Horses in Syria in ancient times
An article about Syria: Home of Horses by Hylke Hettema on her blog, got me to think about other references to horses in ancient times from what today is Syria.
The following reference from the Archives Royales de Mari [ARM], with its mention of the chiding of king Zimri-Lim of Mari (1776-1751 BCE) by one of his senior officials for riding a horse is very significant:
[My lord] must honor the head of his kingship. [Just as] you are the king of the Hana, you are secondly the king of the Akkadian. [My lord] must not (therefore) ride a horse. My lord must (rather) ride [on] a litter and mules, if he is to honor the head of his kingship.
Source is ARM VI 76, letter to Zimri-Lim from Bahdi Lim, governor of Mari district. The word ‘Hana’ , meaning ‘tent dwellers’ is a general reference to nomadic tribesmen, as opposed to the Akkadian, the settled urban inhabitants of Mesopotamian cities. Of course, Zimri-Lim himself was from the Bani Sham’al, a nomadic tribal group of ‘Hana’. Nomads rode horses at that time. More on what this means later.
Just noting here that an evaluation of the severe damage brought upon the Mari site by ISIS terrorists is beginning to emerge, and it looks comparable in magnitude to the damage in Palmyra. The videos are harrowing.
I’m afraid there is going to be more and more damage, the more we look. Can’t even think of looking forward at this point. It just has to STOP first.