Karkar (ancient city)

Karkar was settled from the Uruk period to the Kassite period.

Chalcolithic/Early Bronze IIA. Karkar is already attested in sources from the Uruk period.^[12] The city served as a cult center of the Mesopotamian weather god. It served as a cult center of the weather god Ishkur.^[4]

Early Bronze IIB-IIIB (c. 2850/2750-2350 BCE). No available data.

Early Bronze IVA (c. 2350-2150 BCE). In the Akkadian period (c. 2334-2154 BCE), the deity became known under the Akkadian name Adad, and a temple dedicated to him located there is well attested.

Early Bronze IVB (c. 2150-2020/2000 BCE). The city is listed in the campaign itinerary of Uruk ruler Utu-hengal (r. 2119-2112 BCE) against the Gutian ruler Tirigan. The campaign left Uruk, passed through Nagsu and then proceeded on the Karkar.^[13]

"After he (Utu-hegal) departed (from) the temple of the god Iskur, on the fourth day he set up ... in the city of Nagsu on the Iturungal canal. On the fifth day he set up ... in the shrine III-tappe. He captured Ur-Ninazu (and) Nabi-Enlil, generals whom he (Tirigan) had sent as envoys to the land of Sumer, (and) put handcuffs on them. After he departed (from) the shrine III-tappe, on the sixth day he set up ... at Karkar. He proceeded to the god Iskur (and) prayed to him"^[14]

While originally referred to with the Sumerian name Ishkur,^[15] by the Ur III period he came to be fully fused with Adad, who was already associated with him at least by scribes in pre-Sargonic Mari.^[16] He could be referred to with the epithet Lugal-Karkar or Lugal-Karkarra, “lord of Karkar”.^[17] He was also the main deity of the local pantheon.^[12] In addition to Ishkur, his wife Shala was also worshiped in Karkar.^[18] A temple dedicated to the weather god existed in the city.^[12] It bore the ceremonial name Eugalgal (also spelled Eugalgalla), “House of Great Storms”.^[19] In the Temple Hymns the same sanctuary is referred to as Eugalgim, “House Like a Great Storm”.^[20] Both names occur in the Canonical Temple List, respectively in lines 295^[19] and 297.^[20] It is also possible that Edurku, “House, Pure Abode”, a sanctuary of Shala attested in a lipšur litany, was similarly located in Karkar and formed a part of the Eugalgal.^[21]

The oldest reference to the cult of the weather god in Karkar occurs in a text known from three copies from the Old Babylonian period, but presumably originally composed in the late third millennium BCE, according to which king Utu-hegal of Uruk prayed to him in this city to gain his support in an upcoming battle^[22] during his campaign against the Gutians.^[6] While a temple hymn focused on the sanctuary is known too, and was traditionally associated with Enheduanna, it cannot be dated precisely.^[23] Additionally, as argued by Daniel Schwemer [de], some of the early sources from Adab presumably mention religious officials from Karkar.^[12] He highlights the existence Sargonic administrative texts dealing with rations meant for the ereš-dingir (entum) priestess and sanga (šangûm) priest of Ishkur as possible examples.^[24]

Sources pertaining to Karkar from the Ur III period are also available.^[25] The city was considered a major religious site, and offerings to the temple of Ishkur were provided not only from a center of royal administration, Puzrish-Dagan, but also from Girsu and Umma, as documented in texts from the reign of Shu-Sin.^[2] A single reference to a transaction concerning goods meant for this sanctuary occurs in the text corpus from Nippur as well.^[26] Additionally, a year name of an unspecified king from the Third Dynasty of Ur, according to Douglas Frayne Ur-Nammu, though Shulgi has also been suggested, which mentions the appointment of a priestess of Ishkur who was “chosen by omens” might also be related to the traditions of Karkar.^[27]

In the Isin-Larsa period (c. 2020/2004-1763 BCE), the first king of the Isin dynasty, Ishbi-Erra (r. c. 2017–1985 BCE), seized control of Umma shortly after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur. According to historical inscriptions, Ishbi-Erra's expansion from Isin included the capture of several major cities, specifically Nippur, Umma, Girsu, and Puzrish-Dagan.^[28] Iddin-Dagan of Isin (r. 1975-1954 BCE) mentions Karkar in a year-name stating: "Year Iddin-Dagan made a throne dais for Iszkur of Karkar^ki."^[29]

The Larsa king Sumuel (c. 1895-1866 BCE) explicitly claims to have defeated the army of Isin and destroyed Umma. In the same period, he boasts of conquering Kish and Akusum, indicating a total sweep of the central and eastern plains, indicating Karkar was now part of Larsa. Rim-Sin I of Larsa (r. 1822-1763 BCE) appears to have controlled the city, and in his 12th year name, he records the appointment of a high priestess (entum) of Adad in Karkar.^[30][8] Additional attestations from the period of the latter ruler's reign include a reference to a daughter of this king being the current high priestess of Adad in Karkar, an administrative text from Larsa mentioning a herd of sheep owned by said god, and two passages in texts from Nippur which reference allotments to a certain Adad-ešar, who acted on behalf of said priestess from Karkar.^[8]

Karkar and its temple are documented in sources from the Old Babylonian period.^[31] When Hammurabi defeated Rim-Sin I in 1763 BCE, Karkar was absorbed into the growing Babylonian Empire. The name Bit Karkar (House/District of Karkar) appears in the Prologue to the Code of Hammurabi, royal inscriptions, and contemporary administrative letters. Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE) identifies himself as the "Prince who makes the face of Adad shine in Karkar" and the "One who restored the E-udgalgal" (the temple of Adad) in the heart of the city. By restoring the temple he was both pious and asserted control over the home of the storm god, important for a society where rain and flood was an expression of divine power. A reference to “Adad of Karkar” also occurs in the prologue of the Laws of Hammurabi in an enumeration of the main deities of Babylonia.^[32] The name of the city could also be used as an element of personal names, according to Daniel Schwmer as a stand-in for the name of its main deity.^[33]

It is not certain if Karkar remained a major urban center after the Old Babylonian period, and the possibility that it was gradually abandoned has been suggested.^[34] No non-literary references to it have been identified in sources from later periods.^[35] An exception is the name of a certain Rīš-Karkara, “Karkar is acclaimed”,^[33]) identified in a Middle Babylonian text.^[34] Karkar might also be attested under the logographic spelling of its name in the list of ziggurat and city wall names from Nineveh (final section of the text K 4337), most likely originally composed in the Kassite period.^[36] It mentions a ziggurat located in this city, Earattakišarra (é-aratta^ki-ki–šár-ra; according to Andrew R. George’s translation “House, Mountain/Noblest of the Universe”).^[37] Another text, a list of temples, also mentions a ziggurat in IM^ki, presumably also to be understood as Karkar in this context, but states it was known as Eudegalanna (“House, Great Wonder of Heaven”).^[20]

In a fragmentary literary text of the Old Babylonian (or possibly following Kassite) era there is a reference to an uprising by troops that "deposed four kings" at Karkar.^[38]

• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Tell Jidr

• Edzard, Dietz Otto (1980), "IM", Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), vol. 5, retrieved 2023-03-26
• Frayne, Douglas (1997). Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC). RIM. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781442657069. ISBN 978-1-4426-5706-9.
• George, Andrew R. (1993). House Most High: the Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 0-931464-80-3. OCLC 27813103.
• Heimpel, Wolfgang (2014), "Tigris A. 3. bis Mitte 2. Jahrtausend · Tigris A. From the 3rd millennium to the first half of the 2nd millennium B.C.", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 14, retrieved 2023-03-24
• Powell, Marvin A. (1980). "Karkar, Dabrum, and Tall Ǧidr: An Unresolved Geographical Problem". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 39 (1). University of Chicago Press: 47–52. doi:10.1086/372778. ISSN 0022-2968. JSTOR 544108. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
• Schwemer, Daniel (2001). Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschriftkulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schriftlichen Quellen (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-04456-1. OCLC 48145544.
• Schwemer, Daniel (2007). "The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies Part I" (PDF). Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 7 (2). Brill: 121–168. doi:10.1163/156921207783876404. ISSN 1569-2116.