Tudiya

Tudiya or Tudia (Akkadian: 𒂅𒁲𒅀, romanized: Ṭu-di-ia) was according to the Assyrian King List (AKL) the first Assyrian monarch, ruling in Assyria's early period, though he is not attested in any known contemporary artefacts.[1] He is listed among the “seventeen kings who lived in tents.”[2][3] His existence is unconfirmed archaeologically and uncorroborated by any other source. According to the list, Tudiya was succeeded by Adamu.[4]

Similarities with Hammurabi geneaology

Tudiya is succeeded on the Assyrian King List by Adamu and then a further thirteen rulers: Yangi, Suhlamu, Harharu, Mandaru, Imsu, Harsu, Didanu, Hana, Zuabu, Nuabu, Abazu, Belu, Azarah, Ushpia, and Apiashal. Nothing concrete is yet known about these names, although it has been noted that a much later Babylonian tablet listing the ancestral lineage of Hammurabi of Babylon, seems to have copied the same names from Tudiya through Nuabu, though in a heavily corrupted form: Tudiya's name seems to be joined with that of Adamu to appear there as Tubtiyamutu.

Alleged attestations and disproval

In initial archaeological reports from Ebla, it appeared that Tudiya's existence was confirmed with the discovery of a tablet where it was stated that he had concluded a treaty for the operation of a kārum in Eblaite territory, with "King" Ibrium of Ebla (who is now known to have instead been the vizier of the King Isar-Damu of Ebla.) This entire reading is now questionable, as several scholars have more recently argued that the treaty in question was not with king Tudiya of Assur at all, but rather with the unnamed king of an uncertain location called "Abarsal".

Geopolitical context

Karum

Assyria seems to had already been firmly involved in trade in Anatolia by this time; the earliest known reference to Anatolian kārums in Hatti was found on later cuneiform tablets describing the early period of the Akkadian Empire. On those tablets, Assyrian traders in Purushanda had implored the help of their ruler, Sargon of Akkad, and this appellation continued to exist throughout Assyria for about 1700 years. The name, “Hatti” appears in later accounts of Sargon of Akkad's grandson (Naram-Sin of Akkad) campaigning in Anatolia. Both Assyrian and Akkadian traders had spread the use of writing in the form of the Mesopotamian cuneiform script to both Anatolia and the Levant.

Oligarchy

The king lists suggest that the earliest Assyrian kings, who are recorded as, “kings who lived in tents,” had at first been independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers, moreover; Assyria was originally an oligarchy rather than a monarchy. These kings had at some point become fully urbanized and founded the city-state of Assur.[5]

Rise of Assyria as a power

Both Assyria and Sumer had become subject to the Akkadian Empire, centered in central Mesopotamia c. 2400 BC. The Akkadian Empire claimed to encompass the surrounding, “four corners of the world.” Assyrian rulers had become subject to Sargon of Akkad and his successors, and the city-state of Assur had become a regional administrative center of the Empire, implicated by the Nuzi tablets.[6] The region of Assyria, north of the seat of the empire in central Mesopotamia, had been known as Azuhinum in Akkadian records.[7] Towards the end of the reign of Sargon the Akkad, the Assyrian faction had rebelled against him; “the tribes of Assyria of the upper country—in their turn attacked, but they submitted to his arms, and Sargon settled their habitations, and he smote them grievously.”[8]

See also

References
  1. "The Assyrian King List - Livius".
  2. Glassner, Jean-Jacques (2004). Mesopotamian Chronicles. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 137. ISBN 1589830903.
  3. Meissner, Bruno (1990). Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Vol. 6. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 103. ISBN 3110100517.
  4. Roux, Georges (March 1993). Ancient Iraq. Penguin Books Limited (published Aug 27, 1992). ISBN 978-0140125238.
  5. Saggs, The Might, 24.
  6. Malati J. Shendge (1 January 1997). The language of the Harappans: from Akkadian to Sanskrit. Abhinav Publications. p. 46. ISBN 978-81-7017-325-0. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  7. "Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain". M. A. Nayeem. 1990. p. 32.
  8. Malati J. Shendge (1 January 1997). The language of the Harappans: from Akkadian to Sanskrit. Abhinav Publications. p. 46. ISBN 978-81-7017-325-0. Retrieved 22 April 2011.

Bibliography
  • Edmond Sollberger, "the so-called treaty between Ibla and 'Ashur'", Studii Eblaiti 3 (1980:129-155).
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