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Garšana (also Garshana and GARšana) was a city in the ancient Near East which is still unlocated. A proposed reading of the toponym is "Nig2-ša(-an)-naki".[1] It was also referred to as "Uṣar-GARšana" indicating it was a newly built town. It is primarily known from the late 3rd millennium BC during the time of the Ur III empire. It is known to have been sited in the Umma province though was under direct royal control by Ur III rulers and had close relations with the unlocated ancient city of Iri-Saĝrig. Though the city has not yet been found a number of cuneiform tablets have appeared on the antiquities market which have enabled important insights into everyday life in that period. There is some indication that there was a military camp with the same name adjacent to the town of Garšana.[2][3]

History

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Map showing location of Umma

All the current sources from Garšana come from the period of the Ur III empire. It was one of at least 20 royal settlements in the Umma province including Zabalam, Karkar, and NAGsu, of which Garšana was the largest.[4] Contemporary texts indicate that the city had 1,347 royal settlers (heads of household) for a total population of about 5,000. There were also a number of slaves present, including 175 in the household of Šu-Kabta. It was governed by a general (šagina), some colonels (nu-bànda), a mayor (hazannu), and an council of elders. In the final years of Shulgi the general was named Arad-Nanna (Aradmu) and in Amar-Sin's 5th year the mayor is known to have been one Lušallim. The city had two "households of Nergal" with ereÍ-dingir and egi-zi priestesses though it is not clear that a shrine to Nergal existed at Garšana. It is known that elūnum rites for Nergal took place there.[5] A daughter of Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu named Simat-Ištaran (Me-Ištaran) lived on a royal estate at Garšana with her doctor/general husband Šu-Kabta (son of Naram-ili) who was in charge of Garšana. Šu-Kabta, who is known to have had a larger residence in Nippur, died in the year Shu-Sin 8 and his wife, Simat-Ištaran, subsequently took over that role.[6] The names of two other doctors located at Garšana were Nawir-ilum and Ubārtum (sister of Šu-Kabta).[7] After the Ur III period there was a single mention of Garšana in a text from the 19th year of Ishbi-Erra (c. 2000 BC), founder of the Dynasty of Isin which immediately followed Ur.[8]

In the Old Babylonian period there is known to have been a town named Uzargarsana in the neighborhood of Erech. Uncertain if that is the same city as Garšana.[9]

Sources

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Although Garšana has yet to be found, beginning in 1999 a large number of Sumerian language (with occasional Akkadian language elements) cuneiform tablets have become available via the antiquities market, having been looted from the site.[10][11] Most of the personal names in the texts are Akkadian vs Sumerian. Most tablets are datable as they are marked with the year names of Ur III rulers, mostly the later years of Shu-Sin and early years of Ibbi-Suen (c. 2030 BC). Other can be dated by context.[12] About 1500 of the tablets are from a single archive and stem from Shu-Sin years 6 and 7 and involve a royal construction project. The workers on the project included skilled worker such as master builders, and unskilled workers such as brick carriers, free and enslaved.[13] The workers were fed soups and stews and the texts have allowed recreation of the recipes.[14][15] Many of the tablets have been collected and published. Some of the looted tablets have been repatriated to Iraq.[16]

Most of the tablets concern minor, everyday matters but taken as a whole they provide a useful look at life in the Ur III period. An example text, from Shu-Sin year 8 (the year of his death):

"1 sheep. 1 goat. From Ili-bilani. Booked out. Month: “Harvest.” Year: “He fashioned for them the lofty barge.” SEAL - Šu-kabta, physician, child of Naram-ili: Adad-tillatī, scribe, child of Abia, (is) your slave."[17]

Garšana is mentioned in various other Ur III period texts and inscriptions. On an inscribed door socket dated to about Shu-Sin year 4 found at Girsu:

"Sü-Sín, ... his lord, Ir-Nanna, grand-vizier, governor of Lagas, sanga priest of the god Enki, military governor of Ušar-Garšana, general of Bašime, governor of Sabum and the land of Gutebum, general of Dimat-Enlila, governor of Al-Sü-Sîn, general of Urbillum, governor of Ham(a)zi and Karahar, general of NI.HI, general of Simaški and the land of Karda, his servant, built for him his Girsu temple"[18]

Location

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While there is consensus that the royal settlement of Garšana lay within the borders of the Ur III Umma province the specific areal location is uncertain. One earlier proposal put it not far to the northwest of the provincial capital of Umma in the northwest sector of the province, near the ancient city of Karkar, whose location is also yet unknown but is likely Tell Jidr. The alternative view is that the above location is actually that of the unlocated ancient city of NAGsu, also a large royal settlement (Site #275 in an archaeological survey of the area).[19]. The alternative proposed location of Garšana is on the Udaga Canal in the east or southwest portion of the Umma province near the border with Girsu/Lagash province and near the ancient city of Girsu, possibly at the archaeological site of Tell Baridiyah.[20][21] Susequent texts appear to support the more southeastern proposal.[22]

Tell Baridiyah

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The site (31° 26' 35.53" N, 46° 7' 8.85" E) lies about 14 kilometers southwest of Girsu and 5 kilometers west of the Al-Gharraf River and the modern town of Al-Shatrah. A survey showed it to have an area of about 600 meters by 400 meters with a height of about 3 meters. A surface survey found pottery from the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods and there was heavy looting at the site after the Gulf War in 1991.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "More on the Reading of the Toponym Garšana", NABU2012/4, 2012
  2. ^ Gabbay, U., "Laments in Garsana", in D. I. Owen (ed.) Garšana Studies (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 6), Bethesda, pp. 67–74, 2011
  3. ^ W. Heimpel, "Twenty-Eight Trees Growing in Sumer", in D. I. Owen (ed.), Garšana Studies (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 6), Bethesda, pp. 75-152, 2011
  4. ^ Piotr Steinkeller, "Corvée Labor in Ur III Times", in Steven Garfinkle and Manuel Molina (eds), From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.: Proceedings of the International Conference of Sumerian Studies held in Madrid 22–24 July 2010, Winona Lake, IN, pp. 347–424, 2013
  5. ^ Sharlach, T. M., "Sacrifice: An Overview of the Cultic Events to which the Shulgi-simti Foundation Contributed", An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 239-260, 2017
  6. ^ Alexandra Kleinerman, "Doctor Šu-Kabta’s Family Practice", in A. Kleinerman and J. M Sasson (Hrsg.): Why should someone who knows something conceal it? Cuneiform studies in honor of David I. Owen, Bethesda, pp. 177-182, 2011 ISBN 978-1-934309-30-8
  7. ^ Wu Yuhong, "Naram-ili, Šu-Kabta and Nawir-ilum in the archives of Garšana, Puzriš-Dagan and Umma", JAC 23, pp. 113-134, 2008
  8. ^ [1]McAdams, Robert, "Slavery and Freedom in the Third Dynasty of Ur: Implications of the Garshana Archives", Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2010.2, 2010-07-06
  9. ^ [2]Albright, William Foxwell, "A Babylonian geographical treatise on Sargon of Akkad's empire", Journal of the American Oriental Society 45, pp. 193-245, 1925
  10. ^ Sallberger, Walther, "Sumerian Language Use at GarÍana", in D. I. Owen (ed.), Garšana Studies (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 6), Bethesda, 2011
  11. ^ Sommerfeld, Walter, ed., "Dealing with Antiquity: Past, Present & Future", RAI Marburg, Ugarit-Verlag, 2020
  12. ^ [3]Hearne, James, et al., "Dating Tablets in the Garshana Corpus", The Thirtieth International Flairs Conference, pp. 628-630, 2017
  13. ^ [4]Buccellati, Federico, "Three-dimensional volumetric analysis in an archaeological context: the palace of Tupkish at Urkesh and its representation", Undena, 2016
  14. ^ Allred, L. A. N. C. E., "The kitchen at Garsana", in D. I. Owen (ed.), Garšana Studies (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 6), Bethesda, 2011
  15. ^ H. Brunke, "Essen in Sumer", Metrologie, Herstellung und Terminologie nach Zeugnis der Ur III-zeitlichen Wirtschaftsurkunden, (Geschichtswissenschaften Band 26), München, 2011
  16. ^ Cornell to return 10,000 ancient tablets to Iraq - LA Times - Jason Felch - Nov. 3, 2013
  17. ^ Dahl, Jacob L., "Receipts: The Primary Documents", Ur III Texts in the Schøyen Collection, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 95-161, 2020
  18. ^ Frayne, Douglas, "Šū-Sîn E3/2.1.4", in Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 285-360, 1997
  19. ^ [5] R. McC. Adams and H. Nissen, "The Uruk Countryside: The Natural Setting of Urban Societies", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972 ISBN 0-226-00500-3
  20. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "On the Location of the Town of GARšana and Related Matters", 2011
  21. ^ Sollberger, Edmond, "Garaš-Ana(k)", Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 18, pp. 104–08, 1957
  22. ^ [6]Molina, Manuel and Steinkeller, Piotr. "New Data on Garšana and the Border Zone between Umma and Girsu/Lagaš", The First Ninety Years: A Sumerian Celebration in Honor of Miguel Civil, edited by Lluís Feliu, Fumi Karahashi and Gonzalo Rubio, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 231-249, 2017
  23. ^ P. Steinkeller, "The Umma Field Ušgida and the Question of GARšana’s Location", in Beyond Hatti. A Tribute to Gary Beckman, B. J. Collins and P. Michalowski (eds), pp. 295-307, Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2013

Further reading

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  • [7]McGuire Gibson and Robert D. Biggs, eds., "The Organization of Power: Aspects of Bureaucracy in the Ancient Near East (Second Edition with Corrections)", Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 46, SAOC 46, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991
  • [8]Owen, David I., "Garsana Notes", Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale, vol. 110, pp. 23–34, 2016
  • Owen, David I., "New Sources from the Garšana and Iri-Saĝrig Archives", ᵈ.Nisaba za₃-mi₂. Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Francesco Pomponio, hrsg. v. Palmiro Notizia, Annunziata Rositani, Lorenzo Verderame (dubsar 19)., pp. 199-236, 2021
  • Owen, David I., "Pigs and Pig By-Products at Garsana in the Ur III Period", in Lion B, Michel C (eds.), De la Domestication au Tabo, De Boccard, Paris, pp 75-87, 2006
  • Owen, David I., "A Tale of Two Cities: New Ur III Archives and their Implication for Early Old Babylonian History and Culture", Diversity and Standardization: Perspectives on ancient Near Eastern cultural history, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Jörg Klinger and Gerfrid G. W. Müller, München: Akademie Verlag, pp. 99-112, 2013
  • [9]Patterson, Daniel, "Elements of the Neo-Sumerian Military", Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2018
  • [10]Reid, J., "Slavery in Early Mesopotamia from Late Uruk until the Fall of Babylon in the Longue Durée", Dissertation, Oxford University, UK, 2014
  • Saadoon, Abather Rahi, "Sumerian Texts from the Archive of the Princess Šāt-Eštar in the Collections of the Iraq Museum", Iraq 80, pp. 213-231, 2018
  • Thureau-Dangin, "La construction des maisons à Garšana: commentaires archéologique", in Cécile Michel (ed.), De la maison à la ville dans l’Orient ancien: la maison et son mobilier, Nanterre: CNRS – ArScAn-HAROC, pp. 239–250, 2015

GARSANA ARCHIVE

  • Owen, D. I. and R. H. Mayr, "The Garšana Archives", Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 3, Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2007
  • A. Kleinerman and D. I. Owen, "Analytical Concordance to the Garšana Archives", (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 4), Eisenbrauns, 2009 ISBN 978-1934309032
  • Wolfgang Heimpel, "Workers and construction work at Garsana: Workers and Construction Work at Gharsana", (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 5), Peters, 2009 ISBN 9781934309049
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Category:Archaeological sites in Iraq

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