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Shutu
Shutu ( or Sutu ) is the name given in ancient Akkadian language sources to certain nomadic groups of the Transjordanian highlands, extending deep into Mesopotamia and Southern Iraq. Some scholars have speculated that "Shutu" may be a variant of the Egyptian term '' Shasu''. An Egyptian execration text of the 17th century BCE refers to an "Ayyab" (possibly a variant form of the name Job) as king of the Shutu. Some scholars have tenuously identified the Shutu as the progenitors of the Moabites and Ammonites. See also * Ayyab Ayyab was a ruler of Aštartu (present day Tell Ashtara) south of Damascus. According to the Amarna letters, cities/city-states and their kings in the region — just like countries to the north, such as History of the Hittites, Hatti of the Hitti ... * ʿApiru * Suteans Bibliography * Baikie, James. ''The Amarna Age: A Study of the Crisis of the Ancient World.'' University Press of the Pacific, 2004. * Cohen, Raymond and Raymond Westbrook (eds.). ''Ama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ʿApiru
ʿApiru (, ), also known in the Akkadian version Ḫabiru (sometimes written Habiru, Ḫapiru or Hapiru; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫa-bi-ru'' or ''*ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile Crescent for a social status of people who were variously described as rebels, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, bowmen, servants, slaves, and laborers. Due to the linguistic similarity between the term 'Apiru and "Hebrew," early scholars equated them with the Israelites. However, most contemporary scholars now regard the connection as indirect, suggesting that while some early Israelites may have originated from this group, they likely adopted the linguistic label in the process. Etymology The term was first discovered in its Akkadian version "ḫa-bi-ru" or "ḫa-pi-ru". Due to later findings in Ugaritic and Egyptian which used the consonants ʿ, p and r, and in light of the well-established sound change from Northwest Semitic ʿ to Akkadian ḫ, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shasu
The Shasu (, possibly pronounced ''šaswə'') were Semitic-speaking pastoral nomads in the Southern Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age or the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. They were tent dwellers, organized in clans ruled by a tribal chieftain and were described as brigands active from the Jezreel Valley to Ashkelon, in the Transjordan and in the Sinai. Some of them also worked as mercenaries for Asiatic and Egyptian armies. Etymology The name's etymon may be Egyptian ''šꜣsw'', which originally meant "those who move on foot". Levy, Adams, and Muniz report similar possibilities: the Egyptian word šꜣs that means "to wander", and an alternative Semitic triliteral root, , with the meaning "to plunder". Land Though their homeland seems to be in the Transjordan, the Shasu also appear in Canaan, Syria and Egypt. History Late Bronze The earliest known reference to the Shasu occurs in a 16th-century BCE list of peoples in the Transjordan reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Execration Text
Execration texts, also referred to as proscription lists, are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, listing enemies of the pharaoh, most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. The texts were most often written upon statuettes of bound foreigners, bowls, or blocks of clay or stone, which were subsequently destroyed. The ceremonial process of breaking the names and burying them was intended to be a sort of sympathetic magic that would affect the persons or entities named in the texts. The fragments were usually placed near tombs or ritual sites. This practice was most common during times of conflict with the Asiatic neighbors of Egypt. Historical periods of execration texts Execration texts are attested from the late Old Kingdom ( 2686–2160 BCE) up into the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1069 BCE). The earliest physical execration texts date to the 6th dynasty (24th–22nd century BCE) during Egypt's Old Kingdom. They are statuettes made from unbaked clay and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayyab
Ayyab was a ruler of Aštartu (present day Tell Ashtara) south of Damascus. According to the Amarna letters, cities/city-states and their kings in the region — just like countries to the north, such as History of the Hittites, Hatti of the Hittites, fell prey to a wave of attacks by ʿApiru raiders. The Amarna correspondence Text corpus, corpus covers a period from 1350 BC, 1350–1335 BC. Another ruler of Aštartu cited in the Amarna letters is Biridašwa. The letters do not clearly indicate their title, leading some scholars to describe them as kings of Damascus (Dimašqu) while others believe they were high Egyptian officials, possibly mayors.Wayne Thomas Pitard''Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State from Earliest Times Until Its Fall to the Assyrians in 732 B.C.E.''Eisenbrauns, 1987. p. 67. Ayyab's letter EA 364 Ayyab is the author of only one letter to the Ancient Egypt, Egyptian pharaoh, letter EA 364-(EA (el Amarna), EA for 'el Amarna'). Title: ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suteans
The Suteans ( Akkadian: ''Sutī’ū'', possibly from Amorite: ''Šetī’u'') were a nomadic Semitic people who lived throughout the Levant, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, specifically in the region of Suhum, during the Old Babylonian period. They were famous in Semitic epic poetry for being fierce nomadic warriors, and like the ʿApiru, traditionally worked as mercenaries. Unlike Amorites, the Suteans were not governed by a king. They may have been part of the Ahlamu. Hypotheses regarding their identity variously identify them as Arameans, proto-Arabs, or a unique Semitic people. History Bronze Age Middle Bronze Age One of the earliest instances of Suteans comes from a report of a Sutean attack on Qatna and Tadmor (Palmyra) at the time of Shamshi-Adad I's reign (c. 1808–1776 BC). They frequently attacked Mari's domains as a reprisal against what they saw as unjust Mariote hegemony over their territories in Suhum. With the death of Shamshi-Adad, the Sutean leader, Hammi-Talu, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akkadian Language
Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested in ancient Mesopotamia ( Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa, Babylonia and perhaps Dilmun) from the mid- third millennium BC until its gradual replacement in common use by Old Aramaic among Assyrians and Babylonians from the 8th century BC. Akkadian, which is the earliest documented Semitic language, is named after the city of Akkad, a major centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (–2154 BC). It was written using the cuneiform script, originally used for Sumerian, but also used to write multiple languages in the region including Eblaite, Hurrian, Elamite, Old Persian and Hittite. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian went beyond just the cuneiform script; owing to their close proximity, a lengthy span of con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nomad
Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pastoral tribes slowly decreased, reaching an estimated 30–40 million nomads in the world . Nomadic hunting and gathering—following seasonally available wild plants and game—is by far the oldest human subsistence method known. Pastoralists raise herds of domesticated livestock, driving or accompanying them in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Nomadism is also a lifestyle adapted to infertile regions such as steppe, tundra, or ice and sand, where mobility is the most efficient strategy for exploiting scarce resources. For example, many groups living in the tundra are reindeer herders and are semi-nomadic, following forage for their animals. Sometimes also described as "nomadic" are vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transjordan (region)
Transjordan, also known as the East Bank or the Transjordanian Highlands (), is the part of the Southern Levant east of the Jordan River, mostly contained in present-day Jordan. The region, known as Transjordan, was controlled by numerous powers throughout history. During the early modern period, the region of Transjordan was included under the jurisdiction of Ottoman Syrian provinces. After the Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule during the 1910s, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by Hashemite Emir Abdullah, and the emirate became a British protectorate. In 1946, the emirate achieved independence from the British and in 1949 the country changed its name to the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan", after the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Name The prefix ''trans-'' is Latin and means "across" or beyond, and so "Transjordan" refers to the land ''on the other side of'' the Jordan River. The equivalent term for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of the modern Middle East. Just beyond it lies southwestern Iran, where the region transitions into the Iranian plateau, Persian plateau, marking the shift from the Arab world to Iran. In the broader sense, the historical region of Mesopotamia also includes parts of present-day Iran (southwest), Turkey (southeast), Syria (northeast), and Kuwait. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture". It is recognised as the cradle of some of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the Iraq–Kuwait border, southeast, Jordan to Iraq–Jordan border, the southwest, and Syria to Iraq–Syria border, the west. The country covers an area of and has Demographics of Iraq, a population of over 46 million, making it the List of countries by area, 58th largest country by area and the List of countries by population, 31st most populous in the world. Baghdad, home to over 8 million people, is the capital city and the List of largest cities of Iraq, largest in the country. Starting in the 6th millennium BC, the fertile plains between Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers, referred to as Mesopotamia, fostered the rise of early cities, civilisations, and empires including Sumer, Akkadian Empire, Akkad, and Assyria. Known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Language
The Egyptian language, or Ancient Egyptian (; ), is an extinct branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts, which were made accessible to the modern world following the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian scripts in the early 19th century. Egyptian is one of the earliest known written languages, first recorded in the hieroglyphic script in the late 4th millennium BC. It is also the longest-attested human language, with a written record spanning over 4,000 years. Its classical form, known as " Middle Egyptian," served as the vernacular of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and remained the literary language of Egypt until the Roman period. By the time of classical antiquity, the spoken language had evolved into Demotic, and by the Roman era, diversified into various Coptic dialects. These were eventually supplanted by Arabic after the Muslim conquest of Egypt, although Bohairic Coptic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Job (Biblical Figure)
Job ( ''Īyyōv''; ''Iṓb'') is the central figure of the Book of Job in the Bible. In Islam, Job () is also considered a prophet. Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is suddenly beset with horrendous disasters that take away all he holds dear—a scenario intended to test Job's faith in God. Struggling mightily to understand this situation, Job reflects on his despair but consistently remains devout. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonian Hebrew and Aramaic influences, indicates it was composed during the Persian period (540–330 BCE), with the poet using Hebrew in a learned, literary manner. In the Hebrew Book of Job The Hebrew Book of Job is part of Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible. Not much is known about Job based on the Masoretic Text. The characters in the Book of Job consist of Job, his wife, his three friends (Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar), a man named Elihu, God, and angels. It begins with an introduction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
