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Haradum

Coordinates: 34°26′00″N 41°36′00″E / 34.433333°N 41.600000°E / 34.433333; 41.600000
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Haradum
Haradum is located in Iraq
Haradum
Shown within Iraq
Alternative nameKhirbit ed-Diniye
LocationAl Anbar Governorate, Iraq
Coordinates34°26′00″N 41°36′00″E / 34.433333°N 41.600000°E / 34.433333; 41.600000
Typesettlement
History
FoundedEarly 2nd millennium BC
PeriodsBronze Age, Early Iron Age
Site notes
Excavation dates1981-1988
ArchaeologistsChristine Kepinski-Lecomte
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

Haradum (also Harrâdum), modern Khirbit ed-Diniye (also Khirbet ed-Diniyé), in Al Anbar Governorate Iraq, was an ancient Near East city on the middle Euphrates about 90 kilometers southeast of Mari. It was part of the ancient region of Suhum. The name of the town meant "the place where one stands watch". It was strategically placed on the border of four kingdoms, Eshnunna, Ekallatum, Mari and Babylon and is thought to have been first settled by Eshnunna. It is known that a toolboth was established on the river and a toll collected.[1]

History[edit]

Babylonia at the time of Hammurabi, ca. 1792-1750 BC

While the site of Haradum was occupied earlier, under the control of Eshnunna, being mentioned in texts from Mari, after a hiatus it grew into a proper town until the 18th century BC under the control of the First Dynasty of Babylon. It was later the site of a Neo-Assyrian fortress.[2]Tablets from the reign of Babylonian rulers Samsu-iluna, Abi-eshuh, Ammi-ditana, and Ammi-saduqa have been found at Haradum. The earliest dated text is from the 26th year of Samsu-iluna (c. 1749–1712 BC), son of Hammurabi, and the latest text is from the 18th year of Babylonian ruler Ammi-saduqa (c. 1646-1626 BC). For a time under the reign of Samsu-iluna lost Babylon control of Haradum to the city of Terqa but soon regained it.[3] Two cuneiform tablets from the late Middle Assyrian period, apparently during the reign of Aššur-dān I (c. 1178–1133 BC), were also found.[4]

Haradum is noted for being one of the earliest examples of a planned city, with a rectilinear layout and straight streets. It contained two temples (dedicated to Ishtar and Adad respectively) but no palace.[5]

Archaeology[edit]

The site of Haradum is small, about 1.5 hectares in area (a 150 by 150 meter square) with a fortification wall having a main gate in the western wall. It was excavated for six seasons between 1981 and 1988 by a team from the Délégation Archéologique Française en Iraq led by Christine Kepinski-Lecomte. A number of cuneiform tablets were found in residential and temple contexts. The work was a salvage operation in response to Haditha Dam construction though by the end of excavations the site had still not been inundated..[6][7][8][9] Cuneiform tablets, found in private houses and the mayoral residence, included divination texts:

"... If a scorpion strikes a man on the right side, that man will grumble. If a scorpion strikes a man on the left side, that man will have a victorious conquest. If a snake falls on a man's head, that man will experience difficulty. If a snake, from a rafter in a man's house, in between two men or two companions falls, one of them will die. ..."[10]

The excavators found four 2nd Millennium BC building layers. The first (3D) was from the time of Mari ruler Zimri-Lim (1775–1761 BC) and included a fortification wall. Later construction followed the street plan established at that time. The subsequent levels, under Babylonian and later Middle Assyrian rule dated c. 1750-1700 BC (3C), c. 1700-1665 BC (3B) destroyed by fire, and c. 1665-1130 BC (3A).[11][12][13]

Part of the later was overlaid, in the 11th through 8th centuries BC, by the fortress named Haradu, controlled by the Middle Assyrians, the Aramaeans, and then the Neo-Assyrians. The fortress had a casemate wall with angles oriented to the cardinal points and no internal structures and is considered to be a strictly military construction. It had three construction phases. The first phase was laid on the remains of the Old Babylonian defensive wall of Haradum. The second phase reinforced the casemate wall and included a tomb dug into the bedrock. Grave good included "bronze objects, a goblet, a sieve, a zoomorphic drinking vessel, two knobs of a stick, small plaques" also a bunch of iron arrows held together with a thread and one gold earring. The third and final phase added buttressing and the fortress reached its maximum size of 150 square meters with 30 meter thick defensive fortifications. A cemetery was found at the southwest of the wall.[14][15]

A 3-D virtual relality reconstruction of the site is being developed, Patrimoine du Proche-Orient.[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kepinski, Christine, "Organization of Harrâdum, Suhum, 18th–17th Centuries b.c., Iraqi Middle Euphrates", Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Würzburg 20–25 Jul, edited by Gernot Wilhelm, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 143-154, 2022
  2. ^ Wolfgang Heimpel, "Letters to the King of Mari", Eisenbrauns, 2003 ISBN 1-57506-080-9
  3. ^ [1]Yamada, Shigeo, "A pudûm rotation list from Tell Taban and the cultural milieu of Ṭabatum in the post-Hammurabi period", Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 105.1, pp. 137-156, 2011
  4. ^ [2]Tenu, Aline, "Building the Empire. Settlement Patterns in the Middle Assyrian Empire", Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire. Essays dedicated to Frans Wiggermann, pp. 75-88, 2015
  5. ^ C.Kepinski-Lecomte, "Spatial occupation of a new town Haradum", in Houses and Households in ancient Mesopotamia. K.R. Veenhof (ed.); Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, pp. 191-96, 1996
  6. ^ Christine Kepinski and Olivier Lecomte, "Mari et Haradum", Mari Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, vol. 4, pp. 615-621, 1985
  7. ^ Christine Kepinski and Olivier Lecomte, "Haradum/Harada, une forteresse sur l'Euphrate", Archeologia, vol. 205, pp. 46-55, 1985
  8. ^ F. Joannes, C. Kepinski, and O.Lecomte, "Présence babylonienne dans le pays de Suhu au XVIIe siècle av. J.-C: L'exemple de Kherbet ed Diniye, Iraq", Revue d'assyriologie d'archéologie orientale, vol. 77, pp. 119-142, 1983
  9. ^ F. Joannes, "Haradum et le pays de Suhum", Archeologia, vol. 205, pp. 56-59, 2005
  10. ^ [3]"Fs de Meyer 305-312 Artifact Entry", Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), December 5, 2015
  11. ^ "Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82", Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983
  12. ^ "Excavations in Iraq, 1983-84", Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 215–39, 1985
  13. ^ "Excavations in Iraq 1987-88", Iraq, vol. 51, pp. 249–65, 1989
  14. ^ [4]Kepinski, Christine, "Conflict, Territory and Culture: the Case of Haradu, a fortress on the Iraqi Middle Euphrates (11th-7th centuries bc)", Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire 86, pp. 149-158, 2009
  15. ^ Tenu, Aline. "Imperial Culture: Some Reflections on Middle Assyrian Settlements", Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Barcelona, July 26th-30th, 2010, edited by Lluis Feliu, J. Llop, A. Millet Albà and Joaquin Sanmartín, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 575-584, 2013
  16. ^ [5]Louise Quillien, Mustapha Djabellaoui, "Orient Cunéiforme: the Benefits of New Technologies for the Propagation of Knowledge and Scientific Research", W. Sommerfeld. Dealing with Antiquity: Past, Present & Future, RAI Marburg, AOAT 460, Ugarit-Verlag, pp.199-209, 2020

Further reading[edit]

  • D. Charpin, "Les pouvoirs locaux à l’époque paléo-babylonienne : le cas du maire et des Anciens de Harrâdum", dans S. Dönmez (dir.), DUB.SAR E.DUB.BA.A., Studies Presented in Honour of Veysel Donbaz / Veysel Donbaz’a Sunulan Yazılar, Istanbul, pp. 41-54, 2010
  • Charpin, Dominique, "La «maison de Riš-Šamaš» à Harradum, nouvelle approche", Parcours d'Orient. Recueil de textes offert à Christine Kepinski, hrsg. v. Bérengère Perello, Aline Tenu, pp. 61-76, 2016
  • D. Charpin, "Harrâdum, entre Babylone et le “pays de Mari”", dans E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, J. Klinger et G.G.W. Müller (dir.), Diversity and Standardization, Perspectives on social and political norms in the ancient Near East, Berlin, pp. 27-48, 2013
  • [6] Mark W. Chavalas, "Terqa and Haradum: A Comparative Analysis of Old Babylonian Period Houses Along the Euphrates" in The 90th Anniversary Volume of the Archaeological Institute of America, St. Louis Chapter, ed., A. Dempsey (St. Louis: Archaeological Institute of America, St. Louis Chapter, 1997
  • [7]Christine Kepinski-Lecompte, "Haradum I: Une ville nouvelle sur le Moyen-Euphrate", Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1992, ISBN 2-86538-229-X
  • F. Joannes, C. Kepinski-Lecompte, Gudrun Colbow, "Haradum II. Les Textes de la Periode Paleo-Babylonienne (Samsu-iluna - Ammi-saduqa)", ERC, 2006, ISBN 2-86538-311-3
  • C. Kepinski, "Haradum III : Haradu, forteresse du moyen Euphrate iraquien (XIIe-VIIIe s. av. J.-C.)", Paris, 2012
  • [8]Kepinski, Christine, "Harrâdum dans le paysage archéologique du Moyen Euphrate au début du second millénaire av. J.-C.", ISIMU 14, pp. 29-37, 2011
  • [9]Kepinski-Lecomte, Christine, "La polarité occidentale d'Haradum, Moyen-Euphrate irakien (XVIIIe-XVIIe s. av. J.-C.)", Anatolia antiqua, Eski Anadolu 3.1, pp. 33-53, 1995
  • C. Kepinski, "Material Culture of a Babylonian Outpost on the Iraqi Middle Euphrates: the Case of Haradum during the Middle Bronze Age", Akkadica, vol. 126, pp. 121–131, 2005
  • C. Kepinski, "La conquête du pays de Suhum par le royaume d’Eshnunna et les liens tribaux entre la Diyala, la Mésopotamie du sud, la péninsule arabique et la vallée du moyen-Euphrate", dans Baghdader Mitteilungen 37, pp. 117-130, 2006
  • [10]Brigitte Lion, "Francis Joannès, with contributions from Ch. Kepinski-Lecomte and G. Colbow, Haradum II. The texts of the Paleo-Babylonian period (Samsu-iluna - Ammi-zaduqa)", Syria 86, pp. 359-362, 2009
  • Sauvage, Martin, "Le Contexte Archeologique et la Fin des Archives a Khirbet Ed-Diniye — Haradum", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 89, no. 1, pp. 41–55, 1995

External links[edit]

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