"Of Marshes, Kings, and Rebels". On the Perception and Representation of Southern Mesopotamian Wetlands at the Neo-Assyrian Royal Court

Borkowski, Sebastian (2018). "Of Marshes, Kings, and Rebels". On the Perception and Representation of Southern Mesopotamian Wetlands at the Neo-Assyrian Royal Court. In: Attinger, Pascal; Cavigneaux, Antoine; Mittermayer, Catherine; Novák, Mirko (eds.) Text and Image. Proceedings of the 61e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Geneva and Bern, 22–26 June 2015. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Series Archeologica: Vol. 40 (pp. 103-115). Leuven, Belgien: Peeters

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Several military campaings led the Neo-Assyrian kings towards southern Mesopotamia and the Susiana where they found themselves admist a landscape dominated by wetlands, ranging from marches and hawrs (a specific type of wetland in southern Iraq; arab. hwr; pl. 'hwār; lit. marsh-lake) to riverine forests and seasonal floodplains, and sabkhas (saline marine marshes; arab. sbkh) as well as mudflats under tidal influence. The Assyrians' perception of this specific environment was preserverd in royal inscriptions and on bas-reliefs in the Neo-Assyrian palaces. Different Akkadian terms signifying wetlands occur in the royal inscriptions, whereas the visual depictions are distinguisged by means of composition and iconography. By analysing both the geographical and topographical value of information given by the Akkadian terms by the Neo-Assyrian terms agammu and apu, and by linking them to the depictions of the bas-reliefs from the Southwest- and North-Palace at Ninive, I argue for an intended usage of these specific Akkadian terms by the Neo-Assyiran scribes, and consequently for a distinctive perception of wetlands by the Assyrians. In comparison with current Iraqi and Iranian wetlands, I conclude that agammu referred to hawrs in the regions of Bīt-Dakkūri and Bīt-Yakīn, commonly depicted as reed thickets surrounding open water, whereas apu signified reed thickets in the riparian zones of the Rūd-e Dez and Rūd-e Kārūn in Ḫūtestān.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of Archaeological Sciences > Near Eastern Archaeology
UniBE Contributor:	Borkowski, Sebastian Georg
Subjects:	900 History > 930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499)
Series:	Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Series Archeologica
Publisher:	Peeters
Language:	English
Submitter:	Sebastian Borkowski
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2021 16:46
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:51
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157165