EASTERN ARABIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC
Edited by Alessandra Avanzini
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Eastern Arabia in the first millennium b.C. - Roma: <
CDD 21. 939.49
1.Arabia orientale - Sec. XI-I a. C. 2. Archeologia - Arabia INDEX
PROGRAMME OF THE CONFERENCE 'A
ALESSANDRA AvANzINI Introduction - Eastern Arabia and the ancient South Arabian kingdoms at the beginning 9 of the first millennium BC.
EASTERN ARABIA AND NEIGHBOURING REGIONS A BACKGROUND OF HISTORY AND CONTACTS
STEFANIA MAZZONT Arabia in the first millennium BC: the Near Eastern background. 17
FREDERICK MARIO FALES Southern Mesopotamia in the millennium BC and its contacts with Eastern Arabia. 29
PETER MAGEE Iran and the Gulf in the first half of the first millennium BC. 45
JEAN-FRANcOIs SALLES Dc Pétra au Golfe ou l'invention d'une route lagide. 57
REASSESSMENT OF THE IRON AGE CHRONOLOGY IN EASTERN ARABIA
CARL PHILLIPS Iron Age chronology in South East Arabia and new data from Salut, Sultanate of Oman. 71
JURGEN SCHREIBER The Iron I-period in South-eastern Arabia - a view from Central Oman. 81 6 EASTERN ARABIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC
NEW DATA ON SETTLEMENTS AND OASIS PATTERNS
ALESSANDRA AVANZINI, CARL PHILLIPS An outline of recent discoveries at Saint in the Sultanate of Oman. 93
ANNE BENOIST Authority and religion in South East Arabia during the Iron Age: 109 a review of architecture and material from columned halls and cultic sites.
JOAQUIN MARIA CORDOBA L'architecture domestique de 1'Age du Fer (1300-300 a. C.) dans la péninsule d'Oman: 143 quelques documents sur les villages et la culture des oasis.
JUTTA HASER Continuity and change: Iron Age oasis settlements in Oman. 159
MICHEL MOUTON Mleiha et le peuplement de la péninsule d'Oman a la période Pré-Islamique Récente. 181
KHALED NASHEF Saruq al-IIadid: an industrial complex of the Iron Age II period. 213
WALID YASIN AL THUnTI Heading North: an ancient caravan route and the impact of the falaj system 227 on the Iron Age culture.
AUTHORS AND ISTITUTIONS 249 Eastern Arabia in the First Millennium BC International Conference - Pisa, 12th - 13" May 2008 Palazzo alla Giornata - Lungarno Pacinotti, 43
Monday, May 1211 9:30 Tuesday, May 13th 9:30
Welcome and opening speech: A. Benoist (CNRS, Lyon) Prof. L. Tornasi Tongiorgi Authority and religion in Eastern Arabia during Iron (Pro-Rector University of Pisa) Age II and III. architecture and materials Dr. Said Al-Salmi (Office of H.E. the Advisor to H.M the Sultan for j Cordoba Cultural Affairs, Muscat) (Universidad Autonorna de Madrid) Domestic architecture
A. Avanzini J. Häser Introduction (D.A.I., Amman) Oasis settlements in the Oman Peninsula and the J.-F. Salles results of the surveys (CNRS, Lyon) Golfe: interpretation des données Dc Pétra an W. Yasin Al Tikriti F.M. Fales (Dep. Antiquities and Tourism, al-Am) (University of Udine) The impact of the Falaj System and the Iron Age Southern Mesopotamia in the first millennium Culture of Eastern Arabia
P. Lombard P. Yule (CNRS, Lyon) (University of Heidelberg) Bahrain in the first millennium U.A.E. Archaeology (without Oman) in the late Pre- Islamic Age Monday, May 12 11 15:00 P. Magee Tuesday, May 13th 15:00 (Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia) Iranian influences in the Gulf Open discussion with the partecipation of:
J. Schreiber R. Boucharlat (D.A.I., Bamberg) (CNRS, Lyon) Iron I period in Oman A. Invernizzi C.S. Phillips (University of Turin) (UMR704 1, Paris) Iron Age III in South East Arabia S. Mazzoni M. Mouton (University of Florence) (CNRS, Université de Nanterre, Paris) La période Pré-Islamique re'cente dans la pen insule A. V. Sedov d 'Oman: chronologie et peuplement (State museum of Oriental Art, Moscow) INTRODUCTION
Eastern Arabia and the ancient South Arabian kingdoms at the beginning of the first millennium BC
A lessandra Avanzin i
I had already been working in Sumhuram in Oman for Near East and the eastern Mediterranean were simi- some years when, in 2004, H.E. Abdulaziz Al-Rowas lar. invited me to begin an excavation in Salut, a project The actual realities that develop from such historic which I was glad to accept'. premises are, however, a very different story. Under the archaeological direction firstly of A.V. Se- The beginning of the Iron Age in south western Arabia dov and then of C. Phillips it was clear that the most coincided with the formation of the earliest kingdoms, interesting historical period of Salut was the Iron Age, and these were characterized by a marked ideology from the last centuries of the second millennium to the of "state" with monumental texts to cement this iden- mid centuries of the first. tity. The structure of the ASA state has clear parallels with the kingdoms of the Syro-Palestinian area of the I have been studying the kingdoms of south western first millennium. By contrast, though, the kingdoms Arabia for many years, and finding myself working on of south Arabia were less at risk of being attacked in a site in eastern Arabia that was contemporary with the wars of conquest. No armies of Assyrians, of Persians, formation of the ancient South Arabian (ASA) states of Alexander, or of Romans ever went there. The dis- led me to ponder on the relationship between the two tance, the desert and the ocean protected these king- areas of the peninsula. doms from its much stronger neighbours but they also The new scenario that emerged in the Near East at the contributed to isolating them somewhat from the ma- beginning of the Iron Age encompassed not only the jor cultural movements and events taking place in the ASA kingdoms but also the Iron Age settlements in world close by. This does not mean that the kingdoms eastern Arabia. of South Arabia did not feel the effect of outside histo- The moment in history was the same, and many of the ry. Their economy was based on trade so it would have "new" historic conditions typical of the end of the sec- been impossible for them not to have felt the reper- ond millennium and the beginning of the first in the cussions of change, even merely the shifts in the very
H.E. Abdulaziz Al-Rowas is the Adviser to H.M. the Sultan for Cul- sincerest thanks to him and to the team who works in Muscat and tural Affairs. The collaboration provided by the Office he directs was Salalah. crucially important for the University of Pisa's work in Oman. My
10 ALESSANDRA AVANZINI
nature of their markets of reference and the peoples Minaic did come to an end. to whom they sold their merchandise. In the course of Very rarely were ASA cities destroyed by enemy forc- their long history, their trading partners changed and es. On the contrary, they survived long through the hence the destination and means of transport of their centuries and the reason for their lack of epigraphic merchandise. documentation for long periods may have been due to The political restructuring of eastern Arabia was a the shifts that occurred in their internal political power completely different matter, affected as it was by the structures. Gulf crisis of the early first millennium and partly by- Such a scenario is basic to understanding the extent to passed by the new international trade routes. Its villag- which epigraphic documentation and the language it- es of the Iron Age were populated by sedentary peo- self were just as part of state ideology, its political and ples who tilled the land and developed sophisticated religious structure, as monumental inscriptions were irrigation systems but did not seem to have constituted fundamental to the identity of its members. a centralised state. The settlements of eastern Arabia in the Iron Age The cultural frontier between eastern and western Ara- evoke the idea of a complex society comprised of a bia, that Michael Macdonald hypothesised', is perfect- sedentary population, which, however, did not seem ly fitting and in line with the state of affairs. to have coalesced into a centralised structure or state One aspect that Macdonald rightly focused on is that and therefore did not feel the need to seek legitimacy the written documentation of East Arabia borrowed its by adopting a common language or by writing monu- system of writing from neighbouring cultures instead mental texts in a way that would cement the union of of developing its own attesting the spoken language of the various parts. the region. This is important in identifying certain aspects of how The trading links in the first half of the millennium East Arabia was organised politically. Again, refer- between Yemen and eastern Arabia have also been ence to ASA documentation is useful. overestimated in my view. There is evidence in both The impressive production of ASA epigraphy is un- areas of an organised, well-documented connection doubtedly connected to the constitution of the state 3. from the end of the fourth Century BC. To the well The production of epigraphy during the 1500 year known examples4 two Sabaic dedicatory texts made span of ASA history was not uniform. This cannot be by people from eastern Arabia can be added. The in- justified only by the chance of the archaeological dis- scriptions, one re-interpreted by N. Nebes5 and the coveries. other published in the CSAI-website, seem to men- Taking the Jawf region of Yemen as an example, there tion king Seleucus6. is a clear wealth of linguistically distinct, epigraphic To assume, however, that there were stable trading documentation up until the end of the Minaean king- links between the two areas in the first half of the mil- dom. But while the end of the kingdom did not mark lennium is purely hypothetical and based on factors, the end of major settlements - big cities continued to which are somewhat weak, namely the cuboid per- exist, the walls of Baraqish did not fall and the Mi- fume burners of eastern Arabia and the three ASA let- naean tribe was still attested after Minaean rule ended ters on a jar from Muweilah. monumental epigraphic documentation written in Eastern Arabian perfume burners, from that of Ras al-Jinz7
2 MACDONALD 2000, p. 38, fig. 4. csai.humnet.unipi.it The inscriptions in the Yemeni museums), which A number of recently published works on the Syro-Palestininan area is rich in Aramaic and north Arabian onomastic and grammatical traits, look at the relationship between monumental epigraphy and state. the line 5 reads: b-s'nts'bS'ik nslk "in the seventh year of Selene us, the ROUDLEDGE 2004, pp. 27-40; ROLLSTON 2006. king" (PRIOLETTA, forthcoming). MAGEE 1999, pp. 47-48. CLEUZIOU, Tosi 1997. Two seals decorated with geometric designs I refer here to the Ry 547 inscription, a dedication in the temple of were discovered in Tosi and Cleuziou's excavations (CLEuzJou ci al. Mahram Bilqis. N. Nebes presented the missing part of the inscrip- 1994). These are reminiscent of ASA letters and create an evocative tion: DAI-Marib 2007-I in the Seminar for Arabian Studies held in and meaningful link between the two areas. The history of alphabetic 2007 in London and translated s'nt tntn S11k m1k in the first line of writing is also to be re-assessed from a southern perspective but great Ry 547 as "the second year of Seleucus, the king" (m1k with the caution is called for before drawing conclusions. In order for a circle Aramaic determination). Nebes identified Seleucus with Seleucus I and a rectangle carved on a seal to become two consonants and not (358-281 BC). just two geometric shapes they need to be set within some cultural 6 In an inscription in the university museum of Sana: A-20-216 (http:// context which so far is wholly evanescent.
INTRODUCTION: EASTERN ARABIA AND THE ANCIENT SOUTH ARABIAN KINGDOMS 11
in the Early Bronze Age onwards, are taken as evi- Therefore, at the beginning of the first millennium, dence of a trade in frankincense between the two ar- eastern Arabia and Yemen had different social organi- eas of Arabia. Cuboid perfume burners are not only zations with occasional contact between them. attested in Yemen but in the Middle East and southern The nomads are crucial for understanding the dynam- Mesopotamia too8. ics of history in the peninsula but they should not, as No analysis confirms that the perfume was indeed sometimes happens, become the only factor for exam- frankincense instead of just one of the many other ining the characteristics of Arabia in the Iron Age. perfumed resins which were also burned in the cube- This may be the reason for my dislike of the generic shaped perfume burners of south-western Arabia. but highly loaded term "Arabs", with its marked Is- So far they are not firm proof of trade in frankincense lamic connotation linked to specific social organiza- - probable perhaps and how, if at all the elite of east- tions, to define the inhabitants of the ASA kingdoms or ern Arabia was involved still has to be proved'. of the villages of eastern Arabia in the first millennium It may be that cube-shaped incense burners of the be- BC. ginning of the millennium could mean (highly prob- Nomads awaiting the Prophet (who with remarkable able) contact with southern Mesopotamia more than political far-sightedness united dispersed tribes behind an ongoing link with the ASA kingdoms. the faith of a single God) were pressing on the southern The inscription from Muwailah'° is too isolated an ex- and northern borders of the Arabian peninsula. They ample to be proof of a structured framework of con- gradually moved in to where the sedentary settlements tacts between the ASA kingdoms and eastern Arabia. were located to create the well-known dimorphic near- These inscriptions are part of a scanty but significant eastern society, forging links between distant cultures, group of evidence on the ASA presence north of the without, however, imposing their own unique social peninsula in the Syro-Palestinian area and in Mesopo- organisation or their linguistic traits on the sedentary tamia in the early first millennium". population". The hypothesis 12 that these data are proof of ASA It is a known fact that by contrast to earlier periods, the peoples living on the border of Mesopotamia before structure of states at the beginning of the Iron Age was continuing on down to Yemen is today devoid of any based ideologically on a "nomadic" lifestyle. Blood basis. These data are only evidence of the most ancient ties were crucial for defining a community, and alli- links between distant regions, the broadening of the ances between groups were fundamental to the forma- scenario of the Near East at the beginning of the mil- tion of the state. This however does not imply that this lennium13. ideological premise affected the history of states over- The letters on the jar of Muweilah, together with in- all in the Iron Age or that it is to be deemed the princi- scriptions on the seals found in Mesopotamia, could pal if not the sole aspect of their social organisation. be part of so called "Oasis North Arabian" inscrip- For example, the way ASA cities were planned natu- tions'4. rally reflects the structure of their society which was
8 See, the incense burners from Lachish (SHEA 1983). which adopted the cuneiform Ugaritic alphabet but also within the See the extreme conclusions in Magee 2005, P. 112: "Highly-deco- city that created this system of writing and the order of its alphabet rated incense burners that are locally produced are also found in col- - is firm proof of contact between two writing traditions. It does not umned buildings at Muweilah, Rumleilah and Bina Bint-Saud. The incontrovertibly prove direct contact between Yemen and Ugarit use of these reflect the ability of elites to control overland trade-routes the two writing traditions could have developed within Ugarit itself to Yemen, and therefore access to incense, and would have formed an or of intermediate cultural centres. The early dating of Tayma and important part of banqueting and elite gatherings". its links with Egypt could make its role as a bridge between the two '° MAGEE 1999; MULLER 1999. traditions credible. Assuredly, archaeology in Yemen in recent years, " To the well known examples of the Queen of Sheba's journey, the with hypotheses for dating some of the main ASA cities in the second mention of two Sabaean kings in the Assyrian annals and the text millennium does not rule out that there was writing at that time which from Suu can be added the lesser known but no less interesting ASA was taught and memorised in a predefined order in writing schools ibex statuette from Hama (ScicLiuzzo 2003). in Yemen. 12 GARBINI 1984. ' MAEOONALO 2000, Pp. 42-43; FALES, in this volume. 13 Here we must not forget the oldest evidence of cultural contact 15 1am therefore fully in agreement with MASCITELL! 2006, p. 16 "In between the Near East and western Arabia, namely the south Semitic ogni caso, fino al VI secolo d.C. gli arabi restano ai margini della alphabetical order in Ugarit and in Palestine despite the difficulty in storia, sotto ii profilo politico, sociale, culturale". In Semitic philol- interpreting it. Whatever meaning might be given to the presence of ogy the definition of Arnorrites as nomads capable of imposing their the south Semitic alphabetical order alongside the Ugaritic-Phoeni- linguistic innovation on the sedentary peoples is historically unlikely cian one - well known not only at the periphery of the cultural area (RETSO 1989, pp. 202-203).
12 ALESSANDRA AVANZINI
centred on the family. Within the city walls large man- The objective of this seminar is to reach agreement sions were inhabited by members of the same family, not only on identifying a chronological division of the a fact which as such is not in my view so meaningful. Iron Age culture in eastern Arabia but also an overall Examples of this are found all throughout history in framework for it, as well as identifying the relation- every civilisation. On the other hand, to take this city ship of continuity or hiatus with the glorious Bronze layout as an indication that city-dwellers were closely Age period that preceded it and the protagonists of this tied to their past in the Arabian desert and to disregard period and the trade and cultural relationships between the imposing royal palaces to be found in these very them. cities - the symbol of centralised state power risks completely distorting the overall historical perspec- tive". REFERENCES But let us leave aside for now the ASA kingdoms and what I deem to be the pervasive and dangerous tenden- BOUCHARLAT R., SALLES J.-F. (éds.) cy to take the early first millennium history of Arabia 1984 - Arabie orientale, Mésopotamie et Iran me- as monolithic, and focus our attention on the seminar ridional de 7 'age du Fer au debut de La période on eastern Arabia in the Iron Age. islamique, Reunion de travail, Lyon, Maison de The idea of holding this seminar arose in the course of l'Orient, Paris. a conversation with Michel Mouton in Paris and, sub- CLEuzIou S., Tost M. sequently, Carl Phillips also warmly supported it. 1997 - <
6 For instance for Shabwa: "The development of towns from such a the urbanisation of Shabwa, capital of the Hadramawt in antiquity, distribution of separated plots, corresponding to different families or confirms this pattern" (MOUTON 2009, pp. 185-186). 7 clans, is characteristic of desertic Arabia. The most recent study of BOUCHARLAT, SALLES 1984, p. S. INTRODUCTION: EASTERN ARABIA AND THE ANCIENT SOUTH ARABIAN KINGDOMS 13
MASCITELLI D. 2006 - L 'arabo in epoca preislamica. Formazione di una lingua, Arabia Antica 4, Rome. MOUTON M. 2009 - << The settlement patterns of north-eastern and south-eastern Arabia in late antiquity >>, Arabian Ar- chaeology and Epigraphy 20, pp. 185-207. MULLER W.W. 1999 - <
Stefania Mazzoni
General Framework eral trends; although it cannot be questioned that this One of the more frequently discussed topics in the delicate process of transition was a quite common and field of archaeological interpretation in recent years generalised Near Eastern affair, the impact and influ- has been centred on the period of the transition from ence of distinct regional features in the scenario have the Late Bronze to the Iron Age'. In the Levant es- cogently been argued. In this framework, understand- pecially, this period experienced different trends, a ing the interplay between indigenous and exogenous quite widespread crisis of the political organisation components, the former supposedly traditional and which affected, more or less occasionally, the long- the latter innovative, has also been a topic of debate established network of settlements, and a subsequent and discussion will undoubtedly develop along these renewal of the political and social scenario, also result- lines. ing in major cultural and economic changes. Among However, archaeological and textual sources provide the favoured issues of debate on this theme has been unquestionable documents on political events that the question of the degree of continuity versus innova- brought important kingdoms and their capitals to an tion that was involved in the process: whether a new end in the first quarter of the 12I cent., and demon- world or rather a renewed world emerged in the Iron strate that, after this period, new political conditions Age could be viewed as a rather dull question and a gradually emerged, with old and new kingdoms com- mere play on words but it does, in fact, raise a cru- peting for their territorial boundaries. It is exactly in cial issue regarding the mechanisms that effectively this phase, archaeologically termed Iron I, that consist- bridged the long-lasting oriental society with its cul- ent economic competition and social dynamics could tural and ideological traditions into an enlarged and develop on an unprecedented scale. More probably, variously populated Eastern Mediterranean. A further and following a shared opinion, these trends had al- matter of debate has also been the interpretation of the ready begun in the course of the final Late Bronze Age relations and balance between regionalisms and gen- and were accelerated and increased by the transforma-
The crisis question has been the subject of several international 426; on economy and trade in the transitional period: PEDRAZZI 2007, conferences: DEGER JALKOTZY (ed.) 1980, WARD, SHARP JOUKOWSKI pp. 332-344. For Palestine there is a wide bibliography, summarised (eds.) 1992; GITIN, MAZAR, STERN (eds.) 1998; FISCHER, GENZ, JEAN, by PEDRAZZI 2007, pp. 27-30. More recently see GADOT 2008 for the KOROCLU (eds.) 2003; VENTURI (ed.) 2009. Recent literature: KILLE- coastal plain. BREW 2003. On Syria and the Levant see: VENTURI 2007, pp. 381-
18 STEFANIA MAZZONI
BLACK SEA
LYDIA Gordion.
URARTU CILICIA CARIA Tarsus emish Harran MANNEA S S _) T.SaUA ASSYRIA MEDIA
U, Dur Kalimmu Ecbatana
Byblos Sidon) MEDITERRANEAN SEA / Babylon Susa BABYLONIA ELAM Jerusalem Sai rati Persepolis Memphis. PERSIAER
• Taima
EGYPT PERSIAN GULF
Thebes
NUBIA
KUSH RED SEA
Napata
SABA
The New East in the first millennium BC (drawing by S. Martelli).
ARABIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC: THE NEAR EASTERN BACKGROUND 19
tion of the political scenario and the presence of a present seminar, the position of Arabia with its distinct variety of patrons, customers and producers 2 . This is social and economic models. Arabia in the transitional certainly the case of some of the economic and tech- phase is but a part, albeit far from secondary, of the nological developments that were probably embedded same scenario. On the western flank of the desert, new in the international landscape of the Late Bronze Age: components emerged to self-determination, probably the technology of iron for warfare and agriculture, ar- stemming from Late Bronze local groups of herders, chitecture and monumental sculpture 3, the technology and settled the land taking possession of oases, streams and instruments related to an increased mobility by and mountains and founding towns ex novo. On the sea and land with ships for seafaring, saddles and har- eastern side the local population could also develop nesses for camel and horse riding and for chariots, but an oasis organisation and express social and economic also developments related to the intensification and distinct traits, which seem to be unrelated to either the spread of occupation in different environments, in the western Arabian societies or the previous Late Bronze oases and arid lands such as hydraulic technology for Age local societies. The once flourishing commercial dams, canals and reservoirs and terrace building for coastal network of Eastern Arabia was not resumed agriculture 4. on an international scale while, on the fringes of the Social dynamics can be properly documented by desert, small clusters of villages and towns accommo- literary and textual sources and did, in fact, exert a dated a population that depended entirely on the ex- tremendous ideological and cultural influence. New ploitation of local resources for internal consumption. components (Aramaeans and Phoenicians, Philistines, Once more, it is in a wider Near Eastern context that Chaldaeans and Hebrews, Ammonites and Moabites, these processes can be better focussed upon, not in a Arabs and Iranians, Urartians, Phrygians, Medes and deterministic cause-response dimension but in a per- lonians) appeared on the scene, facing and bringing spective of integration into an organic system embrac- pressure to bear on old empires such as Egypt, As- ing a common and extensive interacting area. They syria and Babylonia, and could gradually emerge to are in fact to be understood against the background of self-determination. This process not only changed the the climax of the transitional years. As already said, a political geography of the area but also led to differ- consistent role in the transition from the Late Bronze ent mechanisms of cultural relations and interplay, of to the Iron Age was the gradual shift from a concentric distinction, assimilation, attraction and emulation. In centripetal network system, based on palatine and elite the same way, the over-seas and trans-desert circula- production and consumption, and consequently self- tion of goods and tradesmen, military occupation and sufficiency, to an enlarged centrifugal system. This in- imperial administration, deportation and forced relo- cluded decentralised, competitive economic and com- cation of populations were all factors that contributed mercial activities, their dissemination over-seas and to increasing, on the one hand, intercultural and sym- the mutual circulation of foreign agents and traders at biotic processes and prompting, on the other, manifold home and abroad, in a political scenario shared by a national identities and ethnic forces to develop as a re- plurality of powers but largely dominated by supra- action. It is here fitting to recall that two specific jour- regional empires: Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and Per- neys, both ideologically significant, brought old and sia. These empires were, at one and the same time, new identities into contact across far distant bounda- political and ideological foci, cores of cultural attrac- ries, the journey of the queen from Saba to Jerusalem tion and geographical poles. Of undoubted relevance and the journey of Nabonedo from Harran to Teima'. in this regard was the altered geography of the eco- This process brings us directly to the core of the nomic network, which mirrors the interplay between
2 Following SHERRAT 1998, p. 101, an open economy brought on pecially the cut-and-thrust, Naue II swords had a dramatic impact on by the presence of new components on the coast and Cyprus was a the crisis of the Levant stimulating a consistent change in warfare. further factor of destabilization for the centralised economies of the I have already dealt with the technological background of Iron I in palaces. The Phoenicians, instead, were able to profit from this new MAzzoNi 1981 and 1995. The emergence and nature of artificial ter- decentralised economy: BAUER 1998, pp. 159-163. race building with related practices of the control of rainwater runoff On the importance of iron working for Syria, see MAZZONI 1981. On flowing from the hilly flanks are still debated: see HoPKINs 1985, pp. the economic and social role of iron: SHERRAT 1994, pp. 60-62; PICK- 175-179; BoRowsIu 1988 and the review of the literature by GIBsON LES, PELTENBURG 1998, pp. 88-90 underscore the "industrial devolu- 2001, pp. 116-128. According to STAGER 1982, pp. 115-116, there is tion" after the crisis of the palace economy that promoted competitive mention of terraces for vineyards in the Ugarit texts. GIBSON 2001, crafts. Following DRAws 1993, pp. 192-208 Aegean weapons and es- pp. 118-119.
20 STEFANIA MAZZONI
the many distant partners as well the area of concern tional LB/Iron Age (12' cent.) and Iron Age I (end and subsequent involvement of the imperial powers. 12th 10t15 cent.), that is characterised by the disappear- Attention and interest have been more often addressed ance, ascent, intrusion and interaction of different na- to the Mediterranean network with its expanding bor- tive and external forces and ethnic movements. On the ders embracing western and eastern partners (Myc- one hand, following the fall of Khatti and many Syr- eneans in the Late Bronze, Phoenicians in the Iron ian and Canaanite kingdoms and the ascent of Assyria, Age), and then preparing the context for the ambiva- new dynamic foci such as the Sea Peoples and the lent east-west relations that still today undermine sta- Philistines intruded, entailing a steady Mediterranean bility in the area. Other areas also became attractive perspective 5 ; on the other, local components of native and entered the network, such as western Arabia, once origin, such as the Aramaeans, Hebrews and Arabs local societies were capable of mobilising and capital- could ascend, entailing a distinct societal organisation ising sufficient wealth to sustain economic and social with tribes and a steppe and desert perspective, with a growth and establish trade and fonnal relations with nomadic style of life'. neighbouring areas. This was certainly beneficial to It is important to note that the transformation of the the Levantine circuit which could extend at both ends geography of competition for power and economic to include, in a common network, the Mediterranean interplay was paralleled by an increased mobility and and the Red Sea with south-west Arabia, thus increas- by a consistent development of the means of trans- ing de facto its commercial potentialities. However, port. Seafaring in the Mediterranean, from east to a further circuit of economic interaction also played west, was rendered practicable by improving the ef- a nodal role during this period, crossing the northern ficiency of ships', and, in the same way, the invention and north-eastern frontiers, which had long been al- of the camel saddle improved camel riding on long ternately marginal or integrated into the orbit of the distance journeys whilst horse riding would eventu- dominant powers, and were now instead potential nu- ally accelerate mobility in war and rapid, long-dis- clei of economic development. The attraction towards tance communication over different landscapes. In- these northern frontiers became a vital factor that con- creased mobility certainly had the effect of facilitat- tributed to transforming the scenario of the Near East ing the movement of peoples and especially nomads in the course of the V millennium BC. over sea and desert. This transformation, and especially the widening of It is well known that the introduction of large scale the geographic sphere of economic and political inter- camel riding was apparently one of the factors that action have, in fact, to be analysed from the perspec- substantially expanded the network of the caravan tive of a long duration and phasing is therefore central routes, including Arabia and Arab tribes, but it was to our understanding. Two main phases can be singled also instrumental in developing mobility and conse- which attest to different factors of development and quently also the threat posed by tribes in the north. substantial cross-cultural dynamics also related to the The representation of scenes of camel riding in the increasing role of technological innovations which, as decoration of the Herald's Wall at Karkemish, capital noted earlier, helped to maximize and accelerate the of Khatti on the Euphrates, and the "Small Orthos- process. The first phase corresponds to a period of tats" of the "Tempel Palast" of Guzana, capital of the great mobility and transformations, including different Aramaean Bit Bakhiani on the Khabur, illustrate the waves of social and ethnic assessments (12th 911 cent. economic importance of camel riding also in north- BC), the second corresponds to the economic and cul- ern Syria from the 10° cent. BC8. tural floruit of a politically redefined scenario domi- A further force to emerge with its social identity and nated by empires and their opponents (81h.611 cent.). distinct economic role was represented by mountain herders, also native components in the eastern fron- tier of the Zagros and Taurus ranges, up to the far- Phase 1 thermost Caucasus and Euro-Asiatic steppe. In fact, We can recognise a first phase, embracing the end of western Iran was also affected in the later second the Late Bronze Age (13 56-mid 12" cent.), the transi- millennium BC by factors of instability and ethnic
Recent literature: HALPERN 2006-2007; KJLLEBRE\V 2006-2007. 7ARTZY 1987, PP . 75-84 on the connection between anew type of boat 6 In the vast bibliography on nomads see the different approaches and and the Sea Peoples. themes in: EPH'AL 1984; STAUBLI 1991; CRBB 1991. ORTHMANN 1971, Pls. 8e, 28c.
ARABIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC: THE NEAR EASTERN BACKGROUND 21
movements. The transition from the Middle to the (Tell Leilan) in northern Khabur 4 . The transfer of the Late Elamite period around 1000 documents a gen- capital from Assur to Nimrud in the 9 cent. and the eral crisis of urbanisation, with the Middle Elamite subsequent transfer to Dur Sharrukin and then Nin- towns abandoned in Khuzistan, Susiana and Fars'. A eveh were certainly related to the exploitation of the certain degree of continuity characterised, instead, rain-fed northern plain and especially the fertile area the Ram Hormuz plain, in the south-east, Luristan, in of Mosul, but also the frontier mountain areas with the north-west, where nomadic pastoralists are docu- their resources. Copper, iron and silver were nota- mented by their funerary practices and cemeteries, and bly the primary resources of Assyrian trade from the in the Urmya plain, where a major break can also be karum period on and, through military conquest and linked to a new culture and new burial customs prob- annexation, metal objects and instruments made by ably documenting a "shifting of population" 11 . Among specialised crafts became a consistent part of the trib- these components a few would settle and also emerge ute and booty listed in the Annals and shown in the to self-determination, constituting more or less stable wall reliefs in the Assyrian capitals. political aggregations (Uruatri, Urarteans, Manne- Instruments for horse riding and chariotry were high- ans, Medes, Iranians)". Even though their origin and ly valued objects of tribute and booty. Among the economic role are still little known, their connection many innovations characterising the period, horse with metallurgy, horse breeding and horse riding is un- riding must have played a far from significant role. doubted, as seems to be the Assyrian interest in them Northern Mesopotamia and especially the Jezirah was since the very beginning of this nodal first phase. a nuclear area for the breeding of equids from the 3rd The Assyrian political ascent in the 13" and 121 cent. millennium on, and chariots were the elite means of BC constituted an important element of continuity transport for war and social and cult occasions ' 5 . The and stability in a scenario undermined by successive texts of Ebla refer to onagers and Nagar (Tell Brak) economic (famine, drought) and social (tribal conflict) was a centre of their breeding", while many equids factors of instability and crisis, and dramatic political have been found buried in the funerary installations events. Assyrian interest and expansion towards the adjacent to the tombs of the mortuary complex at Tell Upper Tigris and especially the Jezirah were not unre- Umm el-Marra in northern Syria". It was again in the lated with all these factors, profiting as they did from same area, and particularly in the Khurrian Mittani the weakness of coeval powers at the borders. The ad- world, that chariot driving and horse training were ministrative control of the Jezirah up to the western developed with an efficient specialised technique". frontier of the river Balikh, with the outpost of Tell Equid-riding had occasionally been practiced in Sabi Abyad could, in fact, supply Assur with large Mesopotamia since the end of the 3"' millennium and 2nd quantities of crops ' 2 . The foundation of the new pro- over the course of millennium thanks to simple vincial capital Dur Katlimmu (Tell Sheikh Hammad) harnessing, but without horse-bits 19• Horse riding was was also destined to exploit the land for agriculture, a still very rare during the Late Bronze Age and we can goal that was successfully achieved in the 9tIi61h cent.'3 cite a seal from the Middle Assyrian fort of Tell Sabi Different data indicate, in the course of this period, Abyad on the Balikh in northern Syria, reconstructed a tendency to gravitate towards the northern plains from several scalings on two envelopes, one inscribed and piedmont and eventually a gradual shift from the with the name of Ili-padâ, grand vizier of the west- lowlands and alluvial plains of central and southern ern province at the beginning of the 12th cent., that Mesopotamia. In economic terms, the expansion to shows a horseman approaching the façade of a build- the Jezirah is fully understandable and a traditional ing, probably the same owner represented visiting As- target of Assyrians since the time of Shamshi-Adad Sur as a sign of loyalty 20 . Horse-riding is here a status I, who founded his provincial capital at Shubat-Enlil symbol, as in the case of a few images of gods riding
15 CARTER 1998-2001, p. 285; POTTS 1999, pp. 259-263. MAZZONI 2006, p. 324. "° Luristan: OVERLAET 2003,pp. 6-13; for the Urmia Plain: MUSCARELLA 0 ARCHI 1998, pp. 1-15. 1974, pp. 52-53, quoting Dyson; PECORELLA 1984, pp. 334-335. ' SCHWARTZ 2007, pp. 51-52. " SALVINI 1967; SALVINI 1995, pp. 18-24. ' 8 VAN DERMIER0P2004,pp. 116-117. 12 AKKERMANS 2006; WILKINSON 1998. ' OWEN 1991, pp. 259-273; MOOREY 1970, pp. 43-44. See KUHNE 1991 and at footnote 23. 20 WIGGERMANN 2006, pp. 92-99, fig. 142. 11 AKKERMANS, SCHWARTZ 2003, p. 311.
22 STEFANIA MAZZONI
horses. Capacity in horseback riding led to an effi- Phase 2 cient system of transport thanks to the introduction The lengthy phase corresponding to Iron 11411 (9111..7th between the 12" and 91h centuries of both the horse- cent.) and to the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian im- bit and cheek-piece that permitted strict control of perial expansion and consequent administrative control the animal. Horse-riding was mainly practiced in the of many bordering lands of Mesopotamia, was a period northern areas where horse breeding was traditional of contrasting dynamics. On the one hand, regionalisa- due to environmental reasons and the metals required tion was increased in the periphery of the empire with, for harnesses were readily available. One of the main on the other, a rise in administrative and military impe- economic resources of the emergent Urartaeans and rial control and practices such as deportation and relo- Mannaeans during the 911 century was, in fact, horse cation of the annexed population resulted in shaping a breeding along with the many instruments used in large koiné, and the rise of mechanisms of social as- horse riding 21 . While horses from chariots were said similation and cultural emulation. However, they also to be kusaya ("from Kush" Nubia), cavalry horses prompted opposite reactions, emphasising national or were instead mainly mesaya "from Mesu" (in Iran, ethnic distinctiveness. The often gigantic and monu- possibly Manneans) 22 . The 9th century attests to sol- mental works of urbanisation in the new capitals of diers on horseback in pairs during battles (as in char- these empires could also mobilise and concentrate to- iots: warrior and driver), while with Sargon lithe gether a large mass of workers and specialised artisans, warrior could manage ride his horse and fight alone, frequently deported from conquered lands. Further fac- certainly thanks to new types of bits that would have ets of this process were deculturation and forced accul- given better braking power23 . We can date to this pe- turation to imperial culture, which was more effective riod the emergence of units of specialised cavalry; under Assyrians. A further factor was also constituted later a class of elite officers would appear, who not by a wave of technological transfer, more probably a only possessed the horsemanship, but also owned the mutual mechanism, seeing as the specialised crafts- horses and could afford their breeding and their ex- men were often foreigners coming from the annexed pensive harnessing. As S. Dalley has convincingly centres, most of which were renowned for the produc- demonstrated, Assyrian sources document a revolu- tion of a variety of crafts (ivory, bronze working). The tion in equestrian tactics from the 9111 to the 8 11 cent.; spread of the easy Aramaic script and, consequently, in the lists of captured chariotry and cavalry, mostly the adoption of Aramaic as a lingua franca in the As- from Syria, there is in fact change from a ratio of syrian milieu also belong to this same process. 1:1 (chariotry/cavalry) to a ratio of 1:10. The defeat One of the main targets of the imperial administra- of Mutallum of Kurnmukh, for example, furnished tion in the many peripheries under its control was to Sargon with 150 chariotry and 1500 cavalry; the fact increase agriculture, crops and olive oil production. that only the captured cavalry and chariotry from Syr- Regional farming areas were exploited and developed ian kingdoms were incorporated into the royal army on an unprecedented scale, stimulating intensive farm- (kiir sarrüti), points to a presence there of profes- ing and the spread of farmstead and rural sites in the sional equestrian units. Urartu also provided Assyr- strategic producing areas. A documented model of the ians with professional cavalry officers and Urartians Assyrian patronage of local productive economies is acted as traders of Mannean horses to Assyria. offered by the case of Philistia, which prospered in the To conclude, horse riding, mastering the techniques 7" cent. under the Assyrians, and especially the case of riding and harnessing were important factors in of EkronITell Miqne, that was transformed into the the economic development of north-eastern mountain main regional centre for industrial olive oil production tribes and a focus of attraction for Assyria. They had in the wake of Assyrian economic and commercial in- a tremendous impact on equestrian tactics in warfare, terests in the region". In the Jezirah it was a period increasing the mobility of armies over variety of land- of intensification of occupation and use of the land scapes. The conquest of the north-eastern frontier thus for agriculture; clusters of towns, hamlets and farms became vital to Assyrian expansion. have been documented by the surveys along the Ba-
21 DALLEY 1985, p. 42 quoting the letter from Sargon's 8 campaign the centrality of infantry over chariotry and cavalry in warfare as a against Urartu. nodal transformation in the course of the Iron Age. 22 DALLEY 1985, p. 43. 24 See GITIN 1997, 2004. 23 DALLEY 1985, pp. 36-37; DREWS 1993, pp. 163-167 stressed instead
ARABIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC: THE NEAR EASTERN BACKGROUND 23
likh, the western Khabur, the wadi Ajij and the middle lies in a run-off collection system to support agricul- Khabur. Here, a network of canals along the river was ture29. It has been said that knowledge of the Judaean newly planned and could sustain intensification of ag- underground water systems with their shafts and tun- riculture, demographic growth and an unprecedented nels might have provided Assyrians with the technical spread of settlements, especially in the period between know-how30; but these systems were strictly connect- 750-600 BC when a ranked six-tier settlement hierar- ed with the south Levantine towns more often founded chy can be postulated25. near perennial sources. Cases of adoption of a system Hydraulic techniques and an efficient system of canals of interconnected canals tapping water from a water- were instrumental in improving productivity in the course to sustain, with additional water, rain-fed ag- middle and low Khabur basin. I have already stressed riculture in an arid environment are still speculative the importance in the Near East and especially in arid as is the case of the Iron II Deir 'Alla in the Zerqa lands of the spread of a variety of hydraulic supports triangle (Jordan Valley)31 ; in any case, these can be and practices during the Iron Age which were to sub- better understood against the background of the trend stantially improve agriculture, increase productivity of increasing occupation in marginal lands in the wake and the stability of crops and horticulture26. Marginal of the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian technological in- lands could benefit from the spread of the technolo- centives to agriculture. gy related to water supply and irrigation that enabled These trends continued under the Neo-Babylonian and small groups of farmers to rely on their products on a Achaemenid rules that provided a further, significant subsistence level. Although research stresses the many impact on developing agriculture, regenerating the early cases of hydraulic practices in the Levant since southern and eastern area, the alluvial south Mesopo- the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, it is in the mature tamia plain, including Babylon and Susa, as well as Iron Age that different solutions were experimented south-central Persia with the fertile Fars, where Perse- and successfully practiced on a large scale through- polis was founded. The Fortification Tablets mention out the Near East. Technological as well as cultural a system of different properties: the famed and flour- dissemination were active factors that eventually led ishing partetas (paradisoi) near Persepolis, irmatam, many regional areas to select and create distinct solu- also collection centres for crops and fruits, and the tions to be practiced in different environments. In the households, ulhi32. In the Persian period, the river Pul- mountain area north of Mosul, a complex hydraulic var to the north and east of Pasargadae was drained by network was created in the 7th cent. to bring water to a system of dams and channels showing the adoption Nimrud and Nineveh. This included the Negub tunnel and development of Assyrian engineering technol- on the northern bank of the Greater Zab river 17 con- ogy33. Furthermore, the Achaemenids could develop sisting of many tunnels linking shafts and sluice gates and expand the network of trade and cultural relations, to regulate the water flow; the Kisiri canal, the north- from the long-established interacting frontier along ern system canals with the Maltai canal and its reliefs, the Mediterranean shores to the eastern frontier, where the Khinnis canals with inscriptions and reliefs and a contacts were resumed after a long gap, opening the dam at Bavian and its aqueduct crossing a river over route to Alexander the Great's Indian adventure 31. a high bridge built in stone with rough carving and The period spanning the 8th, 711 and 6 th centuries was acute arches at Jerwan, and the Mount Musri canals". accordingly a phase of great dynamism in east-west They were masterpieces of engineering technology, a interaction, including trade exchange, circulation of model for training Assyrian engineers and definitely goods and people, traders, craftsmen and mercenaries a planned hydraulic system consisting of stone built and was consequently also a period of increasing com- dams diverting rivers, canals tapping springs and gul- petition. Against this background of great cultural and
25 BERNBECK 1993; MORANDI BoNAcossi 1996; MORANDI 2000; WILKos- pp. 275-293. sON, BARBANES 2000; ANASTASTO 2007. KAPTJrN 2008. 26 MAzz0NI 1997, pp. 32-34. 32 BRIANT 1996, pp. 456-460. For Syria see MAZZONI 1991-1992; 27 DAVEY 1985. LYONNET 2005. 28 READE 1978, pp. 61-72; 157-170; READE 1998-2001, pp. 404-407; Kiiss 2000, pp. 753-757. ' READE 2002; UN 2005. See BRIANT, BOUCHARLAT (eds.) 2005 and especially FRANCFORT 29 BAGO 2000, p. 224; UR 2005, particularly see pp. 339-341. 2005 and BOIJCHARLAT 2005. 31 DAVEY 1985, pp. 54-55; BARKAY 1992, pp. 332-334; SHILOH 1992,
24 STEFANIA MAZZONI
populace mobility we have to posit the intensification AKKERMANS P.M.M.G., SCHWARTZ G. of circulation and occupation of eastern and western 2003 - The Archaeology of Syria from Complex Arabia. Phase 1 in Arabia probably attested to trends Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (ca. strictly linked to those affecting the northern regions, 16,000-300 BC), Cambridge. the Levant, Iran and Mesopotamia. A crisis of the Gulf ANASTASIa S. area, that included a substantial decrease in the circu- 2007 - Das Oberen Habur-Tal in der Jazira zwi- lation of peoples and goods, was probably consistent schen dem 13. Und 5. Jh. VChr. Die Keramik des with the fluctuation of the political and economic ge- Proj ektes "Prospéction Archéologique du Haut- ography of the period and the gravitation towards the Khabur Occidental (Syrie du N.E.) ", Firenze. northern areas and the Mediterranean. In the same way, ARCHI A. occupation instability and the shift from a sedentary to 1998 - << The Regional State of Nagar according to a nomadic style of life might have been a general Near the Texts of Ebla >>, in LEBEAU M. (ed.), About Sub- Eastern process which, however, occurred with differ- artu: Studies devoted to Upper Mesopotamia: Sub- ent paces, scales and dynamics of development in the artu 4,2, Turnhout, pp. 1-15. different environment and political orbits. It has been ARTZY M. said, speaking of this overall Near-Eastern scenario of 1987 - <
BOUCHARLAT 1995, p. 1344.
ARABIA IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC: THE NEAR EASTERN BACKGROUND 25
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