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2300–675 BC Ancient Near Eastern group of tribes From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lullubi, Lulubi (Akkadian: 𒇻𒇻𒉈: Lu-lu-bi, Akkadian: 𒇻𒇻𒉈𒆠: Lu-lu-biki "Country of the Lullubi"), more commonly known as Lullu,[1][2][3][4] were a group of Bronze Age tribes who existed and disappeared during the 3rd millennium BC, from a region known as Lulubum, now the Sharazor plain of the Zagros Mountains of modern-day Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq. Lullubi was a neighbour and sometimes ally with the Hurrian Simurrum kingdom and came into conflict with the Semitic Akkadian Empire and Assyria.[5] Frayne (1990) identified their city Lulubuna or Luluban with the region's modern town of Halabja. The language of the Lullubi is regarded as an unclassified language[6] because it is unattested in written record. Significantly, the term Lullubi though, appears to be of Hurrian origin rather than Semitic or the yet to arrive in the region Indo-European, and the names of its known rulers have Hurrian or more rarely Semitic influence, with no trace of Indo-European influence such as Iranic or Indo-Aryan.[7]
The early Sumerian legend "Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird", set in the reign of Enmerkar of Uruk, alludes to the "mountains of Lulubi" as being where the character of Lugalbanda encounters the gigantic Anzû bird while searching for the rest of Enmerkar's army en route to siege Aratta.
Lullubum appears in historical times as one of the lands Sargon the Great subjugated within his Akkadian Empire, along with the neighboring province of Gutium, which was possibly of the same Hurrian origin as the Lullubi. Sargon's grandson Naram Sin defeated the Lullubi and their king Satuni, and had his famous victory stele made in commemoration:
"Naram-Sin the powerful . . . . Sidur and Sutuni, princes of the Lulubi, gathered together and they made war against me."
After the Akkadian Empire fell to the Gutians, the Lullubians rebelled against the Gutian king Erridupizir, according to Mesopotamian inscriptions:
Ka-Nisba, king of Simurrum, instigated the people of Simurrum and Lullubi to revolt. Amnili, general of [the enemy Lullubi]... made the land [rebel]... Erridu-pizir, the mighty, king of Gutium and of the four quarters hastened [to confront] him... In a single day he captured the pass of Urbillum at Mount Mummum. Further, he captured Nirishuha.
Following the short lived Gutian period, the Neo-Sumerian Empire (Ur-III) ruler Shulgi is said to have raided Lullubi at least 9 times; by the time of Amar-Sin, Lullubians formed a contingent in the military of Ur, suggesting that the region was then under Neo-Sumerian control.
Another famous rock relief depicting the Lullubian king Anubanini with the Assyrian-Babylonian goddess Ishtar, captives in tow, is now thought to date to the Ur-III period; however, a later Assyrian- Babylonian legendary retelling of the exploits of Sargon the Great mentions Anubanini as one of his opponents.
In the following (second) millennium BC, the term "Lullubi" or "Lullu" seems to have become a generic Babylonian/Assyrian term for "highlander" without reference ro any single ethnic group, while the original region of Lullubi became the Hurrian inhabited Zamua. However, the "land of Lullubi" makes a reappearance in the late 12th century BC, when both Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon (in c. 1120 BC) and Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria (in 1113 BC) subdued it. Neo-Assyrian kings of the following centuries also recorded campaigns and conquests in the area of Lullubum / Zamua. Most notably, Ashur-nasir-pal II had to suppress a revolt among the Zamuan chiefs in 881 BC, during which they constructed a wall in the Bazian pass between modern Kirkuk (the Assyrian city of Arrapha) and Sulaymaniyah in a failed attempt to keep the Assyrians out.
They were said to have had 19 walled cities in their land, as well as a large supply of horses, cattle, metals, textiles and wine, which were carried off by Ashur-nasir-pal. Local chiefs or governors of the Zamua region continued to be mentioned down to the end of Esarhaddon's reign (669 BC) after which they disappear from history.
In depictions of them, the Lullubi are represented as warlike mountain people.[12] The Lullubi are often shown bare-chested and wearing animal skins. They have short beards, their hair is long and worn in a thick braid, as can be seen on the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin.[11]
Rulers of the Lullubi kingdom:[13][14]
Various Lullubian reliefs can be seen in the area of Sar-e Pol-e Zohab, the best preserved of which is the Anubanini rock relief. They all show a ruler trampling an enemy, and most also show a deity facing the ruler. Another relief can be found about 200 meters away, in a style similar to the Anubanini relief, but this time with a beardless ruler.[17] The attribution to a specific ruler remains uncertain.[17][18]
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