Ušpia

Ušpia was a king in the early days of the Assyrian Empire , who is passed down as the builder of the first Aššur temple. In recent times he is best known for the Assyrian King List , which lists him as the 16th king. In comparison with the first twelve or so kings on the list, which are considered legends, research on Ušpia considers it more likely that he was actually a historical person.

The list of kings mentions him in the first section as one of the 17 kings who lived in tents . The construction of the temple, which later became the national shrine, presumably initiated the change from a previously nomadic way of life to the development of the future city-state. In some research it is assumed that Ušpia was therefore added to the line of ancestors at a later date in order to particularly illustrate this change. But that is mostly rejected. Ušpia is still classified under the nomadic kings and is not the last entry in the corresponding section. He is followed by his son Apiašal as the 17th king, before the second section begins with 10 kings who are ancestors . Even if one assumes that a later ruler added Ušpia to the list, a much more likely motive would be that he wanted to improve his own credibility through the changed ancestral series.

In addition to the list of kings, Ušpia is also passed down through inscriptions written by his successor Salmānu-ašarēd I in the 13th century BC. And Asarhaddon in the 7th century BC As a testimony to their later own construction work on the Aššur temple. The inscriptions of both kings list the previous builders even before their own services to the temple and each start with Ušpia as the first builder.

“But when Eḫursağkurkurra, the temple of Aššur, my lord Ušpia, the city prince of Aššur, my ancestor had built it fell into disrepair, Erīšum, my ancestor, the city prince of Aššur, built it again. 159 years had passed since the reign of Erīšum, then the temple fell into disrepair ... "

- Building inscription for the Aššur temple (Salmānu-ašarēd I.)

“When the former Aššur temple, which my ancestor Ušpia, priest of Aššur, had previously built, fell into disrepair, my ancestor Ērišum, son of Ilu-šūma, priest of Assur, rebuilt it. When it fell into disrepair again after 126 years, my ancestor Šamši-Adad, the son of Ila-kabkabū, priest of Aššur (re) built it. When after 434 years this temple was destroyed by a conflagration, my ancestor Salmānu-ašarēd, the son of Adad-nārārī, priest of Aššur (re) built it. 580 years ... "

- Building inscription for the Aššur temple (Asharhaddon)

There are different ideas about its origins or the extent of rule before a city-state could develop. By Arthur Ungnad his name as Hurritic interpreted, a thesis, but no longer can be held today. The timing is accordingly controversial. Hildegard Lewy dated his reign to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Chr., William W. Hallo sat Ušpia contrast, only towards the end of the third dynasty of Ur , with reservations in the Old Babylonian period on, Arno Poebel dubbed him with the last Gutians -Königen.

literature

• William W. Hello : Zariqum . Journal of Near Eastern Studies 15/4, 1956, pp. 220-225.
• Arno Poebel : The Assyrian King List from Khorsabad . in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 1/3, 1942, p. 253.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hildegard Lewy: Assyria (2600-1816 BC) . In: Cambridge Ancient History, Volume I / 2 , Cambridge 1971. pp. 729-770.
2. ↑ Avrāhām Malāmāṭ: King Lists of the Old Babylonian Period and Biblical Genealogies . In: I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood: Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1-11 (= Sources for biblical and theological study , Volume 4), edited by Richard S. Hess, David Toshio Tsumura, Eisenbrauns 1994 , ISBN 0-931464-88-9
3. ^ Karen Radner: The power of the name: ancient oriental strategies for self-preservation (= Santag Series , Volume 8), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-447-05328-3 , p. 213 - with reference to RIM text numbers A.0.77 .1, A.0.77.2 and A.0.77.1008, see Albert Kirk Grayson : The Royal inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Assyrian periods. (RIMA) Volume I, University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1987
4. ^ Karen Radner: The power of the name: ancient oriental strategies for self-preservation (= Santag Series , Volume 8), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-447-05328-3 , p. 219 - with reference to Rykle Borger, The Inscriptions Asarhaddons , King of Assyria , 1956 3: Ass.A iii 17-32
5. ^ Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum : Administrative aspects of royal representation: Two documents on the cult of the deceased kings in Assyrian Central Assyria - with reference to RIM text number A.0.77.1, see Albert Kirk Grayson : The Royal inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Assyrian periods. (RIMA) Volume I, University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1987. pp. 112-119
6. ^ Extract from the translation in: Journal of the German Palestine Association , 1977, Volume 93 - cf. Rykle Borger, The inscriptions of Asarhaddons, King of Assyria in: Archiv für Orientforschung , Volume 9, Graz 1956. (New edition Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1967) - or Victor Hurowitz: I Have Built You an Exalted House in: The Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies , A&C Black, 1992. ISBN 0-567-49882-4 . P. 132 ( limited preview in Google Book search)
7. ^ Arthur Ungnad : Contributions to Assyriology and Semitic Linguistics (BA) VI, 5, p. 13

predecessor	Office	successor
Azaraḫ	Assyrian king around 22nd century BC Chr.	Apiasal