Lullubi


Lullubi, 'Lulubi, more commonly known as Lullu,' were a group of Bronze Age tribes of mostly Hurrian origin with some possible Semitic input who existed and disappeared during the 3rd millennium BC. They were from a region known as Lulubum, now the Sharazor plain of the Zagros Mountains of modern-day Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Lullubi was a neighbour and sometimes ally with the Hurrian Simurrum kingdom and came into conflict with the Semitic Akkadian Empire and Assyria. Frayne identified their city Lulubuna or Luluban with the region's modern town of Halabja.

Historical references

Legends

The early Sumerian legend Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird, set in the reign of Enmerkar of Uruk, alludes to the "mountains of Lulubi" as being where the character of Lugalbanda encounters the gigantic Anzû bird while searching for the rest of Enmerkar's army en route to siege Aratta.

Akkadian Empire and Gutian dynasty

Lullubum appears in historical times as one of the lands Sargon the Great subjugated within his Akkadian Empire, along with the neighboring province of Gutium, which was possibly of the same Hurrian origin as the Lullubi. Sargon's grandson Naram Sin defeated the Lullubi and their king Satuni, and had his famous victory stele made in commemoration:
After the Akkadian Empire fell to the Gutians, the Lullubians rebelled against the Gutian king Erridupizir, according to Mesopotamian inscriptions:

Neo-Sumerian Empire

Following the short lived Gutian period, the Neo-Sumerian Empire ruler Shulgi is said to have raided Lullubi at least 9 times; by the time of Amar-Sin, Lullubians formed a contingent in the military of Ur, suggesting that the region was then under Neo-Sumerian control.
Another famous rock relief depicting the Lullubian king Anubanini with the Assyrian-Babylonian goddess Ishtar, captives in tow, is now thought to date to the Ur-III period; however, a later Assyrian- Babylonian legendary retelling of the exploits of Sargon the Great mentions Anubanini as one of his opponents.

Babylonian and Assyrian interactions

In the following millennium BC, the term "Lullubi" or "Lullu" seems to have become a generic Babylonian/Assyrian term for "highlander" without reference to any single ethnic group, while the original region of Lullubi became the Hurrian inhabited Zamua. However, the "land of Lullubi" makes a reappearance in the late 12th century BC, when both Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon and Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria subdued it. Neo-Assyrian kings of the following centuries also recorded campaigns and conquests in the area of Lullubum. Most notably, Ashurnasirpal II had to suppress a revolt among the Zamuan chiefs in 881 BC, during which they constructed a wall in the Bazian pass between modern Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah in a failed attempt to keep the Assyrians out.
They were said to have had 19 walled cities in their land, as well as a large supply of horses, cattle, metals, textiles and wine, which were carried off by Ashurnasirpal. Local chiefs or governors of the Zamua region continued to be mentioned down to the end of Esarhaddon's reign after which they disappear from history.

Representations

In depictions of them, the Lullubi were represented as warlike mountain people. The Lullubi are often shown bare-chested and wearing animal skins. They had short beards and their hair was long and worn in a thick braid, as can be seen on the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin.

Rulers

The following is a list of known rulers of the Lullubi kingdom.
  1. Immashkush
  2. Anubanini he ordered to make an inscription on the rock near .
  3. Satuni
  4. Irib
  5. Darianam
  6. Ikki
  7. Tar... duni son of Ikki. His inscription is found not far from the inscription of Anubanini.
  8. Nur-Adad
  9. Zabini
  10. Hubaia vassal of Assyrians
  11. Dada
  12. Larkutla

    Lullubi rock reliefs

Various Lullubian reliefs can be seen in the area of Sar-e Pol-e Zohab, the best preserved of which is the Anubanini rock relief. They all show a ruler trampling an enemy, and most also show a deity facing the ruler. Another relief can be found about 200 meters away, in a style similar to the Anubanini relief, but this time with a beardless ruler. The attribution to a specific ruler remains uncertain.

Anubanini rock relief

Other Lullubi reliefs

Language

The language of the Lullubi is regarded as an unclassified language because it is unattested in written record. However, the term Lullubi significantly appears to be of Hurrian origin rather than Semitic or Indo-European, which had yet to arrive in the region, and the names of its known rulers have Hurrian or more rarely Semitic influence, with no trace of Indo-European influence such as Iranic or Indo-Aryan.