Luhuti

Luhuti, Lukhuti or Lu'ash, was an Iron Age Syro-Hittite Aramean region during the early 1st millennium BC located in northern Syria, in an area that used to be called Nuhašše.[1]

Luhuti
Lukhuti - Lu'ash
Unknown–737 BC
Luhuti (Luash) Location, Showing The Capital (Afis)
Luhuti (Luash) Location, Showing The Capital (Afis)
CapitalHatarikka (Afis)
Common languagesAramaic
Religion
Levantine Religion
GovernmentUnknown
Historical eraIron Age
• Established
Unknown
• Disestablished
737 BC
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Nuhašše
Neo-Assyrian Empire
Today part ofSyria

Political Situation and Capital

Luhuti was a region of uncertain political status, known primarily from Assyrian inscriptions,[1] and the stele of Zakkur king of Hamath.[2] Luhuti is never attested as a kingdom of its own or as having a single central authority,[3] although it did constitute an independent interconnected region. The Assyrian inscriptions that describe Luhuti as a country with many cities and troops.[4]

Luhuti had many cities. Shuksi was the maritime center,[5] But the most important center and capital was the city of Hazrik (modern Tell Afis, Known as Hatarikka to the Assyrians),[6][7] located 45 kilometer south of Aleppo.[8]

History
Zakkur Stele Discovered at Hatarikka

Luhuti was first attested in 870 BC. The inscriptions of Ashurnasirpal II record his conquest of its neighbour Pattin, then his use of Pattin's subordinate city of Aribua as his military base for operations against Luhuti.[4] Ashurnasirpal devastated the country, impaled Luhuti soldiers on stakes outside their captured cities.[4]

By 796 BC Luhuti was incorporated into Hamath,[6] forming the northern province of the kingdom.[9] King Zakkur of Hamath titled himself King of Hamath and Luhuti.[10] Zakkur was besieged in Hatarikka by a coalition of Syrian kings incited by Ben-Hadad III of Aram-Damascus,[11] and led by a king descended from Gusi identified as the king of Bit Agusi,[12] Zakkur survived the siege and commemorated the event by commissioning the Stele of Zakkur.[13]

Luhuti was attacked by Shalmaneser IV in 765 BC and Ashur-dan III in 755 BC. It was finally incorporated into Assyria as a province by Tiglath-Pileser III in 737 BC.[9]

Royal Family Hypothesis

Hittitologists Trevor R. Bryce and especially John David Hawkins believe Zakkur to be a usurper,[14] The Stele of Zakkur does not mention any royal ancestors. Hawkins believes that Zakkur was an Aramean usurper local to Luhuti who replaced the old Hittite dynasty ruling in Hamath.[14]

References

Citations
  1. John David Hawkins (10 May 2012). Inscriptions of the Iron Age: Part 1. p. 400. ISBN 9783110804201.
  2. John Boardman (1924). The Cambridge Ancient History: The prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth to eighth centuries B.C.. Volume 3. Part 1. p. 499. ISBN 9780521224963.
  3. Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (9 June 2006). On the Reliability of the Old Testament. p. 505. ISBN 9780802803962.
  4. Trevor Bryce (15 March 2012). The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-19-150502-7.
  5. Claudia E. Suter; Christoph Uehlinger (2005). Crafts and Images in Contact: Studies on Eastern Mediterranean Art of the First Millennium BCE. p. 133. ISBN 9783525530047.
  6. Trevor Bryce (10 September 2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. p. 296. ISBN 9781134159079.
  7. I. E. S. Edwards; Cyril John Gadd; Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammondpage (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History: Early History of the Middle East. Part 2, Volume 1. p. 282. ISBN 9780521077910.
  8. Holman Concise Bible Dictionary. 2011. p. 282. ISBN 9780805495485.
  9. Trevor Bryce (10 September 2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. p. 282. ISBN 9781134159086.
  10. David L. Petersen (January 1995). Zechariah 9-14 and Malachi: A Commentary. p. 44. ISBN 9780664226442.
  11. John Boardman (1924). The Cambridge Ancient History: The prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth to eighth centuries B.C.. Volume 3. Part 1. p. 403. ISBN 9780521224963.
  12. Trevor Bryce (15 March 2012). The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-19-921872-1.
  13. James Maxwell Miller (January 1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. p. 303. ISBN 9780664212629.
  14. John David Hawkins (10 May 2012). Inscriptions of the Iron Age: Part 1. p. 401. ISBN 9783110804201.
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