"Of Marshes, Kings, and Rebels". On the Perception and Representation of Southern Mesopotamian Wetlands at the Neo-Assyrian Royal Court
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Abstract
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.
Date Issued
2018
Publication Type
Book Section
Subject(s)
Language(s)
en
Editor(s)
Attinger, Pascal | |
Cavigneaux, Antoine | |
Mittermayer, Catherine | |
Novák, Mirko |
Additional Credits
Publisher
Peeters
Access(Rights)
Unknown