https://ror.org/056hcgc41Introduction
Mukiš/Alalah Kingdom, its center being Alalah (Reyhanlı/Hatay), was located in an important geography in terms of political and commercial activities since the Middle Bronze Age. The kingdom, located at a key point in the trade network of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Eastern Mediterranean, was subjected to invasions by major political powers of the period, leading to administrative and economic losses that rendered it a dependency of the Kingdom of Yamhad[1] in the Middle Bronze Age and a vassal state under Mitanni and Hittite rule in the Late Bronze Age[2] . Alalah formed the western lands of the Yamhad kingdom with city-states such as Niya and Ammiya located just to the south, and they were at least able to protect their existence with tax payments[3] . These place names constituted the city kingdoms mentioned in the records of the expeditions carried out in the periods of Tutmosis III and Amenhotep II into Syria and its north and took part in the alliance of anti-Hittite neighboring countries, including Nuhašše, against Šuppiluliuma I.[4] In order to clarify the political and commercial activity area of the Kingdom of Alalah, considering the data obtained from Nuzi, Mari, Amarna, Ugarit and Hittite archives, which were other archives of the period, as well as their own archives, and according to Egyptian sources, sharing the data that cedar, copper, and slaves were taken from Alalah and the situation of Hittite before Šuppiluliuma I, it has been suggested that Egypt ended the Alalah level V and made a dynasty change[5] .
Tell Atchana best represents the Alalah Kingdom in the distribution of textual and archaeological evidence[6] . In the Accana Mound excavations, where 17 levels were identified, approximately 470 cuneiform tablets were found in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian from level VII dated to the Middle Bronze Age. These texts, along with the limited number of royal records found, reveal that there was significant trade in metals, workers/slaves, animals, grain, and oil. It was understood that this trade was carried out mainly through Hurrian and West Semitic noble producers and merchants, and sufficient (Hurrian) terms and words were encountered in the documents related to commercial practices to describe the local production specific to the Amuq Plain[7] . Due to its geographical location, this kingdom, which had high production and commercial capacity, became an important center in the production of olive oil and wine unique to the Asi Delta and Amuq Plain. In the tablets, in addition to the records indicating that the region was also active in the trade of cereals and small cattle, it was noted that the purchase and sale of female/male slaves and the workers and craftsmen brought to the palace were also an important part of this commercial life[8] .
1. Alalah Level IV Texts
It was understood that in the Late Bronze Age, Alalah’s administrative class changed with Mitanni’s support, and commercial activities were meticulously recorded in the royal archive. Among the documents shedding light on this period are the cuneiform texts dated to Alalah Level IV. The Alalah Level IV documents not only offered insights into economic operations and production but also provided lists that enabled the determination of demographic data and accounts of the kingdom’s revenues and expenditures. According to these lists, the kingdom, which had a class society structure, was defined as a privileged social layer formed by the hazannu Hurris, and basic administrative and social classes such[9] as mariannu, ehelli(ehele)-šūzubu, haniahhu and hupšu could be determined[10]. The Alalah IV tablets confirmed the continued presence of Hurrians, Hittites, and Amorites in the region and revealed that the Mitanni dominating Alalah belonged to the mariannu class, and over time, this class gained prestige[11]. The dominance of this Mitanni-supported class, with which King Idrimi and his father Ilimilimma I were affiliated, was continued in the Kingdom of Alalah by Idrimi, followed by his son Niqmepa and his grandson Ilimilimma II. In the reign of Idrimi, who ascended to the throne after his father Ilimilimma in the Kingdom of Alalah, the royal archive consisted of Akkadian cuneiform documents, and the linguistic characteristics of the Hurrians, Hittites, and Amurrians, who were the peoples within the kingdom, were reflected in the writing tradition in this archive[12]. In the reign of Idrimi, who ascended to the throne after his father Ilimilimma in the Kingdom of Alalah, the royal archive consisted of Akkadian cuneiform documents, and the linguistic characteristics of the Hurrians, Hittites, and Amurrians, who were the peoples within the kingdom, were reflected in the writing tradition in this archive. Therefore, the Alalah Archive can be considered an ethnolinguistically rich example. However, this richness has brought various difficulties in terms of clarifying the etymology of the words. Indeed the names of King Idrimi and his son Niqmepa, who took over the throne, have been discussed in many etymological studies, but although it is claimed that these names may be in Hurriane or Akkadian, no definitive conclusion has been reached[13]. The Idrimi Inscription[14] is the main source for illuminating the administrative, geographical, and ethnic diversity of the Alalah Kingdom during the Idrimi period, which tried to survive in the political shadow of the Mitanni. The inscription, which was recorded in Akkadian, the diplomatic language of the period, is dated between 1400 and 1350 BC as part of the preparation process. It is thought that the inscription, which was accessed in a level after the reign of Idrimi, was preserved as a royal trust during the Addu-nīrārī or Niqmepa periods[15]. This unique inscription was prepared in a kind of autobiographical form with Idrimi taking refuge in the city of Emar after an occupation that started in Aleppo and describing his experiences in this city. In general terms, the Idrimi Inscription contains a detailed account of the Alalah king’s return to his lands as a victorious ruler with the support of his people, following his period of exile, and his efforts to drive back the Hittite advance from his country. Another important Alalah text dated to the period of Idrimi is the document numbered ATT/8/198[16]. This tablet was written about the return of fugitive slaves between King Pillia of Kizzuwatna (Çukurova) and Idrimi. This tablet, edited as an oath text (ṭuppi rikši), was created in the presence of the gods and under the supervision of King P/Barratarna of Mitanni[17]. Apart from the Idrimi Inscription and the text of the agreement with Kizzuwatna, the documents bearing the name or seal of King Idrimi published so far in the Alalah archive mostly contained commercial provisions.
A document sealed by King Idrimi, ATT/8/229[18], is the annual tribute list for silver paid to the Kingdom of Mitanni. According to this text, the Kingdom of Mukiš would pay 760 talents (± 228 kg) of silver annually. The tablet numbered ATT/8/114[19] is another document with the King Idrimi seal on it. Here, the production volume of Alalah artisans and their workplaces was given as a list. In this list, besides many carpentry workshops, the existence of an iron and copper factory was mentioned. The total number of workplaces (bîtātu hupšu) whose name and location could not be determined exactly, but which produced in a region of the Kingdom of Alalah, was recorded as 64 in this text. The document numbered ATT/8/232, which similarly showed the number of workplaces/households, bears the seal of Idrimi. This document was prepared for settlements such as Lagi, Zalatar, Situraše, Kuwaz [zi], and Kurie within the borders of the Kingdom of Alalah. According to the text, the total number of workplaces reached from these centers was given as 441, and the social classes to which some of these workshop owners belonged were also recorded[20]. It is seen that the tax to be paid to the palace by Ehli-Addu among the people of the palace (mār ekallim) was clarified in ATT/8/169, which is another tablet with a seal. According to this tablet, EhliAddu would pay 50 shekels of gold and 60 sheep to the palace annually[21]. In the procedure of the tax collected from local producers, it is likely that the follow-up of the ration/register system, which is called ilkum[22] in Babylonian and similar to the known fiefdom/iqta system, which was applied since the Old Babylonian period during the reign of King Idrimi and his son Niqmepa, was documented by lists similar to the document numbered 11883, which is the subject of the study.
2. Middle Babylonian Ration List (11883)
The tablet numbered 11883, which will be evaluated for the first time in this study, is similar to the rationing documents (ration/ration documents) in the Alalah tablets and overlaps with which personal names[23]. Such lists, which were mostly determined over cereals, oils, and beer and the amount of which was carried out with classical units of measurement (parīsu and ME/mêtum) [24], were determined to be similar to 284 (BM. 131578; AT pl. XXXIII), 285 (BM. 131579) and 287 (AT pl. XXXIII/ATT/8/132) among the Alalah tablets, thus making it possible to complete the relevant tablet with the left side of the front face broken. In addition, the content of the text numbered 11883, whose front face bottom lines were severely destroyed, most likely involved grain distribution. The expressions of MÁ eleppum “boat, raft” and namharum “cask, barrel”, which raise suspicion in the text, suggest that this text may have been prepared for the purpose of an oil ration. However, the fragmentary nature of the part of the tablet containing these data, and the absence of a similar example to clarify this content so far, makes it difficult to support this view.
Museum Inventory Number: 1856/1 11883
5x5x1,4 cm. Brown
Transliteration:
Obv. 1. [… mAl-li-n] i ? -ri
2. [… URUK/Qa? -d]u-me
3. […….]-ra
4. [… URUK/Qa-d]u? -me
5. […….]-ra
6. […mKu-ša?]-ia 3 1/2 ME DUMU mMa-am-ma
7. […….]-si 1 ME DUMU URUK/Qa-du? -me
8. [… mPa]-pa-ia 1 ME DUMU URUI-ili-me
Rev. 9. […… a-n] i-nu
10. […… (GİŠ)] MÁ
11. […… r] i ?
12. [……. (GİŠ)] MÁ
13. [……zi? ]-it-ta
14. [……]-pa
15. […. ] DUMU? Ma-zi-ia
16. […. Š] a? ku-bar
17. […. -r] i ? -ia
18. […. ša Ha-mat?
19. […. İp? ]-pal-la
20. [… a] b-ba
21. […. nam]-ha-rum
22. [… šar] -ri GAL [ ša?]
Translation:
“…[mAllini]ri, Qadume City(?), Qadume City(?), […mKuša]ia(?) 3 ½ ME son of Mamma, 1 ME son of Qadume, 1 ME son of Ilime, Papaia, ...raft(?), …partnered, …son of Mazia, log/timber, of Hama(?), …repaid…barrel…”.
Commentary
Line 2, 4, 7: As far as can be read from the text and from the similar Alalah records, the word has been completed as the place name K/Qadume. (AIT 284) It is thought that this place name could be Qatma/Qadme, a city on the west of the Euphrates River, just on the border with Karkamš. It is thought that this city, which is thought to be 80 km away from the city of Alalah, could be an important corridor in the Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Eastern Mediterranean trade line; in the Sinuhe Narrative dated to the Middle Egyptian Kingdom period, it is stated that it refers to the northernmost settlement known in the Syrian geography of Egypt (qdm)[25]. This place name (Qaduma) is also mentioned in the document CTH 50 (KUB 19.27-Treaty of I. Šuppiluliuma I with Šarri-Kušuḫ of Karkamıš King) indicating the correct geography for its localization[26]. One thing that should be noted is that the sign in line 4 can also be read as mar, although it is not completely certain. When records with similar textual content are examined, the personal names Puttamar and Šummar, and the city of Emar, may also appear in this line. These place and person names were recorded (ATT/8/211) together with the place name Qadume.
Line 6: It is quite difficult to determine an identification a propagation for the personal names Kušaya and Mamma only with the Alalah tablets. However, in the Alalah tablets (AIT 284), these two personal names are mentioned together and are recorded as Mamma the son of Kušaya.
Line 13: zittu is defined as “partner, shareholder” in The Assyrian Dictionary of the University of Chicago 1956 (CAD). CAD Z, 140.
Line 15: Mazia, apart from the Alalah tablets (ATT/8/8; ATT/8/189: as amêl bîti “palace official”), is also recorded as a witness in a commercial document in the Nuzi archive[27].
Line 16: ubru/kubra “thick, wide, volume, diameter” has been used especially in Old Babylonian texts to calculate the diameter of liquid or wooden material (log, etc.). CAD K, 484. The purchase of logs for use in ship/raft construction has not been encountered in the Alalah tablets so far.
Line 21: namharum: It is defined as a barrel, cask, container, or boat in CAD N/I, 228. It is recorded in the texts that these containers, which are understood to be made of wood or metal, were used for royal gifts, especially the metal ones. The word is mentioned in the Alalah tablets in documents numbered ATT /8 / 104: 12 and ATT/39/164: 14; in these documents, namharu were obtained from bronze.
Line 22: The signs on the line can be read as ri-qal-[lá] or ri-i-me-[e]. However, no meaningful equivalent has been found consisting of these signs.
Conclusion
The document with inventory number 11883 was dated to Alalak level IV with its paleographic features, person/place names and content. The names of the people in the document are recorded as witnesses in the Nuzi Tablets in contemporary archives. Moreover the names of the people mentioned in the tablet were in parallel with the merchants/producers actively present in the Kingdom of Alalah. The tablet is, in terms of its content, a record indicating the registering of a ration list in a certain geography. As far as the tablet can be deciphered, it is largely similar to the ration lists dated to Alalah level IV. Grain type/commercial material and quantity recorded in these lists were also written in the relevant document examined here. eleppum “ship/raft”, which is included in the text to the extent that it could be deciphered, has not yet been determined on the Alalah tablets. Although it was approached with suspicion, it suggested that it might be an area or a workshop where timber was obtained just south of Karkamish. The existence of other words to support this term may have indicated the existence of timber and workshops where these were processed in the north of Syria.
