an areal location of agade

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An Areal Location of AgadeAuthor(s): Christophe Wall-RomanaSource: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Jul., 1990), pp. 205-245Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/546244 .

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2/42

AN AREAL

LOCATION

OF AGADE*

CHRISTOPHE WALL-ROMANA, Berkeley, California

...

Et

la Ville est

de

verre sur son

socle

d'~b'ne,"

Saint-John Perse, "Pluies"

I. INTRODUCTION

IT

was more than

a

century

ago

that the

existence of the

city

of

Agade

was

established

by

the

discovery

of cuneiform tablets

citing

its

name.'

Its

location,

however, has remained a vexing puzzle and a hindrance to Assyriologists ever since,

especially

to those

concerned

with

the

early

periods.

Agade

is

probably

the first

Mesopotamian

city

for

which the term

"capital"

is

appropriate.

So

prestigious

did

it

become that

its

very

name

appeared

in the

royal

titulary

down

to the

time of

Cyrus,

and

it

was also

adjectivized

to

describe

a

variety

of

objects

and

notions,

the most

important

of which

is what is still

known

today

as the

Akkadian

language.2

Despite

the fact

that it

remained

a

prominent

city

for

nearly

1,500

years,

its

geographic setting

is not

as well

established as that

of some less

important

cities whose

locations are also not

precisely

known. All

that is known

today

* I wish to thank Anne Draffkorn Kilmer for

reading

drafts of

this

paper

and

providing

me with

both

valuable sources

and

suggestions.

My

thanks

also

go

to the

Reverend Matthew

White,

for his

help

with texts

in

Italian;

to Steven

Eldred,

who

reworked

both

the

maps

and

legends;

and

to

my

wife

Margaret,

without whom I

could

never con-

template writing

in

English.

Needless to

say,

I alone am

responsible

for the

views

expressed

in this

article.

Works

frequently

cited have been

abbreviated

as

follows:

BBst L. W. King, Babylonian Boundary-

stones

and Memorial

Tablets in the

British

Museum

(London,

1912).

CK

McGuire

Gibson,

The

City

and Area

of

Kish

(Miami,

1972).

HC

R. McC.

Adams,

Heartland

of

Cities

(Chicago, 1981).

Hirsch

H.

Hirsch,

"Die

Inschriften der

Kinige

von

Agade," Achivfiir

Orientforschung

(AfO)

20

(1963):

1-82.

LBB

R. McC.

Adams,

Land Behind

Bagh-

dad:

A

History

of

Settlement

on

the

Diyala

Plains

(Chicago

and

London,

1965).

McEwan J.

G. P.

McEwan,

"Agade

after

the

Gutian

Destruction:

The

Afterlife of

a

Mesopotamian

City," AfO,

Suppl.

19

(1980):

8-15.

MDP

2 Vincent

Scheil,

Textes

blamites-simi-

tiques,

premibre sbrie, M6moires

de

la

D61lgation

en

Perse,

vol.

2

(Paris,

1900).

PKB

J.

A.

Brinkman,

A

Political

History

of Post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722

B.C.,

AnOr 43

(Rome, 1968).

Weiss

Harvey

Weiss, "Kish,

Akkad

and

Agade,"

Journal

of

the American

Ori-

ental

Society (JAOS)

95

(1975):

434-

53.

1

See,

for

instance,

S. N.

Kramer,

The

Sumerians:

Their

History,

Culture,

and Character

(Chicago

and

London,

1963),

pp.

20-21. The

name "Accad" was

previously

known

only

from Gen. 10:10

(written

2

For uses

of the

term

akkadai,

see The

Assyrian

Dictionary

of

the

University

of

Chicago,

vol.

1,

pt.

1

(Chicago, 1964), pp. 272-73. For the royal titulary,

see

W.

W.

Hallo,

Early

Mesopotamian Royal

Titles

(New

Haven,

1957),

p.

77.

[JNES

49

no.

3

(1990)]

@

1990

by

The

University

of

Chicago.

All

rights

reserved.

0022-2968/90/4903-0001$1.00.

205


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3/42

206 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN

STUDIES

of its whereabouts

is that

it

belonged

to the ill-defined

region

of Akkad

usually

equated

with

northern

Babylonia.

This lack

of a finer areal resolution

makes

it

difficult

to

judge

the various

proposals

offered

as

to its

location,3

and as

a result

any

significant

unidentified mound in North Babylonia can reasonably be considered a candidate for

Agade.

II.

AREAL LOCATION

The

data

concerning Agade

is far

from

wanting;

the series RGTC4 cites more

than

160 different occurrences of

the name

Agade

in

cuneiform

documents.5

These

originate

from

regions

as far

apart

as Anatolia and

Baluchistan,

ranging

in

time

from

the

Sargonic

to

the Late

Babylonian periods

and

in

genre

across the whole

known

spectrum

of

cuneiform texts.

Although not one of these documents has yielded an unequivocal indication of

Agade's

location,

many

of them do contain

pieces

of information of a

geographical

nature.

It is the

purpose

of

this

paper

to

synthetize

these

geographical

references

and

to

determine whether

they

converge

in the same

general

area

and

if

so,

to circumscribe

this

area as

accurately

as

possible.

In

order

to

do

so,

I

have

transposed

the

information from

the

texts onto

maps

which are

divided

into

two

groups according

to the nature of the

data.

The

first

consists

of

a

map

drawn

from texts

citing

known

places

and

establishing

clear

connections between them

and

Agade,

while

the

second

group comprises

texts

whose

places

are

not

readily

known

and/or

which

establish

only

tentative connections

between

them

and

Agade. Finally,

a

few other texts are

examined

even

though

the

lack of information

concerning

the

toponyms they

contain

precludes

their

cartographic

use

at the

present

time.

As we shall

see,

the

region

on

which

all

the

data seem to

focus

is

situated

near

the

confluence of the

Tigris

and

Diyala

rivers.6

III.

HISTORICAL

BACKGROUND

Before

discussing

the

texts,

it

will be useful

to

review

what is

known of

the

founding

of

Agade

and

what

the

historical

tradition

incidentally

reveals

about

its

general

location.

3

Cf.

McEwan,

p.

12;

Weiss,

p.

443,

for a

location

near

Tell

ed-Dar

(Sippar-Annunitum).

See

also

CK,

p.

7;

Weiss,

pp.

442

ff.,

for a

location

near

Kig;

for

S.

Langdon's

explorations

around Kig

and

Kutha,

see

"Ausgrabungen

n

Ki-Hjursagkalama

und

Tello,"

AfO

7

(1931):

62,

and

AfO

8

(1932):

79;

for

Naji

el-Asil's

location at

Tell

al-Wilaya,

see

J. van

Dijk,

"Le

Site

de Guti'um

et

d'Ak-s[a?-a]kki,"

AfO

23

(1970):

71,

n.

2.

4

Repertoire geographique des textes cun6iformes,

TAVO-Beihefte,

Reihe

B,

Nr.

7,

vols.

1-6,

8

(Wies-

baden,

1974-85),

hereafter

cited

as

RGTC.

5

Only

occurrences of the

city

name

(A-ga-dki,

URIki)

have been

taken into

account. The

names of

the

province

of Akkad

(KUR.uRIki),

of

measures

(GUR

A-ga-deki,

sila

A-ga-deki),

deities

(NIN

A-ga-

dbki),

and

individuals

have

been

excluded. I was

able

to review

about

ninety

of

these

documents.

The

remainder is either

untranslated

or

was

unavailable

to

me.

6

It is

J. G. P.

McEwan

who

first

pointed

out this

region, McEwan, pp. 11-12. I had already reached

the

same

conclusion

by

the

time

his

article

came

to

my

attention.




4/42

AN

AREAL LOCATION

OF

AGADE

207

The

few

chronographic

texts

referring

to the

founding

of

Agade

agree

at least

on

one

point:

it

was

built

by

Sargon,

the founder

of the

Agadean

dynasty.

The

Sumerian

King

List,

which

is the closest source

in

time to this

event,

clearly

states:

"Sarru-

kin ... king of Agade, the one who built Agade."7 Other, late, sources also involve

Sargon

in a

monumental

building program,

although they

seem to confuse

Agade

and

Babylon.8

The

name

Agade

itself,

even

though

it

does

not,

as

far as

we

know,

appear

among

texts

datable to the

Presargonic period, probably

existed prior

to Sargon.9

We may

deduce this from

the fact that

"Agade"

is not a word

of

Akkadian

substratum'0

and

also from our

knowledge

that

Mesopotamian

populations

have

generally adopted

the

toponyms

that

predated

their arrival."

Hence,

"Agade"

was

possibly

the name of

a

settlement too small

to

be

worth

mentioning

and

was

simply

retained to

designate

the

new

city.12

Sargon started his political career'3 by serving King Ur-Zababa of Ki', who,

according

to the

King

List,

held

sway

over the

Land

(i.e., Sumer).

The course

of

events

following

his rule is

unclear. On

the one

hand,

we learn that he was

followed

by

five

7

T.

Jacobsen,

The Sumerian

King

List,

Assyrio-

logical

Studies

11

(Chicago,

1939),

pp.

110-11,

11.31-

35.

8

These

are

the "Weidner Chronicle"

and

"Sargon

Chronicle." For the

former,

see H.

G.

Gifterbock,

"Die

historische Tradition

und ihre

literarische

Ge-

staltung

bei

Babyloniern

und Hethitern bis

1200,"

Zeitschrift

fiir

Assyriologie (ZA)

42

(1934):

47

ff.;

and A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian

Chronicles,

Texts

from

Cuneiform

Sources 5

(Lo-

cust

Valley,

New

York,

1975),

p.

149. For

the

"Sar-

gon

Chronicle,"

see

ibid.,

pp.

153-54;

L. W.

King,

Chronicles

concerning Early

Babylonian Kings,

vol.

2

(London, 1907),

pp.

8,

18.

Mostly

on the basis of

these

two

chronicles,

H. Weiss

(Weiss,

p.

447)

locates

Agade

near

Babylon,

at

Ishan

Mizyad (see

fig.

12).

Although

it is

known from a

year-name

of

Sar-kali-

garri

that

Babylon

did

exist in

Sargonic

times

(Hirsch,

p.

29,

n.

3),

Weiss

fails

to

explain

his literal

use

of

these

obviously

anachronistic documents.

Moreover,

Agade's

foundation is not

directly

al-

luded

to:

"He

(Sargon) dug

up

the

dirt of the

pit

of

Babylon

and

/

made a

counterpart

of

Babylon

next

to

Agade"

(Sargon Chronicle);

".

.. he

(Sargon)

dug

up

the

dust of its

pit

and

/

...

in front

of

Agade

he made

(another)

city

and

[cal]led

it

Baby-

lon"

(Weidner

Chronicle).

9

A

year-name

mentioning

Agade

may prove

to

be

Presargonic;

see

A.

Pohl,

Vorsargonische

und

sargonische

Wirtschaftstexte,

Texte

und Materialien

der

Frau Professor

Hilprecht

Collection,

vol. 5

(Leipzig,

1935),

no.

81,

1.

8;

see

also

A.

Westenholz,

Old

Sumerian

and Old

Akkadian Texts

in Phila-

delphia: Literary

and Lexical

Texts

and the Earliest

Administrative

Documents

from

Nippur

(Philadel-

phia, 1975), p. 4.

10

E.

A.

Speiser,

Mesopotamian

Origins (Phila-

delphia, 1930),

p.

54,

points

towards

a

Hurrian

or

Lullubean

etymology

for

Aga-de

in view of

such

city

names as

Arak-di, Lub-di,

Tai-di,

etc.,

which

fits well

with

my

location of

Agade.

But is a

Su-

merian

etymon

clearly

ruled out? For

instance,

a

form

of the

irregular

verb a-

-db,

"to

pour

water,"

in

a-ga-de,

"I will

pour

water,"

constitutes an

ideal

political

declaration,

which

parallels

that

implicit

in

the

name

Sarru-kin

("true

king").

II See Kramer, The Sumerians, pp. 40-41.

12The

emergence

of the written Akkadian

lan-

guage

and of the term akkada

(see

n.

2)

to

designate

it in

Sargonic

times is still

unexplained.

Semites and

Sumerians

were mixed from

the

earliest

times

on,

and no

separation

occurred

along

ethnic

lines

during

the

times

of the

Agadean

dynasty (see

Jacobsen,

"The

Assumed Conflict

between the

Sumerians and

Semites

in

Early

Mesopotamian

History,"

JAOS

59

[1939]: 485-95);

R. D.

Biggs,

"Semitic Names in the

Fara

Period,"

Orientalia,

n.s. 36

[1967]:

55-66).

It

may

be

that

contemporaneous

with

Sargon's

effort

a

push

towards

syllabism

had come from

the

west

(Ebla, Mari)

and that

writing previously

read

in

either

Semitic or

Sumerian

could for

the first time

be

read

only

in a

Semitic

version,

thus

adding

to the

creation

of

the term

akkada to

designate

them

(see

I.

J.

Gelb,

Old Akkadian

Writing

and

Grammar,

Material for the

Assyrian

Dictionary,

vol.

2,

rev.

ed.

[Chicago, 1961],

pp.

1-6).

13

For the

following

discussion,

see C.

J.

Gadd,

"The

Dynasty

of

Agade

and the

Gutian

Invasion,"

Cambridge

Ancient

History,

vol.

1,

pt.

2,

rev.

ed.

(Cambridge,

1963),

pp.

417

ff.,

with

literature.

Cf.

also

W. W.

Hallo,

"Mesopotamia

and the Asiatic

Near

East,"

in

W.

W. Hallo

and

W. K.

Simpson,

The

Ancient

Near

East:

A

History (New

York,

1971), p. 56, n. 52, for a different opinion on

Sargon's

chronology.




5/42

208

JOURNAL OF

NEAR EASTERN

STUDIES

kings

at

Ki',

while,

on the

other,

we are

told

that

Lugalzagesi

of Uruk

(formerly

of

Umma)

became

king

of the

Land

upon

Ur-Zababa's

demise.

The

King

List

then

states

that

"Uruk was smitten with

weapons,

its

kingship

to

Agade

was

carried,"

indicating

that Sargon overwhelmed Lugalzagesi. Furthermore, a later tradition states that

kingship

was transferred

directly

from Ur-Zababa to

Sargon.

What

we

may

deduce

from this

entangled

situation

is

that

(a)

Ki'

lost

prominence

after

Ur-Zababa,

(b)

Sargon

claimed

kingship,

but

(c) Lugalzagesi

was

recognized

by Nippur's authority

as

"King

of

the

Land."

Whether it

was

Sargon

or

Lugalzagesi

who caused the

downfall

of Ki'

may

have

a

direct

bearing

on the location

of

Agade.

C. J. Gadd

suggests

that the former

was in

all

likelihood

responsible,

since

Lugalzagesi

nowhere claims that he

ruled or

defeated

Kig.14

As for

Sargon, although

he later

restored

Ki',

"The

Curse of

Agade" says

that

he was

given kingship

"after Enlil's frown

had slain

Ki' like

the

Bull

of

Heaven,"

which sounds rather like a declaration of non-accountability. However, the fact that

Ki'

led

a coalition

seeking

to overthrow

Agade

during

the

reign

of

Sargon's

grandson,

Naram-Sin,

may

illustrate

an

ongoing

conflict

between

these cities."

Thus

it

is

probable

that

Sargon

attempted

a

coup against

Ur-Zababa-perhaps

occasioning

his

adoption

of the

apologetic

name

Sarru-kin,

"true or

legitimate

king"-and

that

this

attempt

failed,

although

Ur-Zababa

himself

may

have

been

eliminated.

Sargon

and

his

followers were then

driven out of

Kis,

and their

exile

led

to the

foundation

of

Agade.

That

Agade

was built at the

beginning

of

Sargon's

political

independence

seems

most

probable.

First of

all,

we can rule out

the

possibility

that

Sargon

lived

a

nomadic

or

non-urban life before

building Agade

late in

his

reign.

The

notion

of the

city-with

its

immanent deity-was much too deeply entrenched in the Sumero-Akkadian psyche

to

allow for

that

assumption.16 Secondly,

we know

that

Agade's

wealth

depended

primarily

on

commercial

expansion, supported

in

part by

an

important

administrative

and

military

apparatus,

rather

than

on

the

direct

production

of

agricultural

goods,

which

was

the traditional

basis of

the

Sumerian

economy."

And

if

we are to

account

for

the

power

behind

Sargon

when he later

defeated

Lugalzagesi,

we

must

assume that

these

economic

infrastructures were

already

in

place.

Furthermore,

it is

improbable

14

Gadd,

"The

Dynasty

of

Agade,"

p.

420.

15A. K.

Grayson

and E.

Sollberger,

"L'Insurrec-

tion

g6n6rale

contre

Naram-Suen,"

Revue

d'assyri-

ologie

et

d'archeologie

orientale

70

(1976):

108,

120.

The

animosity

between Kig

and

Agade

and/or

the

downfall of

Ki'

is further

reflected in

the

Agadean

royal

titulary

when,

starting

with

Naram-Sin,

the

title

"King

of Kig"

was

dropped.

16

A.

L.

Oppenheim,

Ancient

Mesopotamia:

Por-

trait

of

a

Dead

Civilization,

rev.

ed.

(Chicago, 1977),

pp.

I11

ff. For

foreign

nations

viewed from

a Meso-

potamian

standpoint

as

"subhuman

barbarians,"

see

J.

S.

Cooper,

The

Curse

of Agade

(Baltimore

and

London,

1983),

pp.

30-36.

17For the administration of the Sargonic state,

see

B.

Foster,

Administration

and

Use

of

Institu-

tional

Land in

Sargonic

Sumer

(Copenhagen,

1982),

esp. pp.

115-16.

Note also the

statement in

Sargon's

inscription

that

"the

citizens of

Agade

held

the

ensi-

ships (governor-

or

vice-kingship),"

Hirsch,

p.

36.

For

commerce in

Sargonic times,

see

Foster,

Umma

in

the

Sargonic

Period

(Hamden,

Conn.,

1982);

idem,

"Commercial

Activity

in

Sargonic

Mesopo-

tamia,"

Iraq

39

(1977):

31-43. The

dependence

of

Agade

on

overland

trade

may

be

assumed from

the

topos

of

the

"Sar

tamharim"

epic:

W. F.

Albright,

"The

Epic

of the

King

of

Battle,"

Journal

of

the

Society

of

Oriental

Research 7

(1923):

1

ff.

Finally,

the fact that

a vast

majority

of

Sargonic

economic

texts

mentioning

Agade

speak

of

goods

brought

to

that

city

suggests

that

it

relied

heavily

on

imports

for its sustenance, which is to be expected from a

commercial

metropolis.




6/42

AN

AREAL LOCATION

OF AGADE

209

that

Sargon

moved

his

capital

from

an

unspecified

city

to

Agade

later in his

reign,

for,

as we know

from later

Mesopotamian

history,

the instances

of such relocations

proved

unsuccessful. 8

As Lugalzagesi's rival, Sargon would certainly have chosen a site for Agade out of

his

reach,

that

is,

beyond

Sumer's frontier. At

first,

Sargon's

kingdom

may

have

appeared

no different

in size

and

scope

from other

petty

states scattered about

the

northern

periphery

of the Sumerian

heartland,

such as

Guti, Hurri,

Lullubi.

This

would

explain

why

Lugalzagesi

did not crush

the nascent

Agadean

empire

when it

was

probably

still vulnerable.

In

summary,

the

hypothetical

location of

Agade

must account

for its

having

been

built

(a) shortly

after

Sargon's departure

from

Ki',

(b)

on the

fringe

of

Sumer's

frontier

(to

become

the

land

of

Akkad),'9

and

(c)

in relation to commercial

arteries

connecting

Lower

Mesopotamia

to other trade

centers in the

west, north, east,

and

especially southeast, since an important

commercial

axis was

developed in this latter

direction

by subsequent Agadean

kings.20

I

will return to

these

points

in

my

conclusion.

IV.

THE TIGRIDIAN EVIDENCE

The

documents

I

have

analyzed

show a definite

connection

between

Agade

and

the

Tigris,

a fact which

requires

a

short

explanation.

It

is

widely accepted

among Assyriologists

that

Agade

must

lie somewhere

along

a

former branch

of the

Euphrates,21

as

did

most

important

cities

of Lower

Mesopotamia

before

the

Seleucids.

This

"Euphratian

bias" is

why

most

proposals

for the location

of

Agade have been focused near Sippar and Ki', two conspicuous Euphratian cities of

Akkad. One

may rightly

speak

of a

bias, since,

to our

knowledge,

not a

single

piece

of

evidence

links

Agade

to the

Euphrates.22

More

generally,

as will

be

debated in

Appendix

A

below,

the

role of the

Tigris

in

pre-Hellenistic

times has

been

consistently

understated,

chiefly,

it

seems,

because

of the

overwhelming

imbalance of the

data

accumulated

on both

river

systems.

Thus

it

is

only by

default that

the

Euphratian

hypothesis

has

imposed

itself.

18

Capitals

were moved at least two other times in

the

history

of

Mesopotamia.

Sargon

II

built

the

new

city

of

Dir-Sarrukin

to

replace

Nineveh,

but

it

was

used

only

for

a

year

or so

before his death

(706-

705),

and the

caliph Al-Mu'tasim

moved

the

Ab-

basid

capital

from

Baghdad

to

Samarra,

although

after

forty-odd years,

subsequent

rulers returned to

Baghdad,

which had

always

remained

the

commer-

cial

and

cultural

center.

19

For the

importance

of that

frontier,

see

M.

B.

Rowton,

"Sumer's

Strategic

Periphery

in

Topological

Perspective,"

Zikir

Sumim:

Assyriological

Studies

Presented to

F.

R.

Kraus on

the

Occasion

of

His

Seventieth Birthday (Leiden, 1982), pp. 318-25.

20

Foster,

Umma

in

the

Sargonic

Period,

esp.

pp.

45-46,

77;

idem,

"Commercial

Activity

in Sar-

gonic

Mesopotamia,"

Iraq

39

(1977):

39. See also

the

journeys

of

Sargonic

kings

to

Sumer

in

Foster,

"Notes on

Sargonic Royal

Princes,"

JANES

12

(1980):

29-46.

21

Hallo,

The

Ancient Near

East,

p.

56;

G.

Roux,

Ancient

Iraq,

2d

ed.

(New

York,

1980),

p.

146;

Kramer,

The

Sumerians,

p.

61 and

passim.

Cf.

McEwan,

pp.

11-12.

22

The

Euphrates

is

mentioned as the river

on

which

Sargon's

native

city,

Azupiranu,

is situated

(Hirsch,

p.

7,

no.

7)

in

"The

Legend

of

Sargon"

(see

also

Guiterbock,

"Die

historische

Tradition,"

pp.

62-

64).

This

city

certainly

belongs

to

Upper

Mesopo-

tamia and can hardly have had any bearing on the

choice of a

capital

in

Lower

Mesopotamia.




7/42

210

JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN

STUDIES

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.

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

......................

. . . . .

. . . .

. . . . . . .

. . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . .

. . .

FIG.

i.--Shaded

area

shows

the

possible

location

of

Agade

according

to

UET

8,

14;

"The Curse

of

Agade";

and

the

text from

Utu-hegal.




8/42

AN

AREAL LOCATION OF AGADE

211

SUMERIAN

TEXT FROM UR

In a

document dated

to

Sargonic

or Ur

III

times,23

the

city

of

Agade

is

mentioned

together with the Tigris (col. 4', 1.3'):

i7-idigna-gin-n6 a-ga-deki

G. Pettinato translates this

passage

as

"andando

verso il

Tigri:

Akkade"

("going

towards

the

Tigris: Agade").24

The text

appears

to be

a

list

of

ensis

(rulers)

and

cities

of northern

Babylonia, although

no ensi is mentioned in connection with

Agade.

Nonetheless,

it

is reasonable

to

assume,

since

the

Tigris

is used as

a

descriptive

landmark,

that

Agade

is not

far from

it. Since

the

Tigris

ran

between

the

Euphrates

and

the channels

of

the

Durul/Taban,25

it

is clear

that

Agade

must

lie

between these

rivers, on either side of the Tigris. If it had been outside, then most likely one or the

other

would

have

been mentioned

as a directional landmark

instead

of

the

Tigris (see

fig. 1).

I

have therefore taken the

reconstructed

branch of the

Euphrates

closest to the

Tigris

and

the

reconstructed channels

of the Durul

and

Taban

rivers,

also

closest to

the

Tigris,

as the outermost limits

for the

area

encompassing Agade.

"THE

CURSE

OF

AGADE"

This Sumerian

composition,

whose

origin

is to

be dated

no

later

than

the

Ur

III

period

(ca.

2000

B.C.E.),26

is

a

mythopoeic

account

of

the

rise and

fall

of

Agade, ending

with its defeat by a Gutian invasion (ca. 2150

B.C.E.).

The

city

is

clearly

described,

and

we

learn,

for

instance

(1.

37),

that

"its

harbor,

where

ships

docked,

was filled

with excitement."27 This

brings

to

mind

a

passage

in

Sargon's

royal

inscriptions:

"Ships

from

Melubba,

ships

from

Magan,

ships

from

Dilmun,

he

(Sargon)

caused

to

be anchored at

Agade's

quay."28

From

both

descrip-

tions,

one can surmise

that

Agade

was close

to

a broad

waterway

which

accommo-

dated

ships coming

from

overseas.

The

only

river

mentioned

in the

whole

composition

is

the

Tigris

(11.43-45):

The

portals

of

its

[Agade's]

ity-gates,

as

if for

the

Tigrisgoing

into the

sea,

Inanna

opened

wide

Shipsbrought hegoodsof Sumer tselfupstreamto Agade) .. .29

23

E.

Sollberger,

Royal

Inscriptions,

pt.

2,

Ur

Excavations Texts 8

(Philadelphia,

1965),

no. 14.

24

G. Pettinato

[review

of

E.

Sollberger,

Royal

Inscriptions],

Orientalia,

n.s.

36

(1967):

451-52.

25

For

the identification and course

of

the

Taban

river,

see

K.

Nashef,

"Der

Taban

Fluss,"

Baghdader

Mitteilungen

13

(1982):

117-41.

The

Taban

and

Durul

were

certainly

interlaced

by

common chan-

nels,

and

in

the

region

we

are concerned with

they

are

approximately

aligned.

26

For editions and translations of the text, see

A.

Falkenstein,

"Fluch

tiber

Akkade,"

ZA 57

(1965):

43

ff.;

Cooper,

Curse

of Agade;

P.

Attinger,

"Re-

marques

a

propos

de

la

'Malediction

d'Accad',"

Revue

d'assyriologie

et

d'archdologie

orientale 78

(1984):

99

ff.

27

Unless otherwise

stated,

the

translations

are

by

Cooper,

in

Curse

of

Agade.

28

Sargon

b2:

11-14;

bl3:

11-14

(=

Hirsch,

pp.

37,

49).

29

Cooper (p.

52):

abul-a-ba

ididigna

a-ab-ba-s

du-ii-gim

/

ki

dinanna-ke4

ka-b6

gil

bi-in-tag4 /

ki-

en-gi-ra

nig-ga

ni-ba-ke4

gigma

m-da-gid-de.

Other

translations of this passage vary noticeably (1. 45):

"In

Sumer the

ships

sail

with

goods

in their

own

account,"

M.-L.

Thomsen,

The Sumerian

Language,




9/42

212

JOURNAL

OF NEAR EASTERN

STUDIES

This

mention of

the

Tigris

is

usually

taken

as a

metaphor,

since the

equative

postposition -gim

is

used.

But it

may

well

be a direct reference

to the river

by

which

the

goods

of

Sumer are

conveyed

to

Agade.30

If the

Tigris

is mentioned

only

in

a

metaphor, it is probably because for the narrator, as well as for his audience, the

connection of

Agade

to the

Tigris

was

obvious.

Be

that as it

may,

since

the

Tigris

is

the

only

river cited

in a

composition

entirely

devoted

to

the

city

of

Agade,

I consider

its mention

as indirect

evidence

that

Agade

was situated

somewhere

on or close

to its

course,

contemporary

to the

text. As

Agade

may

have lain on a

canal

branching

from the

Tigris,

our

selected area will

extend

to

the

nearest

rivers

on

both

sides

of it

(fig.

1).

(It

will

be

observed that the

same

figure

is

used for

this,

the

preceding,

and the

following

texts;

the area

they

suggest

for

Agade

being,

for lack

of better

evidence,

the

same.

Naturally,

each

source

will be

used

separately

in

the

composite

maps, figs.

9 and

10.)

TEXT

FROM

UTU-HEGAL

In a

text

celebrating

the liberation

of

Sumer from

the Gutian

occupation,31

King

Utu-hegal

of

Uruk

(ca.

2115

B.C.E.)

states

(col.

2,

11.

5-15):

Tiriqan

king

of

Gutium

spoke

thus: "No

one

encountered

me)"

the

Tigris

down)

to

the

sea

/

he

captured,

Lower

Sumer

he

seized

Upper

(Sumer)

he

seized,

the

roads of

the

Land

he

(seized).

The

whole

question

of

the

length

and

extent

of the Gutian

takeover in

Lower

Mesopotamia

is

far

from

resolved,32

but

it

is

established that

mostly

the

north, Akkad,

was

affected.

Although

we

have

evidence of

some

Gutian

presence

in

Lower

Sumer,

such

cities

as

Ur,

Uruk,

Lagas,

and

possibly

Umma

show a

continuity

of

native

rule

incompatible

with

a

Gutian

hegemony.

Only

the

Tigris

is

mentioned as

part

of the

Gutian

conquest

in

this

text,

rather

than

the

idiomatic

"Tigris

and

Euphrates,"

a

commonly

occurring

expression

somewhat

equivalent

to

"the

whole

of

Sumer."

If

the

Gutians

had

also

seized the

Euphrates,

Utu-hfegal--who

is

engaged

here in a

traditional

exercise of

self-glorification-would

certainly

have

mentioned

it too

to

enhance

his

own

merit.

Since

it

is

established that

the

Gutian

conquest

was

mostly

restricted

to the

land

of

Akkad

and,

through

this

text,

to the

Tigris,

we have

here a

strong

corroboration

that

Mesopotamia,

Copenhagen

Studies in

Assyriology

10

[Copenhagen,

1984],

p.

174,

no.

368;

11.

43-45),

"La

splendide

Inanna

ouvrit

/

la

'bouche'

de

ses

portes

comme

(celle du)

Tigris

coulant

vers

la

mer

/

et fit

haler

des

bateaux

par (les

gens

de)

Sumer

(loin

de

=)

emportant

leurs

propres

possessions

(vers

Agade)"

(Attinger,

"Mal6diction

d'Accad,"

pp.

100,

108).

30

A

conjectural

point

of

stylistics

may

be

adduced.

The

context in

1.

43 is

properly

that of

goods brought

by

land

(through

the

city

gates).

Therefore,

the

following mention of waterbornegoods (1.45) breaks

with

the

original

context,

which

is

resumed in

1. 46.

Something

must

have

triggered

this

break;

it is

likely

to

have

been

the

mention

of

the

Tigris

itself.

If

the

Tigris

had not

been

flowing

toward

Agade,

then

it is

probable

that

the

writer

would not

have

"seen"

ships

sailing

towards

it and

that the

meta-

phor

would

not have

been

strong

enough

to

confuse

the

context.

31 F.

Thureau-Dangin,

"La

Fin

de

la

domination

gutienne,"

Revue

d'assyriologie

et

d'archeologie

orientale

9

(1912): 114;

W. H. Ph.

R6mer,

"Zur

Siegesinschrift

des

Kdnigs

Utuhegal

von

Unug

(+

2116-2110 v.

Chr.),"

Orientalia,

n.s. 54

(1985): 277,

282

[pointed

out

to me

by

A.

D.

Kilmer].

32

On

the

fall of

Agade

and

the

Gutian

period,

see

Hallo, "Gutium" Reallexikon der Assyriologie,

vol.

3,

pp.

710-16;

Gadd,

"The

Dynasty

of

Agade,"

pp.

454-63;

E.

A.

Speiser,

"Some

Factors in

the

Collapse

of

Akkad,"

JAOS 72

(1952):

97-101.




10/42

AN AREAL LOCATION OF AGADE

213

Agade

(and

the

original

district

of

Akkad)

was situated

somewhere

on

the

Tigris

system

(fig.

1).

THE PROLOGUETO THE CODE OF HAMMURABI

The

Prologue

of

Hammurabi's

laws33

lists all

the most

important

cities

of the

Old

Babylonian

kingdom (twenty-seven

in

all),

together

with their divinities

and

the

deeds

which

Hammurabi

accomplished

in each

of them. The

sequence

of cities

in this text

is

carefully arranged, mostly according

to some

geographical

order.

The

first five

cities,

however,

Nippur

(1),

Eridu

(2), Babylon (3),

Ur

(4),

and

Sippar

(5),

are in

order

in

accordance with

the

position

of their

god

in the

Hammurabian

pantheon-Enlil,

Ea,

Marduk, Sin,

and Sama'

respectively.

Starting

with

the sixth

city,

the

sequence

becomes

geographical,

although

this

order

is not according to proximity of one city to the next or their proximity according to a

south-north

axis,

the two

principles

most

commonly

found

in

texts of

a

geographical

nature. Further

investigation

shows that it is

arranged

instead

according

to

the

proximity

of cities

along

the same

watercourse,

as

illustrated

by

the

sequences

Larsa

(6),

Uruk

(7),

Isin

(8),

((Nippur)),

Ki'

(9),

Kutha

(10),

and

((Babylon)),

Bor-

sippa (11),

and

Dilbat

(12).

Both of these are

compatible

with

Adams's

reconstructions

of

branches

of

the

Euphrates

in

Old

Babylonian

times.34

It

should also

be noted that

the

sequence

breaks when it

reaches

the northern

part

of

Babylonia

(after

Dilbat

[12],

Malgium

[20],

and Tutul

[22])

and

thus

confers on

Babylon,

Hammurabi's

capital,

a

central

role.

After the not yet located city of Ke' (13), the enumeration turns to south Sumer.

Another

waterway

is

described

alongside

Lagav-Girsu

(14),

Lagas (15),

Zabalam

(16),

Karkar

(17),

and Adab

(18),

which

may

be

a

branch

of

the

Tigris,35

as is

certainly

the

branch

Ma'kan-Sapir

(19),

Malgium

(20).

The

Upper

Euphrates

is then

described

listing

Mari

(21)

and Tutul

(22).

Of

direct interest to

us is

the

following

mention

of

Ti'pak,

the

god

of

Esnunna,

together

with-if

we are

to

follow

Kraus's

restoration36-

the

mention

of

Esnunna

(23)

itself. There

the

sequence

becomes

problematic:

Baby-

lon

(24),

Agade (25),

ASiur

(26),

and Nineveh

(27).

Notwithstanding

the

mention of

Agade,

it

seems

odd

that the reference

to

Babylon

should

occur

after

that

of

Esnunna,

33I have used a recent translation

by

A.

Finet,

Le

Code

de

Hammurapi

(Brussels,

1983),

pp.

31-44.

34

HC,

p.

166;

also

CK,

p.

251.

The first of these

two

lines

may represent

the

main

course of the

Euphrates.

Both

Adams

and

Gibson

place

Ki'

and

Kutha

on

different

channels,

and the

latter also

assigns

Isin to

a different

branch from

that of

Uruk.

Both

authors

vary

significantly

in

their reconstruc-

tions,

and

the

junction

Kutha-Ki'

is

possible.

In the

case of

Uruk-Isin,

Adams

clearly

reconstructs

a

common

branch

between

the

two

cities.

My

second

line

may represent

the

Arabtu

canal

with no

major

difficulty.

It should

also

be

emphasized

that,

in

my

view, cities may not lie exactly along the water-

courses

implicitly

described

by

Hammurabi

but

may

be

situated on

canals

branching

off

from them: it is

most

likely

that

the

channel(s)

upon

which

these

cities

(some

of

whose

lifespan

had extended for

nearly

a

millennium)

were

originally

built had

shifted

away

from

them

by

the time of

Hammurabi

and

thus that

most were

connected

by

secondary

canals

to the main channels

of the

Euphrates

(and

the

Tigris).

35 For this

presumed

branch

linking

to the

Tigris

cities known

to have been

connected

also to

the

Euphrates,

see J. N.

Postgate,

"Inscriptions

from

Tell

al-Wilayah,"

Sumer

32

(1977):

80;

E. de Vau-

mas,

"L'Ecoulement des

eaux en

M6sopotamie

et

la

provenance

des eaux

de

Tello,"

Iraq

27

(1965):

81-99.

36

According

to

Finet's

statement

(Le

Code

de

Hammurapi,p. 41, n. [b]), Krausproposed to restore

(i-na

Eg-nun-naki)

in

the

text;

idem

in

Wiener

Zeit-

schrift

fiir

die

Kunde des

Morgenlandes

51

(1948-

52):

173-77.




11/42

214

JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN

STUDIES

N i n e v e h

3MZamban

a1a

fiiim.

C

Turnu

a

Tuttul

d7

c0

uhMaakan-

"

4

ModernRivers

Za

m

I

Susa

Orderof

mention

n the

h

Code

of

Hammurapit

(possible

old river

ourses)

k

I

.

a.

D•r-Kurigalzu

i.

Adab

mn

S i p p a r

I s i n

c.

Kuthaa

.Karkaraln

--

o. Babylon 1.

Zabalam.

e.

Kig

m.

Girsu

...

f.

Borsippa

n.

Laga.

Ur

g.

Dilbat

o. Larsa

h.

Nippur

p.

Uruk

Eridu

FIG.

2.-Shaded

area shows the

possible

location

of

Agade

based

on the

Prologue

of the

Code

of

Hammurapi.

since Mari (21), Tutul (22), ((Sippar)),and Babylon (24) clearly describe the Euphrates

flowing

toward

Babylonia,

while

Esnunna

(23),

AS'ur

(26),

and

Nineveh

(27)

describe

the

Tigris upstream

from

Babylonia.

Why,

then,

is

Babylon

mentioned

a

second

time in

such a

way

as to

disrupt

the

geographical logic

carefully

maintained

up

to this

point? Why

is it

mentioned

a

second

time

at all?

The

only explanation

is that of

prestige,

which seems to

have taken

precedence

over

all

other

rationales

for

Mesopotamian

monarchs:

Hammurabi must

have felt

compelled

to

mention his

capital

again

directly

before

Agade,

so as

not

to let

Babylon

be

eclipsed

by

the

famous

city

that

he

readily

calls

Agadeki

rebTtim,

"Agade

the

Great."37

37

Finet,

Le

Code

de

Hammurapi,

p.

42.




12/42

AN

AREAL

LOCATION OF AGADE

215

That

Babylon

is

not

cited

in

a

geographical

context

here is confirmed

by

the

segment

Tutul

(22),

Esnunna

(23), Babylon

(24)--irreconcilable

with

any

watercourse.

We

can thus

remove

Babylon

from

the

sequence

and restore

the

geographical

order

Esnunna (23), Agade (25), A''ur (26), Nineveh (27) as describing the Tigris. Although

Esnunna

does

not

properly

belong

to the

Tigris,

it is

part

of the

Tigris

system:

Agade,

then,

is

to

be

sought

between

Esnunna

and

As'ur,

somewhere

along

the

Tigris (fig. 2).

AGADE AND

ESARHADDON

According

to the

Babylonian

Chronicle,38

n

673,

during

the

reign

of

Esarhaddon,

"in

(the

month

of)

Addaru,

Istar

of

Agade

and

the

gods

of

Agade

returned

from Elam

and entered

Agade

on

Addaru 10."

Soon

thereafter,

Esarhaddon

gave

orders

to

"repopulate

the

city

of

Agade,"

and

"deliver the

regular

offerings

of

the

goddess

They

should be advanced to Agade "39

The

program

of

rebuilding

that Esarhaddon

initiated

touched not

only

Agade

but

Babylon,

a

fact which has left

some scholars

under

the

impression

that

"Agade"

might

have been

used as a

synonym

for

Babylon.40

But,

following

S.

Parpola's

objections,41

I

disagree

with this

hypothesis

for

two

reasons.

First,

we

know

of

no

instance of

the

use

of the

name

of

an

existing

city

to

designate

another

existing city,42

and

secondly,

it

is

known

from

Nabonidus43

that Esarhaddon

restored

the

temple

Eulmas of

Istar-of-

Agade

in

Agade,

and no

temple

with

this

name existed

in

Babylon, although

a

temple

of

IBtar-of-Agade

did

exist

there).44

Thus

it is

safe to

conclude that

the

name

"Agade"

was

never

apocryphally

used

as a

name

for

Babylon.

In a letter to King Esarhaddon,45a special envoy named Mir-Ibtar complains that

the

letters

he

sent

to the

palace

in

Ninevah

have

been

returned

to

him from

post

stations

on the

road

leading

there.

Mdr-Ibtar

is

at

that

time in

Agade

supervising

the

arrival of

timber

for

building

projects.

The

names of

these

post

stations

are:

Kamanate,

Ampihapi,

and

[

]garegu.

Parpola

places

Kamanate on the

west

bank of the

Tigris

and

Ampihapi

near

the

point

where

the

Radanu

(Nahr

al-'Adheim)

meets

the

Tigris.

Moreover,

he

adds: "It

would thus seem

that the

post

route

referred

to

by

Mar-IStar

was

more or

less

identical

with

the

modern

road

leading

from

Mosul to

Baghdad

through

A%'ur

nd Samarra on

the western

bank of

the

Tigris."46

In

another letter to

the

king,47

Mdr-IStar

states that

"the

substitute

king,

who on

the

night of the 14th sat on the throne in Nineveh and spent the night of the 15th in the

38

Grayson,

Assyrian

and

Babylonian

Chronicles,

pp.

84,

126.

39 S.

Parpola,

Letters

from

Assyrian

Scholars

to

the

Kings

Esarhaddon and

Assurbanipal,

Alter

Orient

und Altes

Testament

5,

2

vols.

(Neukirchen-

Vluyn,

1970 and

1982)

(hereafter

cited

as

AOAT

5:1,

and

AOAT

5:2),

AOAT

5:1,

p.

218.

40

So

Weiss

in

Weiss,

p.

446;

Brinkman in

PKB,

p.

145,

n.

1662;

301,

n.

1975.

41

AOAT

5:2,

p.

263,

n.

7.

42The name of a southern Sumerian city, Eridu,

was

used as a

synecdoche

for

Babylon

only

because

one

of

Babylon's

quarters

bore this

name also:

but

no

quarter

bore the name

of

Agade;

see

0. R.

Gurney,

"The Fifth

Tablet of

'The

Topography

of

Babylon',"

Iraq

36

(1974):

50;

A.

R.

George,

"The

Cuneiform Text

Tin.tirki

Ba-bi-lu

and

the

Topog-

raphy

of

Babylon,"

Sumer

35

(1979):

226,

230.

43 S.

Langdon,

"New

Inscriptions

of

Nabuna'id,"

American

Journal

of

Semitic

Languages

and Litera-

tures

32

(1915-16):

113-14.

44

Called

E-mal-dari;

George,

"Tin.tirki

Ba-bi-

lu,"

p.

230.

45AOAT 5:1, pp. 250-51.

46

AOAT

5:2,

p.

302.

47

AOAT

5:1,

pp.

226-27.




13/42

216

JOURNAL

OF NEAR

EASTERN

STUDIES

palace

of the

king..

.

entered

the

city

of

Agade

safely

on

the

night

of

the 20th

.. ."

Thus,

it took the

substitute

king

and

his

party

five

days

to

go

from Nineveh

to

Agade.

The

straight

distance

Nineveh-Baghdad

is

roughly

300 km

along

the

direct road

on

the

western bank of the Tigris, and a trip on horseback or by foot would have needed

roughly

an

average

of

60

km

a

day-quite

unreasonable

for

a

royal

train,

albeit that

of

a

substitute.

The

only

alternative is a

journey by

boat,

and four

to five

days

is in

fact

the

average

duration of

such

trips

made

in

December-January.48

Although my

conclusions

here

are

only

of

a

circumstantial

nature,

the

mention

of

post

stations

along

the

Tigris

and

that of a

journey by

boat on

that same river

between

Nineveh

and

Agade strongly

suggest

that the

location

of

Agade

was

on

the

Tigris.

CLAY

BARREL

INSCRIPTION

FROM CYRUS

In a well-known text from Cyrus (557-529)49 recounting how he "liberated"

northern

Babylonia

and

restored

temples

in

its

cities,

one

finds a

clear

indication of the

location of

Agade:

...

all of them

(kings

from

the

entire

world)(1.

29) brought

heir

heavy

tributeand

kissed

my

feet

in

Babylon.

From

(a

region)

as far as

the

city

of A''ur

and the

city

of

Susa

(1.

30)

the

city

of

Agade,

the

land

of

Esnunna,

he

town

Zamban,

he

town

Me-Turnu,

he

city

of

DMr,

s far

as

the

land of the

Gutis,

(these)

sacredcities

across he

Tigris

..

(1.31)

The

key

words

here

are

"(these)

sacred

cities

across the

Tigris (ma-ha-za

[s'a e-bir]-ti

naridiglat)."

Since

Cyrus,

the

narrator,

is

in

Babylon,

it

follows that

all the

places

mentioned lie east of

the

Tigris.

This is true

for

Susa,

Esnunna

(Tell Asmar),

Zamban

(on

or

near

the Lower

Zab),

Me-Turnu

(on

the

Diyala=Turnu,

60

km

southwest

of

Khanikin),

Der

(near

Bedreh),

and

the

Land

of the

Guti

(between

Kurdistan

and

the

Zagros).

ASSur

appears

at

first to

be

the

exception,

since it is on

the western

bank

of the

Tigris.

But

the

text,

by using

the verb

eberu,

"to

cross,"

indicates in

effect

that

coming

from

Babylon

one

had to

cross the

water

of

the

Tigris

to

enter

A''ur.

Since

we

know

that a

moat

enclosing

A'gur's

western

side was

linked at both

ends to

the

Tigris,

the

city

was

in

fact

completely

surrounded

by Tigris

water.50

As

all

known

places

mentioned

in

this text

are

east

of

the

Tigris,

I

see no

reason for

Cyrus

to

have

distorted the

geographical setting

of

only one,

and so

we have

to

48

Cf.

trips

made

by

modern

explorers

on a

kelek

(inflated

sheepskin

boat)

between

Mosul

(Nineveh)

and

Baghdad

and

lasting

three

to six

days

during

the

high

season;

A. C.

Brackman,

The

Luck

of

Nineveh

(New

York,

1978),

p.

74;

A. H.

Layard,

Discoveries in

the

Ruins

of

Nineveh

and

Babylon

(London,

1853),

pp.

464-74;

F. R.

Chesney,

The

Expedition

for

the

Survey

of

the

Rivers

Euphrates

and

Tigris... (London,

1850),

p.

32.

49

Published

by

H.

C.

Rawlinson

and

T.

G.

Pinches,

in The

Cuneiform

Inscriptions

rom

Western

Asia,

vol.

5,

A Selection

from

the

Miscellaneous

Inscriptions

of

Assyria

and

Babylonia

(London,

1880-84;

reprint

London,

1909),

p.

35;

F.

H.

Weiss-

bach,

Die

Keilinschriften

der

Achimeniden, Vorder-

asiatische

Bibliothek

3

(Leipzig, 1911),

p.

6;

J.

B.

Pritchard, ed.,

Ancient

Near

Eastern Texts

Relating

to the

Old

Testament,

3d. ed.

(Princeton,

1969),

p.

316.

50

See

map

in

S.

Lloyd,

The

Archaeology of

Mesopotamia:

From

the Old

Stone Age

to

the

Persian

Conquest,

rev.

ed.

(London,

1984),

p.

180.




14/42

AN

AREAL

LOCATION OF AGADE 217

..............

x i i i i x i 'i : ~i••iii~i•i~~iiiiiii•i••• iii i•i• •••~ii~~ii•••i

N i n e v e i

Ninevet

~

iiii~iiiiiiiiii~iiiiiii iiii iii

Si ~i~

iii i i~~i~ ii~i

i

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii

ii iiii iiiiiiiiiii iii i

A:..............................

...:. .

. . .

:::::::.::.

.:..

.

..:::-:-::

i':it?:::ii~ii

i:i:. ii:i:~

iiii ::::::::::::::

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ii::iiiiiii':iiiiiii.iiiiiij;iiiii;;iiiii %

iiii

................................ii.iiii....ii.iiii::.::..ii

..:i:i••...........

i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i l i i i

i i ; i i

i i i i i i i i i

i i i i i i r i i i r t S t : i i i r t ~ i i i i i i

.cN:.:•

::

"

..•Xiiii;:

..i.i.ii.i.ii.i.i.i.i•...

. .

iii...

.......

iiii.

.i.i.i..i.

..............iiig~i

j.~.

..............i.i.i.iii.i.iiii.i

~~.~~..~~~~.~...................jii

Waecore

i6hce.BC.E

•ii~ilii l

.e

iii~~i~tr~

:I:i 331•"• ;•~.ii''iiii

ilii

"•

•'r-KurigalzuMidernjiver..s.g......•"%k

•'

• iiiii.

i Ad %

h

i

f

•ii~~~~liiiiiiii

i~

@iii

tti'i'i'i'liiiii~iriiiiiira@ iiitiil

.. .. ..

.

....rj

.

Is n.

.."II

...........

...............

d.

Babylon

I.

Zabalam

•

'•~~~~ji'

=j._

•iiip

o

•.,.jiii

n

iiiili[ iiililijjiii

c

K

aXa

......

.....

.

e.

Ki,•

m

.

Grsu ..............:.....:..

. . . . . . . . . .

. . .

: . : i : I .

: ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : : ? : ? .

f.

Boip

n.i?~

iiiiiiiiiiiijjii

Laga•

iiiiiiijiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiii

g.:~i:iiiitiiltiitiii

Diba

o.

Larsa

•

%

•

"

--

ii i iitiii~i~i i@ i iii

. . .

.................... .....

h.~

~

Nippur

p.

Uru

•iiiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiii~

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . i s i ~ i . .

M . S p a r i j

. . .

. . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .

. . . .

. . .

: : : : : M

e-iiiii~~~ij~iii~i

N i p u r

~ i ~ i ~ i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~

FIG. 3.-Shaded

area shows

the

possible

location

of

Agade

based

on the

clay

barrel

inscription

of

Cyrus.

(The

course

of the

Tigris

in

Late

Babylonian

times is

adapted

from

Adams,

LBB,

fig.

4.)

conclude

that

Agade belongs

to the east

Tigris region

as well."

As the text is

accurate

in

depicting

A''ur's

setting,

we can further

conclude that

the

Tigris

had to be crossed

to reach Agade from Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E.fig. 3).

V. AGADE

AND THE

DIYALA

REGION

The

evidence dealt

with in

this section enables

us to

define further the latitudinal

position

of

Agade

on

the

Tigris.

Other materials

circumstantially pointing

to

the

Diyala

region

for

Agade's

location will

be

found

in

Appendix

B

below.

51

It

remains a

mystery why

this well-known

text,

clearly

situating Agade

east of the

Tigris,

has

not

been

mentioned

by

scholars

in

connection with the

search for

Agade

until McEwan's article in 1981

(McEwan,

pp.

9,

11).

J.

M. Durand and

E.

Joannes

have

brought

into the

discussion

a letter

from the

time

of

Cambyses-Cyrus's

successor-which indi-

cates a connection of

Agade

with the East

Tigris

in




15/42

218

JOURNAL

OF NEAR EASTERN

STUDIES

THE COLLECTION

OF THE SUMERIAN TEMPLE

HYMNS

Agade

is

among

the

thirty-seven

cities listed

in

this

composition, together

with

their

gods and the names of their

temples.52

It was written by Sargon's daughter Enhedu-

anna,

the

priestess

of

Inanna

at

Ur.

As far as

we can tell-since

the location

of

only

seventeen

of the

cities

is

established-the

sequence

follows a

general

southeast-northwest

axis,

with

the

excep-

tion of

Der

and

Esnunna.

The

final

part

of

the

collection

concerns

Sippar,

HI.ZA,

Ulmas,

Agade,

and

Eres.

The mention of Ulma'

is a bit

disconcerting,

for

it is

known

that its

temple,

Eulmas,

whose

goddess

was

Inanna-of-Agade, belonged

to

Agade.53

This

may

be

taken

as

an

indication

that

the

temple(s)

of

Inanna,

and their

lands,

formed

a somewhat

separate

area

from

that

of the

city

of

Agade

proper,

at least in

the

time of

Enheduanna.

Unfortunately, the location of Ere' is unknown; that of HI.ZAwill be discussed

below. The

only

known

place-name

in

that

part

of the list is

Sippar,

and the

only

conclusion

that

can be drawn

is

that

Ulma'-Agade

lies

probably

north

of

HI.ZA

and

quite certainly

north of

Sippar (fig.

4).54

THE

GEOGRAPHICAL

LIST

4

R

3855

This

list

comprises

the

sequence

Ulma',

Agade, HI.ZA,

Esnunna,

and

Malgium,56

o

be

compared

with the

sequence Sippar,

HI.ZA,

Ulma'-Agade,

of

the collection

of

hymns

and

Sippar,

Agade,

Esnunna,

of

Sutruk-Nahhunte's

text

(see below).

The

result

is, then,

that

HI.ZA

ies

between

Sippar

and

Agade

and

also

between Agade

and Esnunna. The

only

viable

solution to

this

apparent

contradiction

is

to

posit

that

Agade

and

HI.ZA

lie

on

the same

line

approximately

perpendicular

to

the line

Sippar-Esnunna (see

fig.

5),

with

Agade

situated

probably,

as we

have

seen,

north

of

HI.ZA.

Late-Babylonian

times

(A.

T.

Clay, Neo-Babylonian

Letters

from

Erech,

Yale

Oriental

Series 3

[New

Haven,

1920],

no.

106,

11.

19-26):

"Consult the

re-

cords of

the time

of

Nebuchadnezzar,

Neriglissar

and

Nabonidus

(to

find

out)

how

much

flour--

including transportation, belts and sandals-you

gave

to the

soldiers

posted

on the

riverbank at

Takrit

and at

Agade."

It

follows that

Agade

and

Takrit are

on

the

bank of

the

same

river: most

probably

the

Tigris.

It

is

also

possible

that

the river

was an

antecedent to the

Parthian

Nahrawan

canal,

since Takrit

was at its

mouth

(LBB,

p.

67).

In both

cases,

Agade

is

definitely

to be

assigned

to

the

Tigris

system

near the

Diyala (Nouvelles

assyriologiques

breves et

utilitaires

4

[1988]: 51-52).

52

A.

W.

Sj6berg,

The

Collection

of

the

Sumerian

Temple

Hymns,

Texts from

Cuneiform

Sources 3

(Locust

Valley,

New

York,

1969).

53

Cf.

Cooper's

remark

that

"Inanna, according

to

this

composition,

did

not

have a

proper

temple

in

Agade,"

Curse

of

Agade,

p. 236,

n.

9. But

see n. 54

below. For the name

(E)-Ulma',

see

Sjoberg, Temple

Hymns,

pp.

145-46.

54 Another

Sumerian

hymn

mentions

Agade

and

its

temple

Eulmas

among

a

list of

cities and

their

temples.

The

sequence

Borsippa,

Sippar,

Agade,

Karkar, DEr, Diniktu, Kutha, ME-Turnu is, how-

ever,

inconclusive

(E.

Reiner,

"A

Sumero-Akkadian

Hymn

of

Nana,"

JNES

33

[1974]:

221-36).

We

may

note

nevertheless that

DEr,

(probably)

Diniktu,

and

Ma-Turnu,

belong

to

the

east

Tigris

region

and that

Agade

appears

to

be north

of

Sippar.

In

the Su-

merian

myth

"Inanna's

Descent

to the

Netherworld,"

the

sequence

of the

cities

suggests

that

Agade

must

be north of

KiS:

Uruk,

Bad-Tibira,

Zabalam,

Adab,

Nippur,

Ki',

Agade.

55

Pinches,

The

Cuneiform

Inscriptions of

Western

Asia,

vol.

4,

A Selection

from

the Miscellaneous

Inscriptions of

Assyria

...

(London,

1891),

pp.

38,

39.

56The two cities

preceding

Ulma' are

Marad

and

perhaps

Diniktu.




16/42

AN AREAL LOCATION

OF AGADE

219

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