Tardunni

Tar...dun...ni
𒋻...𒂅...𒉌
Relief of "Tar...dunni"
Years activec. 2000 BC
ParentIkki
Tardunni relief
Location of the Tardunni relief in Iraq

Tar...dun...ni (Cuneiform: 𒋻...𒂅...𒉌, tar...dun...ni, or Tar…ni, …birini, …irpirin)[1] son of Ikki (also reads Ikkibshakhmat, or Ikkipshakhmat; fl. c. 2000 BC), was a king, prince, ruler, or high-ranking official of the Zagros mountains area.[2] Although "Tardunni" is the way his name has been traditionally deciphered, he may have been called differently: it has been proposed that he was rather called Lisir Pirini, son of Ikkid Samad.[3]

He is mainly known from a rock relief discovered in the valley of the Diyala river, in the Belula Pass, near the Lake of Darbandikhan, on the Horen Shekhan mountain (Kurdish: هۆرێن و شێخان; Arabic هورين- شيخان), in the extreme northeast of Iraq, near the border with Iran.[3]

Very little is known about Tardunni. He was probably a ruler of the Lullubi mountain tribe.[4] Some of their reliefs are known around 55 kilometers away, such as the Anubanini rock relief, which are very similar to the relief of Tardunni.[2][3] Another opinion suggests that he was a Gutian.[1]

In his relief, he is seen wearing weapons and trampling enemies. On the side, the relief has an inscription in Akkadian, invoking the protection of the deities Shamash and Adad:[2]

"Tar...dunni, prefect (?), son of Sin (?)-Ipshah, all this image was replaced. As it was falling apart, he restored it. Anybody who destroys this image, his race, his name will be eradicated by Shamash and Adad!"

— Inscription of Tardunni.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Amin, Osama. "Never Before Seen: The Belula Pass Rock Relief". Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Cameron, George G. (1936). History of Early Iran (PDF). The University of Chicago Press. p. 41.
  3. ^ a b c The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. 1986. pp. 38–39. ISBN 9780521200912.
  4. ^ Edwards, I. E. S.; Gadd, C. J.; Hammond, N. G. L. (1971). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-521-07791-0.
  5. ^ Maspero, G. (Gaston) (1870). Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes. Paris : Libr. Honoré Champion. p. 105.

34°52′N 45°44′E / 34.87°N 45.74°E / 34.87; 45.74