Top:An inscription dated c. 2130 BC, mentioning the Gutians: "Lugalanatum,prince ofUmma... built theE.GIDRU[Sceptre] Temple atUmma,buried his foundation deposit [and] regulated the orders. At that time,Siiumwas king of Gutium. "The name𒄖𒋾𒌝𒆠,gu-ti-umKIappears in the last column.Louvre Museum. Bottom:Approximate location of original Gutium territory
TheGuti(/ˈɡuːti/), also known by the derivedexonymsGutiansorGuteans,were a people of the ancient Near East who both appeared and disappeared during theBronze Age.Their homeland was known asGutium(Sumerian:𒄖𒌅𒌝𒆠,GutūmKIor𒄖𒋾𒌝𒆠,GutiumKI).[1][2]
Conflict between people from Gutium and theAkkadian Empirehas been linked to the collapse of the empire, towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC. The Guti subsequently overran southernMesopotamiaand formed the short livedGutian dynasty of Sumer.TheSumerian king listsuggests that the Guti ruled overSumerfor several generations following the fall of the Akkadian Empire.[3]
By the mid 1st millennium BC, usage of the name Gutium, by the peoples of lowlandMesopotamia,had expanded to include all of northwesternIran,between theZagros Mountainsand theTigris River.Various tribes and places to the east and northeast, regardless of ethnicity, were often referred to asGutiansorGutium.[4]For example, Assyrian royal annals use the term Gutians in relation to populations known to have beenMedesorMannaeans.As late as the reign ofCyrus the Greatof Persia, the famous generalGubaru(Gobryas) was described as the "governor of Gutium".[5]
The Gutians capturing a Babylonian city, as Akkadians are making a stand outside their city. 19th century illustration.
Little is known of the origins, material culture or language of the Guti, as contemporary sources provide few details and no artifacts have been positively identified.[6]As theGutian languagelacks atext corpus,apart from some proper names, its similarities to other languages are impossible to verify. The names of Gutian kings suggest that the language was not closely related to any languages of the region, includingSumerian,Akkadian,Hurrian,Hittite,andElamite.Most scholars reject the attempt to link Gutian king names to Indo-European languages.[7]
Sargon the Great(r. circa 2340 – 2284 BC) also mentions them among his subject lands, listing them betweenLullubi,ArmanumandAkkadto the north; Nikku andDerto the south. According to one stele,Naram-Sin of Akkad's army of 360,000 soldiers defeated the Gutian king Gula'an, despite having 90,000 slain by the Gutians.
The epicCuthean Legend of Naram-SinclaimsGutiumamong the lands raided byAnnubaniniofLulubumduring the reign ofNaram-Sin(c. 2254–2218 BC).[10]Contemporary year-names forShar-kali-sharriof Akkad indicate that in one unknown year of his reign, Shar-kali-sharri capturedSharlagking of Gutium, while in another year, "the yoke was imposed on Gutium".[11]
Votive macehead of Gutian kingLa-erabum,and its inscription "La-eraab, great King of Gutiim" (𒆷𒂍𒊏𒀊 𒁕𒈝 𒈗 𒄖𒋾𒅎la-e-ra-ab da-num lugal gutiim). The name is quite damaged, and was initially read "Lasiraab".[12]British Museum(BM 90852)
During the Akkadian Empire period the Gutians slowly grew in strength and then established a capital at the Early Dynastic city of Adab.[13]The Gutians eventually overran Akkad, and as the King List tells us, their army also subduedUrukfor hegemony of Sumer, in about 2147–2050 BC. However, it seems that autonomous rulers soon arose again in a number of city-states, notablyGudeaofLagash.
The Gutians seem also to have briefly overrunElamat around the same time, towards the close ofKutik-Inshushinak's reign (c. 2100 BC).[14]On a statue of the Gutian kingErridupiziratNippur,an inscription imitates his Akkadian predecessors, styling him "King of Gutium, King of the Four Quarters".
TheWeidner Chronicle(written c. 500 BC), portrays the Gutian kings as uncultured and uncouth:
Naram-Sin destroyed the people ofBabylon,so twiceMarduksummoned the forces ofGutiumagainst 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 should not 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.
Utu-Khegal,Prince of the Sumerian city of Uruk, praying for victory against the Gutian kingTirigan.
The Sumerian rulerUtu-hengal,Prince of the Sumerian city of Uruk is similarly credited on the King List with defeating the Gutian rulerTirigan,and removing the Guti from the country in circa 2050 BC (short chronology).[15]
In his Victory Stele, Utu-hengal wrote about the Gutians:
Utu-hengalvictory stele, where he describes the Gutians he vanquished as "the fanged snake of the mountain ranges".Louvre Museum,AO 6018.[16]
Gutium, the fanged snake of the mountain ranges, a people who acted violently against the gods, people who the kingship of Sumer to the mountains took away, who Sumer with wickedness filled, who from one with a wife his wife took away from him, who from one with a child his child took away from him, who wickedness and violence produced within the country... "
Following this,Ur-NammuofUrordered the destruction of Gutium. The year 11 of kingUr-Nammualso mentions "Year Gutium was destroyed".[18]However, according to a Sumerian epic, Ur-Nammu died in battle with the Gutians, after having been abandoned by his own army.
A Babylonian text from the early 2nd millennium refers to the Guti as having a "human face, dogs’ cunning, [and] monkey's build".[19]
Somebiblical scholarsbelieve that the Guti may be theQoa,named with theShoaandPekodas enemies of Jerusalem inEzekiel23:23,[20]which was probably written in the 6th century BC.
^Parpola, S., "Neo-Assyrian Toponyms", (AOAT 6). Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn: Butzon & Bercker and Neukirchener Verlag, 1970
^Oppenheim, A. Leo, "VIII. Assyrian and Babylonian Historical Texts", The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, edited by James B. Pritchard, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 246-286, 2011
^[1]M. Molina, "The palace of Adab during the Sargonic period", D. Wicke (ed.), Der Palast im antiken und islamischen Orient, Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 9, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2019, pp. 151-20
^Sicker, Martin (2000).The Pre-Islamic Middle East.p. 19.
^Thureau-Dangin, Fr. (1912). "La Fin de la Domination Gutienne" [The End of Gutian Domination].Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale(in French).9(3): 111–120.ISSN0373-6032.JSTOR23283609.
