Subarians
 Map of the Ancient Near East, which includes Subartu, the region where the Subarians lived in. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Near East | |
| Languages | |
| Akkadian, Subarian | |
| Religion | |
| Subarian religion |
The Subarians were an hypothetical ancient people that inhabited the southwestern Armenian highlands and northern Mesopotamia and was the main population of the Kingdom of Subartu.[1] It is possible that as early as the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, the Subarians were assimilated by the Hurrians, who mass settled the region during that time.[2]
History
[edit]The Subarians tribal union established a powerful central power in northern northern Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC and from there spread to eastern Asia Minor, northern Syria, and Armenia. According to some historians, the Subarians are the oldest historical people of these lands. According to historian Sydney Smith, the Subarians were a people who descended from the mountains in the northern and northeastern parts of Assyria.[1]
They waged long wars against the Akkadian Empire to maintain their independence.[1]
Regarding the power of Subartu, the Assyrian scholar Emil Forrer states that Subartu was King Hammurabi's great rival during his reign (1955-1913 BC). From King Shamshi-Adad I (1808–1776 BC), the political destiny of Naxasia was controlled by Subartu as the kingdom of that world. During the reign of Agum I (1731-1710 BC) a great attack by Subartu took place on the land of Hatti. Although this great attack took possession of all the cities up to the interior of the Hatti state, Khantilis I (1740-1700 BC) was able to repel it. Then this wave swept towards Egypt, which fell victim to it and about 1700 BC. It remained under the rule of the Hyksos kings from 1700 to 1580. The starting point of these latter is Subartu".[1]
The cause of the fall of the kingdom of Subartu was the continuous attacks of the Akkadian kings of Babylon, to whom the Subartu finally yielded due to internal disunity, weakened and submitted to their domination. The Akkadian kings, oppressing the population of Subartu, subjugated them. The archaeologist Sydney Smith made his observations about these events that there is no evidence that the Subarians formed a united kingdom in ancient times, in spite of the great spread and occasional successes that they had in the wars against the Sumerians. It is much more likely that as a mountain people, they lacked unity and central organization with each other, depriving themselves of any lasting significance.[1]
It is believed that the growth of Semitic power resulted in the Subarian people moving north towards the state called "Sabiria". near Armenia. They later crossed the Caucasus and are believed by historians like Patkanow that became one of the Hungarian tribes along with the Sumerians.[2]
Culture
[edit]American archaeologist Leonard Wolley writes in his work "Carchemish": when the peaceful population of Mesopotamia lived in the Neolithic and when it was just beginning to get acquainted with copper, a new tribe arrived there who were warriors and had their own customs and high culture.[3][4] These new tribes were probably the Subarians. Having settled in Mesopotamia, they subjugated the local population and created a high civilisation, which was a loanword from the Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation. The Subarians learned from the Sumerians the use of cuneiform inscriptions and for a long time used the Akkadian.[1]
Language
[edit]| Subarian | |
|---|---|
| Subarean, Subaraean | |
| Native to | Subartu |
| Region | Near East |
| Ethnicity | Subarians |
| Extinct | 3rd-2nd millenium BC |
Hurro-Urartian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
The terms referring to the language used in Subartu are known as Subarean, Subaraean or Subarian.[5] To this day it is uncertain what the Akkadian and Sumerian terms for Subartu refer to and it is believed it could refer to Hurrian.[6] It was also generally believed early on by experts such as Adolf Leo Oppenheim and Arthur Ungnad that Subarian referred to Hurrian, but Ignace Gelb and Ephraim Avigdor Speiser believes they were both independent of each other.[7] Ignace also mentioned there wasn't enough evidence about Subarian.[5] The evidence we have for the language are Subarian names and possibly some words that late Assyrian syllabaries said were used in Subartu.[5] It has been suggested that the non-Sumerian and non-Semitic found in southern Iraq that is called the Proto-Euphratean language should be considered as Subarean and that the names of texts found from that age of ancient deities were later adopted by the Sumerians.[8]
It was also believed at the time that the Subarian language concealed languages like Gutian and Lullubian.[9] But, in the modern day, the Hurrian language is described by the Sumerians and Babylonians as Subarian[9] and for modern historians, it is considered an obsolete term similar to Mitannian.[10]
There is also a belief that Subarian was one of the Hurro-Urartian languages that was different from Hurrian as the Subarians established themselves earlier into Anatolia.[11] This would be supported by the Subarian word for tree (sarme), which is similar to the Urartian word (sare) and the Hurrian word for garden (šahri).[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f «Սուբարիներ», Գէորգ Հատիտեան, 1977, Սիոն. Կրօնական, գրական, բանասիրական պաշտօնաթերթ Երուսաղէմի Հայ Պատրիարքութեան, ԾԱ (7-8). pp. 184-187.
- ^ a b Francisco Jos Badiny (1973). NEW LINES FOR A CORRECT SUMERIAN PHONETICS TO CONFORM WITH THE CUNEIFORM SCRIPTS (PDF). p. 9. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
- ^ Woolley & Barnett 1952a / Carchemish: Report on the excavations at Jerablus on behalf of the British Museum, Part III, The excavatiuons in the inner town and the Hittite inscriptions
- ^ «Նախահայկական Հայաստան», Եղիա Քասունի, էջ 65․
- ^ a b c Ignace Gelb (1944). Hurrians and Subarians (PDF). Retrieved 2025-03-23.
- ^ Streck, Michael P. ""Subaräisch."".
- ^ András Zakar (1977). A LINK BETWEEN HISTORIC AND PREHISTORIC TIMES: THE SYMBOLIC WRITING SYSTEM (PDF). Budapest. p. 37. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Территория и население. Древнейшая история Месопотамии" (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-07-25.
- ^ a b Introduction to the Hurrian Language (PDF). 2000. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ Roger D. Woodard (10 April 2008). The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-139-46933-3. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
Other terms for the language are obsolete – Mitanni (based on the name of a country in Upper Mesopotamia); Subarian (based on the geographical term Subir, Subartu).
- ^ Sören G Lindgren (2018-09-23). "The Indo-European issue: 4. The Age of the Subarians". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ Arnaud Fournet. Archív Orientalni. 2013. About the vocalic system of Armenian words of substratic origin. (81.2:207–22). p. 7. Retrieved 2025-07-25.