"Mesopotamian and Persian Migrations." In: the Encyclopedia Of
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Mesopotamian and certainly reflect intermittent abandonment and emigration to new settlements, whether near Persian migrations or far. Proxy data (climatic/environmental, D. T. Potts biological/pathological) may suggest the reasons behind such discontinuities and the motiva- tions for putative migrations, but without writ- Migration is a phenomenon that was fre- ten evidence arguments over the whys and quently adduced in 19th and early 20th-century wherefores of migration in prehistoric or ahis- archaeological and historical literature as an toric situations can never be resolved. explanation for the diffusion of specific cul- tural traits, such as pottery styles. The fact that Ancient Near East written (epigraphic or literary) confirmation To cite just a few examples from the ancient of migration was in almost every case lacking, Near East, the appearance on sites in southern combined with the probability that alternative Anatolia, northern Syria, and northern Iraq explanations (trade, artistic influence of one of material culture (ceramics, cylinder seals, area on another, changing fashions) could decorative wall cones, and sometimes proto- account for the appearance of similar material cuneiform tablets) that is southern Mesopota- culture in widely separated locales, meant mian in style (of Middle and Late Uruk type, that such diffusionist explanations went out c.3700–3300 bce) has been widely interpreted of fashion after the mid-20th century. Having as evidence of a phenomenon of migration and said that, migration undoubtedly did occur in colonization (e.g. Potts 2004 with earlier bibli- some situations, even though documentary ography; Algaze 2005). New foundations on evidence is lacking. virgin ground with no connection to anteced- ent local traditions (e.g. Habuba Kabira South, Tell Kannas, Jabal Aruda on the Middle Euphra- Agriculture and colonized lands tes in Syria) have been interpreted as true colo- Early agriculturalists almost certainly colo- nies emanating from a southern urban center, nized new lands (even if already occupied by most probably Uruk (modern Warka, in south- hunter-gatherers) to exploit favorable ecologi- ern Iraq). More than forty years of research on cal conditions; drought and disease may well this topic, however, has failed to account for have driven people from their home territories why such a pattern of migration took place, to new areas, a phenomenon well attested in though a host of different explanations have more recent times and one which undoubtedly been suggested (flight from oppressive condi- accounts for the many instances observed by tions, desire to bring new agricultural lands archaeologists of the cyclical abandonment of under cultivation, interest in the mother settle- sites and/or entire regions (e.g. Stone 2002). ment of the colony in establishing a network What archaeologists are prone to deem ‘dis- of sites capable of procuring desirable natural continuities’ in Antiquity rarely, except in cases resources, etc.). Similarly, the appearance of a of plague, reflected the demise of an entire Transcaucasian type of pottery (Khirbet Kerak population. Rather, discontinuities in the ar- or Red Black Burnished Ware) at sites in Israel chaeological sequence of a site or region – evi- and Syria during the mid-3rd millennium bce dence of occupation in one period, absence of may reflect an actual migration of peoples occupation in the next, followed by reoccupa- from the area of modern Georgia, Armenia, tion centuries or even millennia later – almost and Azerbaijan, but other explanations are The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, Edited by Immanuel Ness. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm364 2 mesopotamian and persian migrations possible, even in cases where the actual ceram- were sometimes characterized by hyperbole ics can be shown to have been manufactured (e.g. the number of enemy combatants killed, in the Caucasus. the dread inspired in the enemy by the victori- ous king), their veracity is often assured by Evidence of Mesopotamian migration contemporary economic texts such as lists of Linguistic evidence has frequently been adduced rations given to semi-free workers and slaves to demonstrate early migration, though this (prisoners of war) with foreign names. Such too can be ambiguous. Changing frequencies texts undoubtedly reflect reality, as do laconic of names, for example, increasing numbers records noting when a worker fled from his of individuals with Akkadian (an East Semitic work detail or a slave escaped the house of his dialect) names in the 3rd millennium bce, master (Limet 1995; Snell 2001). and Amorite (a group of West Semitic dialects) in early 2nd millennium bce Mesopotamia Empire and deportation (Limet 1995), have been interpreted as evi- dence of a steady immigration of new peoples, With the rise of the Neo-Assyrian empire in the largely from the Syrian steppe to the west of 9th century bce forced deportations for politi- the Euphrates river, to southern Mesopotamia. cal purposes began to be used as a tool of Similarly, the appearance of individuals in political, military, and economic policy. On the southern Mesopotamia with Kassite names one hand, deportations were intended to break (a non-Semitic and non-Indo-European lan- resistance amongst subject peoples, depopulate guage with no known affinities) in the mid- areas thought to be a threat to Assyrian inter- 2nd millennium bce, has been interpreted as ests, and diffuse the military capacity of rival evidence of a migration from the presumed powers and polities. On the other hand, depor- (but hypothetical) Kassite homeland, in the tations were sometimes intended to harness western Zagros region of Iran (Heinz 1995). human resources in the service of Assyria, Likewise, the increased usage of Aramaic for whether of skilled craftsmen or of entire com- writing and Aramaic names, both in Assyria munities transplanted to regions that the and Babylonia, have been taken as signs of pro- Assyrians sought to develop agriculturally gressive migration by Aramaeans from the (Oded 1979). At its height in the 7th century Syrian steppe into the Tigris-Euphrates valley the Assyrian empire extended from Egypt in the early 1st millennium bce (Fales 2007). and the Mediterranean coast in the west to the Even though these posited movements took foothills of the Zagros mountains in the east, place in periods for which we do have written and deportations occurred in all directions, sources, they are not recorded explicitly as involving hundreds (e.g. 160 people deported migration events or episodes. Rather, the “evi- from Si’imme, north of modern Nusaybin in dence” is a combination of absence + presence: southeastern Turkey, to Assyria; Garelli 1995: in one period, such names are absent; in the 80) and in some cases thousands (e.g. 90,580 succeeding period, such names are present; people deported from Bit Yakin in southern ergo a migration must have occurred. Babylonia to Melidi and Kummukh in Turkey; The nature of most of the extant written Na’aman and Zadok 1988: 44) of deportees sources from the 3rd, 2nd and 1st millennia (Akkadian šaglû) (Garelli 1995). bce is such, however, that voluntary, peaceful In some cases we have literary, annalistic migration is unlikely to have ever been historical evidence from the Assyrians that is recorded, while not absolutely out of the ques- corroborated by sources stemming from the tion. In the overwhelming majority of eco- subject peoples themselves. This applies, for nomic, religious, scholarly, and legal texts example, to Assyrian accounts of Elamites there is simply no occasion to note migration. from southwestern Iran deported to Egypt, On the other hand, military campaigns are Samaria in Israel, and Assyria (Potts 1999). The recorded in royal inscriptions and even if these deportations to Samaria are echoed in Ezra 4: mesopotamian and persian migrations 3 9–10. Recently discovered texts from Tell Israelites to Syria (on the Khabur river) and Shaikh Hamad (ancient Dur-Katlimmu) on Media (western Iran) following the capture of the Khabur river in Syria, moreover, attest to Samaria (Younger 1988). A Babylonian chroni- the presence of Elamites there in 602–600 bce. cle gives 2 Adar in the 7th year of Nebuchad- This is well after the fall of the Assyrian empire nezzar II’s reign (15/16 March 597 bce) as the and one may presume that these were the date of the capture of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24: descendants of Elamites deported by the Assyr- 10–17) and the fall of Jerusalem which initi- ians 50–100 years earlier. Such groups, if given ated the Babylonian exile (cf. 2 Chron. 36: 10) land to work, and with the passage of time, (Grayson 2000). The different destinations of were probably not interested in returning to various deportee groups, and their subsequent their original homeland, particularly after the fates, varied from case to case depending on passage of several generations (with attendant factors such as the degree of resistance shown changes of language, culture, and intermar- by the subject people, their economic talents riage, one might also suggest). (e.g. olive oil production, weaving, metalwork, With respect to Israel and Judah, of course, ivory carving) and the economic aims that the effect of both Assyria and Babylonia on the Assyrians hoped to achieve by introducing the region’s population is well documented in new settlers in different parts of the empire Assyrian and Babylonian sources as well as the (Younger 1998). Bible. Isaiah presents an image of an efficient, overwhelmingly powerful Assyria devouring Persian geographic expansion Israel (Machinist 1983) and when Isaiah says, and migration “And I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and plundered their treasures” (Isaiah 10: 13b), The policies of the Assyrians and Babylonians it is not just the political boundaries of Assyria’s were familiar to and adopted by their immediate enemies that have been eradicated as region political successors, the Achaemenid Persians.