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Anubanini rock relief

Main article: Anubanini rock relief

In this rock relief, Anubanini, the king of the Lullubi, puts his foot on the chest of a captive. There are 8 other captives, two of them kneeled behind the Lullubian equivalent of the Akkadian goddess Ishtar (recognisable by the four pairs of horns on her headdress and the weapons over her shoulders) and six of them standing in a lower row at the bottom of the rock relief.⁷⁸ He is faced by goddess Nini/Innana/Ishtar, and it is thought that he may have claimed divinity, like several rulers after the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur.⁹¹⁰¹¹

This rock relief is very similar to the Behistun Inscription and may have influenced it.¹²

In the inscription in Akkadian script and language, he declares himself as the mighty king of Lullubium, who had set up his image as well as that of Ishtar on mount Batir, and calls on various deities to preserve his monument:¹³

Anubanini, the mighty king, king of Lullubum, erected an image of himself and an image of Ishtar in the Mountains of Batir... (follows a lengthy curse formula invoking deities Anu, Antum, Enlil, Ninlil, Adad, Ishtar, Sin and Shamash to preserve his monument)

— Akkadian language inscription of the Anubanini relief.¹⁴¹⁵

Raids on Guthium, Elam, and Babylonian territory

Some later legends, such as the Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin, describe a king Anubanini during the reign of Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218 BCE), who used to raid the fertile lands of the Babylonian plain from his mountain territory on the eastern frontier.¹⁶ The epic Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin claims Gutium and Elam among the lands raided by the hordes led by Anubanini.¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹ According to this account Anubanini was only stopped at the shores of the Persian Gulf.²⁰

"Warriors with bodies of “cave birds”, a race with ravens’ faces (...) in the midst of the Mountain they grew up, came to manhood and acquired their stature. Seven kings, brothers, glorious and noble, their troops numbered 360,000. Their father was Anubanini the king, their mother the queen, Melili was her name. (...) They devastated Gutium and invaded the land of Elam"

— The Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin (extracts), translation Oliver Gurney.²¹

Depictions

References

1. Maspero, Gaston (1870). Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes. p. 108. https://archive.org/details/recueildetravau02unkngoog ↩

2. Baring, Anne; Cashford, Jules (1993). The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image. Penguin UK. p. 338. ISBN 9780141941400. 9780141941400 ↩

3. Frayne, Douglas (1990). Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 BC). University of Toronto Press. p. 704. ISBN 9780802058737. 9780802058737 ↩

4. Potts, D. T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780521564960. 9780521564960 ↩

5. Osborne, James F. (2014). Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. SUNY Press. p. 123. ISBN 9781438453255. 9781438453255 ↩

6. Hall, Harry R. (1932). The Ancient History of the Near East: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Salamis. Meuthen & Company Limited. pp. 186–210. https://books.google.com/books?id=V4ZCAAAAYAAJ ↩

7. Potts, D. T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780521564960. 9780521564960 ↩

8. Osborne, James F. (2014). Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. SUNY Press. p. 123. ISBN 9781438453255. 9781438453255 ↩

9. Steinkeller, Piotr (2017). History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 153–154 Note 422. ISBN 9781501504778. 9781501504778 ↩

10. Frayne, Douglas (1990). Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 BC). University of Toronto Press. p. 704. ISBN 9780802058737. 9780802058737 ↩

11. Potts, D. T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780521564960. 9780521564960 ↩

12. Potts, D. T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780521564960. 9780521564960 ↩

13. Cameron, George G. (1936). History of Early Iran (PDF). The University of Chicago Press. p. 41. https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/history_early_iran.pdf ↩

14. Osborne, James F. (2014). Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. SUNY Press. p. 123. ISBN 9781438453255. 9781438453255 ↩

15. Cameron, George G. (1936). History of Early Iran (PDF). The University of Chicago Press. p. 35. https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/history_early_iran.pdf ↩

16. Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 443-444. ISBN 9780521077910. 9780521077910 ↩

17. Rainey, Brian (2018). Religion, Ethnicity and Xenophobia in the Bible: A Theoretical, Exegetical and Theological Survey. Routledge. p. 134. ISBN 9781351260428. 9781351260428 ↩

18. Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 443-444. ISBN 9780521077910. 9780521077910 ↩

19. Ebeling, Erich; Meissner, Bruno; Weidner, Ernst; Edzard, Dietz Otto (1928). Reallexikon D Assyriologie Bd 3 Cplt Ae Geb ** (in German). W. de Gruyter. p. 709. ISBN 9783110037050. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) 9783110037050 ↩

20. Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 443-444. ISBN 9780521077910. 9780521077910 ↩

21. Gurney, Oliver Robert (1955). Anatolian studies, Vol 5 (PDF). pp. 99–111. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220218111228/http://www.archaeowiki.site/images/5/59/Vol_5_1955.pdf ↩