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Marhasi

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Marhasi
𒈥𒄩𒅆𒆠
Possible location of Marhasi, to the east of Sumer and Elam.

Marhaši (Sumerian: Mar-ḫa-šiKI 𒈥𒄩𒅆𒆠, Marhashi, Marhasi, Parhasi, Barhasi; in earlier sources Waraḫše. Akkadian: "Parahshum/Barahsum" 𒁀𒊏𒄴𒋧𒆠 pa2-ra-ah-shum2-ki)[1] was an important ancient Near East polity situated in the region near Elam. It is known from 3rd millenium BC and early 2nd millennium BC Mesopotamian sources, but its precise location has not been identified, though some scholars link it with the Jiroft culture. Henri-Paul Francfort and Xavier Tremblay[2] proposed identifying the kingdom of Marhashi with Ancient Margiana on the basis of the Akkadian textual and archaeological evidence.

The language of Marhaši is considered to be different from that of Simaški, and only minimally Elamite-related.[3] Marhaši is known to have been the source of a number exotic trade goods for Mesopotamia including the "bear of Marhaši".[4] Other trade goods were lapis lazuli and carnelian. One lexical list includes a mention of "Carnelian which is speckled with yellow, Marḫaši Carnelian is its name".[5]

History

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Account of the victories of Rimush, king of Akkad, over Abalgamash, king of Marhashi, and upon Elamite cities. Louvre Museum AO5476.[6][7] In several inscriptions, Rimush described his conquest of Elam and Marhashi far to the east of Sumer, even mentioning victories over troops of Meluhha.[8][9]

The main inscription describing the rule of Lugal-Anne-Mundu of Adab in the 24th century BC mentions Marhaši among the seven provinces of his empire, between the names of Elam and Gutium: "the Cedar Mountains, Elam, Marḫaši, Gutium, Subartu, Amurru, Sutium, or the Eanna Mountain".[10] The same inscription also recorded that he confronted Migir-Enlil, the governor (ensi) of Marhashi, who had led a coalition of 13 rebel chiefs against him.[11]

During the Akkadian Empire, Parahshum ("Marhashi" in Sumerian) was conquered by Sargon the Great, and king Abalgamash of Parahshum and his general Sidgau, along with Luh-ishan of Awan, rebelled unsuccessfully against Rimush, while Hishep-ratep of Awan in alliance with Warakshe was defeated by Naram-Sin.[12]

King Shulgi of the Ur-III dynasty gave his daughter Liwwir-mittašu, in marriage to king of Marhaši in his 18th year "Year Liwwir-mittašu the king's daughter was elevated to the ladyship in Marhashi".[13] One of the generals (šagina) of Shulgi's successor Amar-Sin, a Habruša, is attested as leading "troops from Marhaši" in Amar-Sin's 5th regnal year.[14] The final Ur III ruler, Ibbi-Sin, in a text reports fashioning for the god Nanna "an image of a Meluhhan speckled "dog" that had been brought to him as tribute from Marhasi. He [dedicated (it) for [h]is (own) life. The name of that speckled "dog" (is): "May he catch (the enemy)".[15]

Hammurabi of Babylonia's 30th year name was

"Year Hammurabi the king, the mighty, the beloved of Marduk, drove away with the supreme power of the great gods the army of Elam who had gathered from the border of Marhashi, Subartu, Gutium, Tupliash (Eshnunna) and Malgium who had come up in multitudes, and having defeated them in one campaign, he (Hammurabi) secured the foundations of Sumer and Akkad."[13]

On a fragment from a statue of Kurigalzu II found at Susa, thought to be part of the booty from the Elamite raid of Mesopotamia under ruler Kidin-Hutran (c. 1224 BC), was found the inscription "Kurigalzu, the king of the universe, who has struck Susa and Elam as far as the border of [Mar]ḫaši". The mention of Marhasi is an anachronism, typical in Kassite inscriptions, cribbed from Akkadian Empire texts.[16]

The name Marḫaši later reappears in a tablet from the Neo-Babylonian Empire, where it designates an area north of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, perhaps in Luristan, as conquered by Nebuchadrezzar II (605–562 BC).[17]

In literary tradition

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In the purely literary Sumerian text The Cursing of Akkad, composed during the later Ur III period and which blamed the fall of civilization on the Akkadian Empire, it lists are one of the benefits of having the blessing of Inanna "That even Marhaši would be reentered on the (tribute) rolls".[18]

In the Sumerian royal hymn for Ishbi-Erra (c. 2017— 1986 BC) ruler of the city-state Isin in the Isin-Larsa period it states "From Basime on the sea-coast (...) to the border of; from Urua, the bolt of Elam (...) to the border of Marhaäi" as being the territory of Šimaški ruler Kindattu, where Urua - Marhasi defines an east-west axis and Basime (Pashime) - Zabsali defines a south to north axis.[19]

In the fragmentary early 2nd millennium BC Sumerian myth text Enki and the World Order, the god Enki rebuilds the world after a catastrophe. It includes the phrase "He cleansed and purified the land of Dilmun. He placed Ninsikila in charge of it. He gave ...... for the fish spawn, ate its ...... fish, bestowed palms on the cultivated land, ate its dates. ...... Elam and Marhaci ....... ...... to devour ....... The king endowed with strength by Enlil destroyed their houses, demolished (?) their walls. He brought their silver and lapis-lazuli, their treasure, to Enlil, king of all the lands, in Nibru"[20][21]

Rulers of Marhasi

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The main rulers known from inscriptions are:[22]

  1. Migirenlil (c. 2550 BC)
  2. Unnamed King (c. 2325 BC)
  3. Abalgamash (c. 2316 – 2312 BC) revolted against Rimush, king of Akkad)
  4. Hubshumkibi (c. 2270 BC contemporary with Naram-Sin king of Akkad)
  5. Unnamed King (c. 2080 BC)
  6. Hashibatal (c. 2070 BC contemporary with Shulgi king of Ur)
  7. Arvilukpi (c. 2050 BC contemporary with Amar-Sin king of Ur)
  8. Pariashum (c. 2045 BC contemporary with Amar-Sin king of Ur)
  9. Libanugshabash (2044–c. 2033 BC)
  10. Mashhundahli (c. 2020 BC contemporary with Ibbi-Sin king of Ur)

Artifacts

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  • "Abalgamash, King of Marhashi" (𒀀𒁀𒀠𒂵𒈦 𒈗 𒁀𒊏𒄴𒋳𒆠 Abalgamash Lugal Paraahshum-ki) on one of the Rimush inscriptions (Louvre Museum, AO 5476)
    "Abalgamash, King of Marhashi" (𒀀𒁀𒀠𒂵𒈦 𒈗 𒁀𒊏𒄴𒋳𒆠 Abalgamash Lugal Paraahshum-ki) on one of the Rimush inscriptions (Louvre Museum, AO 5476)
  • Prisoner of the Akkadian Empire, nude, fettered, drawn by nose ring, with pointed beard and vertical braid. Fragment of a vase possibly from Warka, ancient Uruk. Louvre museum.[23]
    Prisoner of the Akkadian Empire, nude, fettered, drawn by nose ring, with pointed beard and vertical braid. Fragment of a vase possibly from Warka, ancient Uruk. Louvre museum.[23]
  • The area of Jiroft and the Jiroft culture may correspond to the ancient country of Marhashi.[24]
    The area of Jiroft and the Jiroft culture may correspond to the ancient country of Marhashi.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bryce, Trevor (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. 449. ISBN 978-1-134-15907-9.
  2. ^ Francfort H.-P., Tremblay X. Marhaši et la civilisation de l'Oxus // Iranica Antiqua, vol. XLV (2010), pp. 51–224. doi: 10.2143/IA.45.0.2047119.
  3. ^ F. Vallat, "Eléments de géographie élamite (résumé)", PO 11, pp. 49–54, 1985
  4. ^ Horowitz, Wayne, "“The Ship of the Desert, the Donkey of the Sea”: The Camel in Early Mesopotamia Revisited", Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, edited by Chaim Cohen, Victor Avigdor Hurowitz, Avi M. Hurvitz, Yochanan Muffs, Baruch J. Schwartz and Jeffrey H. Tigay, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 597-612, 2008
  5. ^ Feingold, Rony, "Raw Materials and their Origins", Engraved on Stone: Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals and Seal Inscriptions in the Old Babylonian Period, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 7-22, 2014
  6. ^ "CDLI-Found Texts". cdli.ucla.edu.
  7. ^ Frayne, Douglas. Sargonic and Gutian Periods. pp. 55–56.
  8. ^ "CDLI-Archival View". cdli.ucla.edu.
  9. ^ Frayne, Douglas. Sargonic and Gutian Periods. pp. 57–58.
  10. ^ "CDLI-Found Texts". cdli.ucla.edu.
  11. ^ Chen, Yanli; Wu, Yuhong (25 September 2017). "CDLJ 2017:1". Cuneiform Digital Library Journal. 2017 (1).
  12. ^ Álvarez-Mon, Javier; Basello, Gian Pietro; Wicks, Yasmina (2018). The Elamite World. Routledge. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-317-32983-1.
  13. ^ a b Ebeling, E. and Meissner, B., "Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RIA-2), Berlin, 1938
  14. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "Corvée Labor in Ur III Times", From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22–24 July 2010, edited by Steven J. Garfinkle and Manuel Molina, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 347-424, 2013
  15. ^ Frayne, Douglas, "Ibbi-Sîn E3/2.1.5", in Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 361-392, 1997
  16. ^ Roaf, Michael, "Kassite and Elamite Kings", Volume 1 Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites 1, edited by Alexa Bartelmus and Katja Sternitzke, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 166-195, 2017
  17. ^ Lambert, W. G. (1965). "Nebuchadnezzar King of Justice". Iraq. 27 (1): 1–11. doi:10.2307/4199775. JSTOR 4199775. S2CID 163314901. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  18. ^ Pitkänen, Pekka, "Divine Presence and Centralization", Central Sanctuary and Centralization of Worship in Ancient Israel: From the Settlement to the Building of Solomon's Temple, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 25-68, 2014
  19. ^ Stolper, Matthew W., "On the Dynasty of Šimaški and the Early Sukkalmahs", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie , vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 42-67, 1982
  20. ^ Cooper, Jerrold S., "Enki and the World Order: A Sumerian Myth", Enki and the World Order. De Gruyter, 2024 ISBN 978-1501522536
  21. ^ Enki and the World Order - ETSCL
  22. ^ Qashqai, Hamidreza, "Chronicle of early Iran history", Tehran, Avegan press, 2011 (in Persian: گاهنمای سپیده دم تاریخ در ایران )
  23. ^ "Louvre Museum Official Website". cartelen.louvre.fr.
  24. ^ Álvarez-Mon, Javier; Basello, Gian Pietro; Wicks, Yasmina (2018). The Elamite World. Routledge. p. 372. ISBN 978-1-317-32983-1.

Further reading

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  • [1]Bertrand Lafont, "The Toponym Ligriki", Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin, 2002
  • [2]Olmstead, A. T., "The Babylonian Empire", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 35.2, pp. 65-100,1919
  • Potts, Daniel T., "In the Beginning: Marhashi and the Origins of Magan’s Ceramic Industry in the Third Millennium BC", Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 16, pp. 67–78, 2005
  • Potts, D. T., "Total prestation in Marhashi-Ur relations", Iranica Antiqua 37, pp. 343-357, 2002
  • Steinkeller, Piotr, "Marḫaši", RLA 7, pp. 381–382, 1989
  • Steinkeller, Piotr, "New Light on Marhaši and Its Contacts with Makkan and Babylonia", Journal of Magan Studies 1, pp. 1–17, 2006
  • Steinkeller, Piotr, "New Light on Marhaši and Its Contacts with Makkan and Babylonia", in Aux marges de l’archéologie : Hommage à Serge Cleuziou. Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouvès 16, edited by J. Giraud, and G. Gernez, Paris: Èd De Boccard, pp. 261–74, 2012
  • Steinkeller, P., "Marhaši and Beyond: The Jiroft Civilization in a Historical Perspective", in B. Cerasetti, C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and B. Genito (eds), ‘My Life is Like a Summer Rose’. Marizio Tosi e l’archaeologia come modo di vivere. Papers in Honour of Maurizio Tosi for His 70th Birthday (BAR International Series 2690), pp. 691–707, 2014
  • Zadok, Ran, "Issues in the Historical Geography and the Ethno-Linguistic Character of the Zagros and Adjacent Regions", A Question of Identity: Social, Political, and Historical Aspects of Identity Dynamics in Jewish and Other Contexts, edited by Dikla Rivlin Katz, Noah Hacham, Geoffrey Herman and Lilach Sagiv, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, pp. 71-110, 2019
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