Kingdoms of the Eastern Near East

The city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. Early civilisation here emerged during the Pottery Neolithic, with its Neolithic Farmer practices being spread far and wide.

Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was permanently settled and, by the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states. By this time other regions were emerging as population centres in their own right.

One of those was Elam, in the mountainous territory to the east of Sumer and divided from it by some difficult terrain. Perhaps fed by the Jiroft culture (see feature link), the region came to prominence at the start of the third millennium BC.

The city of Aratta, initial home to the goddess Inanna, is yet to be matched to a specific archaeological site. Even its general location is the subject of much speculation and little detailed agreement. Knowledge of it comes only from mid-third millennium BC records and stories - on copies which were made some half a millennium later which are unreliable in terms of their historical accuracy.

Around the 2730s BC it was Enmerkar of the 'First Dynasty' of Uruk who attempted to march an army to a rebellious Aratta which was located in or beyond the Zubi mountains (potentially the Zagros mountains). Early twentieth century AD scholarship equated Aratta with the Sumerian city of Shuruppak, based on the presence there of the god Enlil.

That view was later discarded as the complexity of the question became more clear. Sumerian sources stated that Aratta could be reached by passing through Susa (and therefore Elam) and Anshan (quite some way to the south of Susa and essentially on a different access route - unless the only known contemporary route headed towards Susa and then turned south-east along the Zagros mountain valleys.

It was claimed to be accessible from Uruk by means of travelling along a watercourse, and yet it was remote from Uruk. Any location in or beyond Elam would have placed it beyond any Sumerian watercourse (provided principally by the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates and their branches).

A major branch to the north-east of modern Baghdad is the Diyala which leads into the northern Zagros mountains, a potential solution but entirely in the opposite direction to Anshan. Travelling into the Persian Gulf and then crossing overland to the east could perhaps have been viable, but Enmerkar's army of about 2730 BC was supposed to be able to complete this difficult trip.

A story of about 2700 BC sees Lugalbanda of Uruk reach a Mount Hurrum which has been equated with Lake Urmia in the north-western tip of Iran (an equation which has since been dismissed). Little if anything concrete is known of any groups in this region at this time, although it is thought to be the south-eastern corner of an area of occupation by Indo-European tribes of the South Indo-European group. Their Luwian-speaking, Hittite-speaking, and Palaic-speaking descendants would be, by about 2000-1800 BC, in the process of taking control of central Anatolia.

Aratta was a source of valuable minerals and gems, and especially lapis lazuli, with treasured artefacts being produced locally. The early gem trade used the 'Great Khorasan Road' to connect Mesopotamia to the far edges of eastern Iran, but this proceeded through northern Iran, away from Elam. It has been proposed that Aratta was a major centre of the Jiroft culture itself, but the act of marching an army clear through Elam to reach it may have been beyond the means of mid-third millennium BC kings.

The likelihood anyway is that Aratta lay towards the east, beyond Susa and Anshan, on the eastern Iranian plain, and possibly was related to or descended from the Jiroft culture there. Perhaps a city site will be discovered in the future which can at least tentatively be linked with the ancient name of Aratta. Distant Marhasi is a favoured choice of the 2020s - perhaps one of the most likely realistic candidates.

Entirely to be dismissed is the bizarre claim that Aratta was a post-ice age civilisation in Ukraine which emerged around 12,000 BC to invent writing and supply the origins of the Sumerian folk. From there they apparently found their way across the Caucasus mountains to found Sumer and spread civilisation across the ancient world.

Near East Kingdoms

Ancient Eastern Near East

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