Hassum (also given as Khashshum, Ḫaššum, Hassu, Hassuwa or Hazuwan) was a Hurrian city-state,[1] located in southern Turkey most probably on the Euphrates river north of Carchemish.[2]

History

Early Bronze

The city was a vassal to Ebla, it was mentioned in the Tablets of Ebla as Hazuwan, and was governed by its own king.[3] It came under the influence of Mari for a short period of time in the 24th century BC,[4] before Irkab-Damu of Ebla regained influence over the area,[5] the city survived the Akkadians conquests in 2240 BC and flourished as a trade center in the first half of the 2nd millennia BC.[6]

Middle Bronze

In the beginning of 18th century BC, Hassum allied with Yamhad against Yahdun-Lim of Mari,[7] it later helped Yamhad against a kingdom in Zalmakum (a marshy region between the Euphrates and lower Balikh),[8], but then shifted alliance to Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria after he annexed Mari. The city sent him 1,000 troops to attack Sumu-Epuh of Yamhad.[9][10] Later, Yarim-Lim I of Yamhad brought Hassum under his hegemony and the city remained subjugated to Yamhad until the Hittite conquest.[11]

Hittite Conquest

In the course of his war against Yamhad, Hattusili I of the Hittites, having destroyed Alalakh and Urshu, headed toward Hassum in his sixth year (around 1644 BC, middle chronology). Yarim-Lim III of Yamhad sent his army under General Zukrassi, leader of the heavy-armed troops, accompanied by General Zaludis the commander of the Manda troops. They united with the army of Hashshum,[12] then the battle of Atalur mountain ensued (Atalur is located north of Aleppo not very far from the Amanus, it can be identified with the Kurd-Dagh Mountains).[13][14] Hattusili destroyed his enemies and moved on to burn and loot Hassum. The citizens rallied their forces three times against the Hittites,[15] but Hattusili sacked the city and seized the statues of the god Teshub, his wife Hebat and a pair of silver bulls that were the bulls of Teshub,[16] and carried them to Hattusa,[17] where they were kept in the temple of Arinna.[18] The king of Hassum was captured and humiliated, he was harnessed to one of the wagons used to transport the loot of his city and taken to the Hittite capital.[19]

Late Bronze

A century later, Hittite king Telipinu (fl. c. 1500 BC) mentions Hassum as his chief enemy and his destruction of the city.[2][20][21]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Roland de Vaux (1978). The early history of Israel, Volume 2. p. 65. ISBN 9780232512427.
  2. 1 2 Trevor Bryce (10 September 2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. p. 295. ISBN 9781134159086.
  3. ↑ Pelio Fronzaroli (1984). Lingua di Ebla e la linguistica semitica. p. 237.
  4. ↑ Mario Liverani (4 December 2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. p. 202. ISBN 9781134750917.
  5. ↑ Horst Klengel (20 March 1992). Syria, 3000 to 300 B.C.: a handbook of political history. p. 28. ISBN 9783050018201.
  6. ↑ E. J. Peltenburg (2007). Euphrates River Valley Settlement: The Carchemish Sector in the Third Millennium Bc. p. 157. ISBN 9781842172728.
  7. ↑ Yuhong Wu (1994). A Political History of Eshnunna, Mari and Assyria During the Early Old Babylonian Period: From the End of Ur III to the Death of Šamši-Adad. p. 131.
  8. ↑ Sidney Smith (1956). Anatolian Studies: Journal of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. Special number in honour and in memory of John Garstang, 5th May, 1876 - 12th September, 1956, Volume 6. p. 38.
  9. ↑ J. R. Kupper. The Cambridge Ancient History Northern Mesopotamia and Syria. p. 19.
  10. ↑ Jack M. Sasson (1969). The Military Establishments at Mari. p. 44.
  11. ↑ Gordon Douglas Young (1981). Ugarit in Retrospect: Fifty Years of Ugarit and Ugaritic. p. 7. ISBN 9780931464072.
  12. ↑ Robert Drews (1993). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 B.C. p. 106. ISBN 0691025916.
  13. ↑ Shigeo Yamada (January 2000). The Construction of the Assyrian Empire. p. 105. ISBN 9004117725.
  14. ↑ Michael C. Astour (1967). Hellenosemitica: an ethnic and cultural study in west Semitic impact on Mycenaean Greece. p. 388.
  15. ↑ Trevor Bryce (21 August 2007). Hittite Warrior. p. 43. ISBN 9781846030819.
  16. ↑ Roland de Vaux (1978). The early history of Israel, Volume 2. p. 66. ISBN 9780232512427.
  17. ↑ J. R. Kupper. The Cambridge Ancient History Northern Mesopotamia and Syria. p. 38.
  18. ↑ William J. Hamblin (27 September 2006). Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. p. 287. ISBN 9781134520626.
  19. ↑ Trevor Bryce (1999). The Kingdom of the Hittites. p. 83. ISBN 9780199240104.
  20. ↑ Harry A. Hoffner; Gary M. Beckman; Richard Henry Beal; John Gregory McMahon (January 2003). Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner Jr. p. 10. ISBN 9781575060798.
  21. ↑ Albrecht Götze (1980). Kizzuwatna and the problem of Hittite geography. p. 72. ISBN 9780404603229.

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