Kurda was an ancient
city-state and kingdom located in
Northern Mesopotamia.[1] Kurda emerged during the
Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia) and is attested in the administrative texts of this era as a city state and geographical territory in Upper Mesopotamia corresponding to modern northern Iraq.[2][3][4] The city-state of Kurda is again attested by the Akkadian king Naram Sin in 23rd century BCE in his military campaigns in the land of Subarians.[5][6] Various
Archives of Mari around 18th century BCE mention Kurda as an independent Kingdom, sometimes in alliance with Babylon and sometimes allied with Mari.[7][8] Kurda is also mentioned in the Tell Fekheriye tablets of the Assyrian kings Šalmaneser I (1263–1234 BC) and Tukulti-Ninurta I (1233–1198 BC), as one of the conquered territories in the Mitannian Empire.[9]
Location
At its height the kingdom might have stretched from the
Upper Khabur basin in what is today north-eastern
Syria, to the steppes of
Sinjar mountain, modern north-western
Iraq.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The capital city's location is debated; it was either located to south of Sinjar mountain, or along the Khabur river.[11]
Population and history
The city was the Amorite Numha tribe's center,[17][18] it controlled a small area and included the nearby city of
Kasapa.[19] The east Semitic deity
Nergal was Kurda's chief god.[20][21]
In the 18th century BC, Kurda was involved in a military dispute with the neighboring kingdom of
Andarig, which ended in peace.[22] However, Kurda was later subdued by Andarig and its master, the king of
Elam.[23] The kingdom tried switching its loyalty to
Babylon but was stopped by the Elamites who were defeated by a Babylonian-Mariote alliance in 1764 BC,[23] giving Kurda the chance to form an alliance with the kingdom of
Apum to face Andarig.[24]
Kurda annexed the city of
Ashihum,[25] then became a vassal of Babylon,[26] and ended its relation with Mari in response to the latter role in supporting Andarig.[27]
^Bramanti, Armando (2020). The Pottesman Collection in the British Museum: Early Dynastic and Sargonic Administrative Texts, in "The Third Millennium", V.50. published by Brill.
^M. B. Rowton, Urban Autonomy in a Nomadic Environment. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 32, No. ½ (Jan.-Apr., 1973), pp. 201-215
^Postgate, John Nicholas, The Archives of Urad-Serua and His Family: A Middle Assyrian Household in Government Service. Publicazioni del Progetto "Analisi electronic del cuneiforme" Corpus Medio-Assiro. Roma (Roberto Denicola) 1988, Zittierte Archiv-Nummer: 56
^Charpin, Dominique,. La "toponymie en miroir" dans le Proche-Orient amorrite. Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale. Volume 97 2003/1, pp. 3–34.
^Jean Robert Kupper (Liége) Les nomads en Mésopotamie au temps des roi de Mari. Société d’Èdition ’Les Belles Letters’, Paris 1957.
^Ferner in: Birot,, Maurice, Kupper, Jean-Robert, Rouault,olivier. Répertoire analytique (2e volume). Tomes I-XIV, XVIII. Première partie. Noms propers (ARM 16/1), Paris 1979: Kurda.