Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur, Governor of Sūḫu and Mari

Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur, the son and successor of Šamaš-rēša-uṣur [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/essentials/shamashreshausur/], reigned for at least seven years as "governor of Sūḫu and Mari." Like his father, he appears to have concerned himself with numerous building and restoration projects. In addition, according to many of his own inscriptions, he undertook several military campaigns. His main achievement on the battlefield seems to have been the defeat of a huge horde of marauding Aramaean tribesmen (from the Ḫatallu tribe) that -- at least according to Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's own, very detailed description -- could not be stopped by any other leader in the region (see, e.g., Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 2, i 7-ii 32 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006211/]). He also boasts in his official texts that he captured a caravan from the important trading centers Tema and Šaba [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006212/] (on the Arabian peninsula) that was probably bound for Assyria, and suppressed a revolt by the people of the city Raʾil, who had already rebelled against and been defeated by his father.

Inscriptions

So far, at least fourteen inscriptions of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur are attested; two other texts belonging to him may be known, but they are not sufficiently preserved to attribute them to him with certainty. Like those of his father, Šamaš-rēša-uṣur, Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's inscriptions are all written in the Babylonian dialect of the Akkadian language and often begin with the name of the king and his genealogy. However, two of the texts (Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 10 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006220/] and Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 11 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006221/]) start with a dedicatory section (to the goddess Anat or the gods Adad and Apla-Adad, respectively). The following inscriptions are attested:

Two damaged clay tablets discovered at Sur Jurʿeh contain reports of the restoration of the akītu-temple of the gods Adad and Mīšarum at Udada and the construction of two new palaces in the district of the city Raʾil, as well as a relatively short account of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's victory over the Ḫatallu tribesmen (more detailed versions of which can be found in Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 2-8).

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 1 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006211/]

Sources

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 358-363 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 291-294 (edition)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 618 (29-43a, partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 418-422 nos. 3-4 (exs. 1-2, copy)

• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 619, 629 (20, 32, study)

A very detailed account of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's fight against and defeat of the Ḫatallu tribesmen is written on a four-column clay tablet from Sur Jurʿeh (i 8-ii 35). The inscription also mentions the creation^? of a new well (iii 3'-11'a); the construction of the towns Dūr-Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur (iii 11'b-22'a) and Kār-Apla-Adad (iii 22'b-27'a), as well as related building activities (iii 27'b-32'); the restoration of the akītu-temple at Udada (iv 1'-9'a); the building of two new palaces in the district of the city Raʾil (iv 9'b-15'a); a revolt of the people of Raʾil and their subsequent defeat (iv 15'b-21'a); the strengthening of the fortification of the town Āl-gabbāri-banî (iv 21'b-26'a), which had been put in place by Šamaš-rēša-uṣur [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006206/]; and, most remarkably, the capture of a caravan from the Arabian cities Tema and Šaba (iv 26'b-38'a).

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 2 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006212/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 343-357 (edition).
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 295-300 (edition)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], pp. 618-619, 623, 630 ( i 1-35, ii 1-35, ii 27-29, ii 23-27, partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 412-417 no. 2 (copy).

• Ismail 1986 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#ismail1986], pp. 87-88 [Arabic section] (study).
• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 334-337 (study).
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 614, 619-623, 628, 629, 630-631 (iii 1'-32', i 1-35, i 27b-30a, [iv 26'-37'], [ii 4-33a], study)

An account of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur about his actions against the Ḫatallu tribesmen is also partly preserved on a four-column tablet discovered in the ruins of the city ʿAna (i 1'-ii 18'). In addition to reports on this event and other achievements -- the restoration of the temple of the gods Adad and Mīšarum at Udada (iii 1'-4'), the construction of two palaces in the district of the city Raʾil (iii 5'-14'a), the suppression of a revolt of the people of Raʾil (iii 14'b-21'a), and the creation^? of a new well (iii 21'b-30') -- this inscription contains a passage describing Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's re-establishment of offerings, the resettlement of people and gods, and the renovation of a palace in Anat (iv), a city that had been under Assyrian domination until the reign of his father, when it swore its allegiance again to Sūḫu.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 3 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006213/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 391-395 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 301-304 (edition)
• Na'aman 2003a [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#naaman2003a], p. 94 (iv 22-26a, partial translation)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 618 (ii 2'-3'a, partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 443-445 no. 21 (copy).

The situation in the city Anat previous to the reign of Šamaš-rēša-uṣur (the murder of Tabnēa, a previous ruler of Sūḫu, in Assyria while bringing tribute; a revolt of the people of Anat against Sūḫu; their alliance with the Assyrians; the resulting non-violent capture of the city by the Assyrians; and their exiling of its population) is described on a fragmentary four-column tablet from Sur Jurʿeh (iv 5b-15; cf. also Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 9). This tablet also preserves portions of the account on Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's victory over the Ḫatallu tribesmen (i 1'-iii 14) and the end of a passage presumably dealing with the foundation of the town Dūr-Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur (iv 1-5a).

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 4 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006214/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 373-376 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 305-307 (edition)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 618 (4'-15', partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 430-431 no. 10 (copy)

• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 630 ([i 4'-15'], study)

A fragment of a clay tablet from Sur Jurʿeh, presumably originally consisting of four columns, preserves part of an account of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's campaign against the Ḫatallu tribesmen (i 1'-16') and part of a description of the fate of the city Anat before and after that event.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 5 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006215/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 368-69 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 307-309 (edition)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 618 (12b'-14'a, partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 426 no. 7 (copy)

About two kilometers south of the island of ʿAna, on the left bank of the Euphrates River, at Dawali, the right side of a clay tablet was found by Sd. Nadhir ar-Rawi in 1981. It preserves part of a description of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's victory over the Ḫatallu tribesmen (ii 1'-26'), as well as accounts of his restoration of the akītu-temple at Udada (iii 3'b-12'a), the construction of two palaces in the district of the city Raʾil (iii 12'b-21'a), and the suppression of a revolt of the people of Raʾil (iii 21'b-27').

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 6 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006216/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 388-389 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 309-311 (edition)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 618 (ii 1'-3', partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 440-441 no. 19 (copy)

• Killick/Roaf 1983 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#killick-roaf1983], p. 209 (study)

The fragment of the right side of a clay tablet found at Sur Jurʿeh preserves part of a description of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's victory over the Ḫatallu tribesmen (obv. 1'-11') and a passage recording his construction of two palaces in the district of the city Raʾil (rev. 1'-8').

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 7 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006217/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 376 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 312 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 432 no. 11 (copy)

The fragment of a (probably four-column) clay tablet found at Sur Jurʿeh preserves part of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's description of his defeat of the Ḫatallu tribesmen (obv. 1'-rev. 13a), a report about the restoration of the akītu-temple of the gods Adad and Mīšarum at Udada (rev. 13b-20), and the beginning of a passage recording the construction of new palaces in the district of the city of Raʾil (rev. 21-22).

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 8 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006218/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 371-373 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 313-314 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 428-429 no. 9 (copy)

The best-preserved version of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's account on the history of Anat before the reign of his father (see also Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 4) and his own restoration and building work there is found on a stone stele discovered on the island of ʿAna. The text states that: (1) Tabnēa, a former ruler of Sūḫu, had travelled to Assyria to bring tribute and had been killed there; (2) the inhabitants of Anat had subsequently revolted against Sūḫu and had allied themselves with the Assyrians; (3) the Assyrians had captured the city without a fight, but afterwards had exiled its population, destroyed their houses, and settled their own men in their place; and (4) Anat remained under Assyrian control for fifty years, until the reign of Šamaš-rēša-uṣur. According to the inscription, Anat then reconfirmed its allegiance to Sūḫu and, therefore, Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur was able to re-establish regular offerings and festivals for the god Adad (and presumably other gods), resettle the city as it had been before, return the gods who had gone to the town Ribaniš on account of the Assyrian, and build an akītu-temple and a palace there, just as the early second-millennium-BC ruler Ḫammu-rāpi, the famous king of Babylon, and perhaps his own father had requested.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 9 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006219/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 383-388 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 315-317 (edition)
• Na'aman 2003a [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#naaman2003a], pp. 93-94 (i 25b-ii 12, partial edition)
• Younger 2015 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#younger2015], p. 614 (i 22b-ii 1, partial translation)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], 437-439 and pl. 36 no. 18 (copy, photo)

Another stone stele from the island of ʿAna contains a slightly different account on the same events. Unlike the previous inscription, it is explicitly dedicated to the goddess Anat and gives the name and genealogy of the king after the opening dedication, rather than at the beginning of the inscription. This text does not mention that Tabnēa, a previous ruler of Sūḫu, brought tribute to Assyria and was killed there, and that the inhabitants of Anat were exiled by the Assyrians, but instead it focuses on the desecration of the goddess Anat by the Assyrians, who are reported to have forcibly brought her into a hidden place, and the goddess' eventual return to her temple and the re-establishment of her offerings in the time of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur. (In this context, Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur also refers to the wording of a command given by Ḫammu-rāpi, the well-known king of Babylon.)

Stele of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur from the island of ʿAna dedicated to the goddess Anat. IM 132899, Iraq Museum, Baghdad, Iraq. Photograph by Karen Radner.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 10 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006220/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 380-383 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 317-318 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 435-436 and pl. 35 no. 17 (copy, photo)

• Killick/Roaf 1983 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#killick-roaf1983], p. 204 (study)
• Na'aman 2003a [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#naaman2003a], pp. 93-94 (study)

An inscription written on a small clay tablet found at Sur Jurʿeh states that Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur restored the akītu-temple of the gods Adad and Apla-Adad at Anat; both the temple and the inscription are explicitly dedicated to these two gods.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 11 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006221/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], pp. 341-343 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 319 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 411 no. 1 (copy)

A text preserved on a small fragment of a clay tablet found at Sur Jurʿeh duplicates passages that are known from many of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur's inscriptions, in particular, the restoration of the akītu-temple for the gods Adad and Mīšarum at Udada and the construction of new palace(s) in the district of the city Raʾil.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 12 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006222/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 377 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 320 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 433 no. 12 (copy)

The building of the town Dūr-Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur (see Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 2) is also mentioned on the reverse of a clay tablet from Sur Jurʿeh only the lower left corner is preserved. The text of the obverse is completely illegible.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 13 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006223/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 378 no. 15 (transliteration)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 321 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 434 no. 15 (copy)

A fragment from the upper left corner of a clay tablet found at Jedide (ten kms south of ʿAna, on the left bank of the Euphrates) contains part of an Akkadian inscription. Only the genealogy of the king is partly preserved; since he is described as the son of Šamaš-rēša-uṣur, an identification with Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur is likely.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 14 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006224/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 396 no. 22 (transliteration)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 322 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 446 no. 22 (copy)

The legible traces of an inscription written on a fragment of a stone stele discovered at Sur Jurʿeh look similar to passages that are known from several inscriptions of Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur. According to Cavigneaux and Ismail (1990), this object might have been the original source for Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 11, a text known only from an archival copy preserved on a clay tablet.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 1001 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006225/]

Source

Bibliography

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 396 no. 23 (transliteration)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 323 (edition)

• Cavigneaux/Ismail 1990 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#cavigneaux-ismail1990], p. 446 no. 23 (copy)

During excavations conducted by the Iraqi State Antiquities Organization at the site of Zawiyya, five kilometers southwest of Sur Jurʿeh, on the left bank of the Euphrates River, a number of bricks with colored decoration were discovered. At least one of them preserves an inscription that seems to have contained the royal name Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur and, therefore, is likely to be attributed to this king.

Access Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 1002 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/Q006226/]

Source

Bibliography

• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 323 (edition based on information by A. K. Grayson)

• Postgate/Watson 1979 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/bibliography/index.html#postgate-watson1979], p. 159

Alexa Bartelmus

Alexa Bartelmus, 'Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur, Governor of Sūḫu and Mari', Suhu: The Inscriptions of Suhu online Project, The Suhu Inscriptions Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2018 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/suhu/rulers/ninurtakudurriusur/]