Subartu

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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 Sumerian mythological epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta lists the countries where the "languages are confused" as Subartu, Hamazi, Sumer, Uri-ki (Akkad), and the Martu land (the Amorites). Similarly, the earliest references to the "four quarters" by the kings of Akkad name Subartu as one of these quarters around Akkad, along with Martu, Elam, and Sumer.

Subartu was listed as a province of the empire of Lugal-Anne-Mundu; in a later era Sargon of Akkad campaigned against Subar, and Naram-Sin listed it among the lands under his control. Ishbi-Erra of Isin and Hammurabi also claimed victories over Subar.

In Neo-Babylonian times (under Nabopolassar, Nebuchadrezzar II and Nabonidus), Subartu was used as a generic term for Assyria. The term was still current under Cambyses II, who mentions Subarian captives.

Most scholars accept Subartu as an early name for Assyria proper on the Tigris, although there are various other theories placing it sometimes a little farther to the east, north or west of there.

We can also notice a mention of "Subartu" in the Poem of Erra (IV, 132) with other lands which have harassed Babylonia^[1].

[edit] See also

• Shubria

[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).

[edit] References