Assyrian royal discourse between local and imperial traditions at the Hābūr

Abstract

Il est difficile d’enquêter sur le discours idéologique accompagnant l’expansion assyrienne vers l’ouest durant la seconde moitié du IIe millénaire, car il n’y a pas encore de commun accord des spécialistes de l’histoire politique sur l’étendue de l’influence exercée par Assur dans cette région. Par ailleurs, la documentation s’est accrue ces dernières années avec la découverte de sites dans les vallées du Balih, du Habur ou de l’Euphrate. Dans cette contribution, l’auteur s’intéresse à l’émergence d’un discours royal médio-assyrien dans deux domaines : 1) quel fut l’impact de l’influence culturelle assyro-hourrite sur les pratiques religieuses des Assyriens et 2) l’image homogène que reflètent les inscriptions royales assyriennes correspond-elle à une réalité historique ? Il semble à l’auteur que le degré d’assyrianisation que nous constatons grâce aux standards bureaucratiques et que l’on observe au 13 e siècle depuis Tell Ali/Atmannu sur la rive gauche du Petit Zab jusqu’à Tell Šēḫ Ḥamad/Dūr Katlimmu sur le Habur ne peut pas servir à mesurer l’intensité de l’influence exercée par les stratégies culturelles préexistantes des élites culturelles et religieuses du Hanigalbat, soit la région entre Euphrate et Habur incluant la région du Haut-Tigre. L’architecture monumentale, l’art et les inscriptions officielles produites par ces élites des régions de l’ouest montrent, d’un autre côté, la fascination exercée par les marques assyriennes du prestige et du pouvoir et leur souhait de se fondre dans le discours de l’empire émergeant. Le propos de la contribution est de clarifier l’image si variable de la rencontre interculturelle des régions à l’ouest d’Aššur.

Irrigation and Landscape Commemoration in Northern Assyria, the Assyrian Canal and Rock Reliefs in Faida (Kurdistan Region of Iraq): Preliminary Report on the 2019 Field Season

“…Ashur, the chief Assyrian god, 26 stands on a mušḫuššu -dragon and a bull or an abūbu -deluge monster 27 . Ashur is also represented standing on the dragon and abūbu mythological creatures in the ‘Large Panel’ and the canal head monolith at Khinis (Bachmann 1927: 7–13; Bär 2006; Justement in press; Morandi Bonacossi 2018c; Ornan 2007; Pongratz-Leisten in press; Winter 1982: 367) and on Sennacherib's ‘Seal of Destinies’, the cylinder seal impression across the top of a tablet bearing the adê (loyalty oath) for Esarhaddon's succession to the Assyrian throne (Fales 2012; Justement in press; Parpola and Watanabe 1988: no. 6).…”

“…The reliefs were designed to evoke a scene comparable to cultic performances in the temples, where, as attested by letters of the time of Esarhaddon (Cole and Machinist 1998: nos. 34 and 178: 18–21), statues of the king were set up on the right and left sides of the deity to guarantee his perpetual adoration (Pongratz-Leisten in press). The veneration scenes carved along the canal course were transported from the secluded temple environment into the open countryside with the aim of commemorating the construction of the new irrigation landscape created by the king in his role as mediator between heaven and earth and promoter of local fertility and abundance (Morandi Bonacossi 2018a: 56, 67–68; Pongratz-Leisten in press).…”

“…34 and 178: 18–21), statues of the king were set up on the right and left sides of the deity to guarantee his perpetual adoration (Pongratz-Leisten in press). The veneration scenes carved along the canal course were transported from the secluded temple environment into the open countryside with the aim of commemorating the construction of the new irrigation landscape created by the king in his role as mediator between heaven and earth and promoter of local fertility and abundance (Morandi Bonacossi 2018a: 56, 67–68; Pongratz-Leisten in press). This is suggested by royal inscriptions, such as the Bavian monumental inscription that celebrates the construction of the Khinis canal of Stage 4 of Sennacherib's irrigation network: “Its (of Nineveh) fields, which had been turned into wastelands due to the lack of water, were woven over with spider webs.…”

“… 44 On this subject and on the interpretation of the scenes carved on the ‘Large Relief’ and the canal head monolith as a depiction of Sennacherib's epiphany in the new imperial landscape created through construction of his irrigation system and as a claim by the king of his place in the divine realm, see Pongratz-Leisten in press.…”

Towards a Patchwork Perspective on Ancient Empires

“…Moreover, as remarked before, examples abound in which the dominant cultural language is inverted by subaltern social groups to actually advertise opposition to the associated imperial power (e.g. Pobjoy 2000;Pongratz-Leisten 2011).…”