Elynn Gorris. “Crossing the Elamite Borderlands: A Study of Interregional Contacts between Elam and ‘Kingdom’ of Hara(n)”
Elynn Gorris. “Crossing the Elamite Borderlands: A Study of Interregional Contacts between Elam and ‘Kingdom’ of Hara(n)” in J. Tavernier, E. Gorris, K. Abraham and V. Boschloos (eds.). Topography and Toponymy in the Ancient Near East. Perspectives and Prospects. Peeters: Louvain-la-Neuve, 2018, p. 313-344, (Greater Mesopotamia Studies 1)
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1This article makes a critical contribution to the reconstruction of the complex and still poorly defined Neo-Elamite geo-political network by repositioning Hara(n), a toponym long identified with the late Neo-Assyrian capital of Ḫarran in southeast Turkey, within the Neo-Elamite sphere. An exhaustive examination of the available sources identifies six local documents attesting to Hara(n): an Elamite Nineveh letter (Nin 13:3-4) found with seven other letters from the same series in the library of Ashurbanipal and dated by the author to ca. 630-620 BCE; four Susa Acropole tablets (MDP 9, nos. 117:1-5; 147: rev. 3; 38:13; 96: rev. 8); and an early Achaemenid Persepolis Fortification Archive tablet (PF-NN 161: 13). The incorrect identification of Hara(n) as Ḫarran goes back to a translation of the letter Nin 13 by Walther Hinz: “Den Zinnkrug des Sendboten des Königs von Harran für den König van Assyrian wird man aufpolieren”. A retranslation by Gorris here instead produces a report by a certain Bahuri, sheik of Zamin: “I have sent the envoy of the king of Hara(n) to the king of Assyria”. Since Elamite language apparently lacks a term to distinguish between kings of greater and lesser importance, the term “sheik” is applied to indicate that Bahuri falls in the latter category.
2After systematically scouring the Neo-Assyrian sources to find a corresponding town, the author settles on a Ḫarâ/Ḫara’, which occurs in two chronologically fitting sources: in Ashurbanipal’s annals, where it is listed amongst the settlements conquered by the king during his fifth campaign in Elam, and in two letters from the archive of Bēl-Ibni. Drawing threads from all of the above sources and other pertinent texts, the author demonstrates that Hara(n) should be considered an Elamite stronghold somewhere along the Elamite-Babylonian border in greater Susiana. Furthermore, it is noted that Ashurbanipal’s reported path through Elam shows that Hara(n) was connected by road to another border stronghold, Samunu, probably equating to Zamin. This would provide a satisfying explanation as to why Bahuri, sheik of Zamin/Samunu, had taken it upon himself to forward a message from the sheik of Hara(n).
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Yasmina Wicks, « Elynn Gorris. “Crossing the Elamite Borderlands: A Study of Interregional Contacts between Elam and ‘Kingdom’ of Hara(n)” », Abstracta Iranica [En ligne], Volume 40-41 | 2019, document 40, mis en ligne le 30 octobre 2019, consulté le 13 février 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/49123 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.49123
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