. Diakonoff 1969 (1949).
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At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, we can reconstruct a network of sites with Ninevite 5 and Scarlet Ware, A type of pottery found in the early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia in the period 2900–2370 BC, characterized by a set of geometrical designs in black on a buff-coloured ground, separated by large areas painted in red, material at regular distances of 3 to 7 km along the Tigris.
Two of these sites have been excavated, others have been surveyed: Round buildings dated to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC have been uncovered in Tall al-Namil and Tall al-Faras.
Finds provide links between the sites northand south of the Lesser Zab. These sites lie directly on the Tigris and may have been connected by boattrafic as indicated by the regular distance to other Early Bronze Age sites on the river. As mentioned before, Tall al-Dhahab and Kirkuk are part of another chain of sites connecting the Mesopotamian lowland with the Zagros piedmont zone in a corridor-like pattern. This is visible in the distribution of sites along this route, their connecting roads as mapped from CORONA imagery and the archaeological material found at these sites (cf. Müill 2011,197 – 273). Other major centers along this chain are Chamchamal and bigger sites in the Shahrizor Plainsouthwest of Sulaimaniya such as Yasin Tepe.
The Early Bronze Age settlement system in the central Trans-Tigris region is characterized by its close connection to climatic as well as topographical conditions of the landscape. A strong relation between sites and routes, integrating the area in a wide spanning supra-regional trading system can be reconstructed. Within this framework larger centres evolve, serving as hubs for trafic, transportation, movement of goods and ideas. The evolution of this system can be argued by using principles of self-organization that are observed, described and mod-elled for example in particle physics, but also humanspatial behaviour.
During the Middle Bronze Age significant changes in the regional settlement patterns are traceable. We can note a decline of nearly 40 % of the settlements. While some centers such as Ashur, Tall Akrah – an important site in the Makhmur Plain (Mallowan / El-Amin 1950, 60 – 62; Dittmann 1995, 95) – and Kirkuk, ancient Arrapha, are still inhabited, other settlements such as Tall al-Dhahab, Tall al-Faras, Marmus (for reports about these sites in the Makhul Dam area see Sulaiman 2010; Müiil / Sulaiman 2011) and smaller sites are abandoned.
This correlates to climatic stress due to an aridification as detected for the Middle Bronze Age in Upper Mesopotamia (cf. Riel et al. 2008). From the ar-chaeological material only little is known for the peri-od following the time of the flourishing old Assyrian trade in which many sites within the region took part or profited, as their archaeological material and sometexts suggest (cf. Müill 2011).
During the last years of the reign of Shamshi Adad I (1808 – 1776 BC) significant political changes took place in the Trans-Ttigris area. This is indicated in texts from Mari, Eshnun-na and Shemshara. After wars against the city state of Qabra, a non-located site supposedly lying 15 – 20km northwest of Altun Kopri on the way to Erbil(Deller 1990), won by the coalition between Sham-shi Adad and Dadusha, king of Eshnunna, the areas east of Ashur became incorporated into the kingdom of Shamshi-Adad (Ziegler 2011).
At the same time the Zagros Piedmont areas had to deal with refugees from the war in the west, but also from people fleeing from neighbouring regions caused by military actions by people called “Guti” (Eidem 1985, 95) .With the destruction of the palace in Shusharra historical records become scarce.
The transition to Late Bronze Age material culture is underrepresented in the archaeological evidence. While the pottery sequence of the first half of the 2nd millennium is characterized by painted, painted-incised and unpaintedKhabur Ware types north of the Lesser Zab, southof the river unpainted goblets, incised grey ware and appliqué vessels are common. The only complete sequence is provided by excavations in the temple area of Yorgan Tepe (Starr 1937/39), where changes can be traced in the cultic topography of the city.
During the transition to the early 2ndmillennium a single shrine sanctuary (Temple G), comparable to similar buildings dating to the Early Bronze Age in northern Mesopotamia, evolves into a complex comprising two cellae (Temple F), probably for two deities, most probably for Ishtar/Inanna and the weather god, as attested in later sources (cf. Wilhelm 1998 – 2001).
In the western Zagros presumably at the same time as reports about political unrest increase and the palace of Shusharra is destroyed, another site in the Shahrizor Plain, named Tell Shamlu, shows significant changes in its pottery sequence. The mound was excavated due to the construction of the Dar-band-i Khan Dam in 1959/60 (Janabi 1961). Ten lay-ers were differentiated, of which Layers V – X can bedated to the Middle Bronze Age.
According to the excavator, Khalid al-Janabi, the site was uninhabited for a short time during the old Babylonian period. The layers following this gap in occupation (VI,VII) are marked by a new group of pottery, very different from the wheel turned and plain old Babylonian types of level VIII. They are replaced by very distinctive, handmade vessels, the so-called Shamlu Ware.
After significant changes took place during the Middle Bronze Age we can trace the human adaption and “mechanization” of natural attraction effects (artificial reduction of repulsive effects) during the Late Bronze Age. This period marks the beginning of a process leading to a disperse network of sites due to a transfer to newly irrigated areas and the beginning of a decentralization of control.
These processes reach their climax in the Neo-Assyrian period. At that time the provincial system of state control offered the possibility to sustain large scale irrigation and agricultural activity. At the same time the fragility of this system lies in its very nature. Absent control leads to its collapse. Nevertheless, the environmental conditions should not be seen as firm deterministic factors responsible for ancient and existing settlement systems. They operate along ethnical, social and political factors.
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