WHAT IS THE MIDDLE ASSYRIAN PERIOD?

1. A period in the history of the Assyrian Empire extending from the 14th to 12th centuries bc. In the Late Bronze Age, Assyria was dominated by the Mitanni state, but in the 14th century bc, Assyria became dominant. Ashur-uballit I created the first Assyrian Empire and initiated the Middle Assyrian period. With the help of the Hittites, he destroyed the dominion of the Aryan Mitanni (a non-Semitic people from upper Iran and Syria) and ravaged Nineveh. Later, allied with the Kassite successors in Babylonia, Ashur uballit ended Hittite and Hurrian rule. By intermarriage he then influenced the Kassite dynasty and eventually dominated all of Babylonia, thus paving the way for the Neo Assyrian mastery during the Sargonid dynasty (12th to 7th century). The succeeding Assyrian kings expanded the empire through northern Mesopotamia and the mountains to the north and briefly occupied Babylonia. Several kings weakened Assyria, but then others brought back its dominion. 2. The name of a form of cuneiform that was used extensively in writing law code and other documents. Middle Assyrian laws were found on clay tablets at Ashur (at the time of Tiglath-pileser I, 1114–1076 bc).

WHAT IS THE KUDURRU?

1. An Akkadian term meaning frontier, or boundary, for a type of boundary stone used by the Kassites of Mesopotamia. It was a stone block or slab which served as a record of a grant of land made by the king to a favored person. The original kudurrus were kept in temples, while clay copies were given to the landowners. On the stone were engraved the clauses of the contract, the images or symbols of the gods under whose protection the gift was placed, and the curse on those who violated the rights conferred. The kudurrus are important not only for economic and religious reasons but also as almost the only works of art surviving from the period of Kassite rule in Babylonia, around the 16th to 12th centuries bc. The term also applies to the 3rd millennium cuneiform documents in southern Mesopotamia that record land transfers. 2. The word also means “son,” as in personal names such as Nabu-kudurri-usur (Nebuchadnezzar).

WHAT IS THE JEMDET NASR PERIOD?

A small site between Baghdad and Babylon, near Kish, Iraq, which has given its name to a period of Mesopotamian chronology and its black-and-red painted pottery ware. The period of 3100– 2900 bc was characterized by writing in pictographs, pottery with painted designs or plum-red burnished slip, and plain pottery with beveled rims. Cylinder seals are squat and plain and a drill was used in the designs. The period is characterized by increasing populations, the development of more extensive irrigation systems, towns dominated by temples, increased use of writing and cylinder seals, more trade, and craft specialization. The period – equivalent to Uruk III of the Eanna Sounding sequence – was followed immediately by the Early Dynastic period of Sumer. A building of Jemdet Nasr date may be the oldest palace discovered in southern Mesopotamia.

WHAT IS THE HALAF?

A large tell site on the Khabur River in northeastern Syria near the Turkish border, which is the type site of an important stage of north Mesopotamian development, roughly from the 6th millennium bc to the beginning of the 5th millennium (5050–4300 bc). The distinctive pottery, known as Halaf ware, was exceptionally fine – a thin hard ware in a wide range of competent and attractive shapes bearing brilliant carpet-like designs painted in black, red, and white on the buff surface. Simple steatite stamp seals were coming into use, which imply the development of personal property. In the villages, the typical dwelling was a round house with a vaulted dome (tholos), constructed of mud brick, sometimes on stone foundations. The Halaf culture was succeeded in northern Mesopotamia by the Ubaid culture. It was the seat of an Aramaean kingdom and then a provincial capital of the Neoassyrian Empire. In 808 bc, Adad-nirari III of Assyria sacked the city and reduced the surrounding district to a province of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian archives provide valuable details of the administrative affairs of the time. It was the Old Testament “Gozan” to which the Israelites were deported in 722 bc after the capture of Samaria.

WHAT IS THE CONE MOSAIC ?

CONE MOSAIC: A type of wall decoration used in the Uruk (VI–IV) and Jemdet Nasr periods of southern Mesopotamia. Stone or baked clay cones were stuck into the surface of building facades to produce a colored mosaic geometric pattern. Examples have been found in the Eanna section of Warka.

WHAT IS THE CART ?

CART: A two-wheeled vehicle drawn by a draft animal, used throughout recorded history for the transportation of goods and people. The cart, usually drawn by a single animal, was used by the Greeks and the Assyrians by 1800 bc. However, such vehicles could have been used as early as 3500 bc as an extension of the invention of the wheel. Bronze Age finds in Heathery Burn included four nave-bands for a four-wheeled cart. La Tène two-wheeled chariots are found                                                                                           from the 3rd century bc.