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Gutian people

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"Gutians" redirects here. Not to be confused with Gutian.
For people from the Gutian County of Ningde, Fujian, China, see Fuzhou people.
Gutians
Tablet of Lugalanatum
"Gutium"
Approximate location of Gutium
Top: An inscription dated c. 2130 BC, mentioning the Gutians: "Lugalanatum, prince of Umma ... built the E.GIDRU [Sceptre] Temple at Umma, buried his foundation deposit [and] regulated the orders. At that time, Siium was king of Gutium." The name 𒄖𒋾𒌝𒆠, gu-ti-umKI appears in the last column. Louvre Museum.
Bottom: Approximate location of original Gutium territory

The Guti (/ˈɡuːti/), also known by the derived exonyms Gutians or Guteans, were a people of the ancient Near East who both appeared and disappeared during the Bronze Age. Their homeland was known as Gutium (Sumerian: 𒄖𒌅𒌝𒆠, GutūmKI or 𒄖𒋾𒌝𒆠, GutiumKI).[1][2] Conflict between people from Gutium and the Akkadian Empire has been linked to the collapse of the empire, towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC. The Guti subsequently overran southern Mesopotamia and formed the short lived Gutian dynasty of Sumer. The Sumerian king list suggests that the Guti ruled over Sumer for several generations following the fall of the Akkadian Empire.[3]

By the mid 1st millennium BC, usage of the name Gutium, by the peoples of lowland Mesopotamia, had expanded to include all of northwestern Iran, between the Zagros Mountains and the Tigris River. Various tribes and places to the east and northeast, regardless of ethnicity, were often referred to as Gutians or Gutium.[4] For example, Assyrian royal annals use the term Gutians in relation to populations known to have been Medes or Mannaeans. As late as the reign of Cyrus the Great of Persia, the famous general Gubaru (Gobryas) was described as the "governor of Gutium".[5]

Origin

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The Gutians capturing a Babylonian city, as Akkadians are making a stand outside their city. 19th century illustration.

Little is known of the origins, material culture or language of the Guti, as contemporary sources provide few details and no artifacts have been positively identified.[6] As the Gutian language lacks a text corpus, apart from some proper names, its similarities to other languages are impossible to verify. The names of Gutian kings suggest that the language was not closely related to any languages of the region, including Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, Hittite, and Elamite. Most scholars reject the attempt to link Gutian king names to Indo-European languages.[7]

History

[edit]

25th to 23rd centuries BC

[edit]
King Anubanini of Lullubi, holding an axe and a bow, trampling a foe. Anubanini rock relief, circa 2300-2000 BC. Sar-I Pul, Iran.[8] The Gutians "were close neighbours, hardly to be distinguished" from the Lullubi.[9]

The Guti appear in texts from Old Babylonian copies of inscriptions ascribed to Lugal-Anne-Mundu (fl. circa 25th century BC) of Adab as among the nations providing his empire tribute. These inscriptions locate them between Subartu in the north, and Marhashe and Elam in the south.

Sargon the Great (r. circa 2340 – 2284 BC) also mentions them among his subject lands, listing them between Lullubi, Armanum and Akkad to the north; Nikku and Der to the south. According to one stele, Naram-Sin of Akkad's army of 360,000 soldiers defeated the Gutian king Gula'an, despite having 90,000 slain by the Gutians.

The epic Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin claims Gutium among the lands raided by Annubanini of Lulubum during the reign of Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218 BC).[10] Contemporary year-names for Shar-kali-sharri of Akkad indicate that in one unknown year of his reign, Shar-kali-sharri captured Sharlag king of Gutium, while in another year, "the yoke was imposed on Gutium".[11]

Prominence during the early 22nd century BC

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See also: Gutian rule in Mesopotamia and Sumerian King List
La-erabum, "Great King of Gutiim"
Votive macehead of Gutian king La-erabum, and its inscription "La-eraab, great King of Gutiim" (𒆷𒂍𒊏𒀊 𒁕𒈝 𒈗 𒄖𒋾𒅎 la-e-ra-ab da-num lugal gutiim). The name is quite damaged, and was initially read "Lasiraab".[12] British Museum (BM 90852)

During the Akkadian Empire period the Gutians slowly grew in strength and then established a capital at the Early Dynastic city of Adab.[13] The Gutians eventually overran Akkad, and as the King List tells us, their army also subdued Uruk for hegemony of Sumer, in about 2147–2050 BC. However, it seems that autonomous rulers soon arose again in a number of city-states, notably Gudea of Lagash.

The Gutians seem also to have briefly overrun Elam at around the same time, towards the close of Kutik-Inshushinak's reign (c. 2100 BC).[14] On a statue of the Gutian king Erridupizir at Nippur, an inscription imitates his Akkadian predecessors, styling him "King of Gutium, King of the Four Quarters".

The Weidner Chronicle (written c. 500 BC), portrays the Gutian kings as uncultured and uncouth:

Naram-Sin destroyed the people of Babylon, so twice Marduk summoned the forces of Gutium against him. Marduk gave his kingship to the Gutian force. The Gutians were unhappy people unaware how to revere the gods, ignorant of the right cultic practices. Utu-hengal, the fisherman, caught a fish at the edge of the sea for an offering. That fish should not be offered to another god until it had been offered to Marduk, but the Gutians took the boiled fish from his hand before it was offered, so by his august command, Marduk removed the Gutian force from the rule of his land and gave it to Utu-hengal.

Decline from the late 22nd century BC onwards

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Utu-Khegal, Prince of the Sumerian city of Uruk, praying for victory against the Gutian king Tirigan.

The Sumerian ruler Utu-hengal, Prince of the Sumerian city of Uruk is similarly credited on the King List with defeating the Gutian ruler Tirigan, and removing the Guti from the country in circa 2050 BC (short chronology).[15]

In his Victory Stele, Utu-hengal wrote about the Gutians:

Utu-hengal victory stele, where he describes the Gutians he vanquished as "the fanged snake of the mountain ranges". Louvre Museum, AO 6018.[16]

Gutium, the fanged snake of the mountain ranges, a people who acted violently against the gods, people who the kingship of Sumer to the mountains took away, who Sumer with wickedness filled, who from one with a wife his wife took away from him, who from one with a child his child took away from him, who wickedness and violence produced within the country..."

— Victory Stele of Utu-Hengal[16][17]

Following this, Ur-Nammu of Ur ordered the destruction of Gutium. The year 11 of king Ur-Nammu also mentions "Year Gutium was destroyed".[18] However, according to a Sumerian epic, Ur-Nammu died in battle with the Gutians, after having been abandoned by his own army.

A Babylonian text from the early 2nd millennium refers to the Guti as having a "human face, dogs’ cunning, [and] monkey's build".[19] Some biblical scholars believe that the Guti may be the Qoa, named with the Shoa and Pekod as enemies of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 23:23,[20] which was probably written in the 6th century BC.

History of Greater Iran
Pre-Islamic
BCE / BC
Prehistory
Kura–Araxes culture c. 3400 – c. 2000
Helmand culture/Jiroft culture 3300-2200
Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800
Elamite dynasties 2800–550
Lullubi/Zamua 3100-675
Marhaši 2550-2020
Bactria–Margiana Complex 2400–1700
Gutian Dynasty 2141-2050
Avestan period c. 1500 BCE – 500 BCE
Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th century
Neo-Assyrian Empire 911–609
Urartu 860–590
Median Empire 728–550
Scythian Kingdom 652–625
Achaemenid Empire 550–330
Ancient kingdom of Armenia 331 BCE – 428 CE
Seleucid Empire 330–150
Caucasian Iberia c. 302 BCE – 580 CE
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250–125
Parthian Empire 248 BCE–224 CE
Caucasian Albania 2nd century BCE –
8th century CE
Roman Empire 27 BCE – 330 CE
CE / AD
Kushan Empire 30–275
Sasanian Empire 224–651
Afrighid dynasty 305–995
Hephthalite Empire 425–557
Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879
Dabuyid dynasty 642–760
Bagratid Armenia 880s – 1045
Alania 8th/9th century – 1238 / 9
Kingdom of Georgia 1008–1490
Islamic
Rashidun Caliphate 637–651
Umayyad Caliphate 661–750
Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258
Shirvanshah 799–1607
Tahirid dynasty 821–873
Dulafid dynasty 840–897
Zaydis of Tabaristan 864–928
Saffarid dynasty 861–1003
Samanid Empire 819–999
Sajid dynasty 889/90–929
Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043
Buyid dynasty 934–1055
Sallarid dynasty 941–1062
Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187
Ghurid dynasty pre-879 – 1215
Seljuk Empire 1037–1194
Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231
Sultanate of Rum 1077–1307
Salghurids 1148–1282
Ilkhanate 1256–1353
Kart dynasty 1231–1389
Ottoman Empire 1299–1923
Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393
Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357
Jalairid Sultanate 1339–1432
Timurid Empire 1370–1507
Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468
Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508
Safavid Empire 1501–1722
Mughal Empire 1526–1857
Hotak dynasty 1722–1729
Afsharid Iran 1736–1750
Zand dynasty 1750–1794
Durrani Empire 1794–1826
Qajar Iran 1794–1925

References

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  1. ^ "The Sumerian King List line 308". ETCSL. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  2. ^ "The Cursing of Agade". ETCSL. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Sumerian king list page 18". ETCSL.
  4. ^ Parpola, S., "Neo-Assyrian Toponyms", (AOAT 6). Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn: Butzon & Bercker and Neukirchener Verlag, 1970
  5. ^ Oppenheim, A. Leo, "VIII. Assyrian and Babylonian Historical Texts", The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, edited by James B. Pritchard, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 246-286, 2011
  6. ^ Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie L. (2004). The Indo-Aryan Controversy. Routledge. ISBN 9780700714636.
  7. ^ Mallory, J.P.; Mair, Victor H. (2000). The Tarim Mummies. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 281–282. ISBN 978-0-500-05101-6.
  8. ^ Osborne, James F. (2014). Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. SUNY Press. p. 123. ISBN 9781438453255.
  9. ^ Edwards, I. E. S.; Gadd, C. J.; Hammond, N. G. L. (1971). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-521-07791-0.
  10. ^ Ebling, Bruno Erich (1928). Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie [Encyclopedia of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology] (in German). W. de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110037050.
  11. ^ "Year-names for Sharkalisharri". University of California Los Angeles.
  12. ^ The Sumerian Kings List (PDF). p. 119, note 305.
  13. ^ [1]M. Molina, "The palace of Adab during the Sargonic period", D. Wicke (ed.), Der Palast im antiken und islamischen Orient, Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 9, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2019, pp. 151-20
  14. ^ Sicker, Martin (2000). The Pre-Islamic Middle East. p. 19.
  15. ^ "The victory of Utu-ḫeĝal". ETCSL.
  16. ^ a b Full transcription and translation in: "CDLI-Found Texts". cdli.ucla.edu.
  17. ^ Thureau-Dangin, Fr. (1912). "La Fin de la Domination Gutienne" [The End of Gutian Domination]. Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale (in French). 9 (3): 111–120. ISSN 0373-6032. JSTOR 23283609.
  18. ^ "Year names of Ur-Nammu". cdli.ucla.edu.
  19. ^ Ansky, S.. "The Cursing of Akkade". The Harps that Once..., edited by David G. Roskies, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 359-374, 1992
  20. ^ See, for example, Douglas, J. D.; Tenney, Merrill C. (2011). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.). HarperCollins. p. 1897.
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