Project Group C: Control and Attachment, Project C6

Nomadic and Sedentary Peoples –
Northern Mesopotamia in the Arsacid and Sasanian Periods

Programme

Co-existance between nomadic and sedentary peoples and their political and economic interdependency are fundamentals in northern Mesopotamian history. The region is marked by a north-south gradual transition from areas suitable for dry farming to arid steppe where nomadic pastoralism is the only viable form of life. The exact borders between the different uses of land and the terms of exchange between sedentary and nomadic peoples vary in relation to ecological, economic and political developments. Project C6 analyses the complex interplay of these factors during the Arsacid and Sasanian periods (2nd century BC to 7th century AD).

In the first phase, which started in February 2003, the project concentrates on the development of the city of Hatra as center of a political unit based on nomadic tribes, at the fringes of the steppe as well as on the border between the Arsacid and the Roman empires. The city was established during the first century AD and developed into a major center for the wider region in the second century. Its importance is illustrated by the repeated failed attempts of Roman emperors (Trajan, Septimius Severus) to conquer the city. Starting between 161 and 166 the local ruler at Hatra is called 'King of the Arabs'. The meaning of the title as well as the question whether it was bestowed on Hatra's ruler or implicates independence are still debated. The project first discusses the reasons which led to the foundation and expansion of the city as result of economic and political interaction between nomads, sedentary agriculturalists in neighbouring areas, and the central state. Second it adresses the question of relations between the city, the 'King of the Arabs' and the territorial powers, particularly the Arsacid empire. The role of Hatra as dimorphic link between nomads and state will be evaluated.

An important factor to be considered is the changing land use in the hinterland of Hatra. Archaeological survey in the eastern Jazira showed a high number of settlements belonging to the Arsacid period, some of them of enormous size, in areas of the steppe where current climate does not offer subsistance opportunities. There is no comparable settlement during the Sasanian period. Instead a large number of new cities and villages appear on the river Tigris and in the areas suitable for dry farming further north. Obviously, the steppe fell back to pastoralists. As there is no clear evidence for any major climatic change in the last two thousand years, we have look for humanly induced conditions for the drastic changes in settlement distribution and land use. This question will be addressed in combination of written and archaeological sources, not the least by intense archaeological and geomorphological survey in the area, supplemented by detailed analysis of satellite images during the planned second phase of the project. Furthermore the investigation is extended into a comparison of the situation at Hatra with Palmyra and al-Hira. The multiplicity of sources and methods shall serve to describe as example the processes of the development of hierarchies within tribes and tribal confederations, the process of sedentarization and the differing concepts of land use typical for the interaction of steppe, land and city and their different dwellers at the margins of territorial states.

Publications

Prof. Dr. Gunnar Brands

Pilgerfahrt und Wallfahrtsstätten im spätantiken Orient. In: S. Gralla (ed.): Oriens Christianus. Geschichte und Gegenwart des nahöstlichen Christentums. Münster 2003 (Villigst Profile 1), 15 ff.

with H.-G. Severin: Die spätantike Stadt und ihre Christianisierung. Wiesbaden 2003.

Die Bauornamentik von Resafa-Sergiupolis. Studien zur spätantiken Architektur und Bauausstattung in Syrien und Nordmesopotamien. Mainz 2002 (Resafa VI).

Anmerkungen zu spätantiken Bodenmosaiken aus Nordsyrien. In: Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 45 (2002). In print.

Die Entstehung einer Stadt. In: U. Peschlow/S. Möllers (eds.): Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichte und Christlichen Archäologie 19. Stuttgart 1998, 59 ff.

Der sogenannte Audienzsaal des al-Mundhir in Resafa. In: Damaszener Mitteilungen 10 (1998), 211 ff.

Ein spätantikes Bronzegewicht im Yemen. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger 1998, 483 ff.

with W. Hoepfner: Basileia – Die Paläste der Hellenistischen Könige. Mainz 1996.

Prof. Dr. Felix Blocher

Chronological Aspects of the Karum Period. In: M. Bietak (ed.): The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd Millennium B.C. II. Wien 2003, 377–382.

Assyrische Würdenträger und Gouverneure im 9. und 8. Jh. v. Chr. Eine Neubewertung ihrer Rolle. In: Altorientalische Forschungen 28 (2001), 298–324.

Nachlese zur Ikonographie des Mondgottes. Nabonids Stele aus Harran (H1B). In: R. M. Boehmer/J. Maran (eds.): Lux Orientis. Archäologie zwischen Asien und und Europa. Festschrift für Harald Hauptmann. Rahden 2001, 45–50.

Sealing Tablets in Early Second-Millennium Babylonia. Wealth and Significance of the Yale Babylonian Collection. In: W. W. Hallo/I. J. Winter (eds.): Seals and Seal Impressions II. Bethesda 2000, 133–148.

mit D. Machule/P. Werner: Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Tall Munbaqa/Ekalte 1999. In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 132 (2000), 123–131.

mit D. Prechel: Eine Tontafel aus der Antikensammlung Bassermann-Jordan. In: Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians 10 (1999), 379–392.

Wann wurde Puzur-Eschtar zum Gott? In: J. Renger (ed.): Babylon. Focus mesopotamischer Geschichte, Wiege früher Gelehrsamkeit, Mythos in der Moderne. Saarbrücken 1999 (Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 2), 253–269.

Der Thronsaal Sargons II. – Gestalt und Schicksal. In: Altorientalische Forschungen 26 (1999), 223–250.

Siegelabrollungen auf frühaltbabylonischen Tontafeln in der Yale Babylonian Collection. Ein Katalog. München 1992.

Siegelabrollungen auf frühaltbabylonischen Tontafeln im British Museum. Ein Katalog. München 1992.

Dr. Stefan R. Hauser

with A. C. Gunter (ed.): Ernst Herzfeld and the Development of Near Eastern Studies, 1900–1950. Leiden (im Druck). Darin: (a) Introduction. The Development of Near Eastern Studies up to 1950; (b) History, Races, and Orientalism – Eduard Meyer, the Organization of Oriental Research, and Herzfeld's Intellectual Heritage.

German Studies in the Ancient Near East in their Relation to Political and Economic Interests from the Kaiserreich to World War II. In: W. G. Schwanitz (ed.): Germany and the Middle East, 1919–1945. Princeton 2003 (Princeton Papers 11). Deutsch in: Comparativ 1/2004 (im Druck).

Archäologische Zeugnisse des Christentums im Sasanidenreich. Ein kritischer Überblick über die Evidenz und methodische Probleme der Erkenntnismöglichkeiten. In: J. Tubach/A. Mustafa (eds.): Inkulturation des Christentums im Sasanidenreich. Wiesbaden (in print).

"Greek in Subject and Style, but a little Distorted". Zum Verhältnis von Orient und Okzident in der Altertumswissenschaft. In: S. Altekamp/M. Hofter/M. Krumme (eds.): Posthumanistische Klassische Archäologie. München 2001, 83–104.

Orientalismus. In: Der Neue Pauly. Bd. 15/1. Stuttgart/Weimar 2001, Sp. 1233–1243.

Babylon in der Arsakidenzeit. In: J. Renger (ed.): Babylon – Focus mesopotamischer Geschichte, Wiege früher Gelehrsamkeit, Mythos in der Moderne. Saarbrücken 2000 (CDOG 2), 207–239.

Zur Datierung der arsakidischen Tetradrachmen. In: R. Dittmann u. a. (eds.): Variatio delectat. Iran und der Westen. Münster 2000, 321–342.

Ecological Borders and Political Frontiers. The Eastern Jazirah in the Later Preislamic Period. In: L. Milano u. a. (eds.): Landscapes – Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East. Bd. 2. Padua 2000, 187–201.

Archäologische Methoden. In: Der Neue Pauly. Bd. 13. Stuttgart/Weimar 1999, Sp. 201–216.

Hatra und das Königreich der Araber. In: J. Wiesehöfer (ed.): Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse. 1998 (Historia Einzelschriften 122), 493–528.