ḪARZIANU

 

ḪARZIANU, a city and a district in Media, mentioned in the Assyrian texts of the time of Sargon II. In 716 B.C.E., when Sargon was in Media in the land of Saka, he received tribute from several Median city chieftains, including Zarduka of Ḫarzianu (Levine, p. 50, l. 62). The name Zardukku, Ir. *Zṛduka, *Zarduka, is derived from Ir. zərəd- (Ind. hṛd-) “heart” (Grantovoskiĭ, p. 253). In 714 B.C.E., the same Zardukku of Ḫarzianu is mentioned in the list of the representatives of cities paying tribute to Sargon when he was in Parsua (Thureau-Dangin, 1912, p. 49). Ḫarzianu is mentioned also in the list of Median cities that paid tribute to Assyria. According to Igor Mikhailovich D’yakonov (pp. 221-22) and Haim Tadmore (p. 95), this list was compiled in 713 B.C.E. The comparison of this list with the route taken to Media by Sargon in 716 B.C.E., as described in the stele published by Louis Levine, makes it possible, however, to date this list to 716 B.C.E. (Medvedskaya, pp. 154-55, n. 63).

The precise location of Ḫarzianu depends on the definition of the western borders of Media. According to Levine, Ḫarzianu should be located in the Zagros Range, in the vicinity of the Great Khorasan Road (Levine, 1974, pp. 117-19). There are, however, arguments in favor of the location of Ḫarzianu farther to the east, on the Hamadan plain (Medvedskaya, pp. 147-55).

 

Bibliography:

Igor Mikhailovich D’yakonov (Diakonoff), Istoriya Midii (History of Media), Moscow and Leningrad; tr. Karim Kešāvarz as Tāriḵ-e Mād, Tehran, 1345 Š./1966.

A. Grantovoskiĭ, Rannyaya istoriya iranskikh plemen Peredneĭ Azii (The early history of the Iranian tribes in the Near East), Moscow, 1970.

Louis D. Levine, Two Neo-Assyrian Stelae from Iran, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1972. Idem, “Geographical Studies in the Neo-Assyrian Zagros,” Iran 12, 1974, pp. 99-124.

Inna N. Medvedskaya, “Byvali li assiriĭtsi v Ekbatane?” (Were the Assyrians in Ecbatana?), VDI 2, 1995.

Haim Tadmor, “The Campaigns of Sargon II of Assur: A Chronological-Historical Study,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 12/3, 1958.

François Thureau-Dangin, Une relation de la huitieme campagne de Sargon, Musee de Louvre, Textes Cuineformes 3, Paris, 1912.

(I. N. Medvedskaya)

Originally Published: December 15, 2003

Last Updated: March 20, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XII, Fasc. 1, p. 23