BĪT RAMATIYA

 

BĪT RAMATIYA, a place name mentioned only once in the cuneiform sources during Sargon II’s sixth campaign (716 B.C.). In one text it is given as Bīt Ramatiya, while a parallel text gives the spelling Bīt Ramatua. Only a general location can be suggested for Bīt Ramatiya, which is also called the [district of the] Lower River and which occurs with Araziash [the district of] the Upper River. From its association with Harhar as well as things Median, it must be sought in the Gamašāb valley (or one of its tributaries), somewhere east of modern Bīsotūn.

Ramatiya twice occurs as a personal name. The first Ramatiya is mentioned in a broken passage of Tiglath-Pileser III’s annals and is said to be from Arazi[?]. The context fits the central western Iranian region described above, and if we restore Araziash we have the district of the Upper River with which Bīt Ramatiya is associated in the Sargon texts. The second Ramatiya is listed as the city chief of Urakazabarna and identified as a Mede in the annals of Esarhaddon.

 

Bibliography:

F. W. König in Reallexikon der Assyriologie, Berlin and Leipzig, 1938, II, p. 49.

Search terms:

 بیت رمتیه      

(Louis D. Levine)

Originally Published: December 15, 1989

Last Updated: December 15, 1989

This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 3, p. 308