Download PDF version of article - UCL

254 KAREN RADNER
also to the Assyrians, and this is utilised in the narrative of the capture of the city by Sargon, as presented to
Assur and the Assyrian public: after the lengthy enumeration of the spoils taken from temple and palace, the
narrative suddenly jumps to the reaction of Rusa of Urartu who collapses in despair over the news, tearing his
crown from his head in the process. 77 Kathryn F. Kravitz has described this very appropriately as ‘Rusa’s symbolic
de-coronation’, implying that ‘Rusa’s kingship was essentially disabled by Sargon’s Eighth Campaign’ 78
– in reality, Rusa was out of Assyrian reach when he learned of the sack of Musasir and the description given
of his reaction in the Letter to Assur is rather more likely to reflect wishful thinking than the report of an eye
witness in Assyrian service. But still, the fact that Musasir’s capture and the desecration of Haldi’s temple
could be envisaged as a crippling blow not just against the kingdom and its inhabitants but also, and especially,
against Assyria’s arch-enemy speaks clearly of its importance as Urartu’s ritual focal point. Yet we
must bear in mind that this ‘holy city’, to use the words of Shalmaneser I, is already attested as a transregional
centre of considerable cultural influence centuries before the dynasty founded by Ispuini in the late 9th century
BC took control of Urartu.
But Musasir is not the only ancient cult centre and independent kingdom situated on the border region
between Assyria and Urartu; let us now turn to Kumme, home of the storm god.
2. Kumme (Assyrian) / Qumenu (Urartian) – The Holy City of the Storm God
To the Hurrians and Hittites of the mid second millennium BC, Tessub of Kumme was far more than just
one of the many local manifestations of the storm god: he was the unrivalled king of heaven and earth. Tessub
of Kumme features in many of the myths and rituals preserved on the tablets from the Hittite capital Hattusa,
either in the Hurrian language or else in Hittite compositions of Hurrian origin. 79 Most prominent is the Song
of Ullikummi, which relates the story how Tessub’s rival Kumarbi created Ullikummi – whose programmatic
name means ‘Vanquish Kumme!’ – and how heroic Tessub defeated this monstrous rock creature. 80 The Hurrian
cultural context of city and deity is also evident from two incantations in Hurrian language found at Mari
(18th century BC), one of which addresses the ‘gods of Kumme’ and the other more specifically Te-su-ba-am
Ku-um-me-né-en 81 ; whether the god was known under his Hurrian name throughout the Near East or whether
the Akkadian speakers, for example, referred to him as Adad cannot be decided whenever logographic spellings
are used. While it would still seem possible to link the name Kumme with the Akkadian word kummu
‘cella, sanctuary’ 82 , a Hurrian etymology, as recently proposed by Gernot Wilhelm 83 , may indeed be preferable.
J.N. Postgate 84 suggested on the basis of the Neo-Assyrian evidence that the city of Kumme is to be
located in the valley of the Lesser Habur. Such a location, although seemingly peripheral, is in fact easily
accessed from the west as the Lesser Habur converges with the Tigris just north of the most important crossing
point of that river; the valley is the gateway into the southern ranges of the Cudi Dagları mountains, while the
Jabal Bikhayr range protects it against the south where the Assyrian heartland lies. Postgate’s premise is supported
by the fact that already the 18th century sources from Susarra (modern Tell Shemshara near Rania) and
Tell Rimah indicate Kumme to be a station in the road network leading from the mountain areas east of the
Tigris to the Jezirah, 85 especially if the Nineveh region was to be avoided.
77 Sg 8: 411-413, see Kravitz 2003: 84, 88, 90-91.
78 Kravitz 2003: 93.
79 Schwemer 2001: 456-458.
80 Hoffner 1998: 55-65.
81 Schwemer 2001: 302 n. 2224 (with previous literature).
82 As advocated by Astour 1987: 28.
83 Wilhelm 1994: 318: Kumme = verbal root kum- (denoting a building activity) + suffix -me (used to nominalise verbal roots).
84 Postgate 1973b: 58-59.
85 The route is described in two letters from Susarra (Eidem & Læssøe 2001: 70-74 no. 1 and 2), in one using the designation ‘road to
Kumme’ and in the other the itinerary Za-as-li.KI – Se-gi-ib-bu.KI – Zi-kum.KI – Ú-ra-ú.KI – Lu-ut-pí-is.KI ending in mat Haburatim (with
instructions to to go before the mountains and roads become snowbound), while the subsequent mention of a Gutian general and a man from
Kumme who receive wine rations according to a document from Tell Rimah (Dalley et al. 1976: no. 260) has prompted Mayer (2002: 331)
to assume that the Kummean acted as a guide and intermediary on behalf of the delegation from the eastern mountains.