Subartu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The land of Subar (Sumerian Su-bir4/Subar/Šubur) or Subartu (Akkadian Šubartum/Subartum/ina Šú-ba-ri, Assyrian mât Šubarri) was situated at the Tigris, north of Babylonia. The name also appears in the Amarna letters, and, in the form Šbr, in Ugarit. The language of Subartu is referred to in Akkadian as SuKI/SU.BIR4AKI.
In Neo-Babylonian times (under Nabupolassar, Nebukadnezar II and Nabonid), Subartu is used as a generic term for Assyria The term is still current under Cambyses II, who mentions Subarian captives.
Naram-Sin, Ishbi-Irra and Hammurabi claimed victories over Armani-Subar (aka Arme-Shubria which were near Lake Van).
Arthur Ungnad developed a "Pan-Subarian" theory, according to which the Subarians were Proto-Hittites as well as the founders of the Assyrian Empire. Speiser, Benno Landsberger und C. J. Gadd tried to equate "Subarians" and Hurrians.
[edit] Literature
- Arthur Ungnad, Die ältesten Völkerwanderungen Vorderasiens. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Kultur der Semiten, Arier, Hethiter und Subaräer. Kulturfragen 1, 1923, 4-8.
- Arthur Ungnad, Subartu, Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und Völkerkunde Vorderasiens (Berlin/Leipzig 1936).
