Late Bronze Age / Syrian, 16th century
BC
From Tell Atchana (ancient Alalakh), modern
Turkey
A statue of a king of Alalakh, covered with his
biography in cuneiform
This extraordinary statue represents Idrimi, a
king of Alalakh. It was discovered by the excavator Leonard Woolley
in the ruins of a temple at the site of
Tell
Atchana (ancient Alalakh). The statue had been toppled from its
stone throne, presumably at the time of the final destruction of
the city, around 1100 BC. Its head, with inlaid glass eyes, and its
feet had broken off. The eyebrows and eyelids had originally been
inlaid and the marks of a tubular drill can be seen, probably part
of the process of
manufacture.
The statue is
inscribed in faulty Akkadian, using a poor cuneiform script, with
an autobiography of Idrimi. It is a unique type of text signed by
the scribe who wrote it. Idrimi was one of the sons of the royal
house of Aleppo, which was subject to the powerful kingdom of
Mitanni. The territory of Aleppo included the smaller city state of
Alalakh. Following a failed revolt, Idrimi and some of his family
fled to Emar (now Meskene) on the Euphrates, which was ruled by his
mother's family. From there he went south to live among
nomads in Canaan (the earliest known reference to this land). Here
he gathered troops and received popular support and help from his
family. In time he made overtures to Parattarna, the king of
Mitanni, who recognized his control of Alalakh. The inscription
states that he had been ruling for thirty years when he had the
statue inscribed, though it has been suggested that the text was
actually added to the statue about three hundred years after
Idrimi. The inscription ends with curses on anyone who would
destroy the statue.
T.C. Mitchell, The Bible in the British Museu (London,
The British Museum Press, 1988)
D. Collon, Ancient Near Eastern
art (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)