The Seals of the King of Urkesh
Giorgio Buccellati, Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati
The Seals of the King of Urkesh
Evidence from the Western Wing of the Royal Storehouse AK
It is a singular distinction of the rulers of Urkesh that they employ a title found nowhere else in Near Eastern royal titulary: endan. We first learned about this royal title from the text of the inscriptions of Tish-Atal. We now have a second, presumably earlier, attestation, used by an individual named Tupkish. The evidence comes from the legend on three different seals, whose impressions have been found on sealings contained in a single floor deposit6 from a Storehouse which we have labeled AK. It is also from these royal seals that we have been able to propose the identification of Urkesh with modern Tell Mozan.8 In this article we will present in some detail the pertinent evidence, and will draw certain conclusions pointing to its significance.
When we were first thinking about a topic for an article to offer to our good friend and colleague, HANS HIRSCH, we had intended to touch on some aspect of the Old Akkadian period, so as to tie together one of his long standing fields of research with our current work in that period. Little did we know that such a conjunction of interests would turn out to be as auspicious as any diviner might have portended ! For it was while serving as Visiting Professors at the Orientalisches Institut of the University of Vienna that we were able to develop the argument on which our Urkesh interpretation is based. We thus find ourselves in the pleasant predicament of having to offer him what his very hospitality made possible: the edition of these non-Akkadian royal seals of the Old Akkadian period. However short in length, their legends provide historical information of great significance, while the figurative evidence attests to the presence of very distinctive iconographic and stylistic traditions. We hope that the preliminary analysis we are offering here may serve as a fitting tribute for a scholar who has contributed so much to the documentation and the understanding of this period.