The Suteans (

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...

: ''Sutī’ū'', possibly from

Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...

: ''Š^etī’u'') were a

Semitic people Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group.Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

during the Old Babylonian period. Unlike

Amorites The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...

, they were not governed by a

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

. They were famous in Semitic epic poetry for being fierce nomadic warriors.

History

During the reign of Zimri-Lim (c. 1775–1761), they inhabited the vicinity of

Terqa Terqa is the name of an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately from the modern border with Iraq and north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. ...

. They are mentioned in eight of the 382

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between ...

. Like the

Habiru Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as ʿApiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian: 𒊓𒄤, ''sagaz''; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫabiru'' or ''ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile C ...

, they traditionally worked as mercenaries, and were sometimes called

Ahlamu Ahlamu or Aḫlamū, were a group or designation of Semitic semi-nomads. Their habitat was west of the Euphrates, between the mouth of the Khabur and Palmyra. In the 18th century BC, they were first mentioned in the sources since Rim-Anum, a k ...

. They are listed in documents from the

Middle Assyrian Empire The Middle Assyrian Empire was the third stage of Assyrian history, covering the history of Assyria from the accession of Ashur-uballit I 1363 BC and the rise of Assyria as a territorial kingdom to the death of Ashur-dan II in 912 BC. ...

(1395-1075 BC) as being extant in the

city of Emar, in what is now northeast

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Together with other Semitic peoples; the

Chaldea Chaldea () was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was ...

ns and

Arameans The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

, they overran swaths of Babylonia c. 1100 BC. They were eventually conquered by

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

, along with the rest of

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c ...

Middle Bronze

One of the earliest known references to Suteans comes from a report of a Sutean attack on

Qatna Qatna (modern: ar, تل المشرفة, Tell al-Mishrifeh) (also Tell Misrife or Tell Mishrifeh) was an ancient city located in Homs Governorate, Syria. Its remains constitute a tell situated about northeast of Homs near the village of al ...

and Tadmor at the time of

Shamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad ( akk, Šamši-Adad; Amorite: ''Shamshi-Addu''), ruled 1808–1776 BC, was an Amorite warlord and conqueror who had conquered lands across much of Syria, Anatolia, and Upper Mesopotamia.Some of the Mari letters addressed to Shamsi ...

's reign (c. 1808–1776 BC). In another instance, Shamshi-Adad warns his son, Yasmah-Addu, that 1,000 Suteans were headed to raid Yabliya.

Mari period

During the reign of Zimri-Lim (c. 1775–1761), Suteans appear to be involved in a slave-sale with a Mariote governor and their leader, Hammi-Talu, also rendered some services to Mari. They also appear to have paid a

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

tax to Mari for their use of pastureland as sheep herders themselves. Nevertheless, they also frequently attacked Mari's domains, to what they saw as unjust Mariote hegemony over their territories in

Suhum Suhum, Sūḫu, or Suhi was an ancient geographic region around the middle course of the Euphrates River, south of Mari. =History= Its known history covers the period from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000-1700/1600 BCE) to the Iron Age (c. ...

Babylonian period

During the time of Hammurabi, the Suteans attacked in the vicinity of Larsa after the conquest of the city by the former, but he later utilized their service as couriers.

Late Bronze

Amarna letters

Around 1350 BC, the Suteans are mentioned in the

. One letter mentioning the Suteans is entitled "Waiting for the Pharaoh's words", from Biryawaza of Dimasqu-(''Damascus'') to

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

: This usage is somewhat atypical of the usage of Habiru and external mercenary forces in the Amarna letters, since this letter quotes them as being necessary and beneficial to the efforts of Biryawaza.

Iron Age

During the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

, some Suteans settled in

along with the migrating Chaldean,

Aramean The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

and possibly

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

tribes.

Language

The Sutean language has not been attested in any written texts, but appears to have been Semitic. This is known through the names of Sutean tribes and individuals, most of which appear to be Akkadian and Amorite, while a small percentage appear to be neither but belonging to a Semitic language. Such onomastics include the name of a tribe, "Almutu", and the Sutean warrior featured in 13th century BC Ugaritic texts, "Yatpan". Wolfgang Heimpel hypothesizes Suteans may have spoken a language close to the later

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

or even

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. According to

Diakonoff Dyakonov (russian: Дьяконов (masculine), russian: Дьяконова (feminine)), Diakonoff, Diakonov, or Diakonof is a Russian surname meaning "a deacon's". Notable people with the surname include: *Anatoly Dyakonov (1907–1972), Soviet g ...

Suteans and the biblical name

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...

( "placed, appointed") derive from the same root.Diakonoff, I.M. “Father Adam.” In: Hans Hirsch and Hermann Hunger (eds.). ''Vorträge gehalten auf der 28. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Wien'', 6.-10. Juli 1981. Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 19. Horn: Berger 1982, 19 of 16-24.

References

2nd millennium BC Canaan Ancient peoples of the Near East {{AncientEgypt-stub