ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the nature of the relationship between the Assyrians and their immediate neighbors during the Late Assyrian period in light of recent archaeological work along the upper Tigris River valley of southeastern Turkey. The Tigris River near the Assyrian city of Tushan sits approximately halfway between the high Taurus Mountains to the north, and the lowlands of the northern Jazira to the south. For Iron Age of southeastern Anatolia, Parpola distinguished between a person's nationality and ethnicity. Turning to the case of the Aramaeans and Assyrians in the Middle Iron Age of the upper Tigris River valley, we might extend the concepts of Szuchman and Rowton to the Aramaean polities, seeing Amidu as the urban nucleus of a tribal confederation. Indeed, upland areas played a crucial role in the interaction between the Assyrians, Aramaeans, and other indigenous peoples of Iron Age southeastern Anatolia.