The province of Samerina under Neo-Assyrian rule AHARON TAVGER Research Fellow, The Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University Abstract The history of Samaria under Neo-Assyrian rule is usually a part of the general description of the land of Israel and the Levant. From these descriptions it seems that the expansion of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the region of Samaria is well documented in the various historical and archaeological sources of this period. Numerous studies were carried out about the historical and archaeological aspects of this period in the land of Israel. Nevertheless, much of this research dealt with Judah, and only few researches were conducted on the Samaria region. These studies described the Samaria region as a whole unit, and did not distinguish between sub-units within Samaria. In this paper I will examine the history of the Samaria region after the Neo-Assyrian conquest, the organization of the Assyrian administration, and the extent of its influence in various areas within this region, considering updated data from archaeological surveys and excavations. Keywords Samaria region, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Iron Age, Settlement patterns, Deportations, Archaeological surveys, Archaeological excavations West & East 183 Monografie, 3 aharon tavger 1. The activities of the Neo-Assyrian mentioned in the Neo-Assyrian Eponym texts as rule and their influence on the eponyms for the years 690 and 646 BC.6 settlement pattern in Samaria In addition to the historical and epigraphic sources, there is some archaeological evidence for the Assyrian conquest of Samaria, for the existence of The territory of the Israelite Kingdom was reduced the Assyrian province and for the Assyrian cultural after the campaigns of Tiglath Pileser III in 734- influence, as can be seen in the architecture and the 732 BC, and included only the regions of the ceramic remains found in archaeological surveys hills of Samaria and the Jordan Valley, between and excavations in the vicinity of Samaria (fig. 1). the province of Magiddu in the north and the The city of Samaria was excavated by Gottlieb Kingdom of Judah in the south. Over a decade Schumacher, George A. Reisner and Clarence S. later, Shalmaneser V and Sargon II completed Fischer between 1908 and 1910, and by John W. the conquest of the diminished kingdom.1 Both Crowfoot and Kathleen M. Kenyon between 1931 in Biblical and Neo-Assyrian sources there is and 1935.7 In these expeditions the excavators evidence for the destruction the Assyrians caused found six layers datable to the Israelite period. to the city of Samaria and to the whole of “the land Kenyon mentioned a massive destruction layer on of the house of Omri”.2 This conquest definitely top of them and assigned it to the Assyrians.8 Other damaged the people’s life, disrupted the proper scholars drew attention to finds that show the city administration; it seems that it caused severe was inhabited also in the seventh century BC during demographic decrease in the settlement. On the the Neo-Assyrian rule, including a possible new other hand, according to the historical sources fortification wall.9 Among these finds there are some the region was not completely abandoned. The indications of the Assyrian administration such as a transition of Samaria, the former capital city of the cuneiform tablet with the name of the rab-alāni, the Israelite kingdom, to the capital of a new Assyrian ‘mayor’ of the city, an Assyrian Bulla, a cuneiform province, Samerina, is well documented in Neo- cylinder seal, and a fragment of a Sargon’s stela.10 Assyrian sources such as the Cylinder inscription According to Adam Zertal, the destruction level, and the Nimrud Prism of Sargon II.3 There are some described by Kenyon, is not so clear, and it appears more texts bearing Samaria as the name of the city that the city wall remained in use also after the or the state rather than the name of the province.4 Assyrian conquest of the city.11 Nonetheless, at least one of these sources, perhaps Another site in the vicinity of Samaria with as a list of the capitals of the provinces or cities evidence of the Neo-Assyrian administration is Tel of the Neo-Assyrian administration, mentions el-Far’ah (N), which is identified as biblical Tirzah.12 the city of Samaria together with Megiddo and Excavations at the site were carried by Roland de Dor.5 In addition, two governors of Samerina are Vaux between 1946 and 1960.13 De Vaux revealed a fortified city from the ninth and eighth centuries BC which was erected in connection with the 1 The conquest of the city of Samaria is well documented in various sources, and scholars suggested few different recon- structions for its process. see e.g. Olmstead 1904; Tadmor 1958; Reed 1976; Na’aman 1990; Hayes, Kuan 1991; 6 Ungand 1938, pp. 451-452. Beckng 1992; Galil 1995; Younger 1999; Tetley 2002; 7 Reisner, Fischer, Lyon 1924; Crowfoot, Tappy 2007; Park 2012. Kenyon, Sukenik 1942. 2 E.g. Fuchs 1994, pp. 87-88; see also Oded 1987, 8 Crowfoot, Kenyon, Sukenik 1942, p. 110. p. 40; Eph’al 1991. 9 E.g. Tappy 2001, p. 441; Dever 2007, p. 87. 3 Gadd 1954; Fuchs 1994, p. 34. 10 See e.g. Crowfoot J.W., Crowfoot G.W., 4 See e.g. Becking 1992, pp. 106-111. Kenyon 1957, p. 87; Stern 2001, pp. 14-15. 5 Fales, Postgate 1995; cf. Na’aman 2009, who 11 Zertal 2003, p. 400. argued that this list is of trade cities rather than of capitals. 12 According to Na’aman Dor, and one more city of this list, were Albright 1931; De-Vaux 1956. not at all capitals of provinces. 13 Chambon 1984. West & East 184 Monografie, 3 The province of Samerina under Neo-Assyrian rule Figure 1 Map of sites mentioned in the text (Graphics - Y. Sapir) Middle Bronze city wall.14 Alain Chambon, who three layers from the ninth century BC until before published the final report, stated that the city was the Assyrian destruction, and another layer from the destroyed by the Assyrians, although there is no seventh century; Nevertheless, a new study by Daniel clear destruction layer.15 Above it, there are only Master showed that the seventh century layer was very scant remains from the seventh century, but those scant, including only the coffins and some Assyrian include Assyrian style pottery, some stelae from bowls.17 Assyrian bowls and a Mesopotamian style seal a cultic place, and Assyrian coffins, probably the impression were found also at the second expedition remnants of an Assyrian military outpost.16 to Shechem/Tel Balatah.18 More Assyrian coffins were found a bit to the In the archaeological surveys carried out not far further north, at Tel Dothan, which was excavated by from Samaria and Tel el-Far’ah (N) Adam Zertal Joseph F. Free between 1953 and 1964. Free described reported about some structures built with Assyrian 14 Chambon 1993, pp. 1300-1301. 15 Chambon 1984, p. 47; cf. Dever 2007, p. 85. 17 Master et Al. (eds.) 2005, pp. 65-129. 16 Chambon 1993, pp. 439-440; Stern 2001, p. 33. 18 Campbell, Wright 1971. West & East 185 Monografie, 3 aharon tavger architecture and several sites which he identified as conquered populations to remote regions, and Assyrian military outposts.19 brought new population in their stead.22 The cross- These data are insufficient to establish the nature deportation of the population from the Israelite of the administrative, political and settlement pro- kingdom, and from Mesopotamia to “the land of cesses that took place in the area of the former Omri” is described both in biblical and Assyrian Israelite kingdom during the period of Neo-Assyrian sour ces.23 These sources mention deportees from rule. Some scholars dealt with these questions in Mesopotamia and from the Arab tribes who were the past, but there was no consensus about them. settled at Samaria mainly during the reign of Sargon Bustenay Oded, Bob Becking and Ephraim Stern II, but there are hints also for settling deported emphasized the massive destruction of the Neo- population in that region during the regins of Assyrian conquest in many of these sites.20 Other Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal as well (see e.g. Ez. scholars, such as Zertal, William G. Dever and 4.1-8). There are still arguments about the amount Gary Knoppers, argued for a quick rehabilitation of the deportees among the original population, but of the destroyed sites and for prosperity under the it is clear that after the Assyrian campaigns a mixed Assyrian administration.21 population was created in the Samerina province.24 For establishing what was the real process in the An interesting line of inquiry is the location of region, in the lack of clear historical evidence one the places where the new residents were settled. should examine the settlement processes during The only city mentioned by name in relation to this period. Two main operations which influenced deportees in the historical sources is Samaria itself, the processes in the new Neo-Assyrian province but other sources have “the cities of Samaria” or should be mainly examined: first, the settling of “the land of Beth-Omri”.25 new population in the territory of the Neo-Assyrian Additional data come from epigraphic docu- province; second, the question of the intensity of the ments. Cuneiform tablets with Mesopotamians destruction or the continuity in the different regions names were found at Tel Hadid excavations and within the province. Some of the studies mentioned in a survey at Khirbet Kusiya, both located at the above referred to some of these aspects, but as of western margins of the former Israelite kingdom, today no treatment was given to all the archaeological and at Gezer, in the northern Shephelah.26 In data, especially the updated one.