Were the Assyrians at Ecbatana?

International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Jan, 2002 by I.N. Medvedskaya

The historical geography of Media of the 9th-7th century B.C. presents one of the most complicated problems in the history of the Ancient Near East. The toponyms of Media testified by Assyrian sources do not coincide with the later Median toponyms of the Achaemenid period known to Ancient Greek, Roman and Armenian geographers (1). This leaves us with very few place-names of the 9th-7th century to locate on the present-day map of the region.

Meanwhile, the existing relative topography of Media and the regions adjoining it, based on detailed descriptions of Assyrian campaigns there, need only to have some of the place-names connected with a modern map. Thus far the identification of only one name has been suggested: Mt. Bikni, or the Lapis Lazuli Mountain "in the land of the remote Medes"--the furthermost point in the east of Media ever reached by the Assyrians. Bikni is usually identified with one of two mountains in Iran: either the Damavand mountain to the north of Teheran, or the Alvand, one of the peaks of the Zagros bordering on the Hamadan plain, not far from the city of Hamadan. Those suggesting the first attribution obviously take it for granted that the limits of the region known as Media to the Assyrians were the same as those in the later period, and that the Assyrians were able to launch long-range military expeditions. In Russian historiography, this view has been held by I. M. Diakonoff (2). He did not suggest any specific arguments to identify Bikni with Damavand; in his opinion the Assyrians were mistaken in calling it the Lapis Lazuli Mountain. "All the lapis lazuli known to the Ancient East was of Badakhshan origin, i.e. it was brought through Media from Bactria" (3). The research done in the last few years reveals a tendency to accept the view that the Assyrian penetration to the east, namely to the Iranian plateau, was not so extensive (4). Many scholars now recognise the historical geography of Iran, including Media, as developed by L. Levine. In his opinion, since the Assyrian texts do not mention Ecbatana, the capital of Media (modern Hamadan), the Assyrians had never been there and never reached the plain of Hamadan. Consequently, all of the Median toponyms known to them must be located to the west of Hamadan. Bikni must then correspond to the Alvand mountains (5). This identification goes back to F.W Konig (6). Levine assumes that a certain part of Media laying east of the Zagros range remained unknown to the Assyrians. He draws the following conclusion: if Bikni = Alvand marks the easternmost point of the Assyrian expansion, then it explains why the Medians built their capital on the plain of Hamadan: it was a region safe from Assyrian raids (7).

The illusory nature of this conclusion is evident. Rejecting some very inconclusive arguments for Bikni = Damavand, which though never stated seem rather obvious, the Lapis Lazuli Mountain, being the most glorious mountain of Iran, must be a metaphor for the ice-clad peak of Damavand, which lies on the way towards the lapis lazuli of Badakhshan (8). Levine provides us with counter-arguments of the same impressionistic kind (9). They can be disproved easily (10). The most serious of his arguments against Bikni = Damavand, at first glance, appears to be the absence in the Assyrian sources of the name of Ecbatana, ([Ha.sup.n]gmatana-), which lay on the way to Damavand. This, however, proves nothing. Now, after additional arguments for Bikni = Damavand have been put forth by E.A. Grantovskij, there is no way to prove the opposite. These arguments are as follows: by the Lapis Lazuli Mountain the Assyrians were locating the land of Patus'arra. The name of the region of Patishvar in Mazandaran, near Damavand, appears in the Early Medieval period. It is the direct transcript of the Akkad, Patus'arra. In Patishvar, according to Kazvini, lapis lazuli was still mined in the Early Medieval times (11). Levine failed to notice that the land of Bit Tibti, the Salt Desert, modern Dasht-i Kavir, had been placed by the Assyrians near Patus'arra. It seems evident, after all, that the identification of Bikni with Alvand can not be accepted.

According to Levine, the Assyrians were aware of only that part of Media, which corresponds to the mountains of Luristan along the Great Khorasan Road. Clearly such short-distance raids by the Assyrians into Iran seem rather strange, if we compare them with the extension of their military expeditions to Urartu, to the north of the Lake Van, or towards the Mediterranean, not speaking of Egypt. What could have been the reason for the Assyrian expansion to the East if, after crossing the mountain range with so much effort, their armies just turned back instead of entering the broad and fertile plain of Hamadan? The scheme suggested by Levine makes a blank space for the major part of the Iranian plateau, since he is locating practically all of the lands of Ancient Iran known to the Assyrians along the Zagros range. Some scholars, who accept his view, define the material culture of that part of Luristan where Levine locates Media as Median culture. This attribution, however, seems very doubtful (12). In fact, Levine's entire reconstruction follows from his negative answer to the question we chose for the title of the present article. Is it possible to give a positive answer? If the Assyrians visited the region of Damavand, on the way there, they could not pass over the place where Ecbatana already had been founded or where it was to be built later.