Vassal Kingdoms of Ebla

[hukkana]

I've found a handfull of refferences to the Vassal Kingdoms under the dominion of Ebla at one point or another.

The list, based on the Abarsal treaty and tribute shipments, as I found it compiled in "The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East", goes thus:

* Abarsal
* Nirar
* Dub
* Burman
* Ra'ak/Ra'aq
* Lumnan
* Garmu
* Gasur
* Gudadanum
* Haddu
* Hazuwan
* Kablul
* Emar

(Posting the hypothetical locations thereof from the same book)




Sadly the only one of these kingdoms to have any information on it preserved thus far in the present day is Emar. I'd love to be proven wrong though.


Alternate links:

books.google.cz/books?id=46SmAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT133&lpg=PT133&dq=%22Nirar%22+Ebla&source=bl&ots=tQTCPzHaYn&sig=7eFR5bbP5nmHTUW8WsRXjmgG6c8&hl=cs&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMI3Ir0yuC9yAIVyVgsCh0F3g16#v=onepage&q=%22Nirar%22%20Ebla&f=false

books.google.cz/books?id=AcnmBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=%22A%C5%A1dabil%22&source=bl&ots=_w2jUBUzXz&sig=tdhvwwr12KfzRRSAr1xtitCDoYA&hl=cs&sa=X&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAGoVChMI1cC-2MS8yAIVBVUUCh3qMQ4G#v=onepage&q=%22A%C5%A1dabil%22&f=false

books.google.cz/books?id=0Rwals-oh6kC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=%22King+of+Dub%22+Ebla&source=bl&ots=ZpH3RKaaHe&sig=QN_F1WVuXhPGF987R350TS1eW9c&hl=cs&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAmoVChMI2oKg5N29yAIVAugsCh30ywF9#v=onepage&q=%22King%20of%20Dub%22%20Ebla&f=false

[Salmu]

First I would like to thank you for inadvertantly pointing me towards an article on Ebla material culture that I had not seen. That being said words like 'vassal' 'dominion' and 'tribute' are really really problematic regarding interregional trade/relations in the Bronze Age Near East without the issue of identification of city names even raising its head.
On this topic I can do no better than cite P. Michalowski from Third Millennium Contacts: Observations on the Relationships between Mari and Ebla JAOS 105 (2) 1985.

"The third matter to be discussed here is the geographic
horizon of the transactions preserved in the
Ebla texts. Of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of
geographical names mentioned in these tablets only a
handful can be identified with any certainty. Among
these, important both because of our knowledge of
these places as well as in light of the frequency with
which they are mentioned are the key foreign localities
of Emar, Tuttul, Kakmium, Mari, Gasur -the later
Nuzi, and finally Kish.
The last two places in this list, Gasur/Nuzi and
Kish, are in central and north-eastern Mesopotamia
and have often been cited as examples of the farreaching
contacts of the Ebla rulers. But Gasur, as
Edzard has demonstrated, is not in fact attested in
these texts, since the writing of this geographical
name cannot be interpreted as ga-sur, but must, for
the time being, be read simply as ga-KAM. Kish,
however, is another matter."
"In addition to a large number of places in the environs of Tell Mardikh,
the texts mention cities in the Habur triangle and
along the Euphrates corridor, up to Assur and then towards Kakmium; all
localities scattered along the main trade routes of Syria and Northern
Mesopotamia.

It must be stressed, however, that it is
virtually impossible at present to define precisely the
nature of these contacts and therefore we are currently
ignorant of the relative position of Ebla in the
power balances of these areas and do not know
which, if any, of these localities was in any way politically,
militarily, or economically dependent on Ebla."

("fn 45 The identification of the city written A.BAR.SAL ki as Assur
was questioned by E. Sollberger, "The So-Called Treaty
Between Ebla and Ashur," SEb 3 (1980) 129-131. Evidence
in defense of the reading a-šur_x ^ki will be presented by
Pettinato in his forthcoming monograph on the Assur-Ebla
treaty. As matters now stand, the identification is doubtful.")

And that was written thirty years ago, we know more now, basically because Ebla is very thoroughly documented and a major well published excavation. There is also the Italian mission database devoted to this archive and excavation.

A basic list for discussion of Ebla toponymy:

Astour, M.C. 1988. Toponymy of Ebla and Ethnohistory of Northern Syria: A Preliminary Survey. JAOS 108.

Biga, M.C. 2013. Defining the Chora of Ebla: A Textual Perspective. In Ebla and its Landscape.

Biga, M.C. 2008. Au-delà des frontières: guerre et diplomatie à Ébla. Orientalia 77.

Bonechi, M. 1998. Remarks on the III Millennium Geographical Names of the Syrian Upper Mesopotamia.

Bonechi, M. 1990. Sui toponimi dei testi amministrativi eblaiti di tipo. NABU.

Bonechi, M. 2013. Ebla. From The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception.

Escaline, E. and M. D’Andrea, 2013. Assembling the Evidence: Excavated Sites from the Early Bronze Age in and around the Chora of Ebla. In Ebla and its Landscape.

Ferrero, G. 2013. Distribution and Exchange of Goods in the Chora of Ebla. In Ebla and its Landscape.

Krecher, J. 1988. Observations on the Ebla Toponyms. Missiona Archaeologica.

Peltenburg, E. 2013. Conflict and Exclusivity in Early Bronze Age Societies of the Middle Euphrates Valley. JNES 72.

Ristvet, L. 2011. Travel and the Making of North Mesopotamian Polities. BASOR.

Tångberg, K.A. 1994. Der geographische Horizont der Texte aus Ebla: Untersuchungen zur eblaitischen Toponymie.

[hukkana]

Oct 14, 2015 12:00:58 GMT -5 Salmu said:

First I would like to thank you for inadvertantly pointing me towards an article on Ebla material culture that I had not seen. That being said words like 'vassal' 'dominion' and 'tribute' are really really problematic regarding interregional trade/relations in the Bronze Age Near East without the issue of identification of city names even raising its head.
On this topic I can do no better than cite P. Michalowski from Third Millennium Contacts: Observations on the Relationships between Mari and Ebla JAOS 105 (2) 1985.

"The third matter to be discussed here is the geographic
horizon of the transactions preserved in the
Ebla texts. Of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of
geographical names mentioned in these tablets only a
handful can be identified with any certainty. Among
these, important both because of our knowledge of
these places as well as in light of the frequency with
which they are mentioned are the key foreign localities
of Emar, Tuttul, Kakmium, Mari, Gasur -the later
Nuzi, and finally Kish.
The last two places in this list, Gasur/Nuzi and
Kish, are in central and north-eastern Mesopotamia
and have often been cited as examples of the farreaching
contacts of the Ebla rulers. But Gasur, as
Edzard has demonstrated, is not in fact attested in
these texts, since the writing of this geographical
name cannot be interpreted as ga-sur, but must, for
the time being, be read simply as ga-KAM. Kish,
however, is another matter."
"In addition to a large number of places in the environs of Tell Mardikh,
the texts mention cities in the Habur triangle and
along the Euphrates corridor, up to Assur and then towards Kakmium; all
localities scattered along the main trade routes of Syria and Northern
Mesopotamia.

It must be stressed, however, that it is
virtually impossible at present to define precisely the
nature of these contacts and therefore we are currently
ignorant of the relative position of Ebla in the
power balances of these areas and do not know
which, if any, of these localities was in any way politically,
militarily, or economically dependent on Ebla."

("fn 45 The identification of the city written A.BAR.SAL ki as Assur
was questioned by E. Sollberger, "The So-Called Treaty
Between Ebla and Ashur," SEb 3 (1980) 129-131. Evidence
in defense of the reading a-šur_x ^ki will be presented by
Pettinato in his forthcoming monograph on the Assur-Ebla
treaty. As matters now stand, the identification is doubtful.")

And that was written thirty years ago, we know more now, basically because Ebla is very thoroughly documented and a major well published excavation. There is also the Italian mission database devoted to this archive and excavation.

A basic list for discussion of Ebla toponymy:

Astour, M.C. 1988. Toponymy of Ebla and Ethnohistory of Northern Syria: A Preliminary Survey. JAOS 108.

Biga, M.C. 2013. Defining the Chora of Ebla: A Textual Perspective. In Ebla and its Landscape.

Biga, M.C. 2008. Au-delà des frontières: guerre et diplomatie à Ébla. Orientalia 77.

Bonechi, M. 1998. Remarks on the III Millennium Geographical Names of the Syrian Upper Mesopotamia.

Bonechi, M. 1990. Sui toponimi dei testi amministrativi eblaiti di tipo. NABU.

Bonechi, M. 2013. Ebla. From The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception.

Escaline, E. and M. D’Andrea, 2013. Assembling the Evidence: Excavated Sites from the Early Bronze Age in and around the Chora of Ebla. In Ebla and its Landscape.

Ferrero, G. 2013. Distribution and Exchange of Goods in the Chora of Ebla. In Ebla and its Landscape.

Krecher, J. 1988. Observations on the Ebla Toponyms. Missiona Archaeologica.

Peltenburg, E. 2013. Conflict and Exclusivity in Early Bronze Age Societies of the Middle Euphrates Valley. JNES 72.

Ristvet, L. 2011. Travel and the Making of North Mesopotamian Polities. BASOR.

Tångberg, K.A. 1994. Der geographische Horizont der Texte aus Ebla: Untersuchungen zur eblaitischen Toponymie.

Interesting.

By the way, I did see some disagreement on whether Gasur actually does reffer to Nuzi, in "Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State".

Also you probably already read Archi's "Ritualization at Ebla", however anyone else interested in the study of Eblaite religion and ceremony should definitely take a look at that as it is by far the most informative article on the subject I've ever seen.

[hukkana]

I did find an identification of Dub as Tuba, identifying a certain Sumirapa as the King of Tuba.