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The savagery
of Ashurnasirpal II against our Aramean
people of Kashiari
(Tur Abdin)
Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) penetrated
right into Kashiari (Tur Abdin) and boasts
of having spent six days campaigning there,
despite its being “rugged terrain which was
unsuitable for chariotry and troops”. At
Matiatu (modern Midyat in Tur ‘Abdin) he
claims to have slain 2800 men and carried
off many captive, at the same time he says
he erected a statue of himself there, with
an inscription detailing his victories. This
has not been found, but one with a brief
account of his campaign in Kashiari was
discovered last century at Kurkh, near
Diyarbakir, to the northwest of Tur ‘Abdin,
while fragments of another inscribed statue
of the king (today in the museum at Adana)
were found at Babil, described in Akkadian
sources as “the source of the river Subnat”,
some 25 kilometres southwest of Cizre. Among
the various towns in Kashiari that
Ashurnasirpal II mentions is Zazabuha (which
may be modern Zaz), Kibaku (perhaps modern
Kiwah), and Suru (probably modern Sawur).
Rather more detail is given to Ashurnasirpal
about his exploits in Bit Zamani, further to
the northwest. Bit Zamani had Amedi (Amid,
modern Diyarbakir) as its main city, and was
evidently ruled by an Aramean dynasty. A
palace revolution, when nobles under a
certain Bur-Ramanu killed their ruler
Amme-ba’l, provided Ashurnasirpal with an
excuse to intervene. He flays Bur-Ramanu
alive and appoints his brother, Ilanu, as
ruler instead, paying a heavy tribute. What
is particularly interesting , since it gives
an idea of the material culture and wealth
of Bit Zamani at the time, is a list of
booty that the Assyrian king takes back with
him, for he states:
“I received 460
harnessed chariots, equipment for troops and
horses, 460 harness-trained horses, 2
talents of silver, 2 talents of gold, 100
talents of tin, 200 talents bronze, 300
talents of iron, 1000 bronze casseroles,
2000 bronze receptacles, bowls, bronze
containers, 1000 embroidered linen garments,
dishes, chests, couches of ivory decorated
with gold…..”
-all
this being described as the treasure of Bur
Ramanu’s palace.
The
brutality with which the Assyrians treated
their Aramean and other enemies was
sometimes horrific: thus the same
Ashurnasirpal boeast “I captured many troops
alive; from some I cutoff their arms and
hands, from others I cut of their noses and
ears., I gouged out the eyes of many troops.
I made one pile of the living, and another
of heads; I hung their heads on trees around
the city. I burnt their young boys and
girls”.
With the resurgence
of Assyrian power in the ninth and
eighth centuries BC, the Aramean states
were victims of repeated onslaughts from
Assyria, and over the period of nearly
two centuries they each in turn fell
permanently into Assyrian hands, to
beco9me provinces of the Assyrian
empire. Quite a number of the earliest
surviving Aramaic inscriptions in fact
date from a time after this change of
status had already taken place.
Sources:
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The
Hidden Pearl Volume I: The Ancient Aramaic
Heritage by Sebastian P Brock and David G.K.
Taylor page 63
-
John A
Fitzmeyer and Stephen A Kaufman , An Aramaic
Bibliography, Part I, Old, Official, and
Bibloical Aramaic (Baltimore, 1992) . A
selection of the earlier Aramaic
inscriptions (texts, translations,
commentary) is provided J.C.L. Gibson,
Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions, 2,
Aramaic Inscriptions (Oxford, 1975)
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