Aštarte
From ArchaeoWiki
| Representative writings and transliterations | |
|---|---|
| Akkadian | Aštarte / Aštarti |
| Egyptian | |
| NW Semitic | |
| Greek | |
| Latin | |
| Arabic | Tell ʿAštara |
| Other | Ashtaroth |
| Contemporary | Tell ʿAštara |
The cuneiform toponym Aštarte refers to a city-state and territory in the Bashan region of the Transjordan, subject to Egypt during the Amarna Period at least. Aštarte is commonly identified with the site of Tell ʿAštara.
Contents |
Documentation
The toponym Aštarte appears twice in the Amarna Letters, each time in secondary sources.
Primary
- EA 364 - Ayyab to Pharaoh
Secondary
Leadership
Although nowhere in the sources is anyone explicitly named as the ruler of Aštarte, two individuals are nonetheless posited as rulers of Aštartu in the Amarna period:
- Ayyab [A-ia-ab, EA 256:6, 13; EA 364:2]
- Biridašwa [Bi-ri-da-aš-wa, EA 196:41; EA 197, 7, 15, 33] (Amarna period, late 14th century BCE)
Though both rulers were active during the reign of the sons of Labaʾya, Biridašwa likely succeeded Ayyab, being mentioned in two letters of Birywaza which are generally dated towards the end of Akhenaten's reign[1].
Discussion
Long identified with Tell ʿAštara [Albright 1925:15; Alt 1933:21; Abou Assaf 1968, 1969].
Observations
EA 364:17-20 reveals the existence of territorial conflict between Aštarte and the kingdom of Ḫaṣura in the Amarna Period at least, Ayyab claiming that the ruler of Ḫaṣura had taken three cities from him.
Notes
- ↑ Campbell 1964:124; Redford 1967:218ff; Naʾaman 1975:54, 111
Bibliography
- Abou Assaf, Ali [1968], “Tell ʿAschtara in Südsyrien: Erste Kampagne 1966”, AAS 18 (1968), pp.103-122.
- [1969], “Tell ʿAschtara 2. Kampagne 1967”, AAS 19 (1969), pp.101-108.
- Albright, William F. [1925], “Bronze Age Mounds of Northern Palestine and the Hauran: The Spring Trip of the School in Jerusalem”, BASOR 19 (1925), pp.5-19.
- Alt, Albrecht [1933], “Das Institut in Jahre 1932”, PJB 29 (1933), pp.5-29.
- Galil, Gershon [1998], “Ashtaroth in the Amarna Period”, in Izreʾel, Sh., Singer, I. & Zadok, R. (eds), Past Links: Studies in the Languages and Cultures of the Ancient Near East (Dedicated to Anson F. Rainey), [Israel Oriental Studies XVIII], Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp.372-385. ISBN 1575060353
- Naʾaman, Nadav, "Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the Kāmid el-Lōz ʿApiru Letters", UF 20 (1988), pp.179-193.
