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Dual power in Susa: Chronicle of a transitional period from Ur III via Šimaški to the Sukkalmaḫs1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2012

Katrien De Graef
Katrien De Graef*
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Belgium
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

This article brings together evidence from both documentary texts and royal inscriptions from Susa in order to develop a chronological and historical perspective on the transitional period between the loss of control of the Ur III empire and the institutionalization of the Sukkalmaḫ regime. A study of the archaeological and archival context of the administrative texts resulted in a new chronology for the beginning of the Sukkalmaḫat, the basic argument for which is the early dating of the rule of Atta-ḫušu. Newly discovered inscriptions and new interpretations of existing inscriptions serve not only to adjust this chronology, but also to pave the way for an innovative and coherent socio-economic history of the early Sukkalmaḫat.

Keywords

SusaChronologySukkalmaḫŠimaškiSecond millennium bce
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , October 2012 , pp. 525 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 2012

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Footnotes

1

This article presents research results of the “Interuniversity Pole of Attraction Programme VI/34, Belgian State, Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs”. The text published here is an expanded version of a paper I read at the 53rdRencontre Assyriologique Internationale “Language in the Ancient Near East/City administration in the Ancient Near East”, held in Moscow/St-Petersburg, Russia (23–28 July 2007). All dates referred to in this article follow the short chronology as stated in Gasche et al. 1998. I would like to thank D. Akbarzadeh, Director and Curator of the cuneiform department, and S. Piran of the National Iranian Museum for their most hospitable welcome during my stays in Tehran to study the tablets from Susa, as well as for their permission to publish the photograph of BK 712 (MDP 55, 20). I also thank P. Steinkeller for the stimulating discussions we had during my stay at Harvard and J.A. Armstrong for improving the English text. My cordial thanks go as always to M. Tanret who read the manuscript and offered comments and suggestions.

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