Horse breeding

One of he main concerns of the Assyrian cavalry and chariotry was to keep their own horses and the new incoming horses in good condition. Horses needed stable complexes the archaeological reconstruction of which is hardly possible.¹⁰⁹⁶Man and horse needed a large amount of stored grain and fodder daily, for which the Assyrians organized a provincial network of royal grannaries and army reserves.¹⁰⁹⁷A large administrative tablet (ND 2803, Fig. 17), a ration account deals with the distribution of provisions (bread and fodder) to various military personnel. Large quantities of fodder for example were issued to 201 charioteers (LÚ.GIGIR) and their horses: 187 homers and 2 sūtu(18,720 litres) for three months, and altogether a huge portion, 3,987 homers and 8 sūtu (398,780 litres) for an unknown number of horses and men for an unknown period.¹⁰⁹⁸A daily fodder ration for horses was given for example to a ‘third man,’ Šamaš­šallim for Mannaean horses, to Dani­Bēl of Zamua for Elamite horses, to Gaiâ, the qurbūtubodyguard of the crown prince for horses from Bīt­Daltâ, to Kanūnāiu, the qurbūtubodyguard for horses which he brought from Arzu‹ina, and to the governor of Šallat for 220 horses.¹⁰⁹⁹It is, however, unknown whether they bought the horses or just brought them to Nimrud. One of the most important texts concerning the provision of horses is a letter written by an Assyrian official to Sargon II, which lists the troops of Assyrian magnates arriving at the meeting point in Kār­Aššur and preparing for a military campaign (to Media?). In the second part of the letter the writer provides a detailed inventory of grain supply (barley for human consumption and fodder for the animals) locally available in daily and monthly specification (Fig. 20).¹¹⁰⁰When Sargon II asked £āb­%il­Ēšarra:

“Suppose you are staying at home, how do you feed our horses?”, he replied: “Half of my horses are fed in the Bar‹alza province, the other half eat at the [... of the ci]ty of Issete in the domestic quarters of [...]; my cavalry [and ... are sta]tioned in the tax collection centre of the province of [...].”¹¹⁰¹A few short notes open the door to suppose, that the horses of governors and magnates were fed in different towns and villages and were in charge of local authorities, as the rab ālāni (LÚ.GAL URU.MEŠ)¹¹⁰²or the ša mā‹āzāni.¹¹⁰³

The Assyrian magnates even sent their cavalry officers to collect barley rations. Adad­issīa, governor of Māzamua for example dispatched his two cavalry cohort commanders (LÚ.GAL(rab) ki­%ir.MEŠ ša pet­‹al­li) to San‹a and Ulušia, to the king’s subjects, and received the equipment and the barley rations which were specified in their tablet.¹¹⁰⁴Tariba­Issar wrote to Sargon II that he

1096For an introductory study seeLIVERANI2012, 443-458.

1097For the question seeabove, and the detailed studies of FALES1990 and FALES2000.

1098PARKER1961, 55-61, ND 2803, Obv. II:13’-15’.

1099PARKER1961, 55-61, ND 2803, Rev. II:3-22.

1100 LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 250 (CT 53, 47+ ABL 1290); FALES1990, 24-27; FALES2000, 48-49. For a detailed study see Fig. 20.

1101 PARPOLA1987, 107 (ABL 97). That the king’s suspicion was not ungrounded is reflected in another very fragmentary letter, in which somebody accused another Assyrian official as follows: “[…] forhis eyes; he does not give any [str]aw or fodder [to] the horses.” (PARPOLA1987, 107 (ABL 97), 2-5).

1102 13 horses were registered in the hands of Marduk-aḫu-iddina, the rab ālāni([LÚ.GAL] URU.MEŠ), (POSTGATE1973, 125 (ND 445), 8); 11 horses of the governor of Ḫalṣu and 8 horses of the governor of Tamanūni (Tamnuna) were fed by their rab ālāni (rab ālānišunu, LÚ.GAL URU.MEŠ-ni-šú-nu) Šulmu-aḫḫē (POSTGATE1973, 128 (ND 427), Rev. 11); a further text refers to horses in connection with a rab ālāni(4) (rab ālāni, [LÚ.GA]L URU.MEŠ-ni), (POSTGATE1973, 127 (ND 430), 4).

1103 POSTGATE1973, 129 (ND 447), 5-6 mentions 32 horses in the hands of a ša māḫāzāni(ša ma-ḫa-za-a-ni, village inspector?) named Aššur-zēru-uṣur.

1104 LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 217 (ABL 342), 4-11.

had collected 500 homers (= 50,000 litres) of barley in the city of Kilizi, and would like to deliver it.¹¹⁰⁵In a similar letter, Marduk­šarru­u%ur assured the king (Sargon II) that he had stored 1,000 homers of barley in the town Saba[...], and was taking out more of the harvest.¹¹⁰⁶Judging from a letter of Adad­issīa¹¹⁰⁷, governor of Māzamua, it seems that the 1,000 homers of barley were a kind of quota which had to be cultivated and stored in the royal granaries of every province.

This letter is a reply to a royal order, in which Sargon II commanded Nabû­[…], and Mannu­kī­

Adad to cultivate 1,000 homers of seed corn. Other governors had similar problems with raising provisions. Nabû­dūru­u%ur, for example, excused himself for not having raised provisions for the expedition, thinking: “’I will send them to my lord.’ Surely, my lord, within 5 or 6 days my lord will go either to Assyria or to the enemy country, O my lord. Let my lord quickly give orders to Meturna, Zabban and Dūr­Bēl­ilā’ī, and let my messenger quickly fetch (provisions) from there posthaste to my lord!”¹¹⁰⁸In another case an Assyrian official made excuses for not providing the provisions for the horses sent by the king in time, but as he states it was not his duty.¹¹⁰⁹A letter of Bēl­liqbî¹¹¹⁰written to Sargon II tells the story of an unknown chariotry officer, who without the permission of the deputy governor, but citing a royal order opened up a silo in a village of the governor, and took two months worth of provisions. When Bēl­liqbî protested, he said that his supply of grass had diminished in Nisan, yet horses keep coming to him, so he cannot cope.

Another official, Aššur­dalāl confiscated half of the fodder for his newly arrived horses. It is obvious from the letter that the provincial governors stored grain and fodder in monthly rations in their silos. This letter also reveals that the governor stored a relatively large amount of grain and fodder in these silos (complete monthly rations, 70 day rations and a further 20 day rations for a certain, unfortunately unknown number of soldiers and horses). The Assyrians used every opportunity to feed their horses: a letter sent from Babylonia possibly to Sargon II mentions that the people of Bīt­Dakkuri have gone from their cities to the marshes.¹¹¹¹They left behind huge quantities of barley and dates, so the horses should go and stay there. As the letter written by Gabbu­ana­Aššur to Sargon II shows, the officers in charge of the recruitment and supply of horses and fodder were the recruitment officers (mušarkisāni).¹¹¹²In spite of the fact that – as these examples show – there sometimes were disturbances in the system, it is obvious that one of the most important components of the Assyrian military success was their outstanding system of reserves and logistics.

There are some horse lists which give not only the number, but sometimes also the breed and colour of the animals.¹¹¹³There are ›aršean type, red, black, and irginu­coloured and ‹arbakannu type or coloured horses mentioned in these texts. One of the inscriptions of Tiglath­Pileser III (745—727 B.C.) lists tribute horses from Media with their trappings: there were white (pe%ūti), sorrel (sāmūti) ›aršean (›ar­šá­a­a) and probably ‹arbakannu(‹ar­[…]) types amongst them.¹¹¹⁴

1105 PARPOLA1987, 160 (ABL 843).

1106 FUCHS– PARPOLA2001, 69 (ABL 174).

1107 LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 225 (CT 53, 79). As has been discussed above II.1.3.3 1,000 hectares of land, the present author interprets this passage as 1,000 hectares instead of 1,000 homers.

1108 FUCHS– PARPOLA2001, 129 (CT 53, 110+++).

1109 SAGGS1965, NL 71 (ND 2771); LUUKKO2012, 51 (ND 2771).

1110PARPOLA1987, 181 (ABL 1070).

1111 DIETRICH2003, 84 (ABL 588), Rev. 3-9.

1112LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990,119 (ABL 122), 3. For a detailed study seeDEZSŐ2012B, 43-44, 122-128.

1113FALES– POSTGATE1995, 113 (ADD 988); 114 (ADD 1103); 115 (ADD 1140); 116 (ADD 989); 117 (Assur 1/3, 5 (Rm.949)), 118 (K.15276), 119 (ADD 678); 120 (ADD 1120); 122 (ADD 696), XXV-XXVI. For a detailed study of the different breeds of horses reconstructed from the representational evidence seeALBENDA2004.

1114TADMOR1994, Stele IB: 18’-19’.

Horse breeding

One Sargonide letter reports incoming horses as follows: “16 red horses; 13 irginuhorses; 14 black horses; 1 ›aršean horse; 1 tuānuhorse; 6 mares; 5 mules; in all 51 horses from the crown prince of Andia.”¹¹¹⁵Further administrative texts list roan horses (GÙN.MEŠ), bay horses (SA₅.MEŠ), gray horses (irginu), ‘banded’ bay horses (SA₅me­%i­ra­nu), “banded” gray horses (irginu me­%i­

ra­nu), black horses (GI₆.MEŠ), and probably ‹arbakannuhorses (›AR.MEŠ).¹¹¹⁶ One of the administrative texts of the Nimrud Horse Lists inventories a smaller number of horses assigned to officers.¹¹¹⁷This detailed list – in contrast to the large horse lists – indicates the (red, black, and irginu) colour of the animals, including a dappled(?) horse as well. It is interesting to note that such a piebald(?) or dappled horse appears on one of the wall paintings of Til­Barsip¹¹¹⁸together with horses of other colours. Albenda – examining the colours of horses of Room XXII, XXIV, XXVII and XLVII wall paintings of the Til­Barsip palace – reconstructed almost the whole spectrum of horse colours¹¹¹⁹ known from written and representational evidence. Her solid colours are as follows: black, bay (dark brown), chestnut or sorrel (reddish brown), dun (light reddish brown), cream or palomino (pink), and white. The bicolored horses were skewald (brown and white), piebald (black and white), and pinto (white and other colour). She suggested that blue colour¹¹²⁰on a bicoloured horse may represent a shade of gray, while the blue horse pulling the royal chariot was intentionally painted blue (using Tyrian purple or lapis lazuli), “in order to impart a visual richness.” It is known that mediaeval Ottoman armies showed a preference for painting horses with blue and green colours. She concluded that the cavalry favoured the bicolored horses.

While Fales reconstructed the irginuas a solid colour, and the ‹arbakannuas a blend colour,¹¹²¹ Postgate¹¹²²and Albenda suggest a shade of gray for the irginuand bicoloured for ‹arbakannu. A further obscure term for the colour or breed of horse appears in a letter written Esarhaddon, in which the writer accuses Nabû­ušallim, Assyrian vassal leader of Bīt­Dakkuri with having stolen a chariot and a speckled horse (ANŠE.ra­gaš­ta­kaš)¹¹²³from te king.

The horse reports of Nabû­šumu­iddina give further interesting details. As Fig. 51shows, these horse reports consequently distinguish the cavalry mounts (ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ šaBAD.›AL­li) and the horses ‘trained to the yoke’ (ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ ša ni­i­ri). The category of the yoke horse falls into three different breeds, which are also consequently distinguished from each other. The first is the Kushite horse (ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ KUR.Ku­sa­a­a). Nabû­šumu­iddina reviewed not less than 995 horses (one fourth of the horses and 41 %of the yoke horses reviewed), which means that this stock was an important element of the horses of Assyrian army. As Albenda¹¹²⁴has pointed out, the Kushite horses – which appeared in the art¹¹²⁵and archaeological record¹¹²⁶during the second half of the 8^th century B.C. – were large animals by modern­day standards. Albenda

1115LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 171 (ABL 466).

1116POSTGATE1973, 125 (ND 445), 126 (ND 446).

1117DALLEY– POSTGATE1984, no. 116 (ND 10080).

1118THUREAU-DANGIN– DUNAND1936, pl. LIII.

1119ALBENDA2004, 327-328.

1120 Examining the weaponry of Assyrian soldiers of the Til-Barsip wall paintings, the present writer reconstructed the helmets painted light blue with yellow decoration as iron helmets with bronze inlay – as known from actual finds of Assyrian iron helmets decorated with bronze inlay. DEZSŐ– CURTIS1991; DEZSŐ2001, 24.

1121 FALES1974, 10-13; FALES– POSTGATE1995, XXV-XXVI.

1122 POSTGATE1973, 125 (ND 445).

1123 REYNOLDS2003, 57 (ABL 1154+), E. 26-27.

1124 ALBENDA2004, 326.

1125 SPALINGER1981, 47-51, figs. 3-5.

1126 BÖKÖNYI1993, 305-309, seefurthermore, HEIDORN1997.

argues that this breed appears on the palace reliefs of Sennacherib¹¹²⁷as well. It is interesting, that – as Fig. 51shows – Kushite horses arrived in large numbers not only from the Western territories, but almost from every part of the Empire (even from Parsua). It is obvious that certain breeds of horses could have been raised all over the Empire, not only in their country of origin.

Furthermore three of the horse reports mention Egyptian horses (ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ KUR.Mu­%ur­a­a).¹¹²⁸If Tadmor’s reconstruction is correct, this breed of horse was probably the same as was mentioned in a fragmentary royal inscription of Tiglath­Pileser III, who received Egyptian horses from Gaza.¹¹²⁹The inscriptions of Sargon II mention large Egyptian horses on two occasions: in 716 B.C. from Silkanni, king of Egypt¹¹³⁰and in 707 B.C. on the occasion of the inauguration of his palace at Dūr­Šarrukēn.¹¹³¹A letter of Bēl­erība – dated most probably to the reign of Sargon II – and sent to ‘his brother’ the governor, let the governor know that the guard (LÚ.ša—EN.NUN) Nabû­ē#iranni and Issar­šumu­ēreš, a recruit of the team commander (LÚ.rak­

su šaLÚ.GAL—u­rat) had brought a team of Egyptian horses (ú­ru­u ša ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ KUR.Mu­%ur­a­a). The royal order was, that this team of horses should be sent to Bēl­erība.¹¹³²The sources do not offer any clues to make a distinction between the Kushite and Egyptian breeds of horses. It is possible that the Egyptian horse was a synonym for the Kushite horse, since these two breeds never appear together in the same text. Albenda proposed that the large Kushite or Egyptian horses were probably instrumental in the evolution of the bigger, large­wheeled chariot, which started during the reign of Sennacherib. Unfortunately, only the royal chariot is represented from his reign onwards, but the chariots on the sculptures of Assurbanipal show the result of this new development. The appearance of these large horses in the Assyrian army during the 8^thand 7^thcenturies B.C. fits into the general tendency of using bigger animals.

The third breed appearing in the horse reports is the Mesean (ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ KUR.

Me­sa­a­a). As Fig. 51shows, this breed appears together with the Kushite horse. Unfortunately no further details are known, but it can be supposed that this type of horse was also a larger in size, since it appears exclusively as a chariot horse (‘trained to the yoke’). Their number never reached the number of Kushite horses, but was quite substantial: the horse reports of Nabû­šumu­

iddina list 173 Mesean horses altogether.

There is a further question which has to be dealt with. The Assyrians, as has been discussed in the previous pages, got large numbers of horses from different sources. Administrative texts often made a clear difference between male and female horses (mares).¹¹³³ The palace reliefs, however, depict stallions only in a battle context. The question arises whether the Assyrians really used stallions only as war­horses in the army, or whether depicting them on the palace reliefs was an iconographical convention. If only stallions and no mares were used, it decreased the number of animals which could be employed as war­horses considerably, and made the supply of horses more difficult. Written sources do not help us in solving the problem, however, it is known, that to escape alone on a mare was a shame.¹¹³⁴

1127 BARNETT– BLEIBTREU– TURNER1998, nos. 575-584.

1128 COLE– MACHINIST1998, 115 (CT 53, 434), E.1: 18 Egyptian horses; 119 (ABL 959), 7-9: 5 wounded Egyptian horses from Adad-ēreš (ANŠE.KUR.RA.MEŠ KUR.mu-şur-a-[a] si-im-ma-ta-nu-te); 120 (CT 53, 418).

1129 TADMOR1994, Summary Inscription 9:8.

1130 TADMOR1958, 77-78.

1131 LUCKENBILL 1926—1927, 44, par. 87.

1132 LUUKKO2012, 160 (ND 2780).

1133 PARKER1961, ND 2458, ND 2788, ND 2768.

1134 TADMOR1994, Stele IB: 33’”Sarduri of Urarṭu rode off alone on a mare”; THUREAU-DANGIN1912, 140: Rusa, king of Urarṭu left the battlefield on a mare.

Horse breeding

The Assyrians were also keen on the good condition of their horses. The king wrote letters to his officials emphasizing the importance of the overall wellbeing of horses: „The horses of the Warden are not to be commandeered; set a safe route for them and send them to me in good condition.”¹¹³⁵ When Sargon II sent a message through Nabû­a‹u­u%ur (ša—qurbūte) to the magnates on campaign, that they may each keep 50 riding horses and the rest they should send to him. The magnates, however, disagreed saying: “(If) they go, they will die along the way, they come with us.”¹¹³⁶As known from an above mentioned letter, in a shipment of horses from Kullania 26 horses died of the 100 on the road.¹¹³⁷The mountain roads to the north and east of Assyria were impassable during the winter and early spring, which was dangerous for horse and man. Nabû­bēlu­ka’’in, the governor of Kār­Aššur, when he got an order from the king to be in Calah on the 1^stof Nisan (I), replied that they are „clearing the roads, but it is snowing and the snow is filling them up. There is very much snow.”¹¹³⁸He mentions that two years before, under similar weather conditions his men and horses died in the snow. The third important question of the horse breeding was the question of epidemics, and only a few sources mention diseases affecting the animals. Nebuchadnezzar I (1125—1104 B.C.) wrote in his royal inscription that the kattillu­demon killed his thoroughbred horses.¹¹³⁹The importance of the problem is emphasized by those few texts edited by S. Maul,¹¹⁴⁰which deal with the diseases of equids, and offer rituals and receipts to cure and to take care of them.

The texts of the so called ‘Aššur Protocol’¹¹⁴¹list chariot men (LÚ.GIŠ.GIGIR),¹¹⁴²their towns and villages,¹¹⁴³and the number and state of horses they were in charge of. The lists classify the horses as ‘good’ and ‘not good.’ It seems that the chariot men took care of their own horses (1, 2, or 3) during the winter period, when their unit was disbanded. Two important consequences can be drawn:

1) army units organized on a territorial base were deployed in different (home) towns and villages or their soldiers were recruited from these settlements and were let home (with their animals) during the winter season, when the army was disbanded; 2) it seems from this group of texts that some of the soldiers of the equestrian units, predominantly the ‘chariot men’ or

‘chariot horse trainers’ took their horses home to take care of them. As Postgate phrased: “By a system of this kind the state was relieved of some of the burden of feeding and caring for the horses, and also of course the bond between animals and masters would be strengthened.”¹¹⁴⁴

1135 SAGGS2001, 80-82 (ND 2435), 25-29; LUUKKO2012, 4 (ND 2435).

1136 LANFRANCHI– PARPOLA1990, 226 (ABL 884), 12-18.

1137 SAGGS2001, 171-172, (ND 2399); LUUKKO2012, 96 (ND 2399).

1138 FUCHS– PARPOLA2001, 83 (NL 61 (ND 2359) + NL 63 (ND.2777)).

1139 FRAME1995, B.2.4.6, Rev. 13:mu-ur-ni-is-qí-ia ina-ár kàt-til-lu.

1140 MAUL2013, 16-37.

1141 SCHROEDER1920, 31, 32, 34-37, 131, 132; DALLEY– POSTGATE1984, 41-43.

1142 DEZSŐ2012B, 109-117.

1143 These towns and villages are as follows: There were 10 chariot men with 13 horses under the command of Ame-atar commander-of-50 (LÚ.GAL 50) from the following settlements: (SCHROEDER1920, 31), 3: URU.Qa-ma-ni, 6: URU.Ab-ba-ni; 9: URU.Ra-da-ni; 12: URU.Sa-re-e; 15: URU.ŠEI-li-ti; 18: URU.Til-Ú-li-na; 21: URU.ŠE ^IdMAŠ.MAŠ(Nergal); 24, 27: URU.ŠEI-li-ti;

30: URU.Ma-li-ku; under the command of […]-SILIM(šulmi?)-GIN(ukīn) cohort commander (LÚ.GAL k[i-ṣir]): (SCHROEDER

1920, 32), 3:URU.Ar-ra-[ap-ḫa]; Rev. 4’: URU.Su-ti-[…]; 7’: URU.Su-ti-a-[…]; under the command of an unknown cohort commander ([LÚ].GAL ki-ṣir): (SCHROEDER1920, 34), 2’: URU.Qa-ma-ni, 5’: URU.Ra-at-me; under an unknown commander:

(SCHROEDER1920, 35), 5: URU.Qa-ma-ni; 8: URU.ŠE ^dMAŠ.MAŠ(Nergal)-[…]; under the command of ^IKak-ku-[us]-sucohort commander (LÚ.GAL ki-ṣir): (SCHROEDER1920, 36), 4, 7: URU.Kil-pa-ḫa; under an unknown commander: (SCHROEDER1920, 37), 5’: URU.Ra-[da-ni?]; under an unknown commander: (SCHROEDER1920, 131), 2: [URU.]Tu-ḫu-na; 5: URU.[…]-du-[…]-di; 8: URU.Ḫi-la-wi; 11: URU.Ḫul-la-ri; Rev. 5: URU.Pi-iq-da-ni; 8: URU.Ḫu-du-pa; 11: [URU.R]a-pí-ḫi; under the command of ^IA-me-a-tarcohort commander (LÚ.GAL ki-ṣir): (SCHROEDER1920, 132), 4: URU.[...]-li-ki.

1144 POSTGATE1974, 210.

It is important to note, that several chariot men listed in the texts of the ‘Aššur Protocol’ are known from other texts. They appear in the Nimrud Horse Lists as soldiers of the provincial units,¹¹⁴⁵ for example Unit 2,¹¹⁴⁶which was commanded by Marduk­šarru­u%ur, and the names of his 10 officers are mainly West Semitic, which might indicate the West Semitic origin of the unit.¹¹⁴⁷Four officers of this unit appear in the ‘Aššur Protocol.’¹¹⁴⁸In the Protocol, however, these officers are charioteers (LÚ.GIŠ.GIGIR), and not team commanders (rab urâte) or cohort commanders (rab ki%ir) as in the Nimrud Horse Lists.

If we are looking for horse­breeding or horse collecting centers outside the Assyrian capitals in Mesopotamia, Borsippa would be a good candidate.¹¹⁴⁹Nimrud Letter 83 shows that Borsippa was most probably a military base with installations, prepared to accommodate larger numbers of horses. Nabû­dāmiq asked Tiglath­Pileser III as follows: “Now the king should quickly send the caravan of Nabû­bānî and 500 horses here, so that those who are around us can go to Borsippa.”¹¹⁵⁰These 500 horses were a remarkable force, since another letter reports that “Mukīn­

zē[ri] has entered Babylon from Bīt­Amukāni having 10 horses with him. He greeted the Babylonian[s], saying: ‘I have...ed 600 horsesinsi[de] Assyria (and) ...ed (them) intom[y] country.

Do[n]’t be afra[id]!’”¹¹⁵¹It seems from this letter, that 600 horses were quite a promise, a sign of military power, which should have secured the support or alliance of the Babylonians. Another letter – most probably from the time of the Mukīn­zē[ri rebellion – refers to a much more formidable force of 2,000 horses and 90 chariots of an unfortunately unknown Babylonian tribe.

This force encamped on the other side of Bāb­bitqi and constructed reed huts.¹¹⁵²These examples

This force encamped on the other side of Bāb­bitqi and constructed reed huts.¹¹⁵²These examples

In document Tamás Dezső: The Assyrian Army II.: Recruitment and Logistics (Pldal 190-0)