Everything about Gutian Period totally explained
The
Gutian dynasty came to power in
Mesopotamia around 2150 BC (
short chronology), by destabilising
Akkad at the end of the reign of king
Ur-Utu (or
Lugal-melem) of
Uruk. They reigned roughly a total of one century (estimates vary between 80 and 120 years, with 91 years often quoted as probable). The dynasty was succeeded by the
3rd dynasty of Ur.
The
Guti were native to
Gutium, presumably in the central
Zagros Mountains; almost nothing is known about their origins.
History
The Guti appear in
Old Babylonian copies of inscriptions ascribed to
Lugal-Anne-Mundu of
Adab as among the nations providing his empire tribute. These inscriptions locate them between
Subartu in the north, and
Marhashe and
Elam in the south. They were a prominent nomadic tribe who lived in the Zagros mountains in the time of the
Akkadian Empire.
Sargon the Great also mentions them among his subject lands, listing them between
Lullubi,
Armanu and
Akkad to the north, and
Nikku and
Der to the south. The epic
Cuthaean Legend of Naram-Sin of a later millennium mentions
Gutium among the lands around Mesopotamia raided by
Annubanini of
Lulubum during
Naram-Sin's reign in Akkad.
The Gutians practiced hit-and-run tactics, and would be long gone by the time regular troops could arrive to deal with the situation. Their raids crippled the economy of
Sumer. Travel became unsafe, as did work in the fields, resulting in famine.
The
Sumerian king list indicates that king
Ur-Utu of
Uruk was defeated by the barbarian Guti, perhaps around 2150 BC.
The Guti swept down, defeated the demoralized Akkadian army, took
Akkad, and destroyed it around 2115 BC. However, they didn't supplant all of Akkad, as several independent city states remained alongside them, including
Lagash, where a local dynasty still thrived and left numerous textual and archaeological remains.
Ultimately Akkad was so thoroughly destroyed that its site is still not known. The Guti proved to be poor rulers. Under their crude rule, prosperity declined. They were too unaccustomed to the complexities of civilization to organize matters properly, particularly in connection with the canal network. This was allowed to sink into disrepair, with famine and death resulting. Thus, a short "dark age" swept over Mesopotamia.
Akkad bore the brunt of this as the center of the Empire, so that it was in Akkad that the Guti established their own center in place of the destroyed Akkad. Some of the Sumerian cities in the south took advantage of the distance and purchased a certain amount of self-government by paying tribute to the new rulers.
Uruk was thus able to develop a 5th dynasty. Even in the city of Akkad itself, a local dynasty was said to have ruled. The best known Sumerian ruler of the Gutian period was the
ensi of
Lagash,
Gudea. Under him, ca. 2075 BC (
short), Lagash had a golden age.
After a few kings, the Gutian rulers became more cultured. Guti rule lasted only about a century - around 2050 BC, they were expelled from Mesopotamia by the rulers of Uruk and Ur, when
Utu-hengal of Uruk defeated Gutian king
Tirigan. Utu-hengal's victory revived the political and economic life of southern Sumer.
Later the name "Guti" was used to signify any hostile people from east and northeast of Mesopotamia. Assyrian royal annals use the term
Gutians to refer to Iranian populations of northeastern Mesopotamia otherwise known as
Medes or
Mannaeans; and as late as the reign of
Cyrus the Great of Persia, the famous general
Gubaru was described as the "governor of Gutium".
Weidner Chronicle
1500 years later, the
Weidner Chronicle (ABC 19) accounts for the Gutian period as follows:
» "
Naram-Sin destroyed the people of Babylon, so twice Marduk summoned the forces of Gutium against him. Marduk gave his kingship to the Gutian force. The Gutians were unhappy people unaware how to revere the gods, ignorant of the right cultic practices.
Utu-hengal, the fisherman, caught a fish at the edge of the sea for an offering. That fish shouldn't be offered to another god until it had been offered to Marduk, but the Gutians took the boiled fish from his hand before it was offered, so by his august command, Marduk removed the Gutian force from the rule of his land and gave it to Utu-hengal."
List of the Gutian kings
Notes and references
- Howorth 1901: "The Early History of Babylonia", Henry H. Howorth, The English Historical Review, Vol. 16, No. 61 (Jan. 1901), p.1-34
- http://www.sarissa.org/sumer/sumer_h.php
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