Shalmaneser I in Šināmu: on two aspects of a new Middle Assyrian royal inscription from Üçtepe

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Abstract

The article analyzes the historical context of the inscription of Shalmaneser I from Üçtepe published in 2022. At the end of Adad-nērārī I’s reign (1295–1264) and in the early years of Shalmaneser I (1263–1234), the city of Šināmu, now identified with Üçtepe, was controlled by the kingdom of Hanigalbat, as it is shown by the letter IBoT 1.34 from the Boǧazköy archives. According to IBoT 1.34, a certain ruler of Hanigalbat resided in Šināmu not long before the time when this text was composed. A presence in person of the king of Hanigalbat in Šināmu, a city on the Upper Tigris, far from the major centers of his land in the Habur triangle and in a close proximity to the Hittite border, reflects a tense situation on the eve of the Assyrian attack, when Hanigalbat was balancing between two powerful neighbors. A possible mention of the conquest of Carchemish by Assyria needs to be confronted with the evidence provided by KBo 18.25+ and KBo 18.28+, two other letters from the Boǧazköy archives. This evidence provided by the Üçtepe inscription supports previously advanced hypotheses about a major Hittite-Assyrian military clash during the reign of Shalmaneser I.

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Boris E. Alexandrov

HSE University

Author for correspondence.
Email: boris_alexandrov@icloud.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7295-0628

кандидат исторических наук, доцент

Russian Federation, Moscow

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