An Areal Location of Agade

An Areal Location of Agade
Author(s): Christophe Wall-Romana

Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Jul., 1990), pp. 205-245
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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AN AREAL LOCATION OF AGADE*

CHRISTOPHE WALL-ROMANA, Berkeley, California
Et la Ville est de verre sur son socle d'~b'ne,"
Saint-John Perse, "Pluies"
...
I. INTRODUCTION
IT was more than a century ago that the existence of the city of Agade was
established by the discovery of cuneiform tablets citing its name.' Its location,
however, has remained a vexing puzzle and a hindrance to Assyriologists ever since,
especially to those concerned with the early periods.
Agade is probably the first Mesopotamian city for which the term "capital" is
appropriate. So prestigious did it become that its very name appeared in the royal
titulary down to the time of Cyrus, and it was also adjectivized to describe a variety of
objects and notions, the most important of which is what is still known today as the
Akkadian language.2 Despite the fact that it remained a prominent city for nearly
1,500 years, its geographic setting is not as well established as that of some less
important cities whose locations are also not precisely known. All that is known today
* I wish to thank Anne Draffkorn Kilmer for
reading drafts of this paper and providing me with
both valuable sources and suggestions. My thanks
also go to the Reverend Matthew White, for his
help with texts in Italian; to Steven Eldred, who
reworked both the maps and legends; and to my
wife Margaret, without whom I could never contemplate writing in English.
Needless to say, I alone am responsible for the
views expressed in this article.
Works frequently cited have been abbreviated as
follows:
BBst
CK
HC
Hirsch
L. W. King, Babylonian Boundarystones and Memorial Tablets in the

British Museum (London, 1912).
McGuire Gibson, The City and Area
of Kish (Miami, 1972).
R. McC. Adams, Heartland of Cities
(Chicago, 1981).
H. Hirsch, "Die Inschriften der Kinige
von Agade," Achivfiir Orientforschung
(AfO) 20 (1963): 1-82.
[JNES 49 no. 3 (1990)]

@ 1990 by The University of Chicago.
All rights reserved.
0022-2968/90/4903-0001$1.00.
LBB
R. McC. Adams, Land Behind Baghdad: A History of Settlement on the

Diyala Plains (Chicago and London,
1965).
McEwan
J. G. P. McEwan, "Agade after the
Gutian Destruction: The Afterlife of a
Mesopotamian City," AfO, Suppl. 19
(1980): 8-15.
MDP 2
Vincent Scheil, Textes blamites-simitiques, premibre sbrie, M6moires de la
D61lgation en Perse, vol. 2 (Paris,
1900).
PKB
J. A. Brinkman, A Political History
of Post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722
B.C., AnOr 43 (Rome, 1968).
Weiss
Harvey Weiss, "Kish, Akkad and
Agade," Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS) 95 (1975): 43453.
1 See, for instance, S. N. Kramer, The Sumerians:
Their History, Culture, and Character (Chicago and
London, 1963), pp. 20-21. The name "Accad" was
previously known only from Gen. 10:10 (written
2 For uses of the term akkadai, see The Assyrian
Dictionary of the University of Chicago, vol. 1, pt. 1
(Chicago, 1964), pp. 272-73. For the royal titulary,
see W. W. Hallo, Early Mesopotamian Royal Titles
(New Haven, 1957), p. 77.
205

206
JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
of its whereabouts is that it belonged to the ill-defined region of Akkad usually

equated with northern Babylonia. This lack of a finer areal resolution makes it difficult
to judge the various proposals offered as to its location,3 and as a result any significant
unidentified mound in North Babylonia can reasonably be considered a candidate for
Agade.
II.
AREAL LOCATION
The data concerning Agade is far from wanting; the series RGTC4 cites more than
160 different occurrences of the name Agade in cuneiform documents.5 These originate
from regions as far apart as Anatolia and Baluchistan, ranging in time from the
Sargonic to the Late Babylonian periods and in genre across the whole known
spectrum of cuneiform texts.
Although not one of these documents has yielded an unequivocal indication of
Agade's location, many of them do contain pieces of information of a geographical
nature. It is the purpose of this paper to synthetize these geographical references and
to determine whether they converge in the same general area and if so, to circumscribe
this area as accurately as possible.
In order to do so, I have transposed the information from the texts onto maps
which are divided into two groups according to the nature of the data. The first
consists of a map drawn from texts citing known places and establishing clear
connections between them and Agade, while the second group comprises texts whose
places are not readily known and/or which establish only tentative connections
between them and Agade. Finally, a few other texts are examined even though the
lack of information concerning the toponyms they contain precludes their cartographic
use at the present time.
As we shall see, the region on which all the data seem to focus is situated near the
confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers.6
III.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Before discussing the texts, it will be useful to review what is known of the founding
of Agade and what the historical tradition incidentally reveals about its general
location.
3 Cf. McEwan, p. 12; Weiss, p. 443, for a location

near Tell ed-Dar (Sippar-Annunitum). See also CK,
p. 7; Weiss, pp. 442 ff., for a location near Kig; for
S. Langdon's explorations around Kig and Kutha,
see "Ausgrabungenin Ki-Hjursagkalama und Tello,"
AfO 7 (1931): 62, and AfO 8 (1932): 79; for Naji
el-Asil's location at Tell al-Wilaya, see J. van Dijk,
"Le Site de Guti'um et d'Ak-s[a?-a]kki,"AfO 23
(1970): 71, n. 2.
4 Repertoire geographique des textes
cun6iformes,
TAVO-Beihefte, Reihe B, Nr. 7, vols. 1-6, 8 (Wieshereafter
cited
as
RGTC.
baden, 1974-85),
5 Only occurrences of the city name (A-ga-dki,
URIki) have been taken into account. The names of

the province of Akkad (KUR.uRIki), of measures
(GURA-ga-deki, sila A-ga-deki), deities (NIN A-gadbki), and individuals have been excluded. I was
able to review about ninety of these documents. The
remainder is either untranslated or was unavailable
to me.
6 It is J. G. P. McEwan who first pointed out this
region, McEwan, pp. 11-12. I had already reached
the same conclusion by the time his article came to
my attention.

AN AREAL LOCATION OF AGADE
207
The few chronographic texts referring to the founding of Agade agree at least on
one point: it was built by Sargon, the founder of the Agadean dynasty. The Sumerian
King List, which is the closest source in time to this event, clearly states: "Sarrukin ... king of Agade, the one who built Agade."7 Other, late, sources also involve
Sargon in a monumental building program, although they seem to confuse Agade and
Babylon.8
The name Agade itself, even though it does not, as far as we know, appear among
texts datable to the Presargonic period, probably existed prior to Sargon.9 We may
deduce this from the fact that "Agade" is not a word of Akkadian substratum'0 and
also from our knowledge that Mesopotamian populations have generally adopted the
toponyms that predated their arrival." Hence, "Agade" was possibly the name of a
settlement too small to be worth mentioning and was simply retained to designate the
new city.12
Sargon started his political career'3 by serving King Ur-Zababa of Ki', who,
according to the King List, held sway over the Land (i.e., Sumer). The course of events
following his rule is unclear. On the one hand, we learn that he was followed by five
7 T. Jacobsen, The Sumerian King List, Assyriological Studies 11 (Chicago, 1939), pp. 110-11, 11.3135.
8 These are the "Weidner Chronicle" and "Sargon
Chronicle." For the former, see H. G. Gifterbock,
"Die historische Tradition und ihre literarische Gestaltung bei Babyloniern und Hethitern bis 1200,"
Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie (ZA) 42 (1934): 47 ff.;
and A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian
Chronicles, Texts from Cuneiform Sources 5 (Locust Valley, New York, 1975), p. 149. For the "Sargon Chronicle," see ibid., pp. 153-54; L. W. King,
Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings, vol.
2 (London, 1907), pp. 8, 18. Mostly on the basis of
these two chronicles, H. Weiss (Weiss, p. 447) locates
Agade near Babylon, at Ishan Mizyad (see fig. 12).
Although it is known from a year-name of Sar-kaligarri that Babylon did exist in Sargonic times
(Hirsch, p. 29, n. 3), Weiss fails to explain his literal
use of these obviously anachronistic documents.
Moreover, Agade's foundation is not directly alluded to: "He (Sargon) dug up the dirt of the pit of
Babylon and / made a counterpart of Babylon next
to Agade" (Sargon Chronicle); ". .. he (Sargon)
dug up the dust of its pit and / ... in front of
Agade he made (another) city and [cal]led it Babylon" (Weidner Chronicle).
9 A year-name mentioning Agade may prove to
be Presargonic; see A. Pohl, Vorsargonische und
sargonische Wirtschaftstexte, Texte und Materialien
der Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection, vol. 5
(Leipzig, 1935), no. 81, 1. 8; see also A. Westenholz,
Old Sumerian and Old Akkadian Texts in Philadelphia: Literary and Lexical Texts and the Earliest
Administrative Documents from Nippur (Philadelphia, 1975), p. 4.
10E. A. Speiser, Mesopotamian Origins (Philadelphia, 1930), p. 54, points towards a Hurrian or
Lullubean etymology for Aga-de in view of such

city names as Arak-di, Lub-di, Tai-di, etc., which
fits well with my location of Agade. But is a Sumerian etymon clearly ruled out? For instance, a
form of the irregular verb a- -db, "to pour water," in
a-ga-de, "I will pour water," constitutes an ideal
political declaration, which parallels that implicit in
the name Sarru-kin ("true king").
II See Kramer, The Sumerians, pp. 40-41.
12The emergence of the written Akkadian language and of the term akkada (see n. 2) to designate
it in Sargonic times is still unexplained. Semites and
Sumerians were mixed from the earliest times on,
and no separation occurred along ethnic lines during
the times of the Agadean dynasty (see Jacobsen,
"The Assumed Conflict between the Sumerians and
Semites in Early Mesopotamian History," JAOS 59
[1939]: 485-95); R. D. Biggs, "Semitic Names in the
Fara Period," Orientalia, n.s. 36 [1967]: 55-66). It
may be that contemporaneous with Sargon's effort a
push towards syllabism had come from the west
(Ebla, Mari) and that writing previously read in
either Semitic or Sumerian could for the first time
be read only in a Semitic version, thus adding to the
creation of the term akkada to designate them (see
I. J. Gelb, Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar,
Material for the Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 2, rev.
ed. [Chicago, 1961], pp. 1-6).
13For the following discussion, see C. J. Gadd,
"The Dynasty of Agade and the Gutian Invasion,"
Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 1, pt. 2, rev. ed.
(Cambridge, 1963), pp. 417 ff., with literature. Cf.
also W. W. Hallo, "Mesopotamia and the Asiatic
Near East," in W. W. Hallo and W. K. Simpson,
The Ancient Near East: A History (New York,
1971), p. 56, n. 52, for a different opinion on
Sargon's chronology.

208
kings at Ki', while, on the other, we are told that Lugalzagesi of Uruk (formerly of
Umma) became king of the Land upon Ur-Zababa's demise. The King List then states
that "Uruk was smitten with weapons, its kingship to Agade was carried," indicating
that Sargon overwhelmed Lugalzagesi. Furthermore, a later tradition states that
kingship was transferred directly from Ur-Zababa to Sargon. What we may deduce
from this entangled situation is that (a) Ki' lost prominence after Ur-Zababa,
(b) Sargon claimed kingship, but (c) Lugalzagesi was recognized by Nippur's authority
as "King of the Land."
Whether it was Sargon or Lugalzagesi who caused the downfall of Ki' may have a
direct bearing on the location of Agade. C. J. Gadd suggests that the former was in all
likelihood responsible, since Lugalzagesi nowhere claims that he ruled or defeated
Kig.14 As for Sargon, although he later restored Ki', "The Curse of Agade" says that
he was given kingship "after Enlil's frown had slain Ki' like the Bull of Heaven,"
which sounds rather like a declaration of non-accountability. However, the fact that
Ki' led a coalition seeking to overthrow Agade during the reign of Sargon's grandson,
Naram-Sin, may illustrate an ongoing conflict between these cities." Thus it is
probable that Sargon attempted a coup against Ur-Zababa-perhaps occasioning his
adoption of the apologetic name Sarru-kin, "true or legitimate king"-and that this
attempt failed, although Ur-Zababa himself may have been eliminated. Sargon and his
followers were then driven out of Kis, and their exile led to the foundation of Agade.
That Agade was built at the beginning of Sargon's political independence seems
most probable. First of all, we can rule out the possibility that Sargon lived a nomadic
or non-urban life before building Agade late in his reign. The notion of the city-with
its immanent deity-was much too deeply entrenched in the Sumero-Akkadian psyche
to allow for that assumption.16 Secondly, we know that Agade's wealth depended
primarily on commercial expansion, supported in part by an important administrative
and military apparatus, rather than on the direct production of agricultural goods,
which was the traditional basis of the Sumerian economy." And if we are to account
for the power behind Sargon when he later defeated Lugalzagesi, we must assume that
these economic infrastructures were already in place. Furthermore, it is improbable
14Gadd, "The Dynasty of Agade," p. 420.

15A. K. Grayson and E. Sollberger, "L'Insurrection g6n6rale contre Naram-Suen," Revue d'assyriologie et d'archeologie orientale 70 (1976): 108, 120.
The animosity between Kig and Agade and/or the
downfall of Ki' is further reflected in the Agadean
royal titulary when, starting with Naram-Sin, the
title "King of Kig"was dropped.
16A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization, rev. ed. (Chicago, 1977),
pp. I11 ff. For foreign nations viewed from a Mesopotamian standpoint as "subhuman barbarians," see
J. S. Cooper, The Curse of Agade (Baltimore and
London, 1983), pp. 30-36.
17For the administration of the
Sargonic state,
see B. Foster, Administration and Use of Institutional Land in Sargonic Sumer (Copenhagen, 1982),
esp. pp. 115-16. Note also the statement in Sargon's

inscription that "the citizens of Agade held the ensiships (governor- or vice-kingship)," Hirsch, p. 36.
For commerce in Sargonic times, see Foster, Umma
in the Sargonic Period (Hamden, Conn., 1982);
idem, "Commercial Activity in Sargonic Mesopotamia," Iraq 39 (1977): 31-43. The dependence of
Agade on overland trade may be assumed from the
topos of the "Sar tamharim" epic: W. F. Albright,
"The Epic of the King of Battle," Journal of the
Society of Oriental Research 7 (1923): 1 ff. Finally,
the fact that a vast majority of Sargonic economic
texts mentioning Agade speak of goods brought to
that city suggests that it relied heavily on imports
for its sustenance, which is to be expected from a
commercial metropolis.

209
that Sargon moved his capital from an unspecified city to Agade later in his reign, for,
as we know from later Mesopotamian history, the instances of such relocations proved
unsuccessful. 8
As Lugalzagesi's rival, Sargon would certainly have chosen a site for Agade out of
his reach, that is, beyond Sumer's frontier. At first, Sargon's kingdom may have
appeared no different in size and scope from other petty states scattered about the
northern periphery of the Sumerian heartland, such as Guti, Hurri, Lullubi. This
would explain why Lugalzagesi did not crush the nascent Agadean empire when it was
probably still vulnerable.
In summary, the hypothetical location of Agade must account for its having been
built (a) shortly after Sargon's departure from Ki', (b) on the fringe of Sumer's
frontier (to become the land of Akkad),'9 and (c) in relation to commercial arteries
connecting Lower Mesopotamia to other trade centers in the west, north, east, and
especially southeast, since an important commercial axis was developed in this latter
direction by subsequent Agadean kings.20 I will return to these points in my conclusion.
IV. THE TIGRIDIAN EVIDENCE
The documents I have analyzed show a definite connection between Agade and the
Tigris, a fact which requires a short explanation.
It is widely accepted among Assyriologists that Agade must lie somewhere along a
former branch of the Euphrates,21 as did most important cities of Lower Mesopotamia
before the Seleucids. This "Euphratian bias" is why most proposals for the location of
Agade have been focused near Sippar and Ki', two conspicuous Euphratian cities of
Akkad. One may rightly speak of a bias, since, to our knowledge, not a single piece of
evidence links Agade to the Euphrates.22 More generally, as will be debated in
Appendix A below, the role of the Tigris in pre-Hellenistic times has been consistently
understated, chiefly, it seems, because of the overwhelming imbalance of the data
accumulated on both river systems. Thus it is only by default that the Euphratian
hypothesis has imposed itself.
18
Capitals were moved at least two other times in
the history of Mesopotamia. Sargon II built the new
city of Dir-Sarrukin to replace Nineveh, but it was
used only for a year or so before his death (706705), and the caliph Al-Mu'tasim moved the Abbasid capital from Baghdad to Samarra, although
after forty-odd years, subsequent rulers returned to
Baghdad, which had always remained the commercial and cultural center.
19For the importance of that frontier, see M. B.
Rowton, "Sumer's Strategic Periphery in Topological
Perspective," Zikir Sumim: Assyriological Studies
Presented to F. R. Kraus on the Occasion of His
Seventieth Birthday (Leiden, 1982), pp. 318-25.
20 Foster, Umma in the Sargonic Period, esp.
pp. 45-46, 77; idem, "Commercial Activity in Sar-
gonic Mesopotamia," Iraq 39 (1977): 39. See also

the journeys of Sargonic kings to Sumer in Foster,
"Notes on Sargonic Royal Princes," JANES 12
(1980): 29-46.
21 Hallo, The Ancient Near East, p. 56; G. Roux,
Ancient Iraq, 2d ed. (New York, 1980), p. 146;
Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 61 and passim. Cf.
McEwan, pp. 11-12.
22 The
Euphrates is mentioned as the river on
which Sargon's native city, Azupiranu, is situated
(Hirsch, p. 7, no. 7) in "The Legend of Sargon" (see
also Guiterbock,"Die historische Tradition," pp. 6264). This city certainly belongs to Upper Mesopotamia and can hardly have had any bearing on the
choice of a capital in Lower Mesopotamia.

210
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FIG. i.--Shaded area shows the possible location of Agade according to UET 8, 14; "The Curse of Agade";
and the text from Utu-hegal.

AN
AREAL LOCATION OF AGADE
211
SUMERIAN TEXT FROM UR
In a document dated to Sargonic or Ur III times,23 the city of Agade is mentioned

together with the Tigris (col. 4', 1. 3'):
i7-idigna-gin-n6 a-ga-deki
G. Pettinato translates this passage as "andando verso il Tigri: Akkade" ("going
towards the Tigris: Agade").24The text appears to be a list of ensis (rulers) and cities
of northern Babylonia, although no ensi is mentioned in connection with Agade.
Nonetheless, it is reasonable to assume, since the Tigris is used as a descriptive
landmark, that Agade is not far from it. Since the Tigris ran between the Euphrates
and the channels of the Durul/Taban,25 it is clear that Agade must lie between these
rivers, on either side of the Tigris. If it had been outside, then most likely one or the
other would have been mentioned as a directional landmark instead of the Tigris (see
fig. 1). I have therefore taken the reconstructed branch of the Euphrates closest to the
Tigris and the reconstructed channels of the Durul and Taban rivers, also closest to
the Tigris, as the outermost limits for the area encompassing Agade.
"THE CURSE OF AGADE"
This Sumerian composition, whose origin is to be dated no later than the Ur III
period (ca. 2000 B.C.E.),26 is a mythopoeic account of the rise and fall of Agade, ending
with its defeat by a Gutian invasion (ca. 2150 B.C.E.).
The city is clearly described, and we learn, for instance (1. 37), that "its harbor,
where ships docked, was filled with excitement."27 This brings to mind a passage in
Sargon's royal inscriptions: "Ships from Melubba, ships from Magan, ships from
Dilmun, he (Sargon) caused to be anchored at Agade's quay."28 From both descriptions, one can surmise that Agade was close to a broad waterway which accommodated ships coming from overseas. The only river mentioned in the whole composition
is the Tigris (11.43-45):
The portalsof its [Agade's]city-gates,as if for the Tigrisgoing into the sea,
Inannaopenedwide
Ships broughtthe goods of Sumeritselfupstream(to Agade)... .29
23 E. Sollberger,
Royal Inscriptions, pt. 2, Ur
Excavations Texts 8 (Philadelphia, 1965), no. 14.
24 G. Pettinato [review of E. Sollberger, Royal
Inscriptions], Orientalia, n.s. 36 (1967): 451-52.
25 For the identification and course of the Taban
river, see K. Nashef, "Der Taban Fluss," Baghdader
Mitteilungen 13 (1982): 117-41. The Taban and
Durul were certainly interlaced by common channels, and in the region we are concerned with they
are approximately aligned.
26 For editions and translations of the text, see
A. Falkenstein, "Fluch tiber Akkade," ZA 57 (1965):
43 ff.; Cooper, Curse of Agade; P. Attinger, "Re-
marques a propos de la 'Malediction d'Accad',"

Revue d'assyriologie et d'archdologie orientale 78
(1984): 99 ff.
27 Unless otherwise stated, the translations are by
Cooper, in Curse of Agade.
28 Sargon b2: 11-14; bl3: 11-14 (= Hirsch, pp. 37,
49).
29 Cooper (p. 52): abul-a-ba ididigna a-ab-ba-s
du-ii-gim / ki dinanna-ke4ka-b6 gil bi-in-tag4 / kien-gi-ra nig-ga ni-ba-ke4 gigmaim-da-gid-de. Other
translations of this passage vary noticeably (1. 45):
"In Sumer the ships sail with goods in their own
account," M.-L. Thomsen, The Sumerian Language,

212
This mention of the Tigris is usually taken as a metaphor, since the equative
postposition -gim is used. But it may well be a direct reference to the river by which
the goods of Sumer are conveyed to Agade.30 If the Tigris is mentioned only in a
metaphor, it is probably because for the narrator, as well as for his audience, the
connection of Agade to the Tigris was obvious.
Be that as it may, since the Tigris is the only river cited in a composition entirely
devoted to the city of Agade, I consider its mention as indirect evidence that Agade
was situated somewhere on or close to its course, contemporary to the text. As Agade
may have lain on a canal branching from the Tigris, our selected area will extend to
the nearest rivers on both sides of it (fig. 1). (It will be observed that the same figure is
used for this, the preceding, and the following texts; the area they suggest for Agade
being, for lack of better evidence, the same. Naturally, each source will be used
separately in the composite maps, figs. 9 and 10.)
TEXT FROM UTU-HEGAL
In a text celebrating the liberation of Sumer from the Gutian occupation,31 King
Utu-hegal of Uruk (ca. 2115 B.C.E.) states (col. 2, 11.5-15):
Tiriqan/ king of Gutium/ spoke thus:/ "No one encountered(me)"/ the Tigris(down)to the
sea / he captured,/ Lower Sumer/ he seized/ Upper (Sumer) he seized,/ the roads of the
Land/ he (seized).
The whole question of the length and extent of the Gutian takeover in Lower
Mesopotamia is far from resolved,32but it is established that mostly the north, Akkad,
was affected. Although we have evidence of some Gutian presence in Lower Sumer,
such cities as Ur, Uruk, Lagas, and possibly Umma show a continuity of native rule
incompatible with a Gutian hegemony.
Only the Tigris is mentioned as part of the Gutian conquest in this text, rather than
the idiomatic "Tigris and Euphrates," a commonly occurring expression somewhat
equivalent to "the whole of Sumer." If the Gutians had also seized the Euphrates,
Utu-hfegal--who is engaged here in a traditional exercise of self-glorification-would
certainly have mentioned it too to enhance his own merit.
Since it is established that the Gutian conquest was mostly restricted to the land of
Akkad and, through this text, to the Tigris, we have here a strong corroboration that
Mesopotamia, Copenhagen Studies in Assyriology
10 [Copenhagen, 1984], p. 174, no. 368; 11.43-45),
"La splendide Inanna ouvrit / la 'bouche' de ses
portes comme (celle du) Tigris coulant vers la mer /
et fit haler des bateaux par (les gens de) Sumer (loin
de =) emportant leurs propres possessions (vers
Agade)" (Attinger, "Mal6diction d'Accad," pp. 100,
108).
30A conjectural point of stylistics
may be adduced.
The context in 1.43 is properly that of goods brought
by land (through the city gates). Therefore, the
following mention of waterborne goods (1. 45) breaks
with the original context, which is resumed in 1. 46.
Something must have triggered this break; it is
likely to have been the mention of the Tigris itself.
If the Tigris had not been flowing toward Agade,
then it is probable that the writer would not have

"seen" ships sailing towards it and that the metaphor would not have been strong enough to confuse
the context.
31 F. Thureau-Dangin, "La Fin de la domination
gutienne," Revue d'assyriologie et d'archeologie
orientale 9 (1912): 114; W. H. Ph. R6mer, "Zur
Siegesinschrift des Kdnigs Utuhegal von Unug (+
2116-2110 v. Chr.)," Orientalia, n.s. 54 (1985): 277,
282 [pointed out to me by A. D. Kilmer].
32 On the fall of Agade and the Gutian period, see
Hallo, "Gutium" Reallexikon der Assyriologie,
vol. 3, pp. 710-16; Gadd, "The Dynasty of Agade,"
pp. 454-63; E. A. Speiser, "Some Factors in the
Collapse of Akkad," JAOS 72 (1952): 97-101.

213
Agade (and the original district of Akkad) was situated somewhere on the Tigris
system (fig. 1).
THE PROLOGUETO THE CODE OF HAMMURABI
The Prologue of Hammurabi's laws33lists all the most important cities of the Old
Babylonian kingdom (twenty-seven in all), together with their divinities and the deeds
which Hammurabi accomplished in each of them. The sequence of cities in this text is
carefully arranged, mostly according to some geographical order. The first five cities,
however, Nippur (1), Eridu (2), Babylon (3), Ur (4), and Sippar (5), are in order in
accordance with the position of their god in the Hammurabian pantheon-Enlil, Ea,
Marduk, Sin, and Sama' respectively.
Starting with the sixth city, the sequence becomes geographical, although this order
is not according to proximity of one city to the next or their proximity according to a
south-north axis, the two principles most commonly found in texts of a geographical
nature. Further investigation shows that it is arranged instead according to the
proximity of cities along the same watercourse, as illustrated by the sequences
Larsa (6), Uruk (7), Isin (8), ((Nippur)), Ki' (9), Kutha (10), and ((Babylon)), Borsippa (11), and Dilbat (12). Both of these are compatible with Adams's reconstructions
of branches of the Euphrates in Old Babylonian times.34 It should also be noted that
the sequence breaks when it reaches the northern part of Babylonia (after Dilbat [12],
Malgium [20], and Tutul [22]) and thus confers on Babylon, Hammurabi's capital, a
central role.
After the not yet located city of Ke' (13), the enumeration turns to south Sumer.
Another waterway is described alongside Lagav-Girsu (14), Lagas (15), Zabalam (16),
Karkar (17), and Adab (18), which may be a branch of the Tigris,35as is certainly the
branch Ma'kan-Sapir (19), Malgium (20). The Upper Euphrates is then described
listing Mari (21) and Tutul (22). Of direct interest to us is the following mention of
Ti'pak, the god of Esnunna, together with-if we are to follow Kraus's restoration36the mention of Esnunna (23) itself. There the sequence becomes problematic: Babylon (24), Agade (25), ASiur (26), and Nineveh (27). Notwithstanding the mention of
Agade, it seems odd that the reference to Babylon should occur after that of Esnunna,
33 I have used a recent translation by A. Finet, Le
Code de Hammurapi (Brussels, 1983), pp. 31-44.
34 HC, p. 166; also CK, p. 251. The first of these
two lines may represent the main course of the
Euphrates. Both Adams and Gibson place Ki' and
Kutha on different channels, and the latter also
assigns Isin to a different branch from that of Uruk.
Both authors vary significantly in their reconstructions, and the junction Kutha-Ki' is possible. In the
case of Uruk-Isin, Adams clearly reconstructs a
common branch between the two cities. My second
line may represent the Arabtu canal with no major
difficulty. It should also be emphasized that, in my
view, cities may not lie exactly along the watercourses implicitly described by Hammurabi but may
be situated on canals branching off from them: it is
most likely that the channel(s) upon which these
cities (some of whose lifespan had extended for
nearly a millennium) were originally built had shifted

away from them by the time of Hammurabi and
thus that most were connected by secondary canals
to the main channels of the Euphrates (and the
Tigris).
35 For this presumed branch linking to the Tigris
cities known to have been connected also to the
Euphrates, see J. N. Postgate, "Inscriptions from
Tell al-Wilayah," Sumer 32 (1977): 80; E. de Vaumas, "L'Ecoulement des eaux en M6sopotamie et la
provenance des eaux de Tello," Iraq 27 (1965):
81-99.
36 According to Finet's statement (Le Code de
Hammurapi, p. 41, n. [b]), Kraus proposed to restore
(i-na Eg-nun-naki) in the text; idem in Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes 51 (194852): 173-77.

214
Nineveh
3MZamban
a1a
fiiim.
Turnu
a
c0
"
ModernRivers Za m
Orderof mentionin the
Code of Hammurapit
(possibleold rivercourses)
Sippar
kI
.
mnn
Isin
c. Dr-Kurigalzu
1..Karkaraln
d. Kuthaa
Babylon
e. Kig
m. Girsu
n. Zabalam.
f. Borsippa
o. Larsa
g. Dilbat
Laga.
h. Nippur
p. Uruk
Susa
i. Adab
a.
b.
sd7
Tuttul
KMaakanuh
o
--
Ur,
...
Eridu
FIG. 2.-Shaded area shows the possible location of Agade based on the Prologue of the Code of
Hammurapi.
since Mari (21), Tutul (22), ((Sippar)),and Babylon (24) clearly describe the Euphrates
flowing toward Babylonia, while Esnunna (23), AS'ur (26), and Nineveh (27) describe
the Tigris upstream from Babylonia.
Why, then, is Babylon mentioned a second time in such a way as to disrupt the
geographical logic carefully maintained up to this point? Why is it mentioned a second
time at all? The only explanation is that of prestige, which seems to have taken
precedence over all other rationales for Mesopotamian monarchs: Hammurabi must
have felt compelled to mention his capital again directly before Agade, so as not to let
Babylon be eclipsed by the famous city that he readily calls Agadeki rebTtim,"Agade
the Great."37
37
Finet, Le Code de Hammurapi, p. 42.

215
That Babylon is not cited in a geographical context here is confirmed by the

segment Tutul (22), Esnunna (23), Babylon (24)--irreconcilable with any watercourse.
We can thus remove Babylon from the sequence and restore the geographical order
Esnunna (23), Agade (25), A''ur (26), Nineveh (27) as describing the Tigris. Although
Esnunna does not properly belong to the Tigris, it is part of the Tigris system: Agade,
then, is to be sought between Esnunna and As'ur, somewhere along the Tigris (fig. 2).
AGADE AND ESARHADDON
According to the Babylonian Chronicle,38in 673, during the reign of Esarhaddon,

"in (the month of) Addaru, Istar of Agade and the gods of Agade returned from Elam
and entered Agade on Addaru 10." Soon thereafter, Esarhaddon gave orders to
"repopulate the city of Agade," and "deliver the regular offerings of the goddess! They
should be advanced to Agade!"39
The program of rebuilding that Esarhaddon initiated touched not only Agade but
Babylon, a fact which has left some scholars under the impression that "Agade" might
have been used as a synonym for Babylon.40 But, following S. Parpola's objections,41 I
disagree with this hypothesis for two reasons. First, we know of no instance of the use
of the name of an existing city to designate another existing city,42and secondly, it is
known from Nabonidus43 that Esarhaddon restored the temple Eulmas of Istar-ofAgade in Agade, and no temple with this name existed in Babylon, although a temple
of IBtar-of-Agade did exist there).44Thus it is safe to conclude that the name "Agade"
was never apocryphally used as a name for Babylon.
In a letter to King Esarhaddon,45a special envoy named Mir-Ibtar complains that
the letters he sent to the palace in Ninevah have been returned to him from post
stations on the road leading there. Mdr-Ibtar is at that time in Agade supervising the
arrival of timber for building projects. The names of these post stations are: Kamanate,
Ampihapi, and [ ]garegu. Parpola places Kamanate on the west bank of the Tigris
and Ampihapi near the point where the Radanu (Nahr al-'Adheim) meets the Tigris.
Moreover, he adds: "It would thus seem that the post route referred to by Mar-IStar
was more or less identical with the modern road leading from Mosul to Baghdad
through A%'urand Samarra on the western bank of the Tigris."46
In another letter to the king,47 Mdr-IStarstates that "the substitute king, who on the
night of the 14th sat on the throne in Nineveh and spent the night of the 15th in the
38 Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles,
pp. 84, 126.
39 S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian Scholars to
the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, Alter
Orient und Altes Testament 5, 2 vols. (NeukirchenVluyn, 1970 and 1982) (hereafter cited as AOAT
5:1, and AOAT 5:2), AOAT 5:1, p. 218.
40 So Weiss in Weiss,
p. 446; Brinkman in PKB,
p. 145, n. 1662; 301, n. 1975.
41 AOAT 5:2, p. 263, n. 7.
42 The name of a southern Sumerian city, Eridu,
was used as a synecdoche for Babylon only because
one of Babylon's quarters bore this name also: but
no quarter bore the name of Agade; see 0. R.

Gurney, "The Fifth Tablet of 'The Topography of
Babylon'," Iraq 36 (1974): 50; A. R. George, "The
Cuneiform Text Tin.tirki Ba-bi-lu and the Topography of Babylon," Sumer 35 (1979): 226, 230.
43 S. Langdon, "New Inscriptions of Nabuna'id,"
American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 32 (1915-16): 113-14.
44 Called E-mal-dari; George, "Tin.tirki Ba-bilu," p. 230.
45 AOAT 5:1, pp. 250-51.
46 AOAT 5:2, p. 302.
47 AOAT 5:1, pp. 226-27.

216
palace of the king.. . entered the city of Agade safely on the night of the 20th .. ."
Thus, it took the substitute king and his party five days to go from Nineveh to Agade.
The straight distance Nineveh-Baghdad is roughly 300 km along the direct road on the
western bank of the Tigris, and a trip on horseback or by foot would have needed
roughly an average of 60 km a day-quite unreasonable for a royal train, albeit that of
a substitute. The only alternative is a journey by boat, and four to five days is in fact
the average duration of such trips made in December-January.48
Although my conclusions here are only of a circumstantial nature, the mention of
post stations along the Tigris and that of a journey by boat on that same river between
Nineveh and Agade strongly suggest that the location of Agade was on the Tigris.
CLAY BARREL INSCRIPTION FROM CYRUS
In a well-known text from Cyrus (557-529)49 recounting how he "liberated"

northern Babylonia and restored temples in its cities, one finds a clear indication of the
location of Agade:
... all of them (kingsfrom the entireworld)(1.29) broughttheir heavytributeand kissedmy
feet in Babylon.From(a region)as far as the city of A''ur and the city of Susa (1.30) the city of
Agade, the land of Esnunna,the town Zamban,the town Me-Turnu,the city of DMr,as far as
the land of the Gutis,(these)sacredcities acrossthe Tigris... (1.31)
The key words here are "(these) sacred cities across the Tigris (ma-ha-za [s'a e-bir]-ti
naridiglat)." Since Cyrus, the narrator, is in Babylon, it follows that all the places
mentioned lie east of the Tigris. This is true for Susa, Esnunna (Tell Asmar), Zamban
(on or near the Lower Zab), Me-Turnu (on the Diyala=Turnu, 60 km southwest of
Khanikin), Der (near Bedreh), and the Land of the Guti (between Kurdistan and the
Zagros).
ASSur appears at first to be the exception, since it is on the western bank of the
Tigris. But the text, by using the verb eberu, "to cross," indicates in effect that coming
from Babylon one had to cross the water of the Tigris to enter A''ur. Since we know
that a moat enclosing A'gur's western side was linked at both ends to the Tigris, the
city was in fact completely surrounded by Tigris water.50
As all known places mentioned in this text are east of the Tigris, I see no reason for
Cyrus to have distorted the geographical setting of only one, and so we have to
48 Cf. trips made by modern explorers on a kelek

(inflated sheepskin boat) between Mosul (Nineveh)
and Baghdad and lasting three to six days during
the high season; A. C. Brackman, The Luck of
Nineveh (New York, 1978), p. 74; A. H. Layard,
Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
(London, 1853), pp. 464-74; F. R. Chesney, The
Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates
and Tigris...
(London,
1850), p. 32.
49 Published by H. C. Rawlinson and T. G.

Pinches, in The Cuneiform Inscriptionsfrom Western
Asia, vol. 5, A Selection from the Miscellaneous

Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia (London,
1880-84; reprint London, 1909), p. 35; F. H. Weissbach, Die Keilinschriften der Achimeniden, Vorderasiatische Bibliothek 3 (Leipzig, 1911), p. 6; J. B.
Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating
to the Old Testament, 3d. ed. (Princeton, 1969),
p. 316.
50 See map in S. Lloyd, The Archaeology of
Mesopotamia: From the Old Stone Age to the
Persian Conquest, rev. ed. (London, 1984), p. 180.

217
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(The course of the Tigris in Late Babylonian times is adapted from Adams, LBB, fig. 4.)
conclude that Agade belongs to the east Tigris region as well." As the text is accurate
in depicting A''ur's setting, we can further conclude that the Tigris had to be crossed
to reach Agade from Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E.(fig. 3).
V. AGADE AND THE DIYALA REGION
The evidence dealt with in this section enables us to define further the latitudinal
position of Agade on the Tigris. Other materials circumstantially pointing to the
Diyala region for Agade's location will be found in Appendix B below.
51 It remains a mystery why this well-known text,
clearly situating Agade east of the Tigris, has not
been mentioned by scholars in connection with the
search for Agade until McEwan's article in 1981
(McEwan, pp. 9, 11). J. M. Durand and E. Joannes

have brought into the discussion a letter from the
time of Cambyses-Cyrus's successor-which indicates a connection of Agade with the East Tigris in

218
THE COLLECTIONOF THE SUMERIAN TEMPLEHYMNS
Agade is among the thirty-seven cities listed in this composition, together with their
gods and the names of their temples.52 It was written by Sargon's daughter Enheduanna, the priestess of Inanna at Ur.
As far as we can tell-since the location of only seventeen of the cities is
established-the sequence follows a general southeast-northwest axis, with the exception of Der and Esnunna. The final part of the collection concerns Sippar, HI.ZA,
Ulmas, Agade, and Eres. The mention of Ulma' is a bit disconcerting, for it is known
that its temple, Eulmas, whose goddess was Inanna-of-Agade, belonged to Agade.53
This may be taken as an indication that the temple(s) of Inanna, and their lands,
formed a somewhat separate area from that of the city of Agade proper, at least in the
time of Enheduanna.
Unfortunately, the location of Ere' is unknown; that of HI.ZAwill be discussed
below. The only known place-name in that part of the list is Sippar, and the only
conclusion that can be drawn is that Ulma'-Agade lies probably north of HI.ZAand
quite certainly north of Sippar (fig. 4).54
THE GEOGRAPHICALLIST 4 R 3855
This list comprises the sequence Ulma', Agade, HI.ZA, Esnunna, and Malgium,56to
be compared with the sequence Sippar, HI.ZA, Ulma'-Agade, of the collection of
hymns and Sippar, Agade, Esnunna, of Sutruk-Nahhunte's text (see below). The
result is, then, that HI.ZAlies between Sippar and Agade and also between Agade
and Esnunna. The only viable solution to this apparent contradiction is to posit
that Agade and HI.ZA lie on the same line approximately perpendicular to the line
Sippar-Esnunna (see fig. 5), with Agade situated probably, as we have seen, north of
HI.ZA.
Late-Babylonian times (A. T. Clay, Neo-Babylonian

Letters from Erech, Yale Oriental Series 3 [New
Haven, 1920], no. 106, 11.19-26): "Consult the records of the time of Nebuchadnezzar, Neriglissar
and Nabonidus (to find out) how much flour-including transportation, belts and sandals-you
gave to the soldiers posted on the riverbank at
Takrit and at Agade." It follows that Agade and
Takrit are on the bank of the same river: most
probably the Tigris. It is also possible that the river
was an antecedent to the Parthian Nahrawan canal,
since Takrit was at its mouth (LBB, p. 67). In both
cases, Agade is definitely to be assigned to the Tigris
system near the Diyala (Nouvelles assyriologiques
breves et utilitaires 4 [1988]: 51-52).
52 A. W. Sj6berg, The Collection of the Sumerian
Temple Hymns, Texts from Cuneiform Sources 3
(Locust Valley, New York, 1969).
53Cf. Cooper's remark that "Inanna, according to
this composition, did not have a proper temple in
Agade," Curse of Agade, p. 236, n. 9. But see n. 54
below. For the name (E)-Ulma', see Sjoberg, Temple

Hymns, pp. 145-46.
54 Another Sumerian hymn mentions Agade and
its temple Eulmas among a list of cities and their
temples. The sequence Borsippa, Sippar, Agade,
Karkar, DEr, Diniktu, Kutha, ME-Turnu is, however, inconclusive (E. Reiner, "A Sumero-Akkadian
Hymn of Nana," JNES 33 [1974]: 221-36). We may
note nevertheless that DEr, (probably) Diniktu, and
Ma-Turnu, belong to the east Tigris region and that
Agade appears to be north of Sippar. In the Sumerian myth "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld,"
the sequence of the cities suggests that Agade must
be north of KiS: Uruk, Bad-Tibira, Zabalam, Adab,
Nippur, Ki', Agade.
55Pinches, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western
Asia, vol. 4, A Selection from the Miscellaneous
Inscriptions of Assyria ... (London, 1891), pp. 38,
39.
56The two cities preceding Ulma' are Marad and
perhaps Diniktu.

219
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:------::::::----*
. . O. .
........
FIG. 4.-Shaded area shows the possible location of Agade according to the Sumerian Temple Hymns and
the text mentioning the Nar Agade.

220
....................................................................iii
Turnu
iii.
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iiiiiiiiiiiiiii~i
i i.:.:!.
..........
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. . a.
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i......i~
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i '~~ii .:i~i
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...............
ii
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i'
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.iii.iiii.iiii..iiiiiiiiiiii
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ii.
. .................
. . . . . . ::..:::::.::
..........:%::
...
..
..
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....~Dli~51~1...........~.
....
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......
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se
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.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
:
.
.
.
.
.
. .................
............
... . . ......
. . . . . . ...........
l
....
....
.....
.........
Xa
..........
.... . ...... . . . . . . . .
Kil
..
...
nu
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km
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=A'.1Sippar-.
.
.:*
*. ',
SWatercourses
Ancient
Kutha
"
Modern
Babylon
FIG. 5.-Shaded
HI.ZA.
area shows the possible location of Agade based on information referring to Agade and

221
If we follow the proposals of A. Sjciberg and J. G. P. McEwan,57 equating HI.ZA

with the later Hilat, the known location of which was "on the Tigris probably not
much above the level of Tell ed-Der,""58then Agade too must lie on the Tigris, since
the course of that river is roughly perpendicular to the axis Sippar-Esnunna. This last
line, it should be added, forms the logical southernmost limit for the location of
Agade, for if it were located south of this line, we would obtain a sequence such as:
*Sippar, Agade, HI.ZA and *HI.ZA, Agade, Esnunna. This, however, is only a logical
limit, since the differences of distance between Sippar-Agade and Sippar-HI.zA and
Agade-Esnunna and HI.ZA-Esnunnamust be minimal enough to have allowed several
sequences. The line Sippar-Esnunna is then only to be used as an indication of the
southernmost location of Agade (fig. 5).
THE NAR SARRI, BIT-PIRID AMURRU, BIT-TUNAMISSAIJ
Two kudurrus (boundary stones) from the reign of the Middle Babylonian king
Meli-Sipak (1186-1172) associate Agade with a waterway, the Nar arri ("Canal of
the King") and two Kassite houses, Bit-Piri' Amurru59and BTt-Tunamissah.
The first kudurru60establishes that an estate was granted by King Meli-Sipak to his
own son and successor Merodach-Baladan 1 (1171-1159) and that it was located
(col. 1, 11.3-6):
In the town of Tamakku,meadowof Agade,on the banksof the Ndr arri(in or of)6' Bit-PiriD
Amurru.
Its borders were (col. 1, 11.42-55):
To the norththe town of Mdr-Selibi(in or of) Bit-Tunamissah,to the south the town Salhi in
the land of IStar-of-Agade,to the west the banksof the Kibaticanalwhichdrawsits waterfrom
the canalof the royaldistrict,to the east the banksof the Ndr arri.
One of the privileges of this land grant was that (col. 2, 11.20-29):
The care and diking of the Ndr arri, the protection of BTt-Sikkamiduand Damiq-Adad,
of Agade, cannot be requestedfrom
(requested)from people of towns withinthe land of
Igtar
membersof this estate:(theydo) not haveto do corv6e
workon the weirof the
arri.
N.r
The second kudurru62describes another estate given by the king to his minister
Hasardu. It is located (col. 1, 11.2-9):
In the meadow of the city Saluluni, on the banks of the Nar arri, borderedto the north by
BTt-PiriDAmurru,to the south by the land of AmEl-Ib?akke'a-U'tim,
to the west by the banks
of the Nar Sarri,to the east by Bit-PiriD Amurru.
One of the witnesses of this kudurru is (col. 2, 11.9-10): "SamaS-Sum-lisir,the son of
Atta-iluma, gakkanaku (governor) of Agade."
57 Sj6berg, Temple Hymns, p. 141, no. 39;
McEwan, p. 15, n. 50.
58 McEwan, p. 15, n. 50.
59 For a previous discussion of the material concerning Bit-Piri' Amurru, see PKB, p. 145, n. 874.
60 MDP 2, pp. 99 ff.

61 It is not clear in some cases whether BTt-refers
directly to the land or to the group of people
owning it.
62 BBst, no. 4.

222
Most of the place names mentioned in these two texts are unknown from other
sources, with the exception of the Nar arri, BTt-Tunamissah, and BTt-Piri' Amurru.
This last Kassite house is connected by another kudurru63to the Radanu River, the
modern Nahr al-cAdheim and its tributaries, one having survived until recent times as
the Nahr Rathan.64 Since Bit-Pirin Amurru is connected by both of our kudurrus to
the Ndr arri, it must have stretched from this canal to the Radanu river on the banks
of the Tigris.65
The other Kassite house, BTt-Tunamissah, is more clearly placed in another kudurru66of Merodach-Baladan I, in which he grants an estate to one of his governors.
The estate is situated (col. 1, 11.3-5):
In the district of the town Diir-ZI.ZI, on the bank of the river Tigris, in the province of
Apsb-Igtar.
And its borders are (col. 1, 11.6-15):
On the upperlengthto the west the riverTigris,the lowerlengthto the east adjoiningBTt-NaziMarduk,[ ] of the city of Apsf-I-tar, the upper width to the north adjoiningthe town of
Dimati,(in or of) Bit-Tunamissah.
There can be no doubt, therefore, that Bit-Tunamissah was very close to the Tigris67
and, accordingly, that Agade was very close to it as well. In this text, Bit-Tunamissah
is east of the Tigris, and since in both kuddurrus it is a northern boundary, the two
estates it borders may have been adjoining, Agade being then also east of the Tigris,
south of BTt-Tunamissah. It is worth mentioning that a kartappu (high official) of
Akkad in the time of Nebuchadnezzar I (1125-1104) was called Nazi-Marduk,68 hence
suggesting that BTt-Nazi-Mardukmay have been close to Agade as well.
The location of the Nar arri is altogether more problematic.69 Although it
probably can be identified with the Neo-Babylonian Ndr arri, which flowed near
Sippar, and with the later Naarmalcha cited by Xenophon, Ammianus Marcellinus,
Pliny, Strabo, and others,70 it is quite certain that its course varied between Middle
Babylonian and Hellenistic times. From its name, which suggests its importance, and
from most sources, we gather that it linked the Tigris and the Euphrates. In Middle
Babylonian times, its connection to the Tigris is in any case made certain by texts
associating the Ndr Sarri with Hudadu (located somewhere between Sippar and the
Tigris), Upi ( = Ak'ak; see pp. 228-29 below), and the province of BTt-Bazi,the latter
two located directly on the Tigris.7"
63 MDP 6, p. 39, col. 1, 1.6.
64 LBB, pp. 77-78.
65 According to Adams, the Nahr al-cAdheim was
shortened by about 10 km in the thirteenth century
C.E. by a sudden north shift of the Tigris (LBB,
p. 101). In my map, I have reconstructed the approximate course of both rivers in Old Babylonian
times (fig. 6).
66 BBst, no. 5.
67
Curiously, this connection of BTt-Tunamissah
with the Tigris is mentioned neither by Brinkman in
PKB, pp. 121, 254, nor by Nashef, Die Orts- und
GewLssernamender mittelbabylonischen und mittelassyrischen Zeit, RGTC 5 (Wiesbaden, 1982), p. 73.
68 BBst, no. 6, col. 2, 1. 12; PKB, p. 254. The

province of BTt-Nazi-Mardukis otherwise unknown;
Nashef, RGTC 5, p. 64.
69See idem, RGTC 5, p. 310.
70 Cf. R. Zadok, Geographical Names according
to New- and Late-Babylonian Texts, RGTC 8 (Wiesbaden, 1985), p. 384, no. 2; R. D. Barnett, "Xenophon and the Wall of Media," Journal of Hellenic
Studies 83 (1963): 9; L. Dilleman, "Ammien Marcellin et les pays de l'Euphrate et du Tigre," Syria 28
(1961): 153-58.
71 For Hudadu, see Nashef, RGTC 5, p. 130;
idem, "Der Taban Fluss," pp. 123-24. For BTt-Bazi,
see idem, RGTC 5, 54-55; PKB, pp. 157 ff. The first

AN
223
For the sake of clarity, let us summarize all the connections established up to this
point (the double arrow indicates that both places are adjoining):
Agade Agade Agade Agade -Agade Agade Agade -
- Bit Piri Amurru- - Radanu

- BTtPiri Amurru- - Nar Sarri
- BTt-Tunamissah
- - NdrSarri
--- (east)Tigris
BTt-Tunariissai
- Ndr
Sarri - - Hudadu
- Nar Sarri - - Upi - - Tigris
- Nar Sarri - - BTt-Bazi --- Tigris
To define further the position of the Nar Sarri, it should be noted that the first
kudurru mentions the city of Dair-Kurigalzu.72Since it is likely that the course of the
modern Saklawiya canal flowing near this city formed part of the Naarmalcha,73the
Nar arri may have flowed as far north as Dair-Kurigalzu. Interestingly enough, our
two kudurrus refer to the Nar arri as an eastern and western boundary respectively,
indicating that part of its course flowed approximately north-south, somewhat parallel
to the ancient Tigris, fitting well with the course of the Saklawiya near that river.
Moreover, these parts of the Nar Sarri-one being next to Agade-can hardly be
located south or west of Sippar, since to rejoin the Tigris from there, the Nar Sarri
would have to flow due east. Thus in my approximate location of the Nar Sarri, I have
taken the Saklawiya as its northern limit and the line of fossil meanders recovered
north of Tell ed-DEr as its southernmost limit (fig. 6).74
Finally J. A. Brinkman states concerning the location of Bit-Piri' Amurru: "The
chief difficulty of interpretation is that the Radanu is east of the Tigris while Agade is
usually presumed to be some distance west of that river."75Thus the location of Agade
on or east of the Tigris would best reconcile Brinkman with his own data.
TEXT FROM SUTRUK-NAHHUNTE
Around 1160 B.C.E.,the Kassite dynasty was dealt a final blow when an Elamite
king, Sutruk-Nahbunte, invaded and occupied Mesopotamia. Leaving his son as
regent on the throne of Babylon, he proceeded to plunder numerous cities in northern
Babylonia before returning to Susa in Elam.
The evidence which concerns us appears in a damaged text written in Elamite76that
speaks of Sutruk-Nahbunte in connection with spoils-or tribute-taken in certain
cities, Dir-Kurigalzu, Sippar, Agade,
Upi, Esnunna, in that order.
Dir-(,arrukin?),
sign of the city written Hju-da-du may also be read
Bag; thus we have Bag-da-du, perhaps the ancient
name of Baghdad. Brinkman rejects this reading,
however, without giving his reasons for doing so
(PKB, p. 271, n. 1745).
72 Diir-Kurigalzu is cited as the city of origin of
the former owner of part of the new estate (MDP 2,
p. 100, col. 1, 1. 20).
73 Dilleman, "Ammien Marcellin," p. 155.
74 See map in H. Gasche and L. de Meyer,
"Mission archeologique belge en Iraq: Aperqu des
travaux de la campagne de 1985," Akkadica 47
(1986): 3, fig. 2. See also J. A. Black's comment that
"the only possible explanation for the course of the

Naarmalcha is that it was situated on top of levee
X, ... formed by an old arm of the Euphrates...,"
in J. A. Black et al., "Habl as-Sahr 1983-85: Nebuchadnezzar II's Cross-Country Wall North of Sippar," Northern Akkad Project Reports, vol. 1
(Ghent, 1987), p. 24. For levee X, see fig. 4 and
p. 228 below.
75 PKB, p. 145, n. 874.
76 F. W. K6nig, Die elamischen
Konigsinschriften,
AfO, Beiheft 16 (Graz, 1965), pp. 82-83 (= no. 28
C 1).

224
Me-
1
4.
Turnu
4#
-(
,
kau
'
-'
Enunna
'
Kurigalzu
...
......
. Sippar Tentative
of the
TIC\limits
N-r arriin
M.B.times.
0 5 10
20
km
nIt
-Ancient
Watercourses
/%
Kutha
00
KKi
Babylon
A
1990i
iS
FIG. 6.-Shaded area shows the possible location of Agade based on information referring to Agade and
the NZr arri.

225
The names of Dir-Kurigalzu and Upi appear clearly in the text, while those of Agade,
Sippar, and Esnunna (Ak-[ka4-tu4], Si-i[p-pir], [ ]-na-ku), although restored, are
quite clear.7 The restoration of Dir-Sarrukin is more tentative, since there are other
towns whose names begin with Dir- in the area (e.g., Dir-Sin, DMr-Papsukkal).
The location of only three of these cities has been established: Diir-Kurigalzu,
Sippar, and Esnunna. But fortunately for us they appear in first, second, and last
position, thus giving in outline Sutruk-Nahhunte's itinerary: south, then east by
northeast, which (passing through Der) is the most direct route out of northern
Babylonia in the direction of Elam. That Sutruk-Nahhunte actually plundered these
cities and followed this itinerary is corroborated by other evidence.
1. It is known that some of the plunder recovered by archaeologists in Susa came
from cities appearing in the text. A statue of Manistusu comes from Esnunna and the
famous "Victory Stele" of Naram-Sin from Sippar.78 The pedestal of a destroyed
statue of diorite, inscribed with a text of Naram-Sin, also attests that Agade was
visited. The curse formula contains two names of Agadean gods: one is erased, but
according to J.-R. Kupper, the second one should be read [AN A-ga-d]eki.79 He also
states that a fragment of an original inscription of Maniwtuwufound in Susa and
brought there by Sutruk-Nahhunte originally belonged to a sanctuary dedicated to
I'tar. It may have been in fact the Eulma' of IBtarof Agade.
2. The spoils must have been heavy and cumbersome. Besides the gold, silver, and
different metals and woods mentioned in the text and in addition to what has been
found in Susa, in some of his inscriptions, Sutruk-Nabhunte claims to have taken a
stele of Naram-Sin in Sippar, a stele of Meli-Sipak in Karintal, and statues of
Mani'tu'u in Agade and Esnunna (the latter statue may be the one found in Susa).80
Thus, in view of the enormous amount of goods carried away, it is safe to assume that
Sutruk-Nahhunte would have taken the shortest route between these cities, going
directly to Susa.
It seems fairly clear that the text refers to these cities in a sequence matching
Sutruk-Nahhunte's itinerary and that Agade (as well as Upi, and Dir-[ ]) is to be
found somewhere between Sippar and Esnunna (see fig. 7).81
77 In view (1) of the space available to restore the
names of these cities on the tablet; (2) of their
importance in northern Babylonia; (3) of the absence
of three neighboring cities with initials or finals Ak-,
Sip-, -nak; and (4) of the evidence developed below
in the text. See also PKB, p. 88, n. 460.
78 Scheil, Textes Olamites-simitiques,
premibre
serie, M6moires de la D616gation en Perse, vol. 3
(Paris, 1901), p. 40; idem, Textes blamites-semitiques,
quatribmeserie, M6moires de la D616gationen Perse,
vol. 10 (Paris, 1908), pp. 2-3; J.-R. Kupper, "Les
Inscriptions triomphales akkadiennes," Oriens Antiquus 10 (1971): 97 ff.
79 Kupper, "Les Inscriptions triomphales," p. 98.
80 K6nig, Die elamischen K6nigsinschriften,pp. 7677 (= nos. 22, 23, 24a, 24b, 24c?).
81 The boundaries of this figure require a few

explanations (we will recall the order, Diir-Kurigalzu, Sippar, Agade, Diir-Sarrukin?,Upi, Egnunna).
Agade can hardly lie between Dir-Kurigalzu and
line A and be mentioned after Sippar; the same
applies for line B, which has been extended above
Diir-Kurigalzu, due to our ignorance of where
Sutruk-Nahhunte forded the Tigris; if Agade was
north of line C, it is very likely that it would have
been visited before Diir-Kurigalzu; line D has been
extended for more caution to a half-way distance
between the Tigris and E'nunna, since the latter city
would have been visited right after Agade if Agade
was west of that line; finally, Agade could not lie
past line E without having been visited last.

226
SlMe-
Turnu
S\
b%
OT'
XM
Di, .
DTir-
i~i~i....
..i
A.
..."
5 10
..:):~~::::::ii:i:.iiii:
....,
....................
..
?.??..........
Sippar
"iiiiiiiti~ii'.i~i~i~
.... .
A
nSi'par'
20
okm
o-
lon
Vwab
V.Watercourses
Ku::i::!inU-tha
4t4
i
......
::ii:i
i
.............:ii~iiiii
i:,,
..
Modern
-l
Rivers
...........
FIG. .--Shaded area shows the possible location of Agade based on the text from gutruk-Nahhunte. (The
limits A, B, C, D, and E are explained in n. 81 above.)

227
THE BABYLONIAN CHRONICLE25
This recently published historical text,82 which deals with political events of the
Kassite and Isin II dynasties, mentions Agade among cities sacked by Arameans or
Sutians during the reign of Adad-apla-iddina (1069-1047). The cities mentioned are
Agade, Der, Nippur, Sippar, Dir-Kurigalzu. Apart from being placed in clockwise
order, the sequence of the four last cities does not suggest any further conclusions.
Still, one wonders why Agade was not mentioned next to Sippar or Dir-Kurigalzu,
since it must be closer to these two cities than to DMr.
Oddly enough, a duplicate of this passage exists (Chronicle 24) in which Agade is
not mentioned at all, the order here being DMr,Nippur, Sippar, and Dir-Kurigalzu.83
Since, according to Walker, both texts are copies of some unknown historical
material, we cannot ascertain whether Agade was added to or deleted from the
original list. One hypothesis is that Chronicle 25 is more detailed than Chronicle 24,
and Agade may have been added to the original list by an admirer of the city, who
would naturally have wanted to place it in first position. Another possibility is that
this sequence, which roughly describes a circle, is a circumscription of the territory
seized by the invaders. In this case, Agade and Dir-Kurigalzu would be close enough
to enclose the perimeter in question, and Agade could be placed east of DirKurigalzu, approximately in the direction of Der (which fits with our results). No
tangible basis exists, however, to confirm or reject this hypothesis. Note only, then,
that Agade is cited before the only other trans-Tigridian city of the list, Der.
THE NAR AGADE
In an article published in 1928,84 E. Unger mentioned the name of this canalunknown from other sources-without referring to the text in which it occurs.
According to him,85the Nar Agade was a canal which separated the city of Sippar sa
Annunitu (= Sippar Amnan- = modern Tell ed-DMr)86from the city of Sippar sa
Sama' (modern Abu Habba). The location of this waterway (the term ndru makes no
distinction between canal and river) may give us precious geographical information: in
the same manner that the branch of the Euphrates downstream from Sippar was called
the Nar Sippar (I7 UD.KIB.NUNki),
the name Ngr Agade suggests that the waterway in
question flowed from Agade southward. Because of Unger's identification of Agade
with Sippar 'a Annunitu, however, it is not certain whether the original text mentioned a waterway from Agade to both Sippars or just from Agade to Sippar sa
82 C. B. F. Walker, "Babylonian Chronicle 25: A

Chronicle of the Kassite and Isin II Dynasties,"
Zikir Sumim: Assyriological Studies Presented to
F. R. Kraus on the Occasion of His Seventieth
Birthday (Leiden, 1982), pp. 399-417.
83 Ibid., p. 416.
84 Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 1, p. 62.
85"In der Nahe des heutigen Ruinenortes Abu
Habba, wo die Stadt Sippar ga Samag gelegen hat
. . . vermutet man die Stadt Sippar 9a Annunitum,

die von jener Stadt nur durch den Agade-Kanal
(nar A.GA.DEki) getrennt und an der Stelle des
friiheren Agade gebaut war."
86 For this equation, see R. Harris, Ancient Sippar: A Demographic Study of an Old-Babylonian
City (Leiden, 1975), pp. 11, 14; Black et al., "Habl
as-Sahr," p. 18, n. 1.

228
Sama'.87 Still, it seems clear that Agade was upstream from Sippar va Sama', that is,
north of it (fig. 4).

It should be added that modern explorations of the region of Tell ed-DEr have
uncovered a fossil river levee (called levee X) running between the two Sippars
towards the northeast, then curving sharply towards the southeast to rejoin the Tigris
near Seleucia.88 In view of the respective altitude of the modern levees of the Tigris
and the Euphrates, it seems more probable that this ancient waterway flowed from
Sippar to the Tigris than the reverse. Nonetheless, since in early times the Tigris and
Euphrates may have joined around the area of Sippar,89 it may be that in the third or
second millennium a canal of the Tigris still reached the Euphrates east of Sippar.
TEXT FROM NEBUCHADNEZZAR II
In an inscription from the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562),90 the

city of Agade is listed among other cities and lands as being under his dominion
(col. 2, 11.4-6):
ma'Bi-ra-a-[
] / Dirki A-ga-d? [ ] / matAr-ra-ap-hamatLa-hi-[ru]
According to S. Langdon, the first toponym refers to "the land of the fortress of
Kardunias" (i.e., Babylon) which would seem to agree with V. Scheil when he states:
"Birdte est assigne au pays de Kardunias par Assurnasirpal II, 130, III, 124."91The
two last toponyms are those of the land of Arrapha (ancient Kirkuk, near the sources
of the Nahr al-'Adheim), and the land of Lahiru,92which is located somewhere in the
Upper Diyala region near the Jebel Hamrin.
The reading of the place-name preceding Agade is problematic. Langdon reads
Durki, while Scheil reads Dur-iliki. Langdon's copy clearly shows BA'D.KI, so that we
are at a loss to explain Scheil's reading. The place, probably a fortress, is therefore to
be called Dtirum, a name which occurs too often to be of any help.
Without a more precise placement of Dirum, all we can conclude is that since it is
referred to as being between Kardunia' (north Babylonia) and the lands east of the
Tigris, we can place Agade somewhere near the lower Diyala region.
AGADE AND AKSAK
On at least three different occasions, the city of Ak'ak/ Upi is mentioned together
with Agade. We have already examined one instance in Sutruk-Nahhunte's text (see
87 Barnett, ("Xenophon," pp. 13-14, n. 64) mentions the possibility that the Nar Agade might be
identical to the Narraga of Pliny, which is connected
to a city called Hippareni, perhaps Sippar.
88 See Black et al., "Habl as-Sahr," p. 5; Gasche,
"Tell ed-Der et Abu Habbah: Deux villes situees 'a
la crois6e des chemins Nord-Sud, Est-Ouest," MARI:
Annalesde RecherchesInterdisciplinaires
4 (1985):
579-83.
89 For an early junction Tigris-Euphrates in this
area, see HC, p. 16; R. Paepe, "Geological Approach
to the Tell ed-Der Area," Tell ed-Der 1 (Louvain,

1971), pp. 9-27.
90 Autograph in Langdon, "Les Inscriptions de
Nebuchadnezzar trouv6es " Suse," ZA 19 (1905-6):
146.
91Transliteration and translation in idem, Die
Vorderasiatische
neubabylonischen
Kdnigsinschriften,
Bibliothek 4 (Leipzig, 1912), p. 146; MDP 2, p. 125.
92 We learn from a letter to Esarhaddon that the
deputy majordomo of Lahiru was responsible for
delivering offerings to the Lady of Agade (AOAT

229
pp. 223-25 above) where only the city Diir-[ ] separates Agade and Upi. In that
context, Ak'ak appears to be east of Agade and southwest of Esnunna. In another
text,93 the sequence Adab, Akiak, Agade, (Isin?), is mentioned, and although the order
of cities is rather loose, this may imply that Agade was north of Akvak. Thirdly, the
text UET 8, 14 (see p. 211 above) speaks of the ensi of Akiak in the line preceding
the mention of Agade and the Tigris.94 Finally, we know that both Aksak and
Agade were located close to the Nar Sarri and close to the Tigris (see pp. 222-23
above).
The fact that Upi was located close to where the "Wall of Media" reached the Tigris
enabled Adams to confine Akiak/Upi to four mounds or groups of mounds situated
along the ancient course of the Tigris between the Diyala and Ctesiphon.95A kudurru
recently found in one of these groups of tells, Tell-MujailTiat (sites 588-90), and
bearing the name of Upi in its subscription, renders the identification of Upi almost
certain.96
I suggest, for caution's sake, a southernmost location of Upi at site 685 and use it as
the southernmost possible location for Agade (fig. 8).
AGADE AND ILIP/URUM
In an Old Akkadian tablet published by I. J. Gelb,97a field is described as having a

common boundary with Ilip to the east and with Agade to the west. Although we know
that a city called Ilip, the capital of the kingdom of Manana, existed in Isin-Larsa
times, what we do not know for certain is whether both Ilips are one and the same.98
Taking as a basis the equation of the list "malku = garru" that i-lip = u-ru,99
E. Reiner and D. Charpin propose locations for Ilip near Sippar and south of KiS
respectively.'00Charpin also proposes, without substantiation, the identification of Old
5:1, p. 219). We cannot, however, take this fact as a
proof of Agade being close to Lahiru, since this
same majordomo carried royal orders also to Sippar,
Kutha, Kis, and Dilbat (AOAT 5:2, p. 264).
93 A. Poebel, Historical and Grammatical Texts,
Publications of the Babylonian Section, vol. 5
(Philadelphia, 1914), no. 157, col. i, 11.7-10. In the
fragment of another list Agade and Ak'ak are also
cited: Isin, Kazallu, Agade, Umma, Adab, Ki', Aksak (Scheil, Mdlanges epigraphiques, M6moires de
la D616gation en Perse, vol. 28 [Paris, 1939], p. 14).
94 D. O. Edzard, G. Farber, and E. Sollberger,
Die Orts- und Gewiissernamen der priisargonische
und sargonische Zeit, RGTC 1 (Wiesbaden, 1977),
p. 11 [ =UET 8, no. 14].
95 LBB, pp. 173-74, n. 20.
96 Adams's site numbers refer to sites of LBB,
pp. 135-66. The kudurru's subscription reads "URU
i-pi-i"; Black et al. "Habl as-Sahr," p. 19.
97 I. J. Gelb, "An Old Akkadian Stone Tablet
from Sippar," Rivista degli Studi Orientali 32 (1957):
88.
98 The
only other mention of the city Ilip in a
Sargonic text is that of i-li-ibki, G. G. Hackman,
Sumerian and Akkadian Administrative Textsfrom
Predynastic Times to the End of the Akkad Period,

Babylonian Inscriptions in the Collection of J. B.
Nies 8 (New Haven and London, 1958), no. 160,
pl. 64 (according to Foster, Land in Sargonic Sumer,
p. 107). Note also that there was a dlnnin j-lip
(Inanna of Ilip) in Old Babylonian times (E. Chiera,
Sumerian Lexical Texts from the Temple School of
Nippur, OIP 11 [Chicago, 1929], no. 123, col. 3',
1. 11; 124, col. 2, 1. 25). As Sin was also a deity of
Old Babylonian Ilip, one should perhaps point towards the later Bit-Habban (see n. 135 below),
which also had Inanna and Sin as major gods (BBst,
no. 6, col. 2, 1. 50), for the location of the former in
northern Babylonia.
99 A. D. Kilmer, "The First Tablet of 'malku =
garru' Together with Its Explicit Version," JAOS 83
(1963): 428.
100E. Reiner, "The Year Dates of Sumu-Jamiltbal," Journal of Cuneiform Studies 15 (1961): 124;
D. Charpin, "Recherches sur la 'Dynastie de Manana'," Revue d'assyriologie et d'archeologie orientale 72 (1978): 18 ff. For a full discussion of Old
Babylonian Ilip, see also A. Falkenstein, "IbbisinIsbi'erra," ZA 49 (1949): 63, n. 2; Oppenheim, "The
Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East,"

230
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FIG. 8.--Shaded area shows the possible location of Agade from information relating Agade with AkBak.

AN AREAL LOCATIONOF AGADE
231
Akkadian Ilip with the Ilip of Manana and with the city (irum mentioned in a
composition known as "The Revolt against Naram-Sin."10' Finally, Sj6berg states that
one city (rum belongs to southern Sumer, while the other is probably to be found
between Sippar and Kutha, as it is said to lie between these cities in the collection of
the Sumerian temple hymns. He adds also, however, that "Urum was situated in the
vicinity of Tutub (Dudub), a well-known cult center of the moon-god,"'02 a location
which fits better with our data for Agade.
In a recently published text, the late R. Kutscher shows that a city called Urum (or
Wurumum, written iJRxI') was in the immediate vicinity of Agade.'03 The text in
question is a parallel to the above-mentioned "Revolt against Naram-Sin" and relates
the insurrection of a number of northern Babylonian cities against Agade lead by Ki'.
Kutscher identifies this Urum with a partly erased city name mentioned in a text
known as "The Provinces of Ur-Nammu,"04and, following T. Jacobsen, who places it
at the confluence of the Zubi and Irnina canals,'o5 he concludes that Wurumum, and
therefore Agade, should be sought east or southeast of Jemdet-Nasr or about 100 km
southeast of my proposed location.
Many points of Kutscher's proposal are disputable, and I will brieflly review them
here. According to Kutscher's reading of the events, Naram-Sin was at first unable to
meet the rebels' challenge and held only a small territory around Agade which
included Wurumum. Then, after appealing to Sama', he attacked the rebels at UgarSin (an area between Ki' and Agade, bordered by Wurumum on Agade's side and
Tiwa on Kis's side) and defeated them at Tiwa. He then pursued the armies of the
coalition into Ki', crushed them, and destroyed Ki'. The question is what happened to
the Agadean forces, powerless at first, that they suddenly were able to crush the
military alliance of ten major cities? Is not the intervention of the god Sama' too
central for this text to be interpreted literally? Another point on which Kutscher's
conclusion is based is that "[the text] implies that no major enemy cities lay between
Tiwa and Ki',"'06 by which he probably means that otherwise Naram-Sin would have
either stopped or been stopped there. But if Naram-Sin was strong enough to defeat
the most powerful city of the coalition, KiS, with the remnant of the coalition's armies
in it, then what other city could have stopped him, or why would he stop at another
city first? The military information of the text is too contradictory to be relied upon.
The geographical data is also very tentative. Not only is Jacobsen's reconstruction of
the Zubi and Irnina canals-at the confluence of which is found the Field of Sin or
Ugar-Sin--very uncertain (see Appendix A, p. 238 below), but also the half-erased
name in "The Province of Ur-Nammu" can apparently be read Ak'ak ((H) as well as
Urum.
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society

46 (1956): 268; D. O. Edzard, "Ilip," Reallexikon
der Assyriologie, vol. 5, p. 52.
101A. K. Grayson and E. Sollberger, "L'Insurrection g6n6rale contre Naram-Suen," pp. 111-12, 120.
102Sjiberg, Temple Hymns, p. 138, no. 477.
103Kutscher, Royal Inscriptions, The Brockmon
Tablets of the University of Haifa, vol. I (Haifa,
1989), pp. 13-48.

104F. R. Kraus, "Provinzen des neusumerischen
Reiches von Ur," ZA 51 (1955): 62-63.
105Jacobsen, "The Waters of Ur," Iraq 22 (1960):
176, n. 4. For the Zubi and Irnina, see Appendix A
below.
106Kutscher, Royal Inscriptions, p. 42; see also
his map on p. 41.

232
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and 7 above.

233
In any case, nothing stands in the way of equating Kutscher's Urum/ Wurumum
with Gelb's Ilip in Sargonic times since both are in the immediate vicinity of Agade. If
it should prove that later mentions of Urum or Ilip refer to the same city, then much
of Old Babylonian geography will have to be shifted towrds the Tigris/ Diyala
region.1o7
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS
THE COMPOSITEAREAS
Once combined into two composite figures (figs. 9 and 10) and another composite
figure of their intersection (fig. 11), it becomes apparent that all selected areas are
convergent, that is, that our evidence as a whole points toward one and the same
region.
More than in its rigorous delimitation (see below), the significance of area C lies in
the distribution of the mosaic of selected areas around A and B. The fact that it is a
regular pyramidal distribution (i.e., of a Gaussian curve type) and not a random
distribution (i.e., with notable gaps around A and B; high indices adjoining low
indices) indicates that C results from a general statistical trend which would be only
slightly affected if one or two of our cartographic interpretations were to prove
erroneous. It is in this respect that our results appear definitive.
The boundaries of all our figures, and thus areas A, B, and C, are approximate.
Some of the parameters they rely upon are hardly measurable.'"8However, we may
furnish an estimate for such quantifiable parameters as the position of waterways used
as landmarks in these limits. For the Tigris bed on the latitude of Baghdad, I ascribe a
maximum variation of 10 km'09from the reconstructed course proposed by Adams for
all periods under consideration. Based on that course, the western limits will have the
same margin of error. The reliably reconstructed Diyala branch containing Tutub and
Neribtum (see figs. 11 and 12) forms to the east a boundary past which Agade may no
longer be said to be in contact with the Tigris. An error of I or 2 km for the old
Diyala course, and therefore for our eastern limits, should be regarded as a maximum.11o A tangible basis is lacking for establishing the margins of error of the northern
107 Kutscher mentions a proposal from D. Frayne
(Royal Inscriptions, p. 40) to locate Urum/ Wurumum
and the confluence of the Zubi and Irnina canals at
Tell Abu Gabur (Adams's site 056, 15 km southeast
of Tell Muhammad), which agrees well with my
conclusions (see Appendix C, pp. 243-44 below). It
seems more than a coincidence that all cities in this
discussion, for example, the capital of Manan&,the
iurum of the Sumerian hymns, the urum of Kutscher, the urum of "The Revolt against Naram-Sin,"
Tutub; the half-erased city of "The Provinces of
Ur-Nammu"; Aklak) are devoted to the moon-god
Nanna or Sin. One wonders if there are not enough
elements to postulate a large, enduring district centered on or west of the Tigris between the Diyala
and Kutha, which may have been called alterna-
tively, Ugar-Sin, Dir-Sin, The Field of Sin, Bit-Sin

(Kassite houses such as Bit-Sin Agared, Bit-Sin
MWgir,Bit-Sin-serhu, etc., are known to have been
nearby) [see Kh. Nashef, RGTC 5, pp. 67-70]) and
would contrast with a district of Inanna/ I'tar north
of it, from Agade on the Tigris to Sippar 'a Annunitum in the west and Bit-Habban in the east.
108For instance, the geographic accuracy of the
texts at hand and our own interpretations of them.
109This figure is based on the distance between
the reconstructed Tigris and Diyala beds on the east
and that between the reconstructed Tigris and the
site of Diir-Kurigalzu, which was never close to the
Tigris, on the west.
110This corresponds to the maximum reasonable
deviation from the shortest line linking Adams's

234
and southern boundaries of the areas in question and we will not provide any absolute
estimate for them. Suffice it to say that a variation of more than 10 to 15 km should
prove incompatible with the data."'
THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
In our overview of Agade's location (see pp. 206-9 above) I determined that
Agade should be located on Sumer's northern fringe and in contact with trade routes,
especially towards the southeast. The region of the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala
rivers clearly meets these criteria. The Tigris is an ideal axis of communication with
the north-Subartu and beyond-and with the area southeast of Sumer and Elam,
Diyala connects with the Hamrin region, the Iranian Plateau and beyond, all the way
to the Indus valley. The road to the west is also easily accessed through Rapiqu and
the Euphrates to Carchemish. Furthermore, it is known that most of these commercial
arteries were in use from the third millennium down to the time of Al-Mansur,112 who,
conceivably exploiting these same advantages, built Baghdad very close to Agade but
nearly three thousand years later (see Appendix C below).
As for Sumer's geopolitical position, we know that Sippar and Ak'ak were its two
northernmost strongholds. Ak'ak on the Tigris is not mentioned among cities controlled by Lugalzagesi; Agade to its north would also have remained beyond his reach.
Interestingly enough, Sargon did not place his kingdom in Ak'ak, nor for that matter
did Ak'ak become a more important center than Agade in the region. This probably
suggests the decline of Ak'ak in Sargonic times, and the relative decline in importance
of the Tigris that must have ensued may have furthered Sargon's plans to place Agade
on that river.
Not only does the location of Agade on the Tigris shed light on its rise, but also on
its fall and subsequent revivals. The relentless wars of Agadean kings against Lullubi
and Guti, for example, as well as the documented immigration of Gutians to Sumer
and Akkad, may easily be understood as a result of their being Agade's close
neighbors."' Sargon had probably not foreseen the mixed blessing of being situated at
the crossroads of northern Babylonia, a position which although it facilitated trade,
also encouraged neighboring nations to converge on Agade. Its fall, then, may not
have come from a full-scale invasion but rather from the more gradual infiltration of
Gutians in and around Agade, which led perhaps to a state of affairs where Gutians
were able to overthrow the Agadean dynasty from within.
In turn, it may be Agade's excentered location in the alluvium which led to its
revival in Middle Babylonian times. If the Kassites (see Appendix B, par. 3 below)
immigrated in large numbers from the mountainous eastern regions into northern
sites 302, 421, 422, 439, 441, 442, 458, 463, 465, 576,
579, 581, 599, and 685, which formed the Durul in
Akkadian times.
I II To the south, the approximate latitude of Sippar forms a firm boundary, and to the north, the
course of the Nar arri can hardly have gone much
beyond Aqar Kuf at any given period.
112 Cf. M. Lambert, "Les Villes du Sud-Mesopotamien et l'Iran au temps de Naramsin," Oriens
Antiquus 13 (1974): 10-11.
113Ibid., pp. 17-22. Cf. also E. A. Speiser, "Some
Factors in the Collapse of Akkad," pp. 97-101, for
Hurri and "Umman-Manda."

235
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*
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FIG. 11.-Map showing area of highest probability of finding Agade. It is a composite of figs. 9 and 10 above. (The n
Adams, LBB, Appendix C, pp. 135-66.)

237
Babylonia, as is generally believed, they would naturally have settled in such cities as
Agade in the east Tigris region. Finally, during the first half of the first millennium,
the control of the east Tigris region played a major part in the ongoing wars between
Babylonia and Assyria, and because Agade was northeast of Babylon it would have
become an ideal strategical stronghold from which Babylonia could defend the north
of the alluvium.
THE SITE OF AGADE
The surface of area A is about 1,000 sq. km within which, according to Adams's
survey, twenty-eight sites present evidence of a definite Akkadian occupation.114
Among these, only seven are large enough to have constituted more than a small town
(over 4 ha). To be sure, many factors have contributed either to eliminate some sites
(dismantlements, floods, changes of rivercourses, meandering) or to conceal others
from our scrutiny (alluviations, limitations of surveys, inhabited areas). Still, Agade is
attested down to the reign of Darius I (521-486),115 and only subsequent changes
could have radically affected its site. I am mostly concerned with changes in the course
of the Tigris and Diyala, the latter having shifted abruptly during Parthian or
Sasanian times.16 Although the Tigris was set at about its modern position from that
time on, local deviations must have occurred. The proximity of these two rivers then
raises the serious possibility that all or part of the site of Agade may have been
destroyed.
In a survey of area A, the surveyors would have at their disposal the occupation
profile of Agade which McEwan established, its "fingerprint,"so to speak."7 The fact
that the two most conspicuous periods of occupation are Akkadian and NeoBabylonian should prove very useful, since few sites have such extensive occupation
levels so far apart in time (nearly two thousand years).
It should be added, despite the claims of some late archaeophile monarchs that they
dug up original sites of Sargonic temples,118 that it is also possible that each time
Agade was rebuilt, the city was not merely superimposed but in fact spread, and thus
the site may therefore consist of several mounds, with different sequences of occupation than expected. Be that as it may, if Adams's Surface Ceramic Survey is
accurate,119only two known sites are satisfactory candidates in terms of size and
occupation: site 414, Tell Muhammad, and site 590, Tulul Majailcat, the latter also
being considered the most likely site for the city or cities of Ak'ak/ Upi.
114 LBB, fig. 2 (see my fig. 11).

115 McEwan, p. 9. A mention of Agade in a
Hellenistic document has recently been pointed out

by P.-A. Beaulieu (Nouvelles assyriologiques breves
et utilitaires 3 [1989]: 44). The document is dated to
the eighth year of Seleucus I (304-281) and "mentions a group of lia-ga-dbki.MES in a broken context, perhaps as recipients of a commodity." If these
"Agadeans" actually lived in Agade, it would prove
that it was still flourishing in the third century B.C.E.
116 LBB, p. 62.

117 McEwan, pp. 9-10.
See G. Goosens, "Les Recherches historiques ia
S118
l'6poque N6o-Babylonienne," Revue d'assyriologie

et d'archiologie orientale 42 (1948): 149-59.
119See Gibson, "A Re-evaluation of the Akkad
Period in the Diyala Region on the Basis of Recent
Excavations at Nippur and in the Hamrin," American Journal of Archaeology 86 (1982): 531-38.

238
In summary, the evidence locating Agade in the Lower Diyala region close to the
ancient Tigris is overwhelming both in terms of the amount and consistency of the
data. Counter-evidence is conspicuously lacking. Although further data may help
pinpoint the area more accurately, I believe it is unlikely that the results of a further
investigation will significantly change the present conclusions.
APPENDIXES
A. THE LOWERTIGRISIN EARLYPERIODS
The role played by the Tigris in Lower Mesopotamia during the third and second
millennia is largely unknown. It seems nonetheless that, based mostly upon the
modern features of the river, scholars have too often dismissed it as negligible. Adams
states, for instance, that
insofaras the Tigrisregimeis an accurateindex to the ancientone, then, that rivermust long
have seemedboth too difficultand too unpromisingto tame for irrigation.... The few towns
like ancient Akshak/Upi that definitelywere situatedalong that river lacked political importance as well and probablyshould be regardedas maintainingtheir own small, autonomous
irrigationenclaves.120
Yet, Adams is also the first to admit that
in fact, not a singlesettlementon the alluviumidentifiedwith the Tigrisin pre-Hellenistictimes
can be identifiedthat would permitthe location of any part of the Tigrisbed (or beds) to be
specified.121
It appears, therefore, that the present evaluation of the Tigris for ancient periods is
merely the result of a lack of data. Adams states again about the survey of Akkad:
henceit now is to be regrettedthat we generallyidentifiedonly a few lines of ancientsites as the
approximatepaths of ancientwatercoursesand then tended to follow them linearlyfor long
distances.This facilitatedthe discoveryof some plausiblecoursesbut opens the possibilitythat
significantportionsof the riverand canalsystemsremainunnoted.122
The composite map of Adams's surveys of Akkad and the Diyala region shows a
large gap on both sides of the Tigris during Akkadian times (fig. 12) and more
generally for all pre-Achaemanian periods. But the reason for such a gap is not only
due to the selective approach of the surveys. Since it coincides with the modern levee
of the Tigris, this gap is therefore subjected to the range of geomorphological
phenomena of the aggradation of a levee. Alluviation accompanied with subsidence,
for instance, especially on a levee of the Tigris at the entry of the alluvium where the
amount of silt deposited reaches maximal levels, may have contributed to a general
lowering of the levee's core, which is where settlements are most likely to be situated.
Thus the virgin soil in the region east of Baghdad can reach depths of 7 to 10 m below
the adjacent plain, as compared with 5 and 6 m for Isin's and Uruk's main mounds
120HC, p. 7.
121Ibid.,p. 158.
122"SettlementandIrrigationPatternsin Ancient
Akkad,"in CK,p. 183.

239
I.et
./
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!t
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"
wo .
Tutub
Neribtumn
km6
14
&Sippar.-
Amnn
Amnanu
~A.Sippar-
. 'I'o
,19-0
Sippar
.Atm
I0 510
06,
0k
ModernKuh/
Rivers
dpiersn0Kutha
*
*
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+20ha
"
+10
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uh
4b
I.
Mugdan??
(IshanMizyad)
Mizyad)
(Ishan
Mugdan
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+40"
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+5"
+50 "
i
CS
S. E..1990
FIG. 12.-Akkadian Settlement Gap in the Lower Diyala Region (based on Adams, LBB and "Settlement
and Irrigation Patterns in Ancient Akkad" in CK)

240
respectively.123 It would seem then, that early Tigridian archaeological remains of the
alluvium are much less easily detectable, perhaps to the point where sites which ceased
to exist in the second and third millennia may not even be represented by a tell. Thus
this gap in settlements should not be construed to indicate that early populations
eschewed the proximity of the Tigris, at least not before the Tigris levee's dynamics are
better understood and a more rigorous survey is conducted.
Adams's assessment of the early use of the Tigris is mainly concerned with
irrigation. In modern times, however, the Tigris has been extensively used for
commercial navigation, and its straighter course and stronger current make it better
suited for this purpose than the Euphrates. There is no reason to assume that this was
not the case as far back as the late third millennium and that cities developed along its
course at least partly for that reason. Agade most probably used the Tigris for
commercial activities, and the megalopolis of economic activity around Lagav, Zabalam, Adab, and Umma may have arisen from these cities' capacity to link themselves
to both the Tigris and Euphrates.124
Our understanding of interregional exchanges is still too modest to ascertain what
local economies owed them, but the impact of such exchanges on the use of the Lower
Mesopotamian Tigris and its canals, starting in Sargonic or late Early Dynastic times,
has surely been understated.125 With this in mind, some major watercourses of the
alluvium, such as the Irnina,126 Zubi,127 and Ma-kalkal,128 could be reconstructed as
Tigris or Tigris and Euphrates effluents, which would restore some balance to the
exclusively Euphratian reconstructions of T. Jacobsen, which so tax the Euphrates
123 HC, p. 10.
124See n. 35 above.
125The references to Tigris canals in texts of the
second and third millennia seem in any case more
numerous than they are made to appear; see, for
instance, HC, pp. 134, 159 for Sargonic, Old Babylonian, and Kassite times; also W. Heimpel, "The
Natural History of the Tigris according to the
Sumerian Literary Composition Lugal," JNES 46
(1987): 309-17, esp. 317, n. 18 for Sumerian times.
References coming from northern Babylonia also
exist: three Old Babylonian texts from Ki' mention
respectively a dam on the Tigris, a weir on the
Tigris, and a parallel to a "Lip'ur" litany formula
(see n. 128 below): "The Tigris which fills the land
with abundance," "H. de Genouillac, Fouillesfran(aises d'El Akhymer: Premibresrecherches archeologiques a Kich, vol. 2 (Paris, 1925), pp. 38 (C 72;
C 73), 41 (D 12).
126The name Irnina is another name of Inanna
(Gelb, "The Name of the Goddess Innin," JNES 19
[1960]: 79), and one would expect a city with Inanna
as major deity at the branching of this waterway
from its parent river (contra Jacobsen, "The Waters
of Ur," Iraq 22 [1960]: 176, n. 4). Curiously, one
reads in the titulary of Naram-Sin: "Naram-Suen
... king of Agade... keeper of the sources of the
Irnina, of the Tigris and of the Euphrates..."
(Grayson and Sollberger, "L'Insurrection g6n6rale
contre Naram-Suen," pp. 108, 120), and this is the

only mention of the canal in a royal titulary. Also,
among the cities mentioned by "The provinces of
Ur-Nammu," one finds HibarTtum on the Irnina
canal, and Kraus notes that Hibaritum is situated
on the Tigris (Kraus, "Provinzen von Ur," p. 63).
127 For the uncertainty concerning this canal, see
HC, p. 159.
128The M8-Kalkal (Me.KAL.KAL) of Kassite
times is clearly related-though not explicitly-to
the Tigris: it may have been a main branch of that
river, or even a synonym of the Nar arri (as
M6.GAL.GAL). Earlier, it is mentioned among the
"lip'ur" litanies after the Duran (Diyala) and Taban
rivers, and before the Ulai, all three affluents of the
Tigris (E. Reiner, "The 'Lipvur' Litanies," JNES 15
[1956]: 134-35), A text found in Ctesiphon, on the
Tigris, 1R70 (Rawlinson, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. 1, A Selection from the
Historical Inscriptions of Chaldea, Assyria and
Babylonia [London, 1861], p. 70), mentions a city
Kar-Nabf close to it; some Tigridian places, such as
Hudadu, BTt-Habban (cited four times), and BTtTunamissah; as well as a woman named Dir-Sarrukinajitu, which suggests that Dir-Sarrukin was
nearby. With the mention of BTt-Tunamissah, we
may assume that the Me-Kalkal was also very close
to Agade.

241
that one wonders whether, according to such a scheme, any water could possibly have
reached the region of Ur at all.
It is to be hoped that progress in satellite'29 and field surveying130 and the
multiplication of local indepth explorations, such as those conducted by the Belgian
expedition in the region of Tell ed-Dar,13 will permit the gathering of more data
pertaining to the early role of the Lower Tigris.132
B.
AGADE IN THE DIYALA REGION
In addition to the evidence already cited, it is worth mentioning here materials

which serve as corroborative evidence that Agade does indeed belong to the Diyala
region.
1. A remarkable feature of Sargonic settlement in northern Babylonia (fig. 12) is the
concentration of sites, roughly between Tutub and the ancient reconstructed Tigris
bed, on the Lower Durul fan. This concentration is unequaled elsewhere in Sargonic
Lower Mesopotamia. To be sure, a more or less similar pattern of settlement already
existed in Early Dynastic times and probably reflects the strategic proximity of the
Tigris confluence with the Diyala. But whether or not it was economically significant
before Sargon, it neither decreased during Akkadian times nor gave rise to a great
city, both facts which would be accounted for by locating the Sargonic capital there.
2. As pointed out by previous scholars,133 there exists in the Lower Diyala region a
symptomatic interplay of toponyms with names of Agadean rulers: The city-name
Dir-Rimus comes evidently from Rimul, son of Sargon and second ruler of the
dynasty. Although so far its exact location is not known, it is probably somewhere
near Ischali (Tutub). Conversely, the Sumerian name of the Diyala river, Durul, forms
part of the name of the last ruler of Agade, Su-durul. Although he enjoyed the fairly
long reign of fifteen years, it seems the Sargonic empire had shrunk to nucleus
proportions by his time,134 a nucleus which his name may directly allude to. One last
129 See recently, K. M. Al-Saadi and L.
Daels,
"The Use of Remote Sensing for the Detection of
the Old Irrigation System in Iraq," Northern Akkad
Project Reports, vol. 1 (Ghent, 1987), pp. 47-52.
130See, for instance, R. Nijs, "Remarks on the
Heavy Mineral Content of some Euphrates and
Tigris Sediments," Akkadica 47 (1986): 26-28.
131See the Tell ed-Dir series reports, vols. 1, 2,
and 3 (Louvain, 1971, 1978, 1980).
132An important feature of the early
Tigris-system
is that described by Adams (HC, pp. 16-17) as an
ancient riverbed passing 30 km north of Nippur and
40 km west of Adab before disappearing under the
Shatt al-Gharraf. In a study of the water-flow in
Mesopotamia ("L'Ecoulement des eaux en M6sopotamie et la provenance des eaux de Tello," Iraq 27
[1965]: 81-99), E. de Vaumas emphasizes the importance of a chain of depressions which runs from
Aqar Kuf near Baghdad to Nasiriya north of Ur,
parallel to the modern Tigris and to the Shatt alGharraf. He sees in this (seemingly enduring) relief
a gully which received the overflow of the Tigris in
flood since Early Dynastic times. It lies approximately on the ancient course detected by Adams, so
much so that one wonders if both authors do not
describe the same feature. If it is ascertained that
such a chain of depressions did indeed play the role
ascribed to it by de Vaumas, the patterns of waterways in eastern Lower Mesopotamia should have
been substantially affected by it.
133LBB, p. 43.
134 Cf. Hallo's comment that Su-Durul and late
Agadean kings "cannot have ruled more than 'the
land of Akkad' itself, i.e., a narrow strip approximately 125 km long running from the city of Akkad
to E'nunna" (the distance mentioned is apparently
that between Ki? and E'nunna), "Gutium," Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 3, p. 710.

242
example is that of Dtir-Sarrukin ("The Fortress of Sargon"), a city located on the

Diyala in Neo-Assyrian times35 but not attested in Sargonic documents as far as we
know. It is worth emphasizing that this kind of play on the names of Sargonic kings
and places is restricted exclusively to the Diyala region.
3. The daughter of Sargon, Enheduanna, the author of the collection of the Sumerian
temple hymns (see p. 218 above), is also responsible, according to W. W. Hallo, for a
poem known as "Inanna and Ebih." Its main theme is the revolt of the people of Ebih
(ancient Jebel-Hamrin) against Naram-Sin and the subsequent repression of it by
Inanna. Hallo asserts that this poem constitutes "a hymnic expansion of the same
acknowledgment that, according to the historical tradition, marked Sargon's successful suppression of the general rebellion late in his reign."'36Admittedly, Mt. Ebih was
already known from Sumerian literature as "the lock of the land," meaning that
through the control of its pass one could prevent "barbarians"from infiltrating Lower
Mesopotamia. But the fact that this poem was written during the Sargonic period
suggests that more than ever Mt. Ebih was felt as a source of threats. Because of its
position at the top of the Diyala plain, a location of Agade at the confluence of the
Diyala and Tigris would explain why such threats may have been perceived so
accurately by the Sargonic capital.
4. In the onomasticon of members of Kassite houses
the name of the
(bltu),137 denote that these
sanctuary of Igtar/Inanna of Agade, Eulmal, appears and
may
houses were close to Agade. 138Eulmal-Makin-Eumiwas the name of a king and that of
another individual, maybe his grandfather, belonging to the house Bit-Bazi. This same
region, the land of Baz of the district of Dir-Sin, is mentioned in the Obelisk of
Maniitulu as the place where forty-nine citizens of Agade were witness to a kudurru.139
It was situated near the Tigris.
Another individual, Eulmal-nasir, was from BTt-Tunamissah,which also bordered
the land of Agade and was located close to the Tigris. In the same kudurru,140 a
witness is said to be from BTt-Bazi, while another is from BTt-Nazi-Marduk, both
houses adjoining the Tigris as well. Finally, the land of a third individual, AmalEulmas, is mentioned in the same kudurru141 in which Eulmal-Makin-Eumifrom BTtBazi was a witness.
A more detailed examination would be needed to establish whether a correlation
with the place of origin of individuals whose names comprise the element Eulmas or
Ulmal and the actual temple Eulmal of Agade is equally valid for all periods. In
135 Black et al., "Habl as-Sahr," p. 19; also n. 125
above.
136 The Exaltation of Inanna, Yale Near Eastern
Researches 3 (New Haven and London, 1968), p. 3.
137See PKB, pp. 251 ff.
138For the name (E)-Ulmas, see "Eulmag" Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 2, p. 484; Sj6berg,
Temple Hymns, pp. 145-46. For personal names
with (E)-Ulma', see PKB, p. 160, n. 971. The name
Eulma' is also given to a temple of Inanna in
Sippar 9a Annunitu by King Nabonidus (Langdon,
"New Inscriptions of Nabuna'id," pp. 108; 114,

n. 3). But McEwan (McEwan, p. 15, n. 60) believes that this Eulmag of Sippar 'a AnnunTtum
was only meant as a parallel to the two Ebabbara
temples of Sippar ga Samag and Larsa which Nabonidus also mentions, and therefore does not exist.
Furthermore, this second Eulmag is mentioned in
no other sources.
139MDP 2, pp. 17-18.
140BBst, no. 9.
141Ibid., no. 8.

243
Kassite times, all people with such names seem indeed to have resided in the
Tigris/ Diyala region.
There appears to have been, in Kassite times, a royal residence in Agade: a kudurru
says of a litigant (col. 5, 11.19-21) that "his report in Agade (URU Ak-ka-di) / to king
Meli-Sipak / he brought back .. ."142 It is also clear from the three kudurrus,
mentioned on pp. 221-23 above that the quality of the witnesses, the curse formulas,
and the beneficiaries (the king's son and two ministers), confer a particular status upon
these land grants. One may indeed wonder if they were not based on "forced sales"
and meant to increase the royal domains indirectly.
In Isin II times, the kudurru of LAK-ti-Marduk, granted by Nebuchadnezzar I,
mentions a Nazi-Marduk, kartappu of Akkad, first among the witnesses.143 The
second witness is "Arad-Nana, son of Mudammiq-Adad, governor of the land (Qdkin
mdti)." We will remember that Dammiq-Adad is situated in the land of I'tar of
t.mi
Agade (see p. 221 above), and it may be where Mudammiq-Adad and his son,
governor of the land, resided.144 Personal names, titles, and names of places all make it
likely that Agade was the capital of Meli-Sipak, of Merodach-baladan I, and of
Eulma'-'akin-'umi, first king of the Bazi dynasty.
5. A list of gods whose statues were taken by King Samli-Adad in 812 from cities of
the east Tigris region mentions the statue of IStar/Inanna of Agade-Balet-Akkadi.145
The other cities are Ddr, Lahiru, Gannanate, Dir-Papsukkal, Bit-Riduti, and METurnat, which, with the exception of the first city, are all located on or close to the
Diyala river. Interestingly enough, during the same campaign, Samli-Adad also visited
temples in Kutha, Babylon, and Borsippa, but instead of sacking them he offered
sacrifices there. Since most Assyrian monarchs were eager to respect traditional
Babylonian cities, this indicates that Agade was not viewed as part of Babylonia
proper, which confirms a location in the Diyala region-or, at least, east of Kutha.
It is also worth noting that BWlet-Akkadi,together with Sin, was a chief deity of
another Kassite house, Bit-Habban, whose location in the Lower Diyala region has
been established.146
C. TELL MUHAMMAD
As we have seen, Tell Muhammad (Adams's site 414),147 situated in the southeastern
outskirts of Baghdad (New Baghdad), is, on the basis of its size and occupation span,
the best candidate for Agade.
142 Ibid., no. 3, col. 5, 11.19-21. One
may note
also that the Kassite king Kurigalzu founded his
capital Diir-Kurigalzu at Aqar Kuf, only 20 km
from Baghdad.
143Ibid., no. 6, col. 2, 1. 12.
144A city Damigi is cited in the "Obelisk of
Manigtugu" (MDP 2, p. 17) as the residence of a
witness to the estate of Manigtugu in the land of
Baz. In addition, the father of the substitute king
of Esarhaddon was called Damqi (SIG5-i) and was
gatammu (temple administrator) of Agade (AOAT

5:1, pp. 228-29). But such names derived from the
verb damdqu "to bless, do good," with a theonym
such as Adad must have been common (see CAD,
vol. 3, pp. 61 ff.).
145 PKB, p. 212.
146BBst, no. 6, col. 2, 1. 60. See Nashef, RGTC 5,
pp. 58-59; see also n. 128 above.
147LBB, pp. 50, 152.

244
The investigation of this mound goes back to the mid-nineteenth century, when it
was explored first by Captain Jones of the British steamer "Nitocris" and later by
Layard.148The latter found bronze balls there, some of them bearing the inscription
E.GALHa-am-mu-ra-pi, "(property of) the palace of Hammurabi." In the late teens of
this century in his explorations with F. Sarre, E. Hertzfeld measured and made a
sketch of the mound.149 It was some 550 m NS x 350 m EW, with traces of a large
square enclosure (900 m NE x 900 m SW) visible northwest of it. In 1957-58, however, Adams was unable to find the reported city walls, nor could he conduct a
ceramic surface survey, for the mound was largely built over. Hence, it is mostly by
comparison with adjacent sites that he dated Tell Muhammad as early as the
Akkadian period.
The main argument in favor of Tell Muhammad being Agade is a line of tells
(Adams nos. 302, 307, 411, and 413) branching towards the southwest from the
Diyala river reaching the Tigris at site 414.150 All these tells were founded in Akkadian
times, which may suggest that they sprang up along a canal Agade had dug to be
linked with the Diyala. The two clearly different areas of Hertzfeld's sketch may also
account for the distinction between Agade proper and the city of Igtar of Agade
(Ulma'ki or dINNIN-Agadeki). Traces of a canal are also visible between the two areas
and may represent those of the Ndr-Sarri. The surface of the mound, computed using
Hertzfeld's measurements, is 20 ha and that of the enclosed area 80 ha. Although these
figures should be lowered for the Akkadian period, a size between 20 and 100 ha is
compatible with other Sargonic cities.151
Excavations at Tell Muhammad were resumed by the State Antiquities Organization in 1978, and Kassite and Isin-Larsa levels have been identified.152 The Akkadian
level, if present at all, has not been reached thus far, nor has the site's ancient name
been found yet.
D. BAGHDAD
As has been noted above, Agade and Baghdad share the distinction of having been
two successfully established capitals, due most probably to their being situated at the
crossroads of commercial routes that scarcely changed between the reigns -of Sargon
and Al-Mansur. 53 According to my studies, the two cities are very close, so much so
that one wonders whether Baghdad was not a later development of the city of Agade
itself.
The resemblance of their names is indeed compelling, and the uncertain origin of the
name Baghdad further warrants the conjecture. Although there is some evidence that
the toponym Hudadu, attested from Old Babylonian times on, should be read
148 A. H. Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins
of Nineveh and Babylon (London, 1853), note on p. 477.
149F. Sarre and E. Hertzfeld, Archiiologische
Reise im Euphrat- und Tigris-Gebiet, vol. 2 (Berlin,
1920), p. 96.
150LBB, p. 44.
151Cf. Adab, Nippur, Zabalam: between 40 and
200 ha (HC, pp. 172-73); Marad, 50 ha; Kig, 32 ha;
Sippar, 25 ha; Kutha, 25 ha (Weiss, p. 440).
152"Excavations in Iraq, 1977-78,"

Iraq 41 (1979):
156; "Excavations in Iraq, 1979-80," Iraq 43 (1981):
184; "Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82," Iraq 45 (1986):
216.
153See de Vaumas, "Introduction geographique a
1'6tudede Baghdad,"Arabica: Volumespecial, publid
l'occasion du mille deux centibme anniversaire de
t
lafondation de Baghdad (Leiden, 1962), pp. 231 ff.

245
Bagdadu,154 the earliest indisputable mention of Baghdad comes from the Babylonian
Talmud, which was written before the fifth century C.E.155 Early Arab historians also
acknowledged that the name existed before Al-Mansur, so that the fanciful etymologies they proposed, such as a Persian expression meaning "the Gardens of the
Gods," may be viewed as apocryphal. As pointed out by G. Le Strange and R. Levy,
the orthography of the name in early documents is quite hazy: in geographical
dictionaries it is written either Baghdad, Baghdan, Maghdad, or Maghdan.156 The only
phonetically definite segment of the name appears to be / ayda/, which could be
equated with a pronunciation of the name written Agade, whose exact phonetic
realization we do not know.157
The archaeological evidence of the antiquity of Baghdad is still too scant to be of
any help, and finds made by H. R. Rawlinson and more recent excavations have only
suggested that it goes back to the time of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562).5' Although
there may not be a direct connection between Baghdad and Agade, it would be quite
surprising if other settlements, ones with close ties to Agade had not come into
existence around the time it was the capital of the entire Lower Diyala region.
154See n. 71.
155Written Bagdatha, Ket. 7b; Zeb. 9a. (MrMrM)
156See G. Le Strange, Baghdad during the Caliphate (London, 1900), pp. 10-11; R. Levy, A Baghdad Chronicle (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), p. 6. For
the name Baghdad, see also F. Sarre and E. Hertzfeld, ArchidologischeReise, pp. 104-50.
157To justify the purely phonetic change Agade >
Baghdad, one would have to explain (1) the prefixation of a bilabial, (2) the suffixation of a dentalalveolar, and (3) a shift from a plosive velar [g] to a
fricative velar [7]. Nunation or reduplication could
possibly account for (2), while we note that in the
Talmud, Baghdad was written with gimmel, which
may have had a fricative pronunciation. The initial

adjunction of a bilabial is probably the major obstacle, although there are examples of dialectal
archaisms spoken in Baghdad which show an abnormal adjunction of an initial [m] (J. J. Lecerf,
"Une Forme anormale de participe actif a Baghdad
(mikil)," Groupe Linguistique d'Etudes ChamitoSimitiques 14 (1970): 89-92.
158Rawlinson, "On the Inscriptions of Assyria
and Babylonia," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
12 (1850-51): 477; Behnam Naser Nu'man, "The
Discovery of New Babylonian Remains in Baghdad,
Preliminary Report," Sumer 32 (1976): 113-19 (in
Arabic).


An Areal Location of Agade

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An Areal Location of Agade

Author(s): Christophe Wall-Romana

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