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Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly legendary kings of Uruk. They are listed in the Sumerian king list as ruling ca. the 27th century BC.

Role in Sumerian literature

Aratta plays the following roles in Sumerian literature:

  • it is a fabulously wealthy place, full of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and other precious materials, as well as the artisans to craft them,
  • it is remote and difficult to reach,
  • it is home to the goddess Inana, who transfers her allegiance from Aratta to Uruk,
  • and it is conquered by Enmerkar of Uruk.

Mentions in Sumerian literature

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta - The goddess Inana resides in Aratta, but Enmerkar of Uruk pleases her more than En-suhgir-ana, the lord of Aratta. Emmerkar wants Aratta to submit to Uruk, bring stones down from the mountain, craft gold, silver and lapis lazuli, and send them, along with "kugmea" ore to Uruk to build a temple. Inana bids him send a messenger to Aratta, who ascends and descends the "Zubi" mountains, and crosses Susa, Anshan, and "five, six, seven" mountains before approaching Aratta. Aratta in turn wants grain in exchange. However Inana transfers her allegience to Uruk, and the grain gains the favor of Aratta's people for Uruk, so En-suhgir-ana challenges Enmerkar to send a champion to fight his champion. Then the god Ishkur makes Aratta's crops grow.

Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana - En-suhgir-ana of Aratta challenges Enmerkar of Uruk to a contest of champions over the goddess Inana, and his champion is defeated. But a sorcerer offers to make Uruk submit, and an advisor says he will make Uruk transport its own goods to Aratta by flotilla. The sorcerer then bewitches Uruk's animals, but a wise woman outwits him, and En-suhgir-ana admits defeat, and the loss of the goddess Inana to Enmerkar.

Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave - is a tale of Lugalbanda, who will become Enmerkar's successor. Enmerkar's army travels through mountainous territory to wage war against rebellious Aratta. Lugalbanda falls ill and is left in a cave, but he prays to the various gods, recovers, and must find his way out of the mountains.

Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird - Lugalbanda befriends the Anzud bird, and asks it to help him find his army again. When Enmerkar's army is faced with setback, Lugalbanda volunteers to return to Uruk to ask the goddess Inana's aid. He crosses through the mountains, into the flat land, from the edge to the top of Anshan and then to Uruk, where Inana helps him. She advises Enmerkar to carry off Aratta's "worked metal and metalsmiths and worked stone and stonemasons" and all the "moulds of Aratta will be his". Then the city is described as having battlements made of green lapis lazuli and bricks made of "tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows".

Other mentions in Sumerian literature

Praise Poem of Shulgi (Shulgi Y): "I filled it with treasures like those of holy Aratta."

Shulgi and Ninlil's barge: "Aratta, full-laden with treasures"

Proverbs,,: "When the authorities are wise, and the poor are loyal, it is the effect of the blessing of Aratta."

Unprovenanced Proverbs: "When the authorities are wise, and the poor are passed by, it is the effect of the blessing of Aratta."

Hymn to Hendursanga (Hendursanga A): "So that Aratta will be overwhelmed (?), Lugalbanda stands by at your (Hendursanga's) behest."

Hymn to Nisaba (Nisaba A): "In Aratta he (Enki?) has placed E-zagin (the lapis lazuli temple) at her (Nisaba's) disposal."

The building of Ninngirsu's temple: "pure like Kesh and Aratta"

Tigi to Suen (Nanna I) : "the shrine of my heart which I (Nanna) have founded in joy like Aratta"

Inana and Ibeh: "the inaccessible mountain range Aratta"

Gilgamesh and Huwawa (Version B): "they know the way even to Aratta"

Temple Hymns: Aratta="respected"

The Kesh Temple Hymn: Aratta="important"

Lament for Ur: Aratta="weighty (counsel)"

Location hypotheses

Aratta is known to us only from myth . But some assyriologists and archaeologists of the region have speculated on possible locations where Aratta might be found, identifying a number of criteria from the myths:

1) land travelers pass through the mountainous Anshan region to reach it,
2) it is a source of, or has access to valuable gems and minerals, in particular lapis lazuli, that are crafted on site,
3) it is accessible to Uruk by watercourse, yet remote from Uruk,
and 4) it is feasable to get a 27th century BC Sumerian army there.

In 1963, Samuel Noah Kramer thought that "Mount Hurum", "hur-ru-um kur-ra-ka" - now read "mountain cave" - in what is now called Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave, might have referred to the Hurrians, and so speculated Aratta to be near Lake Urmia . Other speculations referred to the early gem trade route, the "Great Khorasan Road" from the Himalayan Mountains to Mesopotamia, which ran through northern Iran . Anshan, which had not yet been located then, was assumed to be in the central Zagros mountain range . However, when Anshan was identified as Tall-i Malyan in 1973, it was found to be 600 km south-east of Uruk, far removed from any northerly routes or watercourses from Uruk , and posing the logistical problem of getting a 27th century BC Sumerian army through 550 km of Elamite territory to wage war with Aratta . However, there have been speculations referring to eastern Iran as well .

Also, in an account of an Assyrian campaign against the Mannaeans, two millenia later, Sargon II is mentioned crossing an "Aratta" river, but there is no reason to assume this Aratta to be related to the Aratta of Sumerian myth .

Notes

  1. Cohen (1973) p. 55 notes: "Aratta became a epithet for "abundance" and "glory"."
  2. Cohen (1973) p. 61. Cohen states: "it is indeed strange that the name of such an important trade center should as yet remain unknown to us from any economic, administrative or other non-literary texts from the Ur III or Old Babylonian period".
  3. Kramer (1963), Gordon (1967) and Cohen (1973)
  4. Herrmann (1968), Hansman (1972, 1978) and Majidzadeh (1976)
  5. see e.g. Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave, ETCSL (2006) line 102, etc.; Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie (1990) vol. 7, p. 121; Black (1998) p. 136; Vanstiphout (2003) p.110-111, etc.
  6. Kramer (1963) p. 275.
  7. The only source of lapis lazuli for the ancient world was Badakhshan, Afghanistan (see Clark (1986) p. 67).
  8. Gordon (1967) p. 72, note 9. The Sanandaj area.
  9. Herrmann (1968) p. 54. South or southeast of the Caspian Sea (cited in Majidzadeh (1976)).
  10. Cohen (1973) p. 60. The Hamadan area.
  11. e.g. Gordon (1967) p. 72 note 9. Kermanshah; Mallowan (1969) p. 256. Bakhtiari territory (cited in Mallowan (1985) p. 401, note 1).
  12. In contrast to Aratta, Anshan is well documented beyond literary texts (c.f. Hansman (1985) pp. 25-35).
  13. Reiner, Erica (1973) "The Location of Anšan", Revue d'Assyriologie 67, pp. 57-62 (cited in Majidzadeh (1976), Hansman (1985)).
  14. Goode's Word Atlas (2004) p. 198.
  15. Cohen (1973) p. 59. Cohen also notes that the farthest east that any Assyrian king ever went was Hamadan.
  16. Hansman, John F. (1972, 1978). Shahr-i Sokhta.
  17. Majidzadeh (1976). Shahdad.
  18. Majidzadeh (1976) p. 108.

References

Sol, Cohen (1973). "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta". Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania: 55–61. Retrieved 2008-03-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

"The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature". Oxford. 1998–2006. Retrieved 2008-03-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

"Lugalbanda". Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie. Vol. 7. Walter de Gruyter. 1990. p. 121. ISBN 3110104377. Retrieved 2008-03-15.

Black, Jeremy (1998). Reading Sumerian Poetry. Cornell University Press. p. 136. ISBN 0801433398. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Vanstiphout, Herman L. J (2003). Epics of Sumerian Kings: The Matter of Aratta. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 110–111, etc. ISBN 1589830830. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963). The Sumerians. University of Chicago Press. p. 275. ISBN 0226452387. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Clark, Grahame (1986). Symbols of Excellence: Precious Materials as Expressions of Status. Cambridge University Press. p. 67. ISBN 0521302641. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Gordon, Edmund I. (1967). "The Meaning of the Ideogram KASKAL.KUR = "Underground Water-Course" and its Significance for Bronze Age Historical Geography". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 21: 72, note 9. Retrieved 2005-03-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Herrmann, Georgina (1968). "Lapis Lazuli: The Early Phase of its Trade". Iraq. 30: 36, 54. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |note= ignored (help)

Malowan, Max (1985). "Cyrus the Great". The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 2. ISBN 0521200911. Retrieved 2005-03-15.

Mallowan, Max (1969). "Elamite Problems". Proceedings of the British Academy. LV. London: 256. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |note= ignored (help)

Hansman, John F. (1985). "Anshan in the Elamite and Archaemenian Periods". The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–35. ISBN 0521200911. Retrieved 2005-03-15.

Reiner, Erica (1973). "The Location of Anšan". Revue d'Assyriologie. 67: 57–62. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |note= ignored (help)

Veregin, Howard, editor (2004). Goode’s World Atlas. Rand McNally. p. 198. ISBN 0528853392. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Hansman, John F. (1972). "Elamites, Achaemenians and Anshan". Iran. 10: 118, footnote 97. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |note= ignored (help)

Majidzadeh, Yousef (1976). "The Land of Aratta". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 35: 105–114. Retrieved 2005-03-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Hansman, John F. (1978). "The Question of Aratta". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 37: 331–336. Retrieved 2005-03-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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