The Bamu Stela, Shahr-i Fadak, and Tapeh Shaho: Why Were so Many Monuments Erected around Mount Bamu?
The reliefs and stelae created in the area stretching from Rania in Iraqi Kurdistan to Sar Pol-e Zahab in Iran are among the outstanding cultural materials of the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium b.c., supplementing the information in cuneiform texts for telling the story of important political and...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Chicago Press
2023
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| In: |
Bulletin of ASOR
Year: 2023, Volume: 389, Pages: 99-119 |
| Further subjects: | B
Mount Bamu
B Halman B Tapeh Shaho B Shahr-i Fadak B Sar Pol-e Zahab B Sheikhan |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The reliefs and stelae created in the area stretching from Rania in Iraqi Kurdistan to Sar Pol-e Zahab in Iran are among the outstanding cultural materials of the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium b.c., supplementing the information in cuneiform texts for telling the story of important political and military events in the region. Based on the concentration of these reliefs on the northern side of the present-day city of Sar Pol-e Zahab and the picture presented in the cuneiform texts, it appears that the region along the Great Khorasan Road—and especially the area surrounding Sar Pol-e Zahab (ancient Halman)—was the center of major political and military events of that time. The recent discovery of a new stela at Sarab-e Sey Khan and two new rock reliefs at Darvan-e Duhol, coming in addition to the long-known relief at Shaikhan and the stela discovered on Mount Bamu in 1955, requires us to re-evaluate our understanding of this sector of the western Zagros in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium b.c. This article addresses the question as to why no less than five important monuments were erected in the vicinity of Mount Bamu. The results suggest that these monuments commemorate victories by rulers over the indigenous Bronze Age populations from the mountain kingdoms that lay between Mesopotamia and the high Zagros. Furthermore, study of the archaeological landscape leads to some proposals for the identifications of the polities that were the objects of these attacks. Specifically, sites on the western slopes of Mount Bamu such as Tapeh Shaho, Tapeh Ama-Husein, and Tapeh Qalandari, all three of which appear to have been occupied at this time, lead us to surmise that the main purpose of the attacks on this area was to conquer these settlements, and that these monuments were erected to commemorate these victories. |
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| ISSN: | 2769-3589 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Bulletin of ASOR
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/724058 |