Hanilgabat
Ḫanilgabat (also Ḫanigalbat or Ḫabilgalbat, KUR Ḫa-ni-kal-bat ) is an Assyrian geographical term for Northern Syria or Upper Mesopotamia, the area between the Upper Habur and the Euphrates , especially along the Belich River . From a geopolitical and economic point of view, it was of great importance, especially in antiquity, as a transition area between Anatolia and Mesopotamia .
The term was used from the 15th century BC. Common and was often used as a name for the kingdom of Mittani ( Ma-i-ta-ni ) (since its center was in Ḫanilgabat) and partly equated with the kingdom of the Hurrians , which also played a political role there.
In the 14th century BC The Hittite great king Šuppiluliuma I defeated the Hurrites and Mittani and established a lower kingdom of Ḫanilgalbat to create a barrier against the increasing expansion efforts of the Assyrian empire, which also wanted to own the strategically important Upper Mesopotamia. As ruler, he appointed a son of the former Mittan king Tušratta , Šattiwazza , who had become his vassal and married a Hittite princess. The sphere of influence of the former rulers of Mittani was limited to the rule of Ḫanilgalbat, which is why the two terms are often used synonymously.
As early as 1321 BC Chr. Muršili II. Came to power in the Hittite Empire, there were aspirations for independence in Ḫanilgabat. Due to the central location of the country, this ended with the fact that it distanced itself from the Hittites, but now came more strongly under the influence of the Assyrian Empire . In the course of the 13th century, under the pressure of the expansion policy, in particular Adad-niraris I of Assyria (1295-1264), the eastern part of the empire (between Habur and Belich) was lost, so that it sank into an insignificant small state. This king also succeeded in forcing tributes from the ruler of Ḫanilgabat and suppressing an uprising in the conquered area. Shalmaneser I (1263-1234) finally dethroned the last king Šattuara and conquered the entire region. He allegedly deported 14,000 residents and included the region in the administration of Assyria. This made Ḫanilgabat a purely geographical name again.
In the crisis following the death of Tukulti-apil-ešarra I (11th century BC), the Assyrian Empire lost control of Ḫanilgabat and only regained control at the beginning of the 8th century, when there were already numerous Aramaic Had formed empires that had to be smashed first. During this time of the New Assyrian Empire (9th to 7th centuries BC) the name Ḫanilgabat was used more generally than before for the land between the rivers Habur, Belich and Euphrates.
Web links
literature
- Mauro Giorgieri: The relationship between Assyria and the Hittite Empire. In: Johanes Renger (ed.): Assur - God, City and Country. 5th International Colloquium of the German Orient Society 18. – 21. February 2004 in Berlin. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2011, pp. 169–190.
- Amir Harrak: Assyria and Hanigalbat. A Historical Reconstruction of Bilateral Relations from the Middle of the Fourteenth to the End of the Twelfth Centuries BC (= texts and studies on oriental studies). Olms, Hildesheim 1987.
- Egbert von Weiher: Ḫanigalbat. In: Dietz-Otto Edzard (ed.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie . Vol. 4, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1972–75, pp. 105–107 (with a list of the evidence).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hartmut Schmökel : Ur, Assur and Babylon. Three millennia in Mesopotamia (Great Cultures of the Early Period). 6th edition, JG Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachhaben, Kilpper Collection, Stuttgart 1962, p. 109.