The Assyrian Empire and Cyprus

With some references to contemporary Iraq.

Andreas P.Parpas

Department of History and Archaeology Archaeology and Research Unit 30.10.2017 Νeo-Assyrian (NA) Empire (853-612 π.Χ.)

• The NA Empire reached its most important and expansive phase between 744-627 π.Χ. • A unified empire based on strong military and led by powerful rulers. • The ancient Assyrians were Western Semites. • Today they live in Northern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Τheir populaon in the 1970’s in Iraq was esmated at 800,000. Today they are not more than 100- 120,000. They are Arab speaking Iraqi naonals, most of them Catholic and Orthodox Chrisans. Today’s Near East countries, a result of the Ooman empire break – up. Same geographical area as the NA Empire.

• The Sykes-Picot line split the Middle East into a Brish and a French sphere of interest. Like the ancient Assyrians the Brish in order to secure and facilitate the flow of trade and goods from India to Europe they put under their control Cyprus (1878), Egypt (1882), Kuwait (1889), Basrah (1914). • “Τhe problems we are dealing with in the Middle East today are a result of our not enrely honorable colonial past ”: Jack Straw 2002 The land of Aššur (Northern Mesopotamia) – Ιraqi Kurdistan Region Τhree control layers • (1) Land of Assur (The empire core with the maximum consolidaon of power) Assur, The religious center of the empire Kalah ( Nimrud) Dur-Sarrukin, Φροὐριο του Sargon (Khorsabad) Nineveh Ar-ba-il Arbela ( Erbil) • (2) Provincial network (Greatest expansion and consolidaon of power and control, 70 provinces) • (3) Peripheral vassal states (Dominaon through local rulers and military coercive means) 22 vassal states in the western region, one geographical area :(ebir nari) 3 disnct clusters - The mainland - Sea side - Middle of the sea ALL tribute paying vassals. 67 Major military campaigns In the west. Νέο-Αssyrian monuments and palaces

Nimrud palace, 19th century lithography. Refurbished Nineveh walls, Addad gate.

Drawing of a relief from Nineveh Review Palace, possibly of the royal cavalry stables. Mesopotamian mythology in Assyrian reliefs and art

• Lamassu. Winged bulls . Guardian Salamis Tomb 79 creatures at gateways and entrances of • Horse breast plate with creatures from palaces and ceremonial halls.. the Assyrian mythology Found at Persepolis as well. • solar winged disc • Akpalu. Τhe guardian spirit of • World tree of ferlity Mesopotamian mythology. Found in • Winged divinity creature numerous palace relifs • On either side two Akpalu creatures

Ar-ba-il / Arbela (Erbil) Ishtar – Two disnct Α. Morning star: Ishtar Nineveh, Goddess of love and ferlity. Β. Νight star: Ishtar Arbela, Goddess of war

• Ar-ba-il (Arbela): Military city of Ishtar Arbela, wife of god Assur. • Ar-ba-il the starng point of major military campaigns . Return of triumphant armies and place of celebraons and military parades. Ε • The temple of Ishtar was most probably at the Erbil citadel (acropolis) from where the goddess was delivering her oracles and prophecies. . • Assurbanipal seen at the city’s walls offering to the goddess in religious rituals during the Akitou fesval Alexander the Great in Erbil’s central square

Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire at Gaugamela 85 km north of Erbil. The Kurds erected at Erbil’s central square a monument inspired from a mosaic found at Pompey that represents their struggle for independence. Tombs of the prophets from the Old Testament

• Mosul: Naum, Jonah • Kirkuk: Daniel, Azariah, Michael, Ananiah • Baghdad: Ezekias • North of Basrah: Ezra

Daniel’s tomb at Susa, Ιράν

Baghdad Tahrir Square

TAHRIR (FREEDOM) SQUARE • Al-Houria Monument • Inspired by ancient Mesopotamian heritage and glory of Assyria and Babylonia • Symbolizes the unity of the people of Iraq and the reconnecon to its ancient history. Assyrianizaon- World Trade Market

• Assyrianizaon is the process to achieve Assyrian dominaon and establish military, polical and financial supremacy over • Assyrianizaon brought mobility fluidity and connectedness. It created winners and losers. Cyprus were among the winners while the Phoenicians among the losers. •

• First World Trade Market in history. • Bilateral treaes (ade) for regulaon of trade. E.g. the treaty between Esarhaddon and king Ba’al of Tyros. (Cyprus is not menoned among the areas under Tyros control). • There are indicaons of embassies of the vassal states in Assyria. στην Ασσυρία. • Part of trade in the hands of private traders. Network of custom staons and trading posts karu

Map by A. Parpas

Network of trading staons karu. Control of commercial trading routes, ports and intersecons. ( Double quys, one controlled by the Assyrians and the other by the local king like at Arwad, Athlit, Ashdod, Gaza . Example of trade restricons and embargo.. The Assyrians in order to control the trade of mber from the Lebanon mountain they established custom and control staons. They restricted access to the Sidonians unl they seled their outstanding payments . They put embargo on sales of mber to the Egypans and the Philisnes. Did the Assyrians built their own nascent navy • The empire’s expansion was not possible without control the sea and coastal regions. • Ports and shipyards in the Mediterranean and the Gulf: Kar Esarhaddon (Sidon), Til Barsip , Νιneveh and Kar Nama in south Mesopotamia. • Their target was to control the sea lanes and coastal areas of the triangle between the Levant, Cyprus and Kilikia • Gradual expansion of their naval capabilies and know how. • Full naval control of the enre Levanne coast aer the fall of Tyros and Arwad.

720 – Failure to conquer Tyros 715 – Naval bales with pirates 709 – Military intervenon in Cyprus 701 – King Luli escapes to Cyprus 694 – Νaval campaign in south Mesopotamia 676 – Destrucon of Sidon 664 – Fall of Arwad and Tyros with naval blockade 650 – Shipyards at Kar Nama

Cyprus in Neo-Assyrian sources/inscripons • Military intervenon in Cyprus 709 B.C. is described in the annals Hall II and V in Khorsabad palace. Very badly damaged text, possible menon of names of the seven kings of Cyprus. • The Sargon II stele found at Kion erected in 707 B.C. commemorang the submission of the seven Cypriot kingdoms • Nine more summary inscripons at Khorsabad palace in relaon to Cyprus’ submission • Sargon’s II Great Display at Khorsabad palace • Two prisms from Nimrud refer to Cyprus’s submission • Sargon’s inscripon from Khorsabad palace that describes the tribute obligaon of Cyprus: madau (obligatory tribute) and kaptu (ceremonial gis) • “Beirut stele” fragment referring to the seven kings of Cyprus who surrendered to Sargon in Babylon • Sennacherib Bull Inscripon for king Lulli’s escape to Cyprus • Nineveh A Esarhaddon’s prism, list of 10 Cypriot kingdoms and kings who supplied building material and services for his new palace

• Easrhaddon inscripon establishing Cyprus as a tribute paying member of the empire • Fragmentary inscripon from a leer to sun god Samas menoning a probable treaty with a Cypriot king and a possible Assyrian deputy monitoring Cyprus affairs • Assurbanipal’s cylinder, list of Cypriot kindoms and their kings parcipang in his Egypan campaign • Cypriot sailors parcipang in 694 B.C. in Sennacherib’s navy in south Mesopotamia • Cypriot sailors in Sennacherib’s navy

• Sennacherib constructed ships in Nineveh και Till- Barsip to sail to South Mesopotamia • Phoenician and Cypriot sailors sailed down the Tigris and Euphrates to the Sealands to fight Merodach Baladan at Bit Iakin

Assyrian warships

• Αssyrian war ship, double deck bireme from a relief at the Brish Museum. Most probably it is one of Sennacherib’s warships built in Nineveh to sail to the south Mesopotamian sealands

ASSYRIANS AND GREEKS 337

Figure 1. Warship with Assyrian mariners. Wall-painting from Til-Barsip (THUREAU-DANGIN, F. – DUNAND, M.: Til-Barsip. Paris 1936, front cover).

Acta Ant. Hung. 53, 2013 Wall relief from Till Barsip with warriors on an Assyrian warship Assyrian military intervenon in Cyprus in 709 B.C.

• Two badly damaged annal texts found in Halls II and V of Sargon’s palace in Khorsabad hold the key to what really happened during the Assyrian intervenon in 709 B.C. • They might even refer to the names of some of the seven kings of Cyprus at the me. (Qu-ra-ei= man from Kourion) • Paul.Emile.Boa (French consul in Mosul excavated Khorsabad) copied and published in 1849 Sargon’s inscripons among them the two annal inscripons that refer to Assyria’s intervenon in Cyprus in 709 B.C.. His work although characterized amazingly good le much room for improvement • Ever since many historians ( Winkler, Lucknbill, Fuchs and others) did their own correcons, improvements, transliteraons and translaons • The latest is done by Na’aman in 1998 who starng with the erroneous assumpon that Kion and perhaps the bigger part of Cyprus were colonies of Tyros he interpreted the tribute that the Assyrians demanded of Cyprus as tribute due to Tyros. He also “invented” king Shiilta of Tyros who requested Assyrian military help to collect this tribute. This Shiilta could very well be a Cypriot ling ( Luckenbill, Olmstead, Tuplin). Alltough there are scholars who dispute Naamna’s proposals they seem to be widely used in the bubliography of the last twenty years • The interpretaon of these two inscripons need extreme care Sargon II Stele found at Kion (Larnaka) • Nine known Sargon II stele outside Assyria • Mark the two new most extreme peripheral outposts of the empire: Cyprus in the west and Dilmun in the south east. According to a 712 B.C. inscripon the empire in the west extended only up to Egypt. The 707 B.C. sargon II stele at Kion confirmed its extension to the west up to and including Cyprus • The surrender of Cyprus was not voluntary but Sargon II Stele, Kion was imposed on them due to Assyrian military dominaon of southeastern Mediterranean and their need and desire to stay within the Assyrocentric world trade network. • Most probably they signed an alliance and friendship treaty, perhaps a non aggression pact. • King Uperi of Dilmun surrendered at the same me. Possible religious ideological meaning Najefahabad Stele due to Dilmun’s mythological connecon.

“ Uperi’s palace” in Bahrain Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty • In a ceremony at the House of Succession in Nineveh in 672 B.C Esarhaddon installed hid son Assurbanipal as heir apparent to the throne. In the ceremony more than 110 provincial governors parcipated as well all vassal kings who took a loyalty oath to abide by the treaty. Among them all 10 Cypriot kings • The treaty was made with “all those over whom Esarhaddon king of Assyria acts as king and lord “ Generally accepted that Cypriot kings are included. ( None of the parcipants is explicitly named • By signing the treaty all subordinate parcipants desny was reaffirmed. Their dues and obligaons were elevated into the divine realm and became a desny of subordinaon and obedience towards the Assyrian king. • This is not the first me the Cypriot kings parcipated with other sub-ordinate states in such a ceremony. In 707 B.C when Sargon II inaugurated his new palace at Dur-Sarrukin ( Kohorsabad) he did that in the presence of “the princes of the four regions of the world” and he received “rich gis from them”.

Assyrian Royal Ambassador for Cyprus, qepu ?

• The Assyrians in order to supervise and regulate their relaon with their vassal states they appointed a Royal Deputy or Ambassador called qepu . We have evidence that they did this in Tyros, Arwad and Dilmun and elsewhere. • It is not possible that they did not do that for Cyprus . Otherwise how could they regulate such a complex relaonship comprising affairs of regular trade, collecon of mandatory tribute and accompanying gis as well as parcipaon in the Assyrian campaigns like the one of Assurbanipal against Egypt. • I propose such an Assyrian Royal Ambassador was appointed for Cyprus with permanent residence and offices in Phoenicia. He might have appointed a local representave to who he delegated certain tasks. • We have scant evidence for that in an inscripon indicang a possible treaty between the Assyrian king and a king from Cyprus where an Assyrian from Cyprus is menoned, Zeru-iddina. Also in the propagandisc Sargon Great Display inscripon Cyprus is menoned as one of the countries that “officials as governors” were appointed.

madau, namurtu, kadru

• The financial obligaons of Cyprus as a result of its associaon with Assyria as a client state are defined by three Assyrian terms/definions found in inscripons referring to Cyprus • Madau ( Sargon royal Inscripon/Khorsabad) Payment imposed by an overlord upon a subject. The imposion of compulsory payment of tribute to kingdoms subjected to war • Namurtu ( Assurbanipal Cylinder/ Egypan campaign) Namurtu or Babylonian tamartu is a subsidiary gi that accompanies tribute. In certain cases it took the form of forced gi or tribute paid on demand for a parcular purpose • Kadru (Sargon royal Inscripon /Khorsabad) It has the meaning of ceremonial accompanying gis

• Esarhaddon’s stele from Zinzirli in Turkey. Heavier tribute and more strict control imposed on the Phoenician kingdoms Cultural influence • It is inevitable for a small mulcultural society and economy like Cyprus to be influenced by an ever expanding world power like Assyria. • The Assyrian Empire created at its core and elsewhere within its realm, including Cyprus, a mulcultural ruling elite defined largely by a luxury life style the use and possession of luxury items produced in different styles. • The Cypriot elite emulated the Assyrian elites in an effort to legimize their

power ICONOGRAPHY OF BASILEIS IN ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL CYPRUS • Such an example is the Nineveh North Palace royal banquet (le) with Assurbanipal and his queen banqueng in a luxurious garden and the Cypriot royal symposium depicted on a bowl of the “2013 ICONOGRAPHY OF BASILEIS IN ARCHAIC ANDKourion CLASSICAL CYPRUS 127

ing, a lion (Faegersten 2003: 13–15). Te same motifs are Treasure”(boom) that represents a Cypriot King attested on locally made metal (silver-gilded or bronze) bowls with repoussé and engraved decoration, which and Queen celebrang in Assyrian style. are also (when their provenance is recorded) found in- side Cypro-Archaic built tombs (Markoe 1985: 75). In efect, during the eighth and early seventh centuries b.c., Egyptianizing themes are exclusively associated with exceptional burials (Faegersten 2003: 258). Toward the end of the seventh century, Egyptianizing iconographic elements are employed in Cypriot sculpture in the round, executed on the local sof limestone (Faegersten 2003). Past scholarship postulated that the main reason for the appearance of Egyptian elements in contempo- rary Cypriot art—especially sculpture—was the island’s conquest by Egypt during the sixth century b.c., as was claimed by later sources (Gjerstad 1948: 468).18 Even if we give credit to the brief statement of Herodotus (re- peated by Diodorus much later) and accept that Ama- sis conquered and made Cyprus tributary, a continuous Egyptian occupation or rule over the island cannot be substantiated by any textual evidence and certainly not by any archaeological indications (Caprez-Csornay 2006). Fig. 2. Bronze bowl from the “Kourion Treasure.” New York, Te Moreover, this claim does not provide a satisfactory an- Metropolitan Museum of Art. Te Cesnola Collection, Purchased by Subscription, 1874–76 (74.51.4557). Image © Te Metropolitan Mu- swer as to how already during the late eighth century (al- seum of Art. most two centuries before the alleged Egyptian conquest of the island), Cypriot visual arts were overwhelmed by royal identity. As a matter of fact, the inscriptions we have Egyptian-style ornaments and motifs. from decorated metal bowls are invariably recorded in the Markoe has argued that some of these Egyptianizing infuences were infltrating Cyprus through Phoenician Greek Arcadocypriot dialect and provide evidence of the intermediaries (Markoe 1985: 6–8). Trough a me- Greek-speaking royal dynasties of the kingdom of Paphos and perhaps also Kourion (see below). ticulous analysis of the iconographic elements of Egyp- tianizing Cypriot sculpture, Faegersten concludes that Phoenician wood and ivory glyptics (decorative plaques, Te Earliest Royal Inscriptions: small containers or vessels) and statuettes seem to have Text and Image functioned as the indirect source of inspiration for Interestingly, the stela depicting the image of Sargon Cypriot sculptors (Faegersten 2003: 225). Tese display all of the Egyptian-type features and ornaments that were in profle in a strict hierarchical pose along with sacred symbols of Assyrian gods (Yon 1994) stood for an un- chosen and translated by Cypriot crafsmen in their me- dia. Surprisingly, the majority of the Phoenician ivories known (but certainly long) period of time at a prominent that imitate Egyptian Tird Intermediate Period royal location, the ancient port of Kition, and it portrayed a objects were not found in the cities of the Phoenician royal fgure other than that of a Cypriot king. In fact, coast but are mostly known from Assyrian royal palaces until recently, the material record of Cyprus had failed (Faegersten 2003: 238). Unsurprisingly, Pharaonic Egypt, to provide a representation of a Cypriot king of the time which nourished a long-established monarchical system, of Sargon and Esarhaddon; these monarchs, who man- provided a vast royal iconographic repertoire from which aged to consolidate their authority by proclaiming their selected themes were indirectly borrowed by the nascent allegiance to the great empire of the time (Iacovou 2002: ruling dynasties of Cyprus in order to create the image of 83–84), seem to have remained invisible in the visual their emerging power. Despite the processes that led to the record—or almost so. Te scene on a silver bowl with repoussé decoration (Markoe 1985: Cy 6; Karageorghis, infltration of Egyptianizing styles and motifs in Cypriot 19 crafs in the early Cypro-Archaic period, these elements Hendrix, and Neumann 1999) (Fig. 2), which was also were by no means exclusively attached to a “Phoenician” found by Cesnola and was apparently included, along

18 Herodotus 2.182.2 and Diodorus Siculus 1.68. 19 Metropolitan Museum of Art 74.51.4557.

This content downloaded from 129.89.24.43 on Fri, 17 Jan 2014 10:50:44 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Some Conclusions

• Cyprus was not annexed as a province in the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians did not occupy Cyprus neither they had any military presence • Cyprus entered the Assyrian Empire as a client/vassal state. The Assyrians were expecng from Cyprus mandatory tribute and subsidiary gis that were delivered on demand for a parcular purpose • Cyprus joined the Assyrocentric world trade network and economy. Assyrianizaon benefited Cyprus • Cultural influence occurred primarily through emulaon • Care must be exercised when using both primary and secondary sources. Many things have been taken for granted and led to erroneous conclusions. Thanks for your aendance