Tell Leilan Explained

Tell Leilan
Map Type:Syria
Coordinates:36.9572°N 41.5053°W
Type:Settlement
Built:5000 BCE
Abandoned:1726 BCE
Cultures:Akkadian, Assyrian
Condition:In ruins

Tell Leilan is an archaeological site situated near the Wadi Jarrah in the Khabur River basin in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. The site has been occupied since the 5th millennium BC. During the late third millennium, the site was known as Shekhna. During that time it was under control of the Akkadian Empire and was used as an administrative center.[1] [2] Around 1800 BC, the site was renamed "Shubat-Enlil" by the king Shamshi-Adad I, and it became his residential capital.[3] Shubat-Enlil was abandoned around 1700 BC.

Geography

The site is located close to some other flourishing cities of the time. Hamoukar is about 50 km away to the southeast. Tell Brak is about 50 km away to the southwest, and also in the Khabur River basin. Tell Mozan (Urkesh) is about 50 km to the west.

Leilan, Brak and Urkesh were particularly prominent during the Akkadian period.[4]

History

The city originated around 5000 BC as a small farming village and grew to be a large city BC, three hundred years before the Akkadian Empire. The city had a large wall by BC.[5] A number of finds from the Ninevite 5 period were found at the site.[6] [7] [8] [9] A 3-foot layer of sediment at Tell Leilan containing no evidence of human habitation offered clues as to the cause of the demise of the Akkadian imperial city; analysis indicated that at around 2200 BC, a three-century drought was severe enough to affect agriculture and settlement.[10] [11] [12] [13]

Shubat-Enlil

Native Name:Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia
Conventional Long Name:Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia
Common Name:Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia
Era:Bronze Age
Government Type:Monarchy
Year Start:circa 1809 BCE
Year End:circa 1776 BCE
S1:Apum
Capital:Shubat-Enlil
Title Leader:King
Leader1:Shamshi-Adad I
Year Leader1:circa 1809 BCE – 1776 circa BCE
Today:Syria

The conquest of the region by the Amorite warlord Shamshi-Adad I (1813–1781 BC) of Ekallatum revived the abandoned site of Tell Leilan. Shamshi-Adad saw the great potential in the rich agricultural production of the region and made it the capital city of his empire. He renamed it from Shehna to Shubat-Enlil, or Šubat-Enlil, meaning "the residence of the god Enlil" in the Akkadian language.[14] In the city a royal palace was built and a temple acropolis to which a straight paved street led from the city gate. There was also a planned residential area and the entire city was enclosed by a wall. The city size was about 90ha. Shubat-Enlil may have had a population of 20,000 people at its peak. After the death of Shamshi-Adad, the city became the capital of Apum and prospered until king Samsu-iluna of Babylon sacked it in 1726 BC.[15] During this period various minor kings ruled there, including Turum-natki, Zuzu, and Haja-Abum. Qarni-Lim, king of nearby Andarig, maintained a large palace there.[16] [17]

Archaeology

Beginning in 1979 the mound of Tell Leilan was excavated by a team of archaeologists from Yale University, led by Harvey Weiss.[18] [19] [20] The dig ended in 2008. Among many important discoveries at Tell Leilan is an archive of 1100 cuneiform clay tablets maintained by the rulers of the city.[21] [22] These tablets date to the eighteenth century BC and record the dealings with other Mesopotamian states and how the city administration worked.[23] Finds from the excavations at Tell Leilan are on display in the Deir ez-Zor Museum.[24]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/2004orientexpress2.pdf
  2. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/kaskal_2007.pdf
  3. Eidem, J., "Old Assyrian Trade in Northern Syria. The Evidence from Tell Leilan. In J. G. Dercksen (ed.), Anatolia and the Jazira during the Old Assyrian Period", pp. 31-41, Publications de l’Institut historique et archéologique néerlandais de Stamboul 111. Leiden., 2008
  4. Margreet L. Steiner, Ann E. Killebrew, The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000-332 BCE. OUP Oxford, 2014 p398
  5. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/ristvet2007powerarch.pdf
  6. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/weiss2003.pdf
  7. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/parayre_2003.pdf
  8. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/van_gijn_2003.pdf
  9. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/wetterstrom_2003.pdf
  10. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/weissetal1993.pdf Leilan.yale.edu
  11. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/cullen2000_0.pdf Leilan.yale.edu
  12. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/staubwasser-weiss06_quaternary_research.pdf Leilan.yale.edu
  13. http://www.leilan.yale.edu/pubs/files/RistvetWeiss2005HAS1.pdf
  14. Harvey Weiss, Tell Leilan and Shubat Enlil, Mari, Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, vol. 4, pp. 269-92, 1985
  15. L. Ristvet, "Resettling Apum: Tribalism and Tribal States in the Tell Leilan Region, Syria.", InN. Laneri, P. Philzner and S. Valentini (eds.), Looking North: the SocioeconomicDynamics of Northern Mesopotamian and Anatolian Regions during the Late Thirdand Early Second Millennium BC. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp.37-50, 2012
  16. Eidem, Jesper. 2008. The Royal Archives from Tell Leilan: Old Babylonian Letters and Treaties from The Lower Town Palace. Yale Tell Leilan Research, Vol. 2. London and New Haven: Yale University Press.
  17. Pulhan, Gül. 2000. On the Eve of the Dark Age: Qarni-Lim’s Palace at Tell Leilan. Ph.D. Dissertation, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University, New Haven, CT
  18. https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1983_num_9_2_4340
  19. Harvey Weiss et al., 1985 Excavations at Tell Leilan, Syria, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 94, no. 4, pp. 529-581, 1990
  20. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/weiss1990.pdf
  21. https://www.proquest.com/openview/106b51fdb5b690708b4fdc3c52066a0b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
  22. https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/van_de_mieroop_1994_the_tell_leilan_tablets_1991_orienatalia_63_305_344.pdf
  23. Jesper Eidem, with a contribution by Lauren Ristvet and Harvey Weiss: The Royal Archives from Tell Leilan. Old Babylonian Letters and Treaties from the Lower Town Palace East (PIHANS 117). The Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, 2011.
  24. Book: Rivers and steppes. Cultural heritage and environment of the Syrian Jezireh. Catalogue to the Museum of Deir ez-Zor . Bonatz . Dominik . Kühne . Hartmut . Mahmoud . As'ad . 1998 . Ministry of Culture . Damascus . 638775287 .

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