View source for Shupria

{{short description|Ancient kingdom in the southern Armenian highlands}}
{{History of Armenia|expanded=age1|BC=1}}
'''Shubria''' or '''Shupria''' was a kingdom in the southern [[Armenian highlands]], known from [[Assyria]]n sources in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. It was located north of the upper [[Tigris|Tigris River]] and to the southwest of [[Lake Van]], extending eastwards to the frontiers of [[Urartu]]. It appears in the 1st millennium BC as an independent kingdom, succeeding the people earlier called [[Subartu|Shubaru]] in Assyrian sources in the later centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. It was located between the powerful states of Assyria and Urartu and came into conflict with both. It was conquered by Assyria in 673–672 BC but likely regained its independence towards the end of the 7th century BC with the collapse of Assyrian power.
Some scholars have concluded from the [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] etymology of some Shubrian names that Shubria was mainly populated by [[Hurrians]]. Some have suggested that it was the last remnant of Hurrian civilization, or even constituted the original homeland of the Hurrians. However, other Shubrian names have been identified as Aramean by origin. Bradley J. Parker writes that the existing evidence indicates that Shubria had a heterogeneous population including Hurrians, Arameans, and likely also Urartians, Assyrians and others. According to some scholars, Shubria was inhabited, at least in part, by speakers of the [[Proto-Armenian language]] and played an important role in the formation of the later Armenian state and ethnic group.
== Geography and toponyms==
The name ''Shubria'' is related to the older term ''[[Subartu|Subartu(m)]]'' (''Shubartu(m)'', ''Subir'', ''Subar(u)''), which had varying geographical and ethnic or cultural associations that transformed over time.<ref name="Subartu">{{Cite book |editor-last=Bryce |editor-first=Trevor|first=H. D.|last=Baker|chapter=Subartu(m) |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire |date=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-39485-7 |pages=663–665 |language=en}}</ref> This term dates back to Sumerian times, when it appears to have been used to describe an area corresponding to [[Upper Mesopotamia]] and the southern Armenian highlands.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Petrosyan |first=Armen |date=2007 |title=The Problem of Identification of the Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review |journal=Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies |volume=16 |pages=44}}</ref> In Babylonian texts, ''Subartu'' and ''Subarians'' refers to [[Assyria]] and the Assyrians. After the destruction of the [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] kingdom of [[Mitanni]] by the [[Hittites]] in the third quarter of the 14th century BC, the term Shubaru was used in Assyrian sources to refer to the remnants of the Mitanni in the upper Tigris valley.<ref name="Subartu"/> In [[Igor M. Diakonoff|Igor Diakonoff's]] view, the ending ''-ia'' in ''Shubria'' cannot be native Akkadian and probably indicates that the term was borrowed or reborrowed from [[Urartian language|Urartian]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Diakonoff |first=I. M. |author-link=Igor M. Diakonoff |url=https://archive.org/details/prehistoryofarme0000diak |title=The Pre-History of the Armenian People |publisher=Caravan Books |year=1984 |isbn=9780882060392 |location=Delmar, N.Y. |pages=92, 166-167, n. 151 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
Shubria was located south of modern-day [[Muş]], Turkey, north of the upper [[Tigris|Tigris River]] and to the southwest of [[Lake Van]], extending eastwards to the frontiers of [[Urartu]]. It was located near the northern frontier of the [[Assyria|Assyrian Empire]], across the Tigris from [[Tushhan]] and east of the land of Dirru.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |editor-last=Bryce |editor-first=Trevor|first=H. D.|last=Baker|chapter=Shubria |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QD9GrxiILH8C&dq=Shubria+OR+Shubria+OR+%C5%A0ubria+OR+%C5%A0upria&pg=PA646 |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire |date=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-39485-7 |pages=646 |language=en}}</ref> Geographically, its core district corresponds to the later Armenian region of [[Sasun (historical region)|Sasun]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petrosyan |first=Armen |url=https://www.academia.edu/3656244 |title=The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic |publisher=Institute for the Study of Man |year=2002 |isbn=9780941694810 |place=Washington, D.C. |pages=5–6}}</ref> The capital of Shubria was called Ubbumu<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grayson |first=Albert Kirk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ydcGZA6k5nwC&pg=PA263 |title=Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles |date=2000 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-049-1 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ydcGZA6k5nwC&pg=PA263 263] |language=en}}</ref> (also spelled Uppumu).<ref name=":0" /> This city may have been located at modern-day [[Lice, Turkey]], with its name likely preserved in the name of the nearby hamlet of [[Kumluca, Lice|Fum]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kessler |first=K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IaoMAQAAMAAJ&q=Fum |title=Neo-Assyrian Geography |date=1995 |publisher=Università di Roma "La Sapienza" |editor-last=Liverani |editor-first=Mario |pages=57 |language=en |chapter=Šubria, Urartu and Aššur: Topographical Questions Around the Tigris Sources}}</ref> Its other main city was Kullimeri, which may have been located at the mound known as Gre Migro in the [[Batman River]] valley.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Bradley J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-2dQgAACAAJ&q=The+Mechanics+of+Empire+pdf |title=The Mechanics of Empire: The Northern Frontier of Assyria as a Case Study in Imperial Dynamics |date=2001 |publisher=Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project |isbn=978-951-45-9052-8 |location=Helsinki |pages=230–231 |language=en}}</ref> The Urartians referred to Shubria as Qulmeri, after Kullimeri.<ref name="Radner">{{Cite journal |last=Radner |first=Karen |date=2012 |title=Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Musasir, Kumme, Ukku and Šubria – the Buffer States between Assyria and Urartu. |url=https://www.academia.edu/1236294 |journal=[[Acta Iranica]] |volume=51 |page=260}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Diakonoff |first1=Igor M. |author-link=Igor M. Diakonoff |url= |title=Geographical Names According to Urartian Texts |last2=Kashkai |first2=S. M. |publisher=L. Reichert |year=1981 |isbn=978-3-88226-119-6 |location=Weisbaden |pages=69}}</ref> ''Kullimeri'' may also be the origin of the biblical ''klmd'' (from a putative original *''klmr''), which is mentioned in Ezekiel 27:23 as one of the trading partners of Tyre and is normally read as ''Kilmad'' or ''Chilmad''. In the view of some scholars, ''Qulmeri'' is the most likely candidate for the native name of Shubria.<ref name="Radner" />
The lands of Arme and Urmiu{{Efn|According to Diakonoff, the common reading ''Urme'' is incorrect.<ref name=Diakonoff81>Diakonoff & Kashkai, ''Geographical Names According to Urartian Texts'', pp. 95–96.</ref>}} (''Urumu'' in Assyrian sources, land of the [[Urumeans]]) are mentioned in different Urartian inscriptions from the time of [[Sarduri II]]. [[Giorgi Melikishvili]] identifies Urmiu with Shubria—a name which does not appear in Urartian inscriptions—and places Arme further west.<ref name=":5" /> Igor Diakonoff once considered it likely that Arme and Urmiu were the same land and referred to Shubria as Urme- or Arme-Shubria.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Diakonoff |first=I. M. |author-link=Igor M. Diakonoff |title=Predystoriia armianskogo naroda |publisher=Izdatel'stvo AN Armianskoĭ SSR |year=1968 |location=Yerevan |pages=138, n. 284 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Предыстория армянского народа }}</ref>{{Efn|Arme and Shubria were also identified with each other by [[Boris Piotrovsky]]<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 130.</ref> and [[Suren Yeremian]].<ref name="Yeremian"/> Yeremian theorized that the Urumeans were Proto-Armenian speakers from [[Hayasa-Azzi|Hayasa]] or nearby who migrated south in the 12th century BC, founding the country of Urumu/Urme/Arme and later merging with Hurrian Shubria to form the core of the future Armenian state and people.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 120.</ref>}} However, in a later version of his work, Diakonoff writes that "there is good reason to believe that [Urmiu] lay to the east of Šubria," while Urartian ''Arme'' may have simply meant "Aramaic-speaking country," indicating the area between [[Diyarbakır|Amid]] (modern Diyarbakır) and the upper Tigris where the [[Aramaic]] and [[Proto-Armenian language|Proto-Armenian]] linguistic zones met.<ref name=":5" />
== History ==
After the destruction of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni by the Hittites in the third quarter of the 14th century BC, the term Shubaru was used to refer to the remnants of the Mitanni in the upper Tigris valley. The [[Middle Assyrian Empire|Middle Assyrian]] kings [[Adad-nirari I]], [[Shalmaneser I]], and [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] claimed to have defeated the Shubaru/Subarians.<ref name="Subartu"/> After the Hurrian king [[Shattuara]] of Mitanni-Khanigalbat was defeated by Adad-nirari I in the early 13th century BC, he appears to have become ruler of a reduced vassal state, Subartu.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Munn-Rankin |first=J. M. |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1975 |isbn=0-521-08691-4 |editor-last=Edwards |editor-first=I. E. S. |edition=3rd |volume=II, part 2 |pages=276 |chapter=Assyrian Military Power 1300–1200 B.C. |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521086912 |editor-last2=Gadd |editor-first2=C. J. |editor-last3=Hammond |editor-first3=N. G. L. |editor-last4=Sollberger |editor-first4=E.}}</ref> The Subarian peoples continued to revolt against Assyrian rule; for example, the Assyrian king [[Tiglath-Pileser I]] ({{reign|1114|1076|era=BC}}) fought against the "unsubmissive Shubaru" early in his reign.<ref name="Subartu"/>
In the 1st millennium BC, Shubria, the continuation of the earlier Subartu,<ref name="Subartu" /> appears as an independent kingdom occupying a difficult geopolitical position: it was wedged between two great powers of Assyria and [[Urartu]]. The king of Shubria, Anhitti, is recorded as presenting tribute to King [[Ashurnasirpal II]] of Assyria ({{reign|883|859|era=BC}}); here, the older name ''Shubaru'' is used.<ref name=":0"/> In 854 BC, Ashurnasirpal's successor [[Shalmaneser III]] captured Shubrian cities and forced Anhitti to submit and pay tribute.<ref name="OH1">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Heather D. |url= |title=The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-19-068763-2 |editor-last=Radner |editor-first=Karen |edition=1 |volume=IV |pages=257–C38P353 |chapter=The Assyrian Empire: A View from Within |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190687632.003.0038 |access-date=2024-05-06 |editor2-last=Moeller |editor2-first=Nadine |editor3-last=Potts |editor3-first=D. T. |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/45752/chapter/398233383}}</ref> Assyrian letters indicate that Shubria was under Urartian rule during the reign of [[Rusa I]] ({{Reign|735|713|era=BC}}). It likely acquired its independence after the Urartians under Rusa were defeated by Assyria under [[Sargon II]] in 714 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkisian |first=D. N. |url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/372547/edition/342648?language=en |title=Strana Shubriia |publisher=Izdatel'stvo AN Armianskoĭ SSR |year=1989 |location=Yerevan |pages=42 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Страна Шубрия |trans-title=''The country of Shubria'' |via=Pan-Armenian Digital Library}}</ref>
From the late 8th century BC, Shubria successfully preserved its independence, disregarding the interests of Urartu and Assyria. The Shubrian king frequently received refugees and fugitives from Urartu and Assyria and refused to extradite them. This included commoners escaping military or labor obligations. During the reign of [[Esarhaddon]] of Assyria, high-ranking military and civil officials, as well as criminals, also found refuge in Shubria.<ref name="Grekyan" /> This practice of providing sanctuary to refugees and fugitives may have been rooted in religious tradition.<ref name=":4" /> In 673–672 BC, Esarhaddon invaded and conquered Shubria.<ref name="Grekyan">{{Cite book |last=Grekyan |first=Yervand |url= |title=The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-19-068763-2 |editor-last=Radner |editor-first=Karen |volume=IV |pages=800–801 |chapter=The Kingdom of Urartu |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190687632.003.0044 |editor2-last=Moeller |editor2-first=Nadine |editor3-last=Potts |editor3-first=D. T. |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/45752/chapter/398240136}}</ref> This conquest is recorded in a letter from Esarhaddon to the god [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]], which is partially preserved on two tablets. According to the letter, the Shubrian ruler Ik-Teshub<ref>Radner, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," p. 262.</ref> rejected Esarhaddon's demand to extradite Assyrian fugitives (possibly conspirators involved in the assassination of Esarhaddon's father [[Sennacherib]]),<ref name=":0" /> after which the Assyrians besieged Uppumu. The Shubrian king tried to surrender, but Esarhaddon ignored his pleas and conquered the Shubrian cities, taking many captives. After this, Shubria was ruled as two Assyrian provinces: Kullimeri and Uppumu.<ref name="Baker317">Baker, "The Assyrian Empire," pp. 317–318.</ref> Esarhaddon rebuilt the Shubrian cities, giving them Assyrian names, and populated them with people resettled from elsewhere.<ref>Sarkisian, ''Strana Shubriia'', pp. 66–67.</ref> In 657 BC, the Urartians made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Shubria.<ref name=":0" /> The Urartian general or governor Andaria was killed in a failed attack on the city of Kullimeri.<ref name="Grekyan" /> Assyrian control may have remained weak in Shubria, as the inhabitants of Kullimeri appear to have fought off this attack on their own, although they did send the head of the Urartian commander to the Assyrian king as a sign of their loyalty.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 91.</ref>
According to Diakonoff, it is "quite probable" that Shubria was settled by speakers of Proto-Armenian—who he believes were known as the (eastern) [[Mushki]] and possibly also the Urumeans—from the time of Esarhaddon's conquest and deportations.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 122.</ref> Shubria likely regained its independence towards the end of the 7th century BC, like other fringe territories of the Assyrian Empire.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 116.</ref> Based on the Armenian legend about the first Armenian king [[Paroyr Skayordi]], some scholars have hypothesized that an Armenian-populated kingdom emerged in or near Shubria, possibly ruled by a dynasty of [[Scythians|Scythian]] origin, which allied with the [[Medes]] to defeat the Assyrian Empire {{Circa|612 BC}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diakonoff |first=Igor M. |author-link=Igor M. Diakonoff |title=Istoriia Midii |publisher=Izdatel'stvo Akademii nauk SSSR |year=1956 |location=Moscow |pages=313–314 |language=ru |script-title=ru: История Мидии |trans-title=''History of Media'' |quote=Имя Паруйра пытаются иногда связать с именем Партатуа и считают, что в  этом сообщении Моисея Хоренского сохранилась народная армянская традиция с реминисценцией о некоей, быть может, скифской по происхождению, династии в одном из окраинных для Урарту и Ассирии, армянском по населению царств (например в Шубрии-Арме, совр. Сасуне, западнее озера Ван). |trans-quote=Some try to connect the name Paruyr with the name [of the Scythian king] Partatua and believe that in this message of Moses of Khoren a folk Armenian tradition has been preserved with a reminiscence of a certain, perhaps Scythian in origin, dynasty in one of the Armenian-population kingdoms in the borderlands of Urartu and Assyria, Armenian in population (for example, in Arme-Shubria, in modern Sasun, west of Lake Van).}}</ref> [[Suren Yeremian]] argues that the Armenian ruler of Shubria was recognized as king by the Median king [[Cyaxares]] after participating in the victory over the Assyrians.<ref name="Yeremian">{{Cite journal |last=Yeremian |first=S. T. |author-link=Suren Yeremian |date=1968 |title=Haykakan aṛajin petakan kazmavorumnerě (VII-VI dd. m. tʻ. a.) |script-title=hy:Հայկական առաջին պետական կազմավորումները (VII-VI դդ. մ. թ. ա.) |trans-title=The first Armenian statal formations (7th–6th centuries BCE) |url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/188651/edition/171297/content |journal=[[Patma-Banasirakan Handes]] |language=hy |volume=3 |pages=101–102 |via=Pan-Armenian Digital Library}}</ref> [[Boris Piotrovsky]], who identified Arme and Shubria with each other,<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 130.</ref> places this polity ruled by "Paroyr" "in the immediate vicinity of Arme, if it did not constitute it [Arme]" and also suggests that its ruler received Median recognition after participating in the victory over Assyria.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Piotrovsky |first=Boris |author-link=Boris Piotrovsky |title=Vanskoe tsarstvo (Urartu) |publisher=Izdatel'stvo vostochnoi literatury |year=1959 |location=Moscow |pages=124–126 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Ванское царство (Урарту) |trans-title=''The kingdom of Van (Urartu)''}}</ref> Diakonoff writes that Shubria "undoubtedly played a great role in the emergence of the later Armenian state and nation," although he considers the kingdom of [[Melid]] to be a better candidate for the nucleus of the Armenian people and kingdom.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', pp. 92, 120.</ref>
== Population ==
Some scholars have concluded from the [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] etymology of some Shubrian names that Shubria was mainly populated by Hurrians. Some have suggested that it was the last remnant of Hurrian civilization, or even constituted the original homeland of the Hurrians. However, other Shubrian names have been identified as [[Aramaic|Aramean]] by origin. Bradley J. Parker writes that the existing evidence indicates that Shubria had a heterogeneous population including Hurrians, Arameans, and likely also Urartians, Assyrians and others.<ref name=":1" /> Karen Radner writes that Shubria "can certainly be described as [a] (linguistically and culturally) Hurrian" state. According to Radner, a letter from the king of Shubria to an Assyrian magnate from the time of Sargon II was composed in the Hurrian language.<ref>Radner, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," p. 244.</ref>
According to some scholars, Shubria was inhabited by speakers of the [[Proto-Armenian language]]<ref name=":2" /> and formed the nucleus of Armenian statehood.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', p. 187: "It is now recognized that the rudiments of the Armenian state go back not only to the epoch of the collapse of Urartu and Assyria, but even further. Piotrovsky believes that its nucleus was the kingdom of Šubria, which he identifies with Arme. He supposes that a Scythian-Armenian league emerged here in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C., but that Šubria had already been a state earlier."</ref> Diakonoff theorized that the Proto-Armenians migrated eastwards from Anatolia into the western part of the Armenian highlands in the second quarter of the 12th century BC. He identifies the Proto-Armenians with the Mushki and considers an identification with the Urumeans possible. He notes that while Shubria had a Hurrian ruling dynasty and apparently also a Hurrian population, its people were deported after Esarhaddon's conquest, and it is likely that the Proto-Armenians settled Shubria from that time.<ref>Diakonoff, ''The Pre-History of the Armenian People'', pp. 121–122.</ref>
== Religion ==
The Hurrian god [[Teshub]] was the main god of Shubria, as evidenced by the names of its kings.<ref>Petrosyan, ''The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic'', p. 21.</ref> The Tigris Grotto served as a natural religious site for Shubria. It may have been the most important shrine in the country. The Shubrians performed the religious rites common to the Hurrians: [[augury]] and [[scapegoat]] rituals. Shubrian scholars engaged in augury were present at the Assyrian royal court. The Shubrian king Ik-Teshub performed a scapegoat ritual in his attempt to surrender during Esarhaddon's invasion. Tamas Deszö argues that Shubria's policy of accepting refugees derived from religious tradition, suggesting that the Shubrians had a refuge sanctuary at Uppumu, as well as a temple to Teshub there. Karen Radner speculates that it was the Tigris Grotto that served as a refuge sanctuary. Since the Birkleyn cave system, known as the "Tigris source," was known to and considered sacred by the Assyrians, Radner suggests that it was likely known to the Shubrians as well.<ref name=":4">Radner, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," pp. 261–264.</ref>
== See also ==
*[[Armani (kingdom)]]
*[[Bronze Age collapse]]
*[[Indo-European languages]]
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* Karen Radner, [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/countries/ubria/ 'Šubria, a safe haven in the mountains'], ''Assyrian empire builders'', University College London. {{Web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240405133857/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/countries/ubria/|date=5 April 2024}}
[[Category:Western Armenia]]
[[Category:Urartu]]