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~Under Serious Construction~

The Middle Assyrian landscape seems to be one in constant flux. The landscape was altered with the introduction of new royal and non-royal centers that challenged the existing power relationships.

Tukulti-Ninurta (1244-1208 BCE) founded Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, a port bearing his own name. Tiglath-Pileser I (1114-1076 BCE) built Apku as a royal center (Kuhrt 1995). Many other urban centers, including Dur-Katlimmu, have foundation levels dating to the Middle Assyrian period (Kühne 2000). There is a tendency to discuss these new settlements from a perspective of “colonization”, pertaining to the landscapes in which they were situated. Being heavily influenced by the foundation inscriptions of the kings themselves, modern scholars sometimes tend to draw the line a little further than it is actually situated.

Similar examples of the “colonization” of the landscapes are also evident in the case of the dimtu/dunnu settlements. Dimtu settlements, being Mitannian constructions, are suggested to be taken over by the Assyrians during the Middle Assyrian period (Duistermaat 2008). These settlements, in a macro lens, is also evaluated as institutions transforming the landscape by extracting its resources.

What emerges in all these discussions as a point of concern is how the colonization perspective is defined and shaped by our modern perspectives. (...to be continued...)

Works Cited:

Duistermaat, Kim; 2008. The pots and potters of Assyria: Technology and organization of production, ceramic sequence and vessel function at Late Bronze Age Tell Sabi Abyad. Turnhout : Brepols.

Kuhrt, Amélie. 1995. The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 B.C. (2 Vols.) Routledge: London and New York, 348-365.

Kühne, Hartmut. 2000. “Dūr-katlimmu and the Middle-Assyrian empire,” in La Djéziré et l’Euphrate Syriens de la Protohistoire à la fin du IIe Millénaire av. J.-C. Tendances dans l’interprétation historique des données nouvelles (Subartu VII). Olivier Rouault and Markus Wäfler (eds.), Brepols: 271-277.