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204-635: The site has about 15 occupational layers with 12 major strata several of which have subdivisions. The majority of excavation work at the site was on the Late Bronze Age levels with only some soundings to the older strata. Traces of Parthian era occupation were found on the surface. Pottery shards were found from the Halaf/Ubaid periods. In the Uruk period levels mudbrick construction occurred and finds included spouted vessels, bevel-rimmed bowls ,

408-483: A small copper animal figurine and a cache of drilled marble stamp and cylinder seals . Early dynastic pottery was found in one pit, from pavements and graves, with no interruption with the following Akkadian Empire occupation. During the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334-2154 BC), the city was probably known as Gasur. There is some debate about whether the city name was Ga-sur or Ga-sag. It was a provincial seat of

612-509: A Hattian tradition instead, with the weather god being Taru and the moon god Kašku , but according to Jörg Klinger  [ de ] this interpretation is not plausible. The Song of Emergence also states that Tašmišu and Aranzaḫ (the river Tigris) were born alongside Teshub. According to Piotr Taracha  [ de ] the former was specifically regarded as his twin. He also functioned as his divine “vizier” ( sukkal ). The latter role could also be attributed to Tenu ,

816-692: A satrapy (province) under Andragoras , who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire . Mithridates I ( r.   c.  171  – 132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates , in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on

1020-676: A Parthian force in Syria led by general Pharnapates was defeated by Ventidius at the Battle of Amanus Pass . As a result, Pacorus I temporarily withdrew from Syria. When he returned in the spring of 38 BC, he faced Ventidius at the Battle of Mount Gindarus , northeast of Antioch. Pacorus was killed during the battle, and his forces retreated across the Euphrates. His death spurred a succession crisis in which Orodes II chose Phraates IV ( r . c. 38–2 BC) as his new heir. Upon assuming

1224-418: A Parthian invasion while Antony's rival Octavian attacked his forces to the west. After the defeat and suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC, Parthian ally Artaxias II reassumed the throne of Armenia. Following the defeat and deaths of Antony and Cleopatra of Ptolemaic Egypt after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Octavian consolidated his political power and in 27 BC was named Augustus by

1428-538: A baggage train of about 1,000 camels, the Parthian army provided the horse archers with a constant supply of arrows. The horse archers employed the " Parthian shot " tactic: feigning retreat to draw enemy out, then turning and shooting at them when exposed. This tactic, executed with heavy composite bows on the flat plain, devastated Crassus' infantry. With some 20,000 Romans dead, approximately 10,000 captured, and roughly another 10,000 escaping west, Crassus fled into

1632-409: A battle over kingship in heaven, and how his skull had to be split to let his son out. A Hurrian hymn (KUB 47.78) also alludes to the events known from this myth, referring to Anu as Teshub's father and Kumarbi as his mother: You are the strong one, which I (praise), the bull calf of Anu! You are the strong one, which I (praise), your father Anu begot you, your mother Kumarbi brought you to life. For

1836-463: A copper axe and copper daggers, a shell seal mounted on a copper pin, and 5 cylinder seals. Gasur had strong trading contacts with a number of cities including Assur , Sabum, Susa , and the city of Akkad . The most famous item found at this level is the Nuzi map, the oldest known map discovered. Although the majority of the tablet is preserved, it is unknown exactly what the Nuzi map shows. The Nuzi map

2040-399: A curved sword. Textual sources indicate he was believed to travel in a chariot drawn by two bulls. A second animal associated with him might have been the eagle. In Hittite art , all weather gods, among them Teshub, were depicted similarly, with long hair and beard, dressed in conical headdress decorated with horns, a kilt and shoes with upturned toe area, and with a mace either resting on

2244-732: A daughter joined Phraates' harem . While the Parthians regained the territories lost in the west, another threat arose in the east. In 177–176 BC the nomadic confederation of the Xiongnu dislodged the nomadic Yuezhi from their homelands in what is now Gansu province in Northwest China ; the Yuezhi then migrated west into Bactria and displaced the Saka (Scythian) tribes. The Saka were forced to move further west, where they invaded

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2448-512: A failed siege of Hatra during his withdrawal. His retreat was—in his intentions—temporary, because he wanted to renew the attack on Parthia in 118 AD and "make the subjection of the Parthians a reality," but Trajan died suddenly in August 117 AD. During his campaign, Trajan was granted the title Parthicus by the Senate and coins were minted proclaiming the conquest of Parthia. However, only

2652-565: A god who might have originated in the local tradition of Aleppo . A further deity counted among Teshub's siblings was his sister Šauška . In the Song of LAMMA , she addresses him as her younger brother. However, Daniel Schwemer argues that she might have originally been regarded as his spouse. In myths, she is often portrayed assisting Teshub in battle. Beate Pongrats-Leisten argues that Teshub and Šauška, who she treats as interchangeable with Mesopotamian Adad and Ishtar , were already paired in

2856-485: A governor known from a clay sealing reading: "Itbe-labba, govern[or] of Gasur" found at Tell Brak in modern Syria. 222 Akkadian Empire period (c. 2334–2154 BC) cuneiform tablets were found at the site. They are primarily dated to the time of rulers Naram-Sin and Shar-kali-sharri and written in Old Akkadian. A school tablet mentioned Tuṭṭanabšum, daughter of Naram-Sin. Finds at this level included stone figurines,

3060-549: A gradual revival of Iranian traditions . The Arsacid rulers were titled " King of Kings ", claiming inheritance of the Achaemenid Empire ; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals , although the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps . The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than

3264-466: A great accomplishment in his Res Gestae Divi Augusti . When Phraataces took the throne as Phraates V ( r . c. 2 BC – 4 AD), Musa ruled alongside him, and according to Josephus , married him. The Parthian nobility, disapproving of the notion of a king with non-Arsacid blood, forced the pair into exile in Roman territory. Phraates' successor Orodes III of Parthia lasted just two years on

3468-414: A greater part of the empire. Meanwhile, the Roman emperor Caracalla ( r . 211–217 AD) deposed the kings of Osroene and Armenia to make them Roman provinces once more. He marched into Mesopotamia under the pretext of marrying one of Artabanus' daughters, but the marriage was not allowed. Consequently Caracalla made war on Parthia, conquering Arbil and sacking the Parthian tombs there. Caracalla

3672-414: A marriage alliance between the crown prince Pacorus I of Parthia (d. 38 BC) and Artavasdes' sister. Surena, with an army entirely on horseback, rode to meet Crassus. Surena's 1,000 cataphracts (armed with lances) and 9,000 horse archers were outnumbered roughly four to one by Crassus' army, comprising seven Roman legions and auxiliaries including mounted Gauls and light infantry. Using

3876-550: A number of references to Mesopotamian rulers occasionally sending offerings to them are known. In the Mitanni empire, the main site associated with him was Kaḫat in northern Syria. In Kizzuwatna in southeastern Turkey he was worshipped in Kummanni . Furthermore, due to Hurrian cultural influence he came to be viewed as the weather god of Aleppo  [ de ] . He was also worshipped in many other Hurrian cities, and in

4080-523: A period coined in scholarship as the " Parthian Dark Age ," due to the lack of clear information on the events of this period in the empire, except a series of, apparently overlapping, reigns. It is only with the beginning of the reign of Orodes II in c.  57 BC , that the line of Parthian rulers can again be reliably traced. This system of split monarchy weakened Parthia, allowing Tigranes II of Armenia to annex Parthian territory in western Mesopotamia. This land would not be restored to Parthia until

4284-470: A plot by Pharasmanes I of Iberia to place his brother Mithridates on the throne of Armenia by assassinating the Parthian ally King Arsaces of Armenia. Artabanus II tried and failed to restore Parthian control of Armenia, prompting an aristocratic revolt that forced him to flee to Scythia . The Romans released a hostage prince, Tiridates III of Parthia , to rule the region as an ally of Rome. Shortly before his death, Artabanus managed to force Tiridates from

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4488-712: A rebellion in Egypt. Despite losing his Roman support, Mithridates managed to conquer Babylonia, and minted coins at Seleucia until 54 BC. In that year, Orodes' general, known only as Surena after his noble family's clan name, recaptured Seleucia, and Mithridates was executed. Marcus Licinius Crassus , one of the triumvirs , who was now proconsul of Syria, invaded Parthia in 53 BC in belated support of Mithridates. As his army marched to Carrhae (modern Harran , southeastern Turkey), Orodes II invaded Armenia, cutting off support from Rome's ally Artavasdes II of Armenia ( r . 53–34 BC). Orodes persuaded Artavasdes to

4692-566: A result of this process, Teshub came to be regarded as the weather god of Aleppo. However, as Semitic languages continued to be spoken across the region, both names of weather gods continued to be used across the middle Euphrates area. While the equivalence between Teshub and Adad is not attested in the Mesopotamian god list An = Anum , he is directly referred to as one of his foreign counterparts, specifically that linked to Subartu , in another similar text, K 2100 (CT 25, 16–17). In

4896-426: A revolt against the Parthian governor of Babylonia. After defeating the latter, the two were granted the right to govern the region by Artabanus II, who feared further rebellion elsewhere. Anilai's Parthian wife poisoned Asinai out of fear he would attack Anilai over his marriage to a gentile . Following this, Anilai became embroiled in an armed conflict with a son-in-law of Artabanus, who eventually defeated him. With

5100-585: A single passage from the Song of Ḫedammu Teshub is addressed with the title “canal inspector of mankind”, which most likely originates in the Babylonian milieu . Anu ’s status as the father of Teshub also mirrors Mesopotamian tradition. This idea might have reached the Hurrians as early as in the Akkadian period . Daniel Schwemer notes it is possible that in turn the tradition according to which Adad

5304-404: A temple of Ishtar instead, with its later Hurrian character resulting from the settlement of Hurrians in the nineteenth century BCE. Possibly this process was contemporary with the change of the name or refounding of the city, which was originally known as Gasur. Members of Teshub's clergy are mentioned in the Nuzi texts, including šangû priests and entu priestesses. It is also known that he

5508-688: A text from Ebla which invokes Hadda alongside Ammarik . Hurrian offering lists, so-called kaluti  [ de ] , preserve long sequences of deities associated with Teshub. The standard version was arranged according to importance and included Teshub himself, as well as deities such as Tašmišu (in Šapinuwa followed by Anu), Kumarbi, Ea , Kušuḫ , Šimige , Šauška, Aštabi , Nupatik , Pirengir , Ḫešui , Iršappa , Tenu, earth and heaven , “mountains and rivers”, Šarruma, Šeri and Ḫurri, Namni and Ḫazzi, “ Ugur of Teshub”, “hero of Teshub”, “ancestors of Teshub” and various attributes and cultic paraphernalia related to him. Goddesses generally belonged to

5712-625: A trap with the promise of a marriage alliance. He was taken captive in 34 BC, paraded in Antony's mock Roman triumph in Alexandria , Egypt, and eventually executed by Cleopatra VII of the Ptolemaic Kingdom . Antony attempted to strike an alliance with Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene, whose relations with Phraates IV had recently soured. This was abandoned when Antony and his forces withdrew from Armenia in 33 BC; they escaped

5916-506: A vase to the weather god of Kumme; the inscription renders the name logogaphically. In cases where logographic writings are used to spell the name, it is not certain if speakers of Semitic languages (Akkadian and Amorite) necessarily referred to the god of Kumme as Adad or with his Hurrian name. In some cases, Kumme occurs as a theophoric element in personal names from various Hurrian sites ( Nuzi , Tikunani ), as well as from Mariote and Middle Assyrian archives, such as Kummen-adal ("Kumme

6120-425: A war in Syria against the tribal leader Laodice and her Seleucid ally Antiochus X Eusebes ( r . 95–92? BC), killing the latter. When one of the last Seleucid monarchs, Demetrius III Eucaerus , attempted to besiege Beroea (modern Aleppo ), Parthia sent military aid to the inhabitants and Demetrius was defeated. Following the rule of Mithridates II, his son Gotarzes I succeeded him. He reigned during

6324-413: A weather god accompanied by a naked goddess might represent Teshub and an unidentified deity, rather than Mesopotamian Adad and Shala . A distinct iconography is attested for the weather god of Aleppo  [ de ] , who could be identified as Teshub. His attribute was an eagle-shaped chariot. It has been suggested that its form was meant to reflect the belief that this vehicle was as fast as

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6528-625: A wife, and in Ugarit Ḫepat was seemingly recognized as a counterpart of Pidray , who was regarded as his daughter, rather than spouse. For uncertain reasons a trilingual edition of the Weidner god list from Ugarit equates Teshub and Baal not only with each other, but also with the Mesopotamian goddess Imzuanna . As her character was dissimilar, Aaron Tugendhaft has suggested that this connection might be an example of scribal word play , as

6732-462: Is Teshub-ewre, “Teshub is lord”, presumed to refer to his position as the head of the pantheon. By the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BCE, Teshub became the deity most commonly invoked in Hurrian theophoric names. Many royal dynasties across Upper Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia considered Teshub their tutelary deity. According to Piotr Taracha, this might have been a result of the influence of

6936-475: Is Teshub”), Fand-Teshub (“Teshub makes right”), Ḫižmi-Teshub (“shiny is Teshub”), Kibi-Teshub (“Teshub sent”), Tadip-Teshub (“Teshub loved”), Teshub-adal (“Teshub is strong”), Teshub-ewri (“Teshub is lord”), Teshub-madi (“Teshub [possesses] wisdom”), Tun-Teshub (“Teshub could”), Tuppi-Teshub (“Teshub is here”), Un-Teshub (“Teshub came” or “he [the child] came, o Teshub”), the hypocoristic Teššōya, and uncommon hybrid Hurro-Akkadian names such as Teshub-nirari (“Teshub

7140-480: Is actually one of the so-called Gasur texts, and predates destruction by fire of the city at this end of the Early Bronze Age. Gasur was a thriving commercial center, and the texts reveal a diverse business community with far-reaching commercial activities. It is possible that Ebla was a trading partner, and that the tablet, rather than a record of land-holdings, might indeed be a road map. The tablet, which

7344-590: Is agreed that Teshub's name is a cognate of the Urartian theonym Teišeba . This god is only attested in sources from the first millennium BCE. Urartian and Hurrian belonged to the same language family as Hurro-Urartian languages , but they already separated in the third millennium BCE, and Teišeba's presence in the Urartian pantheon cannot be considered the result of the language descending from Hurrian. In contrast with Teshub's status in Hurrian religion , he

7548-491: Is already implicit in Old Babylonian texts. Remnants of the period of Hurrian cultural influence are also still visible in a number of Neo-Assyrian traditions pertaining to Adad. The Tākultu texts indicate that his bulls Šeri and Ḫurri were incorporated into the circle of deities associated with Adad in both Assur and Kurbail  [ pl ] . The fact that he was invoked alongside Ishtar in contracts

7752-560: Is also mentioned in those texts, once in the same form as the Ititi inscription. The sign forms have been dated to either the Akkadian period or shortly thereafter. An Ititi was appointed as governor of the northern province at Kazallu by Ur III ruler Shulgi (c. 2094–2046 BC). With the uncertainty on the degree of overlap between the Ur III empire and Akkadian Empire it is unclear if this is

7956-468: Is approximately 6 centimeters by 6.5 centimeters, is inscribed only on the obverse. It shows the city of Maskan-dur-ebla in the lower left corner, as well as a canal/river and two mountain ranges. The area below the Rahium river is labeled "20(bur) – 1(eše) of irrigated gardens, belonging to Azala". A stone plaque, of uncertain original provenance, was found at the temple of Istar at Assur reading "Ititi,

8160-468: Is closely interrelated with that of the nearby towns of Eshnunna and Khafajah . The best-known period in the history of Yorghan Tepe is by far one of the city of Nuzi in the 15th-14th centuries BC. At this time the central complex contained two temples (to Šawuška / Ištar and Teššub ) and a palace. The tablets of this period indicate that Nuzi was a small provincial town of northern Mesopotamia at this time in an area populated mostly by Hurrians. Despite

8364-405: Is complicated because the excavators defined these main strata, "pavements", from a few deep soundings while specifying levels A through G for the temple and a different strata I—VIII for the northwest ridge and the southeast edge of the mound. The only correlation given was Temple A equals sounding Stratum I and "edge" Stratum II. While tablets from Yorghan Tepe began appearing back as far as 1896,

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8568-523: Is considered a “pan-Hurrian” god. As such, he was worshipped in all areas inhabited by the Hurrians, from southeastern Anatolia to the Zagros Mountains , similarly to deities such as Šauška , Šimige , Kušuḫ and Kumarbi . He is first attested in Hurrian theophoric names from the Ur III period . The single oldest example is Teššop-šelag ( te-šup-še-la-aḫ ; translation of the second element

8772-400: Is effectively the main character in all of them, leading to occasional renaming proposals. Teshub is also a major character in the Song of Release , whose plot focuses on his efforts to secure the liberation of the inhabitants of Igingalliš from Ebla . Two of the preserved passages additionally deal with his meetings with Ishara, the tutelary goddess of the latter city, and Allani, the queen of

8976-420: Is evidence, however, that suggests Vologases VI continued to mint coins at Seleucia as late as 228 AD. Te%C5%A1%C5%A1ub Teshub was the Hurrian weather god , as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon . The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian . Both phonetic and logographic writings are attested. As a deity associated with

9180-540: Is first attested in the Ur III period , with the early evidence including Hurrian theophoric names and in a royal inscription from Urkesh . Later sources indicate that his main cult center was the city of Kumme , which has not yet been located with certainty. His other major sacred city was Arrapha , the capital of an eponymous kingdom located in the proximity of modern Kirkuk in Iraq . Both of these cities were regarded as religious centers of supraregional significance, and

9384-579: Is implicitly attested in texts from Tabal , where the latter came to be regarded as the husband of Ḫepat. However, according to Manfred Hutter it is not possible to speak of “Luwianized” form of the worship of this goddess in earlier periods. Through Luwian influence she was worshipped alongside Tarḫunz in Carchemish as well, but she was not incorporated into the religion of the Arameans and eventually gradually disappeared from sources from Syria over

9588-406: Is known from Yazılıkaya . In some cases, he was depicted driving in a chariot drawn by two sacred bulls. According to Song of Emergence , Teshub was born from the split skull of Kumarbi after he bit off the genitals of Anu during a conflict over kingship. This tradition is also referenced in other sources, including a hymn from Aleppo and a Luwian inscription. A single isolated reference to

9792-489: Is my help”) or Warad-Teshub (“servant of Teshub”). It has been noted that similar theophoric names invoking Teshub are also attested in texts from contemporary Assyrian and Babylonian sites, for example Nippur . In texts from this city from the Kassite period , fifteen different examples are attested, which makes Teshub the most common non-Mesopotamian non- Kassite deity appearing in theophoric names from this corpus, and

9996-524: Is not known. It is presumed that it was located east of the Tigris , in the valley of the Eastern Khabur . It has been suggested that it is to be found in the immediate proximity of modern Zakho , but according to Karen Radner textual sources indicate a more mountainous environment, which lead her to suggest identification with Beytüşşebap instead. The city is already attested in texts from

10200-428: Is now believed, partly on textual evidence, that there was an outer town with its own wall, now destroyed by modern agriculture. The excavators defined a number of occupation strata. The Nuzi occupation lasted several centuries and its chronology is slightly disputed. The excavators dated Stratum II, the destruction of the city, at c. 1500 BC. Later work has proposed a more recent date of c. 1430-1330 BC. The stratigraphy

10404-534: Is presumed to reflect the association between Teshub and Šauška . Beate Pongratz-Leisten argues an example of Hurrian mythology being reflected in an association between these Mesopotamian deities is already present in a curse formula of Adad-nirari I . At the same time it is considered implausible to assume that the widespread veneration of Adad attested in Assyria in the Middle Assyrian period and later

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10608-455: Is strong") or Kummen-ewri ("Kumme is lord"), according to Daniel Schwemer possibly functioning as a stand-in for the name of its god. Marie Claude Trémouille interprets this phenomenon similarly, presuming that the name Kummen-atal is to be translated as "(the weather god of) Kumme is strong". However, according to Thomas Richter such names reflect the perception of the city itself as a numen . The last references to Kumme occur in sources from

10812-404: Is unknown), identified in a document from Puzrish-Dagan from the seventh year of Shu-Sin ’s reign. It is also presumed that the sumerogram representing a weather god in the inscription of Tish-atal of Urkesh should be interpreted as an early reference to Teshub. According to Daniel Schwemer, it can be considered the first direct reference to this god outside of personal names, and dates to

11016-408: Is unknown, but it is assumed it has Hurrian origin. Volkert Haas suggested it was derived from the adjective teššai , which he translates as “high” or “lordly”. However, Daniel Schwemer  [ de ] points out that this proposal does not provide an explanation of the suffix, and that teššai is not an actually attested word. Marie Claude Trémouille notes that while a connection with

11220-461: Is written as te-eš-šu-ub-bá- . This form seemingly reflects the pronunciation /Teššob/. Attestations of uncommon variants with the suffix -a are limited to theophoric names from various sites. In the Ugaritic alphabetic script the name was consistently rendered as tṯb ( 𐎚𐎘𐎁 ), with only a single attestation of a different variant, tṯp ( 𐎚𐎘𐎔 ). Dennis Pardee vocalizes this form of

11424-578: The Magnus Sinus (i.e. Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea ) in Ptolemy 's Geography . After the Iberian king Pharasmanes I had his son Rhadamistus ( r . 51–55 AD) invade Armenia to depose the Roman client king Mithridates, Vologases I of Parthia ( r . c. 51–77 AD) planned to invade and place his brother, the later Tiridates I of Armenia , on the throne. Rhadamistus

11628-415: The Akkadian language while though from Nuzi are in a Hurrian influenced dialect of Akkadian. Many are routine legal and business documents with about one quarter concerning the business transactions of a single family, found the homes of Tehip-tilla and Surki-tilla on the northwest rise. The vast majority of finds come from the Hurrian period during the second millennium BC with the remainder dating back to

11832-647: The Arsacid dynasty of Iberia , and for many centuries afterwards in Caucasian Albania through the Arsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania . When Vardanes II of Parthia rebelled against his father Vologases I in 55 AD, Vologases withdrew his forces from Armenia. Rome quickly attempted to fill the political vacuum left behind. In the Roman–Parthian War of 58–63  AD, the commander Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo achieved some military successes against

12036-579: The Gates of Alexander and occupied Apamea Ragiana . The locations of these are unknown. Yet the greatest expansion of Parthian power and territory took place during the reign of his brother and successor Mithridates I (r. c. 171–132 BC), whom Katouzian compares to Cyrus the Great (d. 530 BC), founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Relations between Parthia and Greco-Bactria deteriorated after

12240-573: The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia. The latter's successor, Diodotus II , formed an alliance with Arsaces I against the Seleucids, but Arsaces was temporarily driven from Parthia by the forces of Seleucus II Callinicus ( r.  246 – 225 BC ). After spending some time in exile among the nomadic Apasiacae tribe, Arsaces I led a counterattack and recaptured Parthia. Seleucus II's successor, Antiochus III

12444-627: The Kingdom of Armenia , and eventually the late Roman Republic . Rome and Parthia competed with each other to establish the kings of Armenia as their tributaries . The Parthians destroyed the army of Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, and in 40–39 BC, Parthian forces captured the whole of the Levant except Tyre from the Romans ; Mark Antony led a Roman counterattack . Several Roman emperors invaded Mesopotamia in

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12648-533: The Mediterranean coast in the fifteenth century BCE. In modern scholarship, comparisons have been made between myths focused on their respective struggles for kingship among the gods. While Baal does not directly fight against El , the senior god in the Ugaritic pantheon , the relationship between them has nonetheless been compared to the hostility between their Hurrian counterparts, Kumarbi and Teshub. Additionally, similarly to how Baal fought Yam , god of

12852-522: The Mitanni royal family was familiar with her as well, as evidenced by her presence in theophoric names of some of its members, which might indicate she was also recognized as Teshub's wife further east. Despite the connection between her and Teshub, Ḫepat was not referred to with a feminine equivalent of his title, šarri , and her corresponding epithet was allai , “lady”, instead. The deities regarded as their children were Šarruma , Allanzu and Kunzišalli. The first of these three could be referred to as

13056-516: The Neo-Assyrian period . The weather god of Kumme, whose name was written logographically, was recognized by Assyrian rulers. He is mentioned as IŠKUR šá ku-me in the so-called Götteradressbuch , a text listing deities worshipped in Assur , while Adad-nirari II visited the city itself in 895 BCE to make an offering to him. According to Daniel Schwemer, while the king referred to the god of

13260-516: The Old Babylonian period . As a cult center of a weather god, it enjoyed “transregional” renown, comparable to Aleppo. A list of deities invoked in an oath from Mari recognized these two cities as the two main cult centers of weather gods. It forms a part of a treaty between Zimri-Lim and a king of Kurda . A text from the same city written in Hurrian directly refers to Te-šu-ba-am Ku-um-me-né-en , Teshub of Kumme. Zimri Lim also dedicated

13464-521: The Roman Republic and the Seleucid defeat at Magnesia in 190 BC. Priapatius ( r.   c.  191  – 176 BC ) succeeded Arsaces II, and Phraates I ( r.   c.  176  – 171 BC ) eventually ascended the Parthian throne. Phraates I ruled Parthia without further Seleucid interference. Phraates I is recorded as expanding Parthia's control past

13668-467: The Roman Senate , becoming the first Roman emperor . Around this time, Tiridates II of Parthia briefly overthrew Phraates IV, who was able to quickly reestablish his rule with the aid of Scythian nomads. Tiridates fled to the Romans, taking one of Phraates' sons with him. In negotiations conducted in 20 BC, Phraates arranged for the release of his kidnapped son. In return, the Romans received

13872-650: The Roman–Parthian Wars of the next few centuries, capturing the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. Frequent civil wars between Parthian contenders to the throne proved more dangerous to the Empire's stability than foreign invasion, and Parthian power evaporated when Ardashir I , ruler of Istakhr in Persis , revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV , in 224 AD. Ardashir established

14076-798: The Sasanian Empire , which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD, although the Arsacid dynasty lived on through branches of the family that ruled Armenia , Caucasian Iberia , and Caucasian Albania . Native Parthian sources, written in Parthian , Greek and other languages, are scarce when compared to Sasanian and even earlier Achaemenid sources. Aside from scattered cuneiform tablets, fragmentary ostraca , rock inscriptions, drachma coins, and

14280-466: The Seleucid Empire . After conquering the region, the Parni adopted Parthian as the official court language, speaking it alongside Middle Persian , Aramaic , Greek , Babylonian , Sogdian and other languages in the multilingual territories they would conquer. Why the Arsacid court retroactively chose 247 BC as the first year of the Arsacid era is uncertain. A. D. H. Bivar concludes that this

14484-712: The Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China , became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art , architecture , religious beliefs, and regalia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian , Hellenistic , and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture , though it eventually saw

14688-405: The art of the ancient Near East is considered difficult, and according to Albert Dietz in many cases is outright impossible. It has been suggested that Teshub was typically depicted dressed in a short skirt and pointed shoes, sometimes standing on a bull, mountains or mountain gods. According to Volkert Haas , in glyptic art from Nuzi , he is depicted holding a three-pronged lightning bolt and

14892-439: The breastplate scene on his statue Augustus of Prima Porta . Along with the prince, Augustus also gave Phraates IV an Italian slave-girl, who later became Queen Musa of Parthia . To ensure that her child Phraataces would inherit the throne without incident, Musa convinced Phraates IV to give his other sons to Augustus as hostages. Again, Augustus used this as propaganda depicting the submission of Parthia to Rome, listing it as

15096-519: The diplomatic venture of Zhang Qian into Central Asia during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han ( r . 141–87 BC), the Han Empire of China sent a delegation to Mithridates II's court in 121 BC. The Han embassy opened official trade relations with Parthia via the Silk Road yet did not achieve a desired military alliance against the confederation of the Xiongnu. The Parthian Empire

15300-408: The kaluti of Ḫepat instead. This separation by gender is presumed to be a Hurrian innovation, and there is no indication that it was instead derived from a Syrian Amorite or pre-Amorite tradition. Teshub was considered analogous to the Mesopotamian weather god, Adad . A degree of syncretism between them occurred across northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia in the second millennium BCE due to

15504-468: The king of the gods . He was regarded both as a destructive figure and as a protector of mankind. He controlled thunder and lightning. In myths, various weather phenomena, including storms, lightning, rain and wind, function as his weapons. He was responsible for securing the growth of vegetation by sending rain. As an extension of his link with vegetation and agriculture, he could be connected with rivers. A Hurro-Hittite ritual (CTH 776) refers to him as

15708-404: The voiceless sibilants is a modern convention which reflects the common cuneiform spellings of the name, but writings with not only š , but also s and ṯ are all attested in various scripts. Texts from Nuzi record multiple syllabic spellings, including the most common te-šub , as well as te-šu-ub , te-eš-šub and te-eš-šu-ub , and rare te 9 -šub , te-eš 15 -šu-ub and te-su-ub ,

15912-424: The 1960s he had abandoned it himself, and instead started to advocate interpreting Tishpak's name as a derivative of Akkadian šapāku , to be translated as “the down-pouring one”. However, this etymology is not regarded as plausible today. More recently, support for the view that Tishpak might have been related to Teshub has been voiced by Alfonso Archi, who suggests the Mesopotamian god developed through reception of

16116-554: The 4th-century AD historians Eutropius and Festus allege that he attempted to establish a Roman province in lower Mesopotamia. Trajan's successor Hadrian ( r . 117–138 AD) reaffirmed the Roman-Parthian border at the Euphrates, choosing not to invade Mesopotamia due to Rome's now limited military resources. Parthamaspates fled after the Parthians revolted against him, yet the Romans made him king of Osroene . Osroes I died during his conflict with Vologases III,

16320-603: The Achaemenid king of kings, Artaxerxes II of Persia ( r.  404 – 358 BC ). For a time, Arsaces I consolidated his position in Parthia and Hyrcania by taking advantage of the invasion of Seleucid territory in the west by Ptolemy III Euergetes ( r . 246–222 BC) of Egypt . This conflict with Ptolemy, the Third Syrian War (246–241 BC), also allowed Diodotus I to rebel and form

16524-511: The Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of Baghdad ), although several other sites also served as capitals. The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the Seleucids in the west and the Scythians in the north. However, as Parthia expanded westward, they came into conflict with

16728-629: The Armenian countryside. At the head of his army, Surena approached Crassus, offering a parley , which Crassus accepted. However, he was killed when one of his junior officers, suspecting a trap, attempted to stop him from riding into Surena's camp. Crassus' defeat at Carrhae was one of the worst military defeats of Roman history. Parthia's victory cemented its reputation as a formidable if not equal power with Rome. With his camp followers, war captives, and precious Roman booty, Surena traveled some 700 km (430 mi) back to Seleucia where his victory

16932-530: The Arsacid court focused on securing the western border, primarily against Rome. A year following Mithridates II's subjugation of Armenia, Lucius Cornelius Sulla , the Roman proconsul of Cilicia , convened with the Parthian diplomat Orobazus at the Euphrates river. The two agreed that the river would serve as the border between Parthia and Rome, although several historians have argued that Sulla only had authority to communicate these terms back to Rome. Despite this agreement, in 93 or 92 BC Parthia fought

17136-571: The Arsacid dynasty, he was chieftain of the Parni , an ancient Central Asian tribe of Iranian peoples and one of several nomadic tribes within the confederation of the Dahae . The Parni most likely spoke an eastern Iranian language , in contrast to the northwestern Iranian language spoken at the time in Parthia . The latter was a northeastern province, first under the Achaemenid Empire , and then

17340-653: The Great ( r.  222 – 187 BC ), was unable to immediately retaliate because his troops were engaged in putting down the rebellion of Molon in Media . Antiochus III launched a massive campaign to retake Parthia and Bactria in 210 or 209 BC. Despite some victories he was unsuccessful, but did negotiate a peace settlement with Arsaces II. The latter was granted the title of king ( Greek : basileus ) in return for his submission to Antiochus III as his superior. The Seleucids were unable to further intervene in Parthian affairs following increasing encroachment by

17544-702: The Hurrian goddess Lelluri . Starting in the Middle Hittite period, the Hittites due to growing Hurrian influence on their culture came to associate Teshub with their weather god, Tarḫunna . The character of the Luwian weather god, Tarḫunz , also came to be influenced by the Teshub. A factor facilitating interchange of traits between these Anatolian weather gods, their Hurrian counterpart and other weather deities, such as Hattian Taru and Mesopotamian Adad,

17748-472: The Hurrian one in the Diyala area. Manfred Krebernik  [ de ] instead classifies the name of Tishpak as Elamite . Marten Stol also tentatively describes it as such. Daniel Schwemer states that there is presently no evidence confirming the identification of Teshub and Tishpak as related deities. The two primary roles assigned to Teshub in Hurrian religion were those of a weather god and of

17952-585: The Jewish regime removed, the native Babylonians began to harass the local Jewish community , forcing them to emigrate to Seleucia. When that city rebelled against Parthian rule in 35–36 AD, the Jews were expelled again, this time by the local Greeks and Aramaeans . The exiled Jews fled to Ctesiphon, Nehardea, and Nisibis . Although at peace with Parthia, Rome still interfered in its affairs. The Roman emperor Tiberius (r. 14–37 AD) became involved in

18156-399: The Parthian Empire brought West Asian and sometimes Roman luxury glasswares to China. The merchants of Sogdia , speaking an Eastern Iranian language , served as the primary middlemen of this vital silk trade between Parthia and Han China . The Yuezhi Kushan Empire in northern India largely guaranteed the security of Parthia's eastern border. Thus, from the mid-1st century BC onwards,

18360-605: The Parthian Empire in the 1st century BC. Bivar claims that these two states considered each other political equals. After the Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana visited the court of Vardanes I ( r . c. 40–47 AD) in 42 AD, Vardanes provided him with the protection of a caravan as he traveled to Indo-Parthia. When Apollonius reached Indo-Parthia's capital Taxila , his caravan leader read Vardanes' official letter, perhaps written in Parthian, to an Indian official who treated Apollonius with great hospitality. Following

18564-553: The Parthian Empire's northeastern borders. Mithridates I was thus forced to retire to Hyrcania after his conquest of Mesopotamia. Some of the Saka were enlisted in Phraates' forces against Antiochus. However, they arrived too late to engage in the conflict. When Phraates refused to pay their wages, the Saka revolted, which he tried to put down with the aid of former Seleucid soldiers, yet they too abandoned Phraates and joined sides with

18768-641: The Parthians and their Jewish ally Antigonus II Mattathias (r. 40–37 BC); the latter was made king of Judea while Herod fled to his fort at Masada . Despite these successes, the Parthians were soon driven out of the Levant by a Roman counteroffensive. Publius Ventidius Bassus , an officer under Mark Antony, defeated and then executed Labienus at the Battle of the Cilician Gates (in modern Mersin Province , Turkey) in 39 BC. Shortly afterward,

18972-487: The Parthians while installing Tigranes VI of Armenia as a Roman client. However, Corbulo's successor Lucius Caesennius Paetus was soundly defeated by Parthian forces and fled Armenia. Following a peace treaty, Tiridates I traveled to Naples and Rome in 63 AD. At both sites the Roman emperor Nero ( r . 54–68 AD) ceremoniously crowned him king of Armenia by placing the royal diadem on his head. A long period of peace between Parthia and Rome ensued, with only

19176-529: The Parthians would have been relieved at the failed efforts by the Han Empire to open diplomatic relations with Rome, especially after Ban Chao's military victories against the Xiongnu in eastern Central Asia . However, Chinese records maintain that a Roman embassy , perhaps only a group of Roman merchants , arrived at the Han capital Luoyang by way of Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam ) in 166 AD, during

19380-692: The Persian city of Susa. When Sanatruces II of Parthia gathered forces in eastern Parthia to challenge the Romans, his cousin Parthamaspates of Parthia betrayed and killed him: Trajan crowned him the new king of Parthia. Never again would the Roman Empire advance so far to the east. On Trajan's return north, the Babylonian settlements revolted against the Roman garrisons. Trajan was forced to retreat from Mesopotamia in 117 AD, overseeing

19584-483: The Roman consul Lucius Afranius forced the Parthians out by either military or diplomatic means. Phraates III was assassinated by his sons Orodes II of Parthia and Mithridates IV of Parthia , after which Orodes turned on Mithridates, forcing him to flee from Media to Roman Syria . Aulus Gabinius , the Roman proconsul of Syria, marched in support of Mithridates to the Euphrates, but had to turn back to aid Ptolemy XII Auletes ( r . 80–58; 55–51 BC) against

19788-475: The Romans at first used foreign allies (especially Nabataeans ), but later established a permanent auxilia force to complement their heavy legionary infantry. The Romans eventually maintained regiments of horse archers ( sagittarii ) and even mail-armored cataphracts in their eastern provinces. Yet the Romans had no discernible grand strategy in dealing with Parthia and gained very little territory from these invasions. The primary motivations for war were

19992-546: The Saka. Phraates II marched against this combined force, but he was killed in battle. The Roman historian Justin reports that his successor Artabanus I ( r . c. 128–124 BC) shared a similar fate fighting nomads in the east. He claims Artabanus was killed by the Tokhari (identified as the Yuezhi), although Bivar believes Justin conflated them with the Saka. Mithridates II (r. c. 124–91 BC) later recovered

20196-453: The Seleucid authorities, yet Curtis and Maria Brosius state that Andragoras was not overthrown by the Arsacids until 238 BC. It is unclear who immediately succeeded Arsaces I. Bivar and Katouzian affirm that it was his brother Tiridates I of Parthia , who in turn was succeeded by his son Arsaces II of Parthia in 211 BC. Yet Curtis and Brosius state that Arsaces II was the immediate successor of Arsaces I, with Curtis claiming

20400-623: The Upper Mesopotamia. Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire ( / ˈ p ɑːr θ i ən / ), also known as the Arsacid Empire ( / ˈ ɑːr s ə s ɪ d / ), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I , who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran 's northeast, then

20604-524: The Younger once again fled, this time to the Roman commander Pompey . He promised Pompey that he would act as a guide through Armenia, but, when Tigranes II submitted to Rome as a client king , Tigranes the Younger was brought to Rome as a hostage. Phraates demanded Pompey return Tigranes the Younger to him, but Pompey refused. In retaliation, Phraates launched an invasion into Corduene (southeastern Turkey) where, according to two conflicting Roman accounts,

20808-490: The advancement of the personal glory and political position of the emperor, as well as defending Roman honor against perceived slights such as Parthian interference in the affairs of Rome's client states. Hostilities between Rome and Parthia were renewed when Osroes I of Parthia ( r . c. 109–128 AD) deposed the Armenian king Sanatruk and replaced him with Axidares , son of Pacorus II, without consulting Rome. The Roman emperor Trajan ( r . 98–117 AD) had

21012-443: The aid of Phraates III ( r . c. 71–58). Phraates did not send aid to either, and after the fall of Tigranocerta he reaffirmed with Lucullus the Euphrates as the boundary between Parthia and Rome. Tigranes the Younger, son of Tigranes II of Armenia, failed to usurp the Armenian throne from his father. He fled to Phraates III and convinced him to march against Armenia's new capital at Artaxata . When this siege failed, Tigranes

21216-522: The area east of the Tigris, in the proximity of Little Zab . It is possible that the local god was understood to be Teshub during the reign of Shamshi-Adad I already. One of his inscriptions refers to sacrifices made during a festival ( ḫumṭum ) held in Arrapha in honor of a weather god and a sun god, and while the sumerograms used are usually interpreted as Adad and Shamash , it is not impossible that

21420-472: The bird it was patterned after and its ability to travel across the sky. Teshub was regarded as the son of Anu and Kumarbi . The former was a deity received from Mesopotamia , and outside of being the father of Teshub did not play a major role in Hurrian religion . The circumstances of the weather god's birth are known from the Song of Emergence , which relays how Kumarbi bit off the genitals of Anu during

21624-564: The bull was already the symbolic animal of the weather god earlier, in the Old Hittite period. While in Hittite texts postdating the introduction of Hurrian deities, Teshub might appear alongside Šuwaliyat , who corresponded to Tašmišu , there is no evidence that a connection existed between this Anatolian god and Tarḫunna in earlier periods. Their juxtaposition was influenced by traditions imported from Kizzuwatna. In order to reconcile

21828-607: The bulls Šeri and Ḫurri and the mountain gods Namni and Ḫazzi . Members of his entourage were typically enumerated in so-called kaluti  [ de ] , Hurrian offering lists. God lists indicate that Teshub could be recognized as the equivalent of other weather gods worshipped in Mesopotamia and further west in Syria, including Adad and Ugaritic Baal . In Anatolia he also influenced Hittite Tarḫunna and Luwian Tarḫunz , though all of these gods were also worshipped separately from each other. The worship of Teshub

22032-487: The chance survival of some parchment documents, much of Parthian history is only known through external sources. These include mainly Greek and Roman histories , but also Chinese histories , prompted by the Han Chinese desire to form alliances against the Xiongnu . Parthian artwork is a means of understanding aspects of society and culture that are otherwise absent in textual sources. Before Arsaces I founded

22236-432: The city as Adad, this should only be considered a case of what he deems " interpretatio assyria " (per analogy with a later religious phenomenon referred to as interpretatio graeca ). At the time, Kumme was an independent polity under the control of local rulers. The city's status as a well established religious center might have been the reason why it retained independence. A further Assyrian reference to Kumme occurs in

22440-400: The city of Aleppo I summon him, Teššop, for the pure throne. A single text, KUB 33,89+, preserves a different tradition about Teshub's parentage and refers to the moon god Kušuḫ as his father, but this attestation remains isolated and its broader implications are uncertain. The passage is entirely logographic ( U DUMU 30), and in the past it has been interpreted as a possible reference to

22644-638: The civil war against Julius Caesar and even sent troops to support the anti-Caesarian forces at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. Quintus Labienus , a general loyal to Cassius and Brutus , sided with Parthia against the Second Triumvirate in 40 BC; the following year he invaded Syria alongside Pacorus I. The triumvir Mark Antony was unable to lead the Roman defense against Parthia due to his departure to Italy, where he amassed his forces to confront his rival Octavian and eventually conducted negotiations with him at Brundisium. After Syria

22848-404: The course of the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. It is also possible that the echoes of the myth about Teshub's birth are preserved in a hieroglyphic Luwian inscription from Arsuz , which names the male deity Kumarma as Tarḫunz's mother similarly to how a Hurrian hymn refers to Kumarbi as Teshub's mother due to the circumstances of his birth. Teshub was one of the oldest Hurrian deities . He

23052-618: The court of Pacorus II at Hecatompylos before departing towards Rome. He traveled as far west as the Persian Gulf , where Parthian authorities convinced him that an arduous sea voyage around the Arabian Peninsula was the only means to reach Rome. Discouraged by this, Gan Ying returned to the Han court and provided Emperor He of Han ( r . 88–105 AD) with a detailed report on the Roman Empire based on oral accounts of his Parthian hosts. William Watson speculates that

23256-543: The creator of rivers and springs. The high status of weather gods in Upper Mesopotamia , Syria and Anatolia reflected the historical reliance on rainfall in agriculture. In contrast, in southern Mesopotamia , where it depended chiefly on irrigation, the weather god ( Ishkur /Adad) was a figure of comparatively smaller significance. Teshub's royal authority was believed to extend to both gods and mortals. According to Hurrian tradition his domain included both

23460-540: The cuneiform sign having both of these values depending on context. However, Marie Claude Trémouille argues this transcription is erroneous in this case. The use of this numeral to render the names of weather gods is first documented for Adad in the fifteenth century BCE. This convention might have originated in Northern Mesopotamia or in Syria , but Daniel Schwemer argues that it also cannot be ruled out it

23664-402: The death of Diodotus II, when forces under Mithridates I captured two eparchies of the latter kingdom, then under Eucratides I ( r . c. 170–145 BC). Turning his sights on the Seleucid realm, Mithridates I invaded Media and occupied Ecbatana in 148 or 147 BC; the region had been destabilized by a recent Seleucid suppression of a rebellion there led by Timarchus . This victory

23868-415: The deities meant were Teshub and Šimige . Ultimately it is possible that both Shamshi-Adad I and his successor Yasmah-Addu referred to the god of Arrapha as Adad. At the same time, according to Daniel Schwemer he was called Teshub by their contemporaries in Šušarrā , as the local inhabitants, who apparently at one point dedicated two bronze vessels to him, were predominantly Hurrians. Information about

24072-499: The deity venerated there, originally Adad , came to be identified as Teshub instead. According to Alfonso Archi, he was effectively superimposed over the older god. For example, a festival originally dedicated to Adad which took place in the month Ḫiyaru was later held in honor of Teshub. According to Gernot Wilhelm, the hypostasis of Teshub associated with Aleppo became the “most important local variant” of this god, as evidenced by attestations spanning from Hattusa and Ugarit in

24276-434: The early Hurrian inscription of Tish-atal , with the goddess Belat-Nagar who occurs in it according to her representing a local hypostasis of Šauška. However, the theory that the tutelary goddess of Nagar was a form of Šauška or Ishtar has been critically evaluated by Joan Goodnick Westenholz , who remarked that these goddesses did not have anything in common with them beyond also being imagined as female figures. Ḫepat

24480-461: The events described in them reflect Hurrian, rather than Hittite, theology. Many of them focus on Teshub's rise to the position of the king of the gods and his conflict with Kumarbi and his allies, such as the sea monster Ḫedammu , the stone giant Ullikummi or the personified sea . These texts are conventionally referred to as the Kumarbi Cycle , though it has been pointed out that Teshub

24684-418: The first Parthian capital, Mithridates I established royal residences at Seleucia, Ecbatana, Ctesiphon and his newly founded city, Mithradatkert ( Nisa ), where the tombs of the Arsacid kings were built and maintained. Ecbatana became the main summertime residence for the Arsacid royalty. Ctesiphon may not have become the official capital until the reign of Gotarzes I ( r . c. 90–80 BC). It became

24888-675: The first serious archaeological efforts began in 1925 after Gertrude Bell noticed tablets appearing in the markets of Baghdad. The dig was mainly worked by Edward Chiera , Robert Pfeiffer, and Richard Starr under the auspices of the Iraq Museum and the Baghdad School of the American Schools of Oriental Research and later the Harvard University and Fogg Art Museum . Excavations continued through 1931 with

25092-469: The first sign of Imzuanna's name is identical with the sumerogram IM used to represent names of weather gods. He concludes that it is unlikely the list can be used as a point of reference for either Hurrian or Ugaritic theology. It has been argued that the theonyms Teshub and Baal were both used interchangeably to refer to the local weather god in Emar . However, most likely, his principal name in this city

25296-460: The heavens and the earth, but the sea and the underworld were areas hostile to him. He was accordingly referred to as the “lord of heaven and earth” ( EN AN ú KI). This epithet might be derived from a Syrian tradition. The two most common titles applied to him were ewri , “lord”, and šarri , “king”. The context in which the term ewri was used was different from that of šarri , as the former referred to ordinary historical rulers as well, while

25500-421: The intention of seizing the capital Praaspa, the location of which is now unknown. However, Phraates IV ambushed Antony's rear detachment, destroying a giant battering ram meant for the siege of Praaspa; after this, Artavasdes II abandoned Antony's forces. The Parthians pursued and harassed Antony's army as it fled to Armenia. Eventually, the greatly weakened force reached Syria. Antony lured Artavasdes II into

25704-423: The intervening period is unclear, though the presence of a few cuneiform tablets from Assyria indicates that trade with nearby Assur was taking place. After the fall of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni Nuzi went into gradual decline. Note that while the Hurrian period is well known from full excavation of those strata, the earlier history is not as reliable because of less substantive digging. The history of Nuzi

25908-501: The invasion of Alans into Parthia's eastern territories around 72 AD mentioned by Roman historians. Whereas Augustus and Nero had chosen a cautious military policy when confronting Parthia, later Roman emperors invaded and attempted to conquer the eastern Fertile Crescent , the heart of the Parthian Empire along the Tigris and Euphrates . The heightened aggression can be explained in part by Rome's military reforms. To match Parthia's strength in missile troops and mounted warriors,

26112-485: The invasion of Mesopotamia by Avidius Cassius in 164 AD. The Romans captured and burnt Seleucia and Ctesiphon to the ground, yet they were forced to retreat once the Roman soldiers contracted a deadly disease (possibly smallpox ) that soon ravaged the Roman world. Although they withdrew, from this point forward the city of Dura-Europos remained in Roman hands. When Roman emperor Septimius Severus ( r . 193–211 AD) invaded Mesopotamia in 197 AD during

26316-423: The kingdom of Arrapha is reflected in the large number of theophoric names invoking him, including these belonging to members of the highest strata of society. Teshub names predominate even among members of the royal family, with virtually all of the known kings and a half of the princes bearing them. Some of the identified names include Arip-Teshub (“Teshub gave”), Egel-Teshub (“save, Teshub”), Fagar-Teshub (“good

26520-527: The kings of Characene vassals under Parthian suzerainty . After Mithridates II extended Parthian control further west, occupying Dura-Europos in 113 BC, he became embroiled in a conflict with the Kingdom of Armenia . His forces defeated and deposed Artavasdes I of Armenia in 97 BC, taking his son Tigranes hostage, who would later become Tigranes II "the Great" of Armenia ( r . c. 95–55 BC). The Indo-Parthian Kingdom , located in modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan made an alliance with

26724-470: The lands lost to the Saka in Sakastan . Following the Seleucid withdrawal from Mesopotamia, the Parthian governor of Babylonia, Himerus, was ordered by the Arsacid court to conquer Characene , then ruled by Hyspaosines from Charax Spasinu . When this failed, Hyspaosines invaded Babylonia in 127 BC and occupied Seleucia. Yet by 122 BC, Mithridates II forced Hyspaosines out of Babylonia and made

26928-423: The last of which is only attested once in the entire corpus . Additional shortened forms, such as Te, Tē, Teya or Tēya, were used in the writing of theophoric names . It has been suggested that their development can be compared to the possible derivation of the hypocoristic suffixes še and šeya from the word šēna , “brother”. In names from Alalakh it was rendered as te-eš-šu-ub . In Mitanni letters it

27132-523: The late Ur III period. Little is known about the history of the cult of Teshub prior to the rise of Hurrian dynasties in Upper Mesopotamia . Theophoric names invoking him were not yet common in the periods predating the time of the Mari archives. In addition to examples from this text corpus , a few are known from Old Babylonian Dilbat , Kish , Sippar , Kisurra , Alalakh , Tell Leilan , Tell al-Rimah and Tell Shemshara . One Old Babylonian example

27336-450: The latter succeeded by Vologases IV of Parthia ( r . c. 147–191 AD) who ushered in a period of peace and stability. However, the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166  AD began when Vologases invaded Armenia and Syria, retaking Edessa. Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius ( r . 161–180 AD) had co-ruler Lucius Verus ( r . 161–169 AD) guard Syria while Marcus Statius Priscus invaded Armenia in 163 AD, followed by

27540-402: The latter was limited to the sphere of myth. Further related epithets of Teshub include šarri talawoži , “great king” and šarri ennāže , “king of the gods”. It is also known that one of the ceremonies in honor of him revolved around the concept of šarrašši , “kingship”. A single text refers to him as eni ennāže , “god of the gods”. Piotr Taracha  [ de ] argues that Teshub

27744-435: The logogram differently. While in theophoric names it is generally advised to render it according to the linguistic affinity of the other component, the existence of unusual bilingual hybrid names have been noted, one example being Ikūn-Teššub. A further attested logographic writing of Teshub's name is 10, though it started to be used later than IŠKUR. This logogram is sometimes rendered as U in modern literature due to

27948-413: The lost legionary standards taken at Carrhae in 53 BC, as well as any surviving prisoners of war. The Parthians viewed this exchange as a small price to pay to regain the prince. Augustus hailed the return of the standards as a political victory over Parthia; this propaganda was celebrated in the minting of new coins, the building of a new temple to house the standards, and even in fine art such as

28152-494: The moon god Kušuḫ being his father instead is also known. In individual texts various deities could be referred to as his siblings, including Šauška , Tašmišu and Aranzaḫ . His wife was Ḫepat , a goddess originally worshipped in Aleppo at some point incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon. Their children were Šarruma , Allanzu and Kunzišalli. Other deities believed to belong to the court of Teshub included Tenu , Pentikalli ,

28356-526: The name Teshub. However, as noted by Gary Beckman , full conflation of deities was rare in Hittite religion , and generally should be considered “late and exceptional”, with individual weather gods maintaining separate identities. Teshub's bulls were incorporated alongside him into the Hittite pantheon, but it is possible the image of a weather god travelling in a chariot drawn by bulls was not present in Hittite culture exclusively due to Hurrian influence, as

28560-466: The name as Teṯṯub. Multiple variants occur in the texts from the same city written in standard syllabic cuneiform, for example te-šab , te-šub , IŠKUR- ub and 10- ub . In Luwian hieroglyphs , the name could be rendered as ti-su-pi ( Yazılıkaya ) or DEUSFORTIS-su-pa-sa ( Tell Ahmar ), with an additional shortened form, TONITRUS- pa-sá/ti-sa-pa , Tispa or Tisapa, attested in theophoric names from Carchemish . The precise etymology of Teshub's name

28764-407: The names of officials and prosopographical data. Nuzi was a provincial town of Arrapha . It was administered by a governor ( šaknu ) from the palace. The tripartite palace, situated in the center of the mound, had many rooms arranged around a central courtyard. The functions of some of those rooms have been identified: reception areas, apartments, offices, kitchens, stores. The walls were painted, as

28968-406: The next Parthian nominee for the throne, Parthamasiris, killed in 114 AD, instead making Armenia a Roman province. His forces, led by Lusius Quietus , also captured Nisibis; its occupation was essential to securing all the major routes across the northern Mesopotamian plain. The following year, Trajan invaded Mesopotamia and met little resistance from only Meharaspes of Adiabene, since Osroes

29172-466: The other demands. By spring 129 BC, the Medes were in open revolt against Antiochus, whose army had exhausted the resources of the countryside during winter. While attempting to put down the revolts, the main Parthian force swept into the region and killed Antiochus at the Battle of Ecbatana in 129 BC. His body was sent back to Syria in a silver coffin; his son Seleucus was made a Parthian hostage and

29376-403: The personal name Bēl-Kumme-ilā’ī. The final fate of the city is uncertain, as it is no longer attested in sources from the reign of Sennacherib and his successors. The city of Arrapha (Arrapḫum ) or Āl-ilāni (“city of the gods”), modern Kirkuk , was already known as a cult center of a weather god in the Old Babylonian period. The local temple was considered the most important sanctuary in

29580-456: The presence of two temples most votive activity at Nuzi in this period is that of household religions with elements of ancestor worship where the eldest son inherits the family cult statue. Usually the tablets of Yorghan Tepe, Kirkuk, and Tell al-Faḫḫar are grouped together under banner of Nuzi tablets. Only 0.18% of tablets contained a date formula of any kind, generally local. They can, however, be chronologically ordered by internal clues such as

29784-428: The proliferation of new Hurrian dynasties, and eventually the rise of the empire of Mitanni , but its precise development is not possible to study yet due to lack of sources which could be a basis for case studies. While Hurrian rulers are not absent from sources from the Old Babylonian period , they attained greater relevance from the sixteenth century onwards, replacing the formerly predominant Amorite dynasties. As

29988-490: The reign of Sinatruces ( r . c. 78–69 BC). Following the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War , Mithridates VI of Pontus ( r . 119–63 BC), an ally of Tigranes II of Armenia, requested aid from Parthia against Rome, but Sinatruces refused help. When the Roman commander Lucullus marched against the Armenian capital Tigranocerta in 69 BC, Mithridates VI and Tigranes II requested

30192-508: The reign of Vologases V of Parthia ( r . c. 191–208 AD), the Romans once again marched down the Euphrates and captured Seleucia and Ctesiphon. After assuming the title Parthicus Maximus , he retreated in late 198 AD, failing as Trajan once did to capture Hatra during a siege. Around 212 AD, soon after Vologases VI of Parthia ( r . c. 208–222 AD) took the throne, his brother Artabanus IV of Parthia (d. 224 AD) rebelled against him and gained control over

30396-494: The reigns of Marcus Aurelius ( r . 161–180 AD) and Emperor Huan of Han ( r . 146–168 AD). Although it could be coincidental, Antonine Roman golden medallions dated to the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his predecessor Antoninus Pius have been discovered at Oc Eo , Vietnam (among other Roman artefacts in the Mekong Delta ), a site that is one of the suggested locations for the port city of " Cattigara " along

30600-533: The religion of the kingdom of Arrapha, including the structure of local pantheons, is only known from administrative texts, such as lists of rations meant for the cults of specific deities. In lists of oil rations, Teshub always occurs alongside Šauška of Nineveh . It is also known that a festival in honor of a deity designated by the logogram IŠKUR took place in the fourth month of the local calendar, corresponding to June or July. While no inscriptions dealing with any building projects or votive offerings related to

30804-637: The rule of Phraates II ( r . c. 132–127 BC). The Parthian general Indates was defeated along the Great Zab , followed by a local uprising where the Parthian governor of Babylonia was killed. Antiochus conquered Babylonia and occupied Susa, where he minted coins. After advancing his army into Media, the Parthians pushed for peace, which Antiochus refused to accept unless the Arsacids relinquished all lands to him except Parthia proper, paid heavy tribute, and released Demetrius from captivity. Arsaces released Demetrius and sent him to Syria , but refused

31008-476: The ruler, son of Ininlaba, dedicated (this object) from the booty of Gasur to the goddess Istar". Alternative reading of the inscription has Inanna vs Istar. The city name is written as Ga-sag vs the Ga-sur found at Gasur. The father's name means "Innin is a lion" (Innin is another name of Inanna) and is known from a text found at Yorghan Tepe. The name of Ititi is also found in 5 Yorghan Tepe texts. The city of Assur

31212-484: The same period. In some cases it is uncertain which deity was represented by IŠKUR, for example a theophoric name from Alalakh, a -RI- IŠKUR, might invoke either Teshub or Adad. The identity of the weather god worshipped in Nuzi and other nearby cities is also ambiguous in some cases due to use of logograms and the presence of speakers of both Hurrian and Akkadian in the area. It has been noted that speakers of Semitic languages and Hurrians might have in some cases read

31416-457: The same person. The site was occupied to a lesser extent in the Ur III, Isin-Larsa , and [[Old Babylonian periods]] following a sack of the city. The relevant deposits were thick but without architectural remains. A few cuneiform tablets from this era were found. In the middle of the second millennium the Hurrians gained control of the town and renamed it Nuzi. The history of the site during

31620-447: The sea, the Kiaše was also counted among Teshub's mythical adversaries, and both battles were associated with the same mountain, Ḫazzi . However, myths about Baal also contain elements which find no parallel in these focused on Teshub, such as the confrontation with Mot , the personification of death, and his temporary death resulting from it. In contrast with Teshub, Baal also did not have

31824-635: The second half of the second millennium BCE he was the deity most commonly invoked in Hurrian theophoric names, with numerous examples identified in texts from Nuzi . He is also attested as a commonly worshipped deity in the Ugaritic texts , which indicate that Hurrian and local elements were interconnected in the religious practice of this city. Additionally, he was incorporated into Hittite religion and Luwian religion . His hypostasis associated with Aleppo attained particular importance in this context. Multiple Hurrian myths focused on Teshub are known. Most of them are preserved in Hittite translations, though

32028-484: The shoulder or held in a smiting position. In the Yazılıkaya sanctuary, Teshub is portrayed holding a three-pronged lightning bolt in his hand and standing on two mountains, possibly to be identified as Namni and Ḫazzi . He is also depicted on a Neo-Hittite relief from Malatya , where he rides in his chariot drawn with bulls and is armed with a triple lightning bolt. Frans Wiggermann assumes that some depictions of

32232-447: The site of the royal coronation ceremony and the representational city of the Arsacids, according to Brosius. The Seleucids were unable to retaliate immediately as general Diodotus Tryphon led a rebellion at the capital Antioch in 142 BC. However, by 140 BC Demetrius II Nicator was able to launch a counter-invasion against the Parthians in Mesopotamia. Despite early successes, the Seleucids were defeated and Demetrius himself

32436-702: The site showing 15 occupation levels. A number of soundings were conducted at the prehistoric site of Kudis Sagïr about five kilometers to the south. The hundreds of tablets and other finds recovered were published in a series of volumes with ongoing publications. To date, around 5,000 tablets are known, mostly held at the Oriental Institute , the Harvard Semitic Museum and the Iraq Museum in Baghdad . Those from Gasur are written in

32640-589: The sixteenth most common overall. The temple of the weather god of Aleppo was already considered a major sanctuary in the Eblaite texts, which predate the Sargonic period . In a treaty from Mari, the weather gods of Aleppo and Kumme appear separately from each other as the two most important weather deities invoked. Hurrianization of the site presumably only occurred in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BCE. Due to growing Hurrian influence in northern Syria,

32844-411: The south agriculture relied primarily on rainfall rather than irrigation . It was believed that his authority extended to both mortal and other gods, both on earth and in heaven. However, the sea and the underworld were not under his control. Depictions of Teshub are rare, though it is agreed he was typically portrayed as an armed, bearded figure, sometimes holding a bundle of lightning. One such example

33048-476: The standard Hittite pantheon and the dynastic pantheon including Hurrian deities, attempts have also been made by Hittite court theologians to equate Ḫepat and the Sun goddess of Arinna , as attested for example in a prayer of Puduḫepa , but according to Piotr Taracha it is implausible that these ideas found support among the general populace. In the first millennium BCE, the identification between Teshub and Tarḫunz

33252-448: The succession took place in 211 BC, and Brosius in 217 BC. Bivar insists that 138 BC, the last regnal year of Mithridates I, is "the first precisely established regnal date of Parthian history." Due to these and other discrepancies, Bivar outlines two distinct royal chronologies accepted by historians. A fictitious claim was later made from the 2nd-century BC onwards by the Parthians, which represented them as descendants of

33456-522: The sun-discs were 12 centimeters in diameter with "a circular depression(about 4 cm. across) surrounded by a circle of raised dots; around this center is a six-pointed star". In 1948, archaeologist Max Mallowan called attention to the unusual pottery he found at Nuzi, associated with the Mitanni period. This became known as the Nuzi ware . Subsequently, this highly artistic pottery was identified all over in

33660-568: The supreme deity of the Hurrian pantheon belonged to him since the dawn of recorded history, and arguments on the contrary lack solid proof. He points out that the small number of early theophoric names invoking him cannot be necessarily used as evidence, as other major Hurrian deities, such as Šauška or Kumarbi , are not attested in the early Hurrian onomasticon at all, and non-theophoric names predominate. Support for Schwemer's views has been voiced by Alfonso Archi. Depictions of Teshub are rare. The identification of individual weather gods in

33864-544: The term tešš- , attested as an equivalent of the Sumerian title ugula (“overseer”), has been suggested, the evidence remains unconvincing. In addition to phonetic syllabic spellings, Teshub's name could be represented in cuneiform by the sumerogram IŠKUR . The same sign could also be read as /im/, “wind” or “storm”. Therefore, the sumerogram is sometimes rendered as IM in Assyriological literature, though

34068-429: The throne using troops from Hyrcania. After Artabanus' death in 38 AD, a long civil war ensued between the rightful successor Vardanes I and his brother Gotarzes II . After Vardanes was assassinated during a hunting expedition, the Parthian nobility appealed to Roman emperor Claudius ( r . 41–54 AD) in 49 AD to release the hostage prince Meherdates to challenge Gotarzes. This backfired when Meherdates

34272-572: The throne, Phraates IV eliminated rival claimants by killing and exiling his own brothers. One of them, Monaeses, fled to Antony and persuaded him to invade Parthia . Antony defeated Parthia's Judaean ally Antigonus in 37 BC, installing Herod as a client king in his place. The following year, when Antony marched to Theodosiopolis , Artavasdes II of Armenia once again switched alliances by sending Antony additional troops. Antony invaded Media Atropatene (modern Iranian Azerbaijan ), then ruled by Parthia's ally Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene , with

34476-583: The throne, and was followed by Vonones I , who had adopted many Roman mannerisms during time in Rome. The Parthian nobility, angered by Vonones' sympathies for the Romans, backed a rival claimant, Artabanus II of Parthia ( r . c. 10–38 AD), who eventually defeated Vonones and drove him into exile in Roman Syria. During the reign of Artabanus II, two Jewish commoners and brothers, Anilai and Asinai from Nehardea (near modern Fallujah , Iraq), led

34680-586: The town's founding during the Akkadian Empire . A discovered sealing read "Saustatar, son of Parsatatar, king of Mitani", being the first, Baratarna , and second, Shaushtatar , rulers of the Mitanni Empire. An archive contemporary with the Hurrian archive at Nuzi has been excavated from the "Green Palace" at the site of Tell al-Fakhar , 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Nuzi. The temple area had seven occupation levels, Temple G (Gasur), Temple F (Gasur/Nuzi transition), and Temples A-E (Nuzi). Temple G

34884-513: The tradition of Yamhad , centered in Aleppo , in which the god confirming royal authority was Adad, later syncretised with Teshub in the west. Kumme ( Akkadian : Kummu or Kummum, Hittite : Kummiya, Urartian : Qumenu ) was the main cult center of Teshub. It is also the first attested city associated with him. It is to be distinguished from Kummanni in Kizzuwatna . Its precise location

35088-472: The transcription IŠKUR is considered preferable. The use of logograms of Sumerian and Akkadian origin to represent the names of various deities was widespread across the ancient Near East . IŠKUR is first documented as the representation of the name of a different weather god than Ishkur in the case of Adad in pre-Sargonic texts from Mari, though this scribal convention was unknown further west, in Ebla , in

35292-604: The underworld. Interpretation of the narrative as a whole and its individual episodes remain matters of scholarly debate. Additional references to him have been identified in a number of literary texts focused on human heroes, including the tale of Appu and the Hurrian adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh . Multiple romanizations of the name Teshub are in use in Assyriological and Hittitological literature, including Teššub, Tešub, Teššob and Teššop. The transcription of

35496-447: The wall was excavated but gates are apparent by deep wadis in the northeast, southwest, and southeast. The city's main road, well drained, ran from the northeast gate to the southwest gate, separating the central temples and palace. A secondary road led from the southeast gate to join the main road. A number of private homes were excavated 200 meters north of the main mound on two small rises. Originally thought to be extramural residences it

35700-431: The weather, Teshub could be portrayed both as destructive and protective. Individual weather phenomena, including winds, lightning, thunder and rain, could be described as his weapons. He was also believed to enable the growth of vegetation and create rivers and springs. His high position in Hurrian religion reflected the widespread importance of weather gods in northern Mesopotamia and nearby areas, where in contrast with

35904-466: The worship of Teshub can be attributed to local kings, it is presumed they nonetheless engaged in such activities, and the lack of textual evidence might be accidental. Teshub is also attested in texts from two other sites in the proximity of Arrapha itself, Nuzi (Yorgantepe) and Kurruhanni ( Tell al-Fakhar ). It is possible that a double temple excavated in the former of these cities was dedicated jointly to him and Šauška. It might have been originally

36108-669: The “bull-calf of Teshub”, though according to Gernot Wilhelm the familial connection between them should be considered a relatively late development. Pentikalli (Belet-ekallim), a Mesopotamian goddess at some point incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon, could be designated as a “concubine” of Teshub ( na-šar-ti-ya ŠA IM). Offering lists in some cases mention a solar disk ( šapši ḫišammi ) dedicated to her. In Hurrian context she could be linked to Pithanu. Volkert Haas, who rendered this theonym as Bitḫanu, translated this name from Akkadian as “the Hanaean daughter”, and suggested that she

36312-410: Was Adad, and Baal served only as an appellative. It is possible that in the local pantheon, the relationship between him and Ashtart was imagined similar to the bond between Teshub and Šauška in Hurrian mythology, as evidence for alleged consort relation between them is lacking. In Kummanni in Kizzuwatna , Teshub was identified with the local god Manuzi . The latter was regarded as the spouse of

36516-421: Was a Babylonian tradition in origin, and that at the very least it must have developed as an addition to the well attested system of using other numerals to represent Mesopotamian theonyms (30 for Sin , 20 for Shamash ). Two logograms were used to refer to Teshub in hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions, L.318 and FORTIS; they differ from the default weather god logogram in this writing system, TONITRUS. It

36720-656: Was a deified epithet of Belet-ekallim. Both of them appear in a Hittite list of offerings to Teshub of Aleppo. Pithanu is also mentioned in the text KUB 45.28+39.97(+), which states that “down at Teššub’s throne sits Pithanu”. According to Haas, it should be considered a description of the arrangement of statues of deities. While it has been argued that Ishara might have been the partner ( parhedra  [ de ] ) of Teshub in Old Babylonian Ebla , as well as in Emar and Alalakh, no evidence supporting this proposal has been identified. Teshub's chariot

36924-527: Was a single shrine which in Temple F was transformed into a double shrine. Temple A was contemporary with the Stratum II destruction level. All were of the "bent-axis" type. In the temple area a number of bronze objects were found, including a statue carved in the round, 9 sickles, 2 sun-discs, 2 crescents, 6 pins, 1 bell, 2 bracelets, and hundreds of small beads. One sickle was inscribed with "An. Ud. Za." and

37128-459: Was a son of Dagan was influenced by Hurrian religion , and was meant to mirror the connection between their Hurrian counterparts, Teshub and Kumarbi , and argues it is “questionable” if it was envisioned similarly before the arrival of the Hurrians. According to Lluís Feliu, while a father-son relationship between Dagan and the weather god is only directly attested in Ugarit , it can be assumed it

37332-439: Was already regarded as the spouse of the local weather god, originally known as Hadda , in the third millennium BCE. She was chiefly worshipped in northern Syria, especially in Aleppo and Alalakh , though the area associated with her also encompassed southern Anatolia and the middle Euphrates . It has been suggested that the recognition of the connection between her and Teshub was limited to western Hurrian communities. However,

37536-434: Was assassinated the next year on the road to Carrhae by his soldiers. At the Battle of Nisibis , the Parthians were able to defeat the Romans, but both sides suffered heavy losses. After this debacle, the Parthians made a settlement with Macrinus ( r . 217–218) where the Romans paid Parthia over two-hundred million denarii with additional gifts. The Parthian Empire, weakened by internal strife and wars with Rome,

37740-614: Was betrayed by the governor of Edessa and Izates bar Monobaz of Adiabene ; he was captured and sent to Gotarzes, where he was allowed to live after having his ears mutilated, an act that disqualified him from inheriting the throne. In 97 AD, the Chinese general Ban Chao , the Protector-General of the Western Regions , sent his emissary Gan Ying on a diplomatic mission to reach the Roman Empire. Gan visited

37944-453: Was captured by Parthian forces and taken to Hyrcania. There Mithridates I treated his captive with great hospitality; he even married his daughter Rhodogune of Parthia to Demetrius. Antiochus VII Sidetes ( r . 138–129 BC), a brother of Demetrius, assumed the Seleucid throne and married the latter's wife Cleopatra Thea . After defeating Diodotus Tryphon, Antiochus initiated a campaign in 130 BC to retake Mesopotamia, now under

38148-508: Was celebrated. However, fearing his ambitions even for the Arsacid throne, Orodes had Surena executed shortly thereafter. Emboldened by the victory over Crassus, the Parthians attempted to capture Roman-held territories in Western Asia . Crown prince Pacorus I and his commander Osaces raided Syria as far as Antioch in 51 BC, but were repulsed by Gaius Cassius Longinus , who ambushed and killed Osaces. The Arsacids sided with Pompey in

38352-400: Was engaged in a civil war to the east with Vologases III of Parthia . Trajan spent the winter of 115–116 at Antioch, but resumed his campaign in the spring. Marching down the Euphrates, he captured Dura-Europos, the capital Ctesiphon and Seleucia, and even subjugated Characene, where he watched ships depart to India from the Persian Gulf . In the last months of 116 AD, Trajan captured

38556-631: Was enriched by taxing the Eurasian caravan trade in silk , the most highly priced luxury good imported by the Romans . Pearls were also a highly valued import from China, while the Chinese purchased Parthian spices, perfumes, and fruits. Exotic animals were also given as gifts from the Arsacid to Han courts; in 87 AD Pacorus II of Parthia sent lions and Persian gazelles to Emperor Zhang of Han ( r . 75–88 AD). Besides silk, Parthian goods purchased by Roman merchants included iron from India , spices , and fine leather. Caravans traveling through

38760-526: Was eventually driven from power, and, beginning with the reign of Tiridates, Parthia would retain firm control over Armenia—with brief interruptions—through the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia . Even after the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Arsacid line lived on through the Armenian kings. However, not only did the Arsacid line continue through the Armenians, it also continued through the Georgian kings with

38964-422: Was followed by the Parthian conquest of Babylonia in Mesopotamia , where Mithridates I had coins minted at Seleucia in 141 BC and held an official investiture ceremony. While Mithridates I retired to Hyrcania, his forces subdued the kingdoms of Elymais and Characene and occupied Susa . By this time, Parthian authority extended as far east as the Indus River . Whereas Hecatompylos had served as

39168-463: Was imagined as a bull in the areas where his worship is best attested. Two further deities belonging to the circle of Teshub, in offering lists often placed after his bulls, were Namni and Ḫazzi . These mountain gods might have been worshipped alongside him in Aleppo, though no direct evidence in favor of this view exists. The association between mountain gods and weather gods has a long history across Syria and Anatolia, and might be first documented in

39372-448: Was initially not the head of the Hurrian pantheon , and only reached this position as a part of what he understands as a broader phenomenon of growing prominence of weather gods in the early second millennium BCE. Gernot Wilhelm  [ de ] similarly considers it a possibility that he acquired this role in the beginning of the second millennium BCE. However, Daniel Schwemer  [ de ] argues that Teshub's status as

39576-421: Was not the head of the pantheon, but rather the second most important god after Ḫaldi , though according to Daniel Schwemer this should be considered a secondary development. It has also been proposed that a connection existed between the names of Teshub and Tishpak , a Mesopotamian god regarded as the city deity of Eshnunna . This hypothesis was originally formulated by Thorkild Jacobsen in 1932, but by

39780-427: Was occupied by Pacorus' army, Labienus split from the main Parthian force to invade Anatolia while Pacorus and his commander Barzapharnes invaded the Roman Levant . They subdued all settlements along the Mediterranean coast as far south as Ptolemais (modern Acre, Israel ), with the lone exception of Tyre . In Judea , the pro-Roman Jewish forces of high priest Hyrcanus II , Phasael , and Herod were defeated by

39984-413: Was pulled by two bulls, Šeri and Ḫurri . Šeri was believed to mediate between humans and his master, while no distinct role is attested for Ḫurri. In the Song of Ullikummi , he is replaced by Tilla , but this theonym is better attested as the name of a fully independent god popular in Nuzi . According to Daniel Schwemer, the latter was typically not associated with Teshub, and there is no evidence he

40188-417: Was regarded as Teshub's wife. She was received by the Hurrians from the local pantheon of Aleppo. It is possible that she and Teshub were already paired with each other in Old Babylonian Mari , as indicated by one of the letters sent to king Zimri-Lim . Its sender states in it that she will pray before a weather god designated by the Sumerogram IŠKUR and Ḫepat for the king (ARM 10.92, lines 22–23). Ḫepat

40392-404: Was rendered by these officers, but also by judges ( dayānu ) installed in the districts. Free subjects of the state were liable to a conscription, the Ilku , which consisted of a requirement to perform various types of military and civilian services, such as working the land. The site has a roughly square 200 meter by 200 meter main mound which was protected by a city wall. Only a small portion of

40596-458: Was seen in fragments unearthed in the ruins of the building. Archives that have been exhumed tell us about the royal family, as well as the organization of the internal administration of the palace and its dependencies, and the payments various workers received. Junior officers of the royal administration had such titles as sukkallu (often translated as "vizier", the second governor), "district manager" ( halṣuhlu ), and "mayor" ( hazannu ). Justice

40800-421: Was soon to be followed by the Sasanian Empire . Indeed, shortly afterward, Ardashir I , the local Iranian ruler of Persis (modern Fars Province , Iran) from Istakhr began subjugating the surrounding territories in defiance of Arsacid rule. He confronted Artabanus IV at the Battle of Hormozdgān on 28 April 224 AD, perhaps at a site near Isfahan , defeating him and establishing the Sasanian Empire. There

41004-432: Was the result of Hurrian influence, and most likely it should be instead interpreted as a case of cultural continuity, as evidenced by the broad distribution of the evidence for worship of Adad of Assur, attested even in Hittite sources. In Ugarit, Teshub was identified with the local weather god, Baal . It is presumed that the latter developed through the replacement of the main name of the weather god by his epithet on

41208-469: Was the use of the same sumerogram to represent their names. In some cases, Hittites adopted Hurrian texts focused on Teshub, including hymns, prayers and myths, but substituted his name for that of their own analogous god. Sources such as ritual texts pertaining to the worship of Šauška in Šamuha instead preserve cases of what according to Piotr Taracha can be described as interpretatio hurritica , namely referring to various Anatolian weather gods with

41412-440: Was the year the Seleucids lost control of Parthia to Andragoras , the appointed satrap who rebelled against them. Hence, Arsaces I "backdated his regnal years " to the moment when Seleucid control over Parthia ceased. However, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis asserts that this was simply the year Arsaces was made chief of the Parni tribe. Homa Katouzian and Gene Ralph Garthwaite claim it was the year Arsaces conquered Parthia and expelled

41616-416: Was worshipped in other settlements in the same area, Ḫilmani and Ulamme, as well as in Tilla, possibly identical with the similarly named Tille which based on Old Babylonian records was located in northeastern part of Upper Mesopotamia. In yet another city in the kingdom of Arrapha, Šuriniwe, a double temple dedicated jointly to Teshub and the moon god Kušuḫ existed. The importance of the cult of Teshub in

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