Anubanini

Anubanini, also Anobanini (Akkadian: 𒀭𒉡𒁀𒉌𒉌: An-nu-ba-ni-ni), was a king (𒈗 Šàr, pronounced Shar)^[2] of the pre-Iranian tribal kingdom of Lullubi in the Zagros Mountains circa 2300 BCE,^[3] or relatively later during the Isin-Larsa period of Mesopotamia, circa 2000-1900 BCE.^[4] He is known especially from the Anubanini rock relief, located in Kermanshah Province, Iran.^[5]

Anubanini 𒀭𒉡𒁀𒉌𒉌
King of Lullubi
King Anubanini of Lullubi, holding an axe and a bow, trampling a foe. Anubanini rock relief, circa 2300-2000 BC. Sar-I Pul, Iran.^[1]
Reign	c. 2300 BC
Predecessor	Immashkush
Successor	Satuni

Anubanini rock relief

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Location of the Anubanini rock relief

According to an inscription, Annubanini seems to have been contemporary with Simurrum king Iddin-Sin.^[6] Another well-known Lullubi king is Satuni, who was vanquished by the Mesopotamian king Naram-Sin circa 2250 BCE.^[7]

Anubanini rock relief

Main article: Anubanini rock relief

In this rock relief, Anubanini, the king of the Lullubi, puts his foot on the chest of a captive. There are 8 other captives, two of them kneeled behind the Lullubian equivalent of the Akkadian goddess Ishtar (recognisable by the four pairs of horns on her headdress and the weapons over her shoulders) and six of them standing in a lower row at the bottom of the rock relief.^[5][1] He is faced by goddess Nini/Innana/Ishtar, and it is thought that he may have claimed divinity, like several rulers after the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur.^[8][4][5]

This rock relief is very similar to the Behistun Inscription and may have influenced it.^[5]

In the inscription in Akkadian script and language, he declares himself as the mighty king of Lullubium, who had set up his image as well as that of Ishtar on mount Batir, and calls on various deities to preserve his monument:^[9]

 

Anubanini, the mighty king, king of Lullubum, erected an image of himself and an image of Ishtar in the Mountains of Batir... (follows a lengthy curse formula invoking deities Anu, Antum, Enlil, Ninlil, Adad, Ishtar, Sin and Shamash to preserve his monument)

— Akkadian language inscription of the Anubanini relief.^[1][10]

Raids on Guthium, Elam, and Babylonian territory

 

Depiction of a crown-wearing king, naked, imprisoned by Anubanini. This is possibly a feathered crown as seen on some bronzes of Luristan.^[11] Anubanini rock relief.^[1]

 

Prisoners of Anubanini, brought by Goddess Ishtar (detail). They are naked, their hands bound, and held by a ring through the nose.^[12][1] Anubanini rock relief.

Some later legends, such as the Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin, describe a king Anubanini during the reign of Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218 BCE), who used to raid the fertile lands of the Babylonian plain from his mountain territory on the eastern frontier.^[13] The epic Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin claims Gutium and Elam among the lands raided by the hordes led by Anubanini.^[14][13][15] According to this account Anubanini was only stopped at the shores of the Persian Gulf.^[13]

"Warriors with bodies of “cave birds”, a race with ravens’ faces (...) in the midst of the Mountain they grew up, came to manhood and acquired their stature. Seven kings, brothers, glorious and noble, their troops numbered 360,000. Their father was Anubanini the king, their mother the queen, Melili was her name. (...) They devastated Gutium and invaded the land of Elam"

— The Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin (extracts), translation Oliver Gurney.^[16]

Depictions

•  
  Original relief.
•  
  Components of the relief (extracted).
•  
  Portrait of king Anubanini.
•  
  The name Annubanini as it appears at the beginning of the Anubanini rock relief inscription.
•  
  Drawing- Queen Lulubian from the relief of Sarpolzahab. The second half of the third millennium BC

References

1. Osborne, James F. (2014). Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. SUNY Press. p. 123. ISBN 9781438453255.
2. Maspero, Gaston (1870). Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes. p. 108.
3. Baring, Anne; Cashford, Jules (1993). The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image. Penguin UK. p. 338. ISBN 9780141941400.
4. Frayne, Douglas (1990). Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 BC). University of Toronto Press. p. 704. ISBN 9780802058737.
5. Potts, D. T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780521564960.
6. Osborne, James F. (2014). Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. SUNY Press. p. 123. ISBN 9781438453255.
7. Hall, Harry R. (1932). The Ancient History of the Near East: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Salamis. Meuthen & Company Limited. pp. 186–210.
8. Steinkeller, Piotr (2017). History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 153–154 Note 422. ISBN 9781501504778.
9. Cameron, George G. (1936). History of Early Iran (PDF). The University of Chicago Press. p. 41.
10. Cameron, George G. (1936). History of Early Iran (PDF). The University of Chicago Press. p. 35.
11. " He wears a feather crown such as that found in a few hammered bronzes of Luristan belonging to the early first millennium B.C." in Ancient Iran. 1965. p. 43.
12. Barjamovic, Gojko (2016). Problems of Canonicity and Identity Formation in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 220, Note 11. ISBN 9788763543729.
13. Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 443-444. ISBN 9780521077910.
14. Rainey, Brian (2018). Religion, Ethnicity and Xenophobia in the Bible: A Theoretical, Exegetical and Theological Survey. Routledge. p. 134. ISBN 9781351260428.
15. Ebeling, Erich; Meissner, Bruno; Weidner, Ernst; Edzard, Dietz Otto (1928). Reallexikon D Assyriologie Bd 3 Cplt Ae Geb ** (in German). W. de Gruyter. p. 709. ISBN 9783110037050.
16. Gurney, Oliver Robert (1955). (PDF). pp. 99–111. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2022.