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Assyrian Exploitation of Iranian Territories

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Archaeology of Iran in the Historical Period

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Abstract

While Assyrian contact with Iran extended back to the trade networks established in the early second millennium B.C., the military exploitation of the lands of the western Zagros is a phenomenon of the Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian periods. Irregular raids beginning in the thirteenth centuries B.C. laid the foundations for the more systemised exploitations of the Neo-Assyrian kings, including the formation of provinces by Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II. This lasted till the latter part of the seventh century B.C., a span of over 600 years. The savagery with which the Assyrians imposed their rule on the vanquished territories cannot be underestimated, and it was accompanied by ruthless stripping of the land. This included the abduction of flocks and herds, the deportation of populations, and the seizure of metal resources. Even the gods of the defeated might be seized and carried off to Assyria. Astonishingly, all this did not prevent Assyria from also conducting commercial operations in the subjugated areas.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For overviews of the Assyrians in Iran see Levine (1973, 1974), Diakonoff (1985: 57–125), Reade (1995), and Radner (2003, 2013); for summaries of the archaeological evidence, see: Curtis (2001) and MacGinnis et al. (2016: 10–11), and cf Danti and Cifarelli (2016); for a study of the inscriptions on the Najafehabad stele and on the relief at Tang-i Var, see: Frame (1999, 2013); for the newly discovered relief at Mishkas, see: Alibaigi et al. (2012); for the bronze coffin discovered near Sareb-e Qareh Daneh, see: Alibaigi and Khosravi (2016). The historical geography of the Zagros in Assyrian times is still imperfectly known and, although slow progress is being made, the above mentioned studies should be consulted.

  2. 2.

    The meaning of zimpani is not known, but it seems probable that it was the indigenous term for a class of warrior.

  3. 3.

    For an overview of deportation in the Assyrian empire see: Oded (1979).

  4. 4.

    An Israelite active Media is found in an administrative text from Nimrud (Galil 2009).

  5. 5.

    For evidence that the Assyrians themselves were deported following the fall of Nineveh, see: MacGinnis (2017) (referring to evidence from the Ebabbara of Sippar).

  6. 6.

    The names in an unidentifiable language appearing on two ostraca from Tell Jemmeh have similarly been interpreted as belonging to deportees from the Zagros (Naveh 1985).

  7. 7.

    Shalmaneser I also boasts of having taken e-ma-mu, which Grayson (1987: 184) translates “wild animals in captivity”.

  8. 8.

    SAA 19 169 reports the progress of the king of Karalla on his way to Kalhu bringing tribute, but does not specify of what this consisted.

  9. 9.

    The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary gives for tuānu “a color or breed of horses”, noting that in one case the word har-ba-ka-nu occurs in the place in a list of horses occupied elsewhere by tu-a-nu (CAD T p. 444).

  10. 10.

    For more on horses from Kush see: Dalley (1985): 43f, where, following Postgate (1974: 11 & n1), it is suggested that Kushite horses were used for chariotry and Mesean horses for cavalry.

  11. 11.

    A horse trader is witness to the sale of a garden in Kar-Nabû (Radner 2013: 450).

  12. 12.

    For remarks on Iranian metal resources, see: Potts (1994: 143–176) and Potts (1997: 164–184).

  13. 13.

    For remarks on the import of mineral resources from Iran into Mesopotamia in the earlier periods, See: Potts (1994); it is noteworthy that the Assyrian kings do not mention carnelian, at least one source of which was in Iran (Potts 1997: 265).

  14. 14.

    The prophet Ezekiel mentions Assyrian trade in blue-colored textiles, embroidery and coloured carpets (Ezekiel 27: 23–24).

  15. 15.

    Additional evidence that textiles of eastern style were prized comes from the presence of a family of Hundureans living in Assur and working as weavers in the Temple of Aššur (Radner 2003: 62–63, 2013, 447–449).

  16. 16.

    There may of course have been other officials with the title rab kāri responsible for the kāru’s/bīt kāri’s in other parts of the empire.

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  1. British Museum, London, UK

    John MacGinnis

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  1. Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Kamal-Aldin Niknami

  2. Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Hozhabri

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MacGinnis, J. (2020). Assyrian Exploitation of Iranian Territories. In: Niknami, KA., Hozhabri, A. (eds) Archaeology of Iran in the Historical Period. University of Tehran Science and Humanities Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41776-5_4

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