TERQA AND THE KINGDOM OF KHANA GIORGIO BUCCELLATI AND MARILYN KELLY-BUCCELLATI

THE DISCOVEJ:UES OF MAHl, UGAIUT, AND EELA HAVE DONE FOR OUi{ century what the discoveries of Nineveh, Nimrud, and Khorsabad did for the last: they have riveted the attention ofscholars and laymen alike on monumental buildings, on impressive works of art, and­ perhaps most important-on vast epigraphic archives. Now that the limelight has shifted to , and the special character of its early urban tradition is emerging in full splendor, we may wonder why such a realization has been so long in coming. It was late in the last century when the first cuneiform tablets of demonstrable Syrian provenance were found at Amarna in Egypt. Where, we may ask, were the first tablets found on Syrian soil? The site was Terqa, about 60 kilometers north of Mari near the juncture of the Habur and rivers. Still in the last century, shortly after the discovery at Amarna, F Thureau-Dangin published the text of a contract which had been bought on the market but could be shown, on internal evidence, to have come from Terqa. Shortly after the beginning of the century a German archaeologist, who had stopped by accident at the site of Terqa, picked up on the surface a cuneiform document of greater significance: the foundation deposit of the temple of Dagan. Epi­ graphic finds from Terqa continued to trickle in over the years and came to constitute the group of Khana texts, so-called from the name of the kingdom of which Terqa was the capital. Until the discovery of Mari, the Khana texts, although few in number, represented the major single body of texts from Syria, and as such they were given their due attention by Assyriologists. With the recent excavations at Terqa, the total epigraphic collection reaches about a hundred items, a slender amount numerically but significant in other respects. Not only is the Terqa epigraphic inventory the third oldest in Syria, it is also quite diversified in its provenance (private houses, streets, a temple, and a large administrative building) and in its typology (royal

ca. 2100-1600 B.C. 217 inscriptions, contracts, legal documents, letters, school texts, ad­ ministrative texts, and a religiouslliterary text). Excavations at Terqa are entering their ninth season-the longest American participation in an archaeological project in Syria. What is emerging is the picture of a city which was the successor of Mari on the mid-Euphrates. This much was anticipated on the basis of the Khana texts. Unexpected, on the other hand, was the discovery of massive third-millennium strata, including a large city wall. Also surprising was the extremely scarce evidence of Aramaic presence. Briefly the history of Terqa and its kingdom may be outlined as follows: (1) It started out as a full-blown city around 3000 B.C., without any evidence ofearlier strata at the site itself(there are important fourth­ millennium strata at a nearby site, Qraya). The formidable defensive ring was established ex novo, indicating perhaps that the city was planned as such rather than having evolved organically and gradually from earlier settlements. (2) While the defensive system remained in use for some 1,500 years, there islittle evidence that Terqa enjoyed major political power in the second half of the third millennium. We may project back to this period the situation of the time (immediately following) when Terqa functioned as a provincial capital in the reign of Mari. Some indirect evidence points, however, to a possible role of Terqa as a religious center of unique significance vis-a-vis the capita-I, Mari. It may also be that the royal family of Mari was in fact originally from Terqa. (3) Whatever the situation was, Terqa became the capital of the kingdom once controlled by Mari-the Habur and Middle Euphrates basin. (The evidence for Terqa's political position as a capital is circumstantial but compelling.) The territory bordered on to the south and the Habur triangle to the north, which placed the kingdom of Khana territorially on a par with the other major king­ doms of the Syro-Mesopotamian area, after the short-lived expan­ sionist policies of were replaced by the more traditional patterns of regional distribution of power. We know of thirteen kings ruling the new Khana kingdom from Terqa, and five of them are associated with specific buildings that have been found in the excava­ tions. (4) The Aramaeans were present at Terqa from 1500 B.C. on, but they left behind very little, perhaps because the site was essentially uninhabited and served the tribe of Laqe only as a ceremonial center. If so, the presumed ancient distinction of Terqa as the center of

218 OLD SYRIAN PERIOD c Dagan's cult survived after Terqa itself was abandoned as a regularly functioning urban center. The most important architectural find at Terqa is the city wall. A solid mud-brick structure some 20 meters thick and 1.6 kilometers long, it was built in three stages beginning shortly after 3000 B.C. The impetus for its construction was perhaps danger from the rising Euphrates as much as from military incursions. Going from the cyclopic dimensions of the city wall to a smaller scale, another discovery at Terqa which deserves special mention is an office-like area in which a scribe sat to conduct his business. Located in a room of a sprawling building, perhaps administrative in nature, this ancient office included all the elements of its modern counterpart. A platform of baked bricks set in a dirt floor corre­ sponds to what we would call a desk. Instead of drawers, there were two jars within reach of the scribe as he squatted on the platform: one contained plain clay, ready for writing, and the other held six tablets. On one side a narrow bin set in a wall served most likely as a filing cabinet where the scribe probably kept his reference works. But as these were precious, he seems to have taken them with him as he left one day, leaving only a small tablet oflittle consequence. Seven more tablets were scattered on the floor, and just outside the door was a basket, well preserved but empty; if it had been used as a briefcase, then the scribe had filed all its contents away. The single most important group of artifacts from Terqa are the cuneiform documents, some dating from the period of Mari but most from the Khana period. About 100 in number, they are diversified in content. A well-known document is an official royal inscription which records the dedication of an "ice house." The contracts are very characteristic, showing great concern for the preservation of certain obligations. For example, large numbers of witnesses were present at each transaction, and their names, filiation, and profession are in­ scribed on the documents. Several witnesses affixed their seals on the documents in lieu of signatures (only scribes could write in cuneiform). The tablets were encased in clay envelopes, which re­ peated the text of the tablet almost like a carbon copy. In case of a controversy about the authenticity of the contract, the envelope would be opened in front of a judge and only the text inside was considered to be juridically binding. In one rare case well docu­ mented at Terqa, not one but two envelopes were placed around the contract. The punishments for breach of contract were imaginative..For breach of sale, hot asphalt was to be poured on the head of the

ca. 2100-1600 B.C. 219 transgressor. In the case of a will made by a husband with his wife as beneficiary, the punishment envisaged in case the husband were to file for divorce calls for him to leave the house "empty handed" and to go tend the palace oxen. Should the wife file for divorce, she too would have to leave the house "in her nakedness" and be exposed from the roof terrace of the palace. As a guarantor of the juridical order, the palace (i.e., the royal administration) would receive for every case of breach of contract a substantial monetary fine. While serving the purposes ofa legal transaction, the seals are also the embodiment of an important artistic tradition. The corpus of Terqa seals and seal impressions is significant for several reasons. Artistic monuments, especially well-dated ones, are scarce from this period in Syro-, and Terqa thus provides well-stratified documentation to fill in the gap. This enables us to securely deter­ mine the stylistic developments during the approximately 200 years that Terqa was a major power in the region. The Khana style, named after the kingdom, is characterized by a blending of Mesopotamian and Syrian elements, syncretized into a uniquely harmonious whole. The seal carvers chose to depict their figures in such a way that the initial drillings used in the cutting of the stone are still quite obvious. They often placed the principal deity on the left side of the seal, as opposed to the prevailing right-hand orientation of Mesopotamian and Syrian seals. Taking full advantage of the whole area of the seal to display the principal figures, Khana seal carvers did not clutter up the background with a number of smaller figures, which is so often the case in seals carved in the surrounding areas. (See Fig. 49.) Since many of the seal owners are named in the tablets, we are also able to reconstruct up to three generations of the families living in the city as well as their activities. This is especially the case during the reign of one of the Khana kings, Yadikh-Abu (ca. 1720 B.C.). In one instance we can even determine the economic status ofan individual, Puzurum, along with that of his family. A rich find was made in a corner of the altar room of the temple dedicated to Ninkarrak, the goddess ofhealing. A total of6,637 beads were found clustered tightly together in what must have been a bag which had disintegrated (see Fig. 50). The beads were mostly of semi­ precious stone, from lapis and carnelian to agate and chalcedony. From religious texts we know that these were the kinds of precious amulets which were given to patients who sought relief from bad omens. Thus it is plausible that a pouch once contained these stones which were to be given to patient-worshipers by a priest. What at first seemed like a more modest find turned out to be of

220 OLD SYRIAN Pt:RIOD IGG

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780lL[ 'VJ 01 i/lIY1VP 'Vb.1d.L WoJj ddoprtlld ;fop V Jo dPYS d1l1 lIO lI01SSd.ldW1 7VdS 6fr d.m'ih.1 great historical significance. A few carbonized cloves were found in a jar in a pantry room of a middle-class house. What is remarkable about these cloves is that they originated in the Far East and in fact were not previously known to have been in use in the West before Roman times. Our find extends back in time by almost 2,000 years and out in geographical area by some 6,500 kilometers the range of cultural connections between Terqa and the Mesopotamian area on the one hand and the Eastern trade routes on the other.

Recommended Reading G. Buccellati et al. "Terqa Preliminary Reports, 1-12." Syro­ Mesopotamian Studies 1 (1977)-3 (1983). O. Rouault. L'archive de Puzurum. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 16 (Malibu: Undena, 1984).

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222 r OLD SYRIA PERIOD ('

EBLA TO DAMASCUS ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT SYRIA

AN EXHIBITION FROM TI-IE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL OF ANTIQUITIES AND MUSEUMS SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC EDITED BY HARVEY WEISS

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TRAVELING EXHIBITION SERVfCE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1985

PUBLISHED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST ~') 1985 Smithsonian Instilution Puulishpd on the occasion or an AU rights reserved. exhihit ion organized hy thp Smithsonian Institution Traveling Libl'al'y of Cong-ress Catalog-ing in Pu blication Data Exhibit ion Sf'rvicp and the DirpctoratC'­ Main entry under title: Gpnpral or Antiquities and Muspullls of the Syrian Arab Republic and shown EbJa to Damascus. from September 1985 to Septpllluer Exhibition heJd at Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1987 at the foJ]owing Illuseums: \1d. and others. Sept. 1985-Sept. 1987. 1. Arl. Aneient-Syria-Exhibitions. 2. Art-Syria­ Walters Ar/ Callery Exhibitions. .3. Syria-Antiquities-Exhibitiuns. Baltimore, Maryland I. Weiss. I-Iarvey, 1945- . [I. Syria. Muoiriyat aJ-Athiir wa-al-Matiihif. III. Smithsonian Institutiun. l\lJuseu/Il ofNawral His/ory Traveling Exhibition Service. IV. Wa1ters Art GaJJery. Denver. Colorado N5460.E351985 709'.39'4074013 8 -14333 Los Angeles County Museum ofNatural History 18B:\ 0-86;)28-029-0 California ISBN 0-29.)-96576-2 (cloth) Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond Cincinnati Art Museum Ohio Detroit Institute ofArts Michigan National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C.

COVPI' illustl'ation: Cat. No. SS: frontispipces: Cat. , o. 109 (p. I): Cat. '0.61 (p.2) N TE TS S t1&?O co S~~ I C1 6 S

15 FOKI':WOIW Alif Bahnassi 20 PRI':FACE Harvey Weiss 23 LIST OF CONTRIRUTOI{S A<:KNOWLI<:DGI<:\1ENTS 25 Peggy A. Loar 27 Anne R. Gussett

30 INTRODUCTION Harvey Weiss

I 45 PREHISTORIC BACKGROUND, CA. 8000-5000 B.c. 46 Prehistoric Origins Harvey Weiss 50 Syria and the Origins of Agricultur Andrew M. T. Moore 57 Mureybit Glenn M. Schwartz 60 Bouqra Glenn M. Schwartz 63 Ramad Glenn M. Schwartz 65 CATALOGUE NUMBEHS 1-]9: ~:VA STI{OMi'vlENCI<:K

75 PROTOHISTORIC PERIOD, CA. 3500-3000 B.C. 77 Protohistoric Syria and the Origins of Cities and Civilization Harvey Weiss l. 83 Habuba Kabira South/Tell Qannas and Jebel Aruda Eva Strommenger 86 l-larvey Weiss 90 Syrian Seals from the Late Fourth tu the Late Second Millennium Edith Porada 105 CATALOGUE NliMBEHS 2Q-47: EVA STI{OMMI:: GEl{

121 THIRD MILLE IM CITIES, CA. 3000-2100 B.C. 123 Third Millennium Settlement and Subsistence Harvey Weiss 130 Mari (Tell Hariri) Kay Kohlmeyer 134 Recovered 134 Ebla (Tell Mardikh) Paolo Matthiae 140 The Royal Archives of Ebla Alfonso Archi 149 CATALOGUE UMBERS 48-84: KAY KOHLMEYER, PAOLO MATTH LAE, MARIA E EATON-KRA SS, WOLFGA G ROLLlG, MARIA ClOVANNA mGA

185 OLD SYRIA PERIOD, CA. 2100-1600 B.C. 186 Conflict and Cunquest amung the Amorite Kingdoms Harvey Weiss 194 Mari Oell Hariri) Kay Kohlmeyer 198 Letters at 1ari Jack M. Sasson 204 Tell Leilan and Shubat Enli] Harvey Weiss 213 Ebla (Tell Mardikh) Harvey Weiss and Kay Kohlmeyer 217 Terqa and the Kingdom of Khana Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati 223 CATALOG E UMBERS 85-118: LLA KASTE , KAY KOILLMEYER, WOLFGANG ROLLlG, PAOLO MATTIIIAI::, GABRIELLA SCA DO E MATTHIAE

245 MIDDLE SYRIA PERIOD, CA. 1600-1200 B.C. 246 Egyptian and Hittite Influences in Syria Kay Kohlmeyer 249 (Ras Shamra) Kay Kohlmeyer 253 Background to the Bible: Ugarit Dennis Pardee 260 Emar (Meskene) Kay Kohlmeyer 261 End of the Bronze Age James D. Muhly 271 Origins of the Alphabet Frank Moore Cross 279 CATALOClJE NUMB~:RS 1]9-167: LILLA KASTEN, KAY KOHLMEYER, MAHJANNE EATON-KHAlISS, IIAHVEY WEISS, WOLFGANG l{OLLle, DANIEL Co SNELL

321 NEW SYRIAN PERIOD, CA. 1200-330 B.C. 322 Assyrian Domination, Aramaean Persistence Eva Strommenger 326 The Aramaeans Daniel C. SneLL 330 Til Barsip/Kar Shalmaneser (Tell Ahmar) Eva Strommenger 330 Hadatu (ArslantashJ Eva Strommenger 332 Guzana (Tell HaiaO Jeanny Vorys Canby 339 Ivory Carving Irene J Winter 347 'Ain Dara ALi Abu Assaf 351 CATALOGUE NUMBERS 168-182: EVA STROMMENCEH

365 HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN PERIODS, CA. 330 B.C.-A.D. 400 366 From Alexander to Roman .H.ule Eva Strommenger 368 Dura-Europos on the Euphrates Susan Matheson 375 Rome in Syria Frank E. Peters 380 Palmyra: The Caravan City Adnan Bounni 386 Roman Art in Syria KLaus ParLasca 389 CATALOGUE NUMBERS 183-227: KLAUS PAI1LASCA 441 BYZANTINE PERIOD, CA. A.D. 400-600 443 A Cultural Landscape in the Byzantine Period Christine Strube 452 Rusafa-Sergiopolis: Pilgrim Shrine and Capital Thilo Ulbert 457 Syria between Byzantium and Islam Benjamin R. Foster 461 CATALOGUE UMDERS 228-247: EVA STROMME GER, JOSEPH ASRALLAH, CHRISTiNE STfWBF:, JANINE BALT

475 ISLAMIC PEIUOD, CA. 600-1600 477 Islamic Damascus and Aleppo Jere L. Bacharach 484 Qasr al Hayr al-Charbi Michael Meinecke 488 Qasr al Hayr al-Sharqi Oleg Grabar 493 Raqqa/Rafiqa Kassem Tuweir 497 Science in Medieval Syria David A. King 508 CATALOCLJE UMBEttS 248-281: MICHAEL MEINECKE, VIKTORJ AM I':J ECKE-HERG (

533 BJBLIOGRAPHIC ABBl-tEVIATlO S 537 LIST OF ILLUSTRATlO ~ AD THEIR SOURCES 541 CHRONOLOGICAL OVF:RVIEW: 10,000 B.C.-A.D. 1900