# Zakkur > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Zakkur > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Zakkur.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakkur > Source revision: 1322738591 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) [[File:Zakkur Stele 0154.jpg|thumb|Stele of Zakkur at the [Louvre](/source/Louvre)]] '''Zakkur''' (or ''Zakir'') was the ancient king of [Hamath](/source/Hamath) and [Luhuti](/source/Luhuti) (also known as [Nuhašše](/source/Nuha%C5%A1%C5%A1e)) in [Syria](/source/Syria). He ruled around 785 BC. Most of the information about him comes from his basalt stele, known as the [Stele of Zakkur](/source/Stele_of_Zakkur). ==History== [Irhuleni](/source/Irhuleni) and his son Uratami were Kings of Hamath prior to Zakkur. Irhuleni led a coalition against the [Assyria](/source/Assyria)n expansion under [Shalmaneser III](/source/Shalmaneser_III). Their coalition succeeded in 853 BC in the [Battle of Qarqar](/source/Battle_of_Qarqar). Later Irhuleni maintained good relations with Assyria.{{cite book | last = Bryce | first = Trevor | title = The world of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms : a political and military history | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gp8lMpoFAUsC&pg=PA135 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford New York | year = 2012 | page = 135 | isbn = 978-0199218721 }} Not so much is known about the background of Zakkur. He is first mentioned in Assyrian sources probably in 785 BC, in the last years of [Adad-nirari III](/source/Adad-nirari_III).Luis Robert Siddall, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rb0dAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 ''The Reign of Adad-nīrārī III: An Historical and Ideological Analysis of An Assyrian King and His Times.''] BRILL, 2013 {{ISBN|9004256148}} p.37 Adad-nirari ordered his commander [Shamshi-ilu](/source/Shamshi-ilu) to mediate the border dispute between Zakkur and [Atarshumki I](/source/Atarshumki_I) of [Arpad](/source/Arpad%2C_Syria).Edward Lipiński, [https://books.google.com/books?id=837DDbYsxAoC&pg=PA218 ''On the Skirts of Canaan in the Iron Age: Historical and Topographical Researches.''] Volume 153 of Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta, Peeters Publishers, 2006 {{ISBN|9042917989}} thumb|300px|Aramaic kingdoms in the 9th century BC Zakkur appears to have been a native of 'Ana' (which may refer to the city of Hana/[Terqa](/source/Terqa)) on the [Euphrates River](/source/Euphrates_River), that was within the influence of Assyria.Alan R. Millard, ''The Homeland of Zakkur'', Semitica 39 [M. Sznycer Volume] (1990): 47-52. Zakkur is believed to have founded the [Aramean](/source/Aramean) dynasty at the city of Hamath (now known as [Hama](/source/Hama)).Scott B. Noegel, [https://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/PDFs/articles/Noegel%2047%20-%20ANEHST%202006b.pdf ''The Zakkur Inscription.''] In: Mark W. Chavalas, ed. The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation. London: Blackwell (2006), 307-311 Some scholars consider him as an [usurper](/source/usurper), because, previously, Hamath was ruled by the kings with [Luwian](/source/Luwian) or neo-Hittite names.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TwiY96cunQC&pg=PA400|title= Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions: Volume 1, Inscriptions of the Iron Age: Part 1|author= John David Hawkins|date= 10 May 2012|publisher= Walter de Gruyter|isbn= 9783110804201|at= pp. 400-401}} Luhuti, over which Zakkur came to rule, is known primarily from Assyrian inscriptions. Nevertheless, these inscriptions describe Luhuti as a country with many cities and troops.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gp8lMpoFAUsC&pg=PT132|title= The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History|author= Trevor Bryce|date= 15 March 2012|page= 132|publisher= OUP Oxford|isbn= 978-0-19-150502-7}} The capital of Luhuti was the city of [Hazrik](/source/Tell_Afis) (modern Tell Afis; it was known as Hatarikka for the Assyrians),{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwwNS0diXP4C&pg=PA296|title= The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia|author= Trevor Bryce|date= 10 September 2009|page= 296|publisher= Routledge|isbn= 9781134159079}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slR7SFScEnwC&pg=PA335|title= The Cambridge Ancient History: Early History of the Middle East. Part 2, Volume 1|author1=I. E. S. Edwards |author2=Cyril John Gadd |author2-link=Cyril John Gadd |author3=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammondpage |year= 1970|page= 282|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 9780521077910}} located 45 kilometers south of [Aleppo](/source/Aleppo).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SlOGUmT-5sC&pg=PA282|title= Holman Concise Bible Dictionary|year= 2011|page= 282|publisher= B&H Publishing|isbn= 9780805495485}} This is where the Zakkur Stele was found. Luhuti was incorporated into Hamath around 796 BC; it formed the northern province of the kingdom.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1aF0hq1GR8C&pg=PA282|title= The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia|author= Trevor Bryce|date= 10 September 2009|page= 282|publisher= Routledge|isbn= 9781134159086}} ===Events described in the Stele=== Zakkur was besieged in [Tell Afis](/source/Tell_Afis) by a coalition of Aramean kings incited by [Ben-Hadad III](/source/Ben-Hadad_III) of [Aram-Damascus](/source/Aram-Damascus),{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXljf8JqmkoC&pg=PA403|title= The Cambridge Ancient History: The prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth to eighth centuries B.C.. Volume 3. Part 1|author=John Boardman|year= 1924|page= 403|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 9780521224963}} and led by the king of [Bit Agusi](/source/Bit_Agusi).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0dbRu1TOgUC&pg=PA166|title= The World of The Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History|author=Trevor Bryce|date= 15 March 2012|page= 166|publisher= OUP Oxford|isbn= 978-0-19-921872-1}} Zakkur survived the siege and commemorated the event by commissioning the Stele of Zakkur.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDijjc_D5P0C&pg=PA303|title= A History of Ancient Israel and Judah|author=James Maxwell Miller|date= January 1986|page= 303|isbn= 9780664212629}} ==See also== * [List of Aramean kings](/source/List_of_Aramean_kings) *[Aram (biblical region)](/source/Aram_(biblical_region)) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Bibliography== *Scott B. Noegel, [https://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/PDFs/articles/Noegel%2047%20-%20ANEHST%202006b.pdf ''The Zakkur Inscription.''] In: Mark W. Chavalas, ed. The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation. London: Blackwell (2006), 307–311. *M. [Henri Pognon](/source/Henri_Pognon), [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k67051s.notice ''Inscriptions semitiques de la Syrie, de la Mesopotamie at de la region de Mossoul''], Paris, 1907 (and 1908). The volume contains 116 inscriptions most of them in Syriac. *James J. Montgomery, ''A New Aramaic Inscription of Biblical Interest'' in The Biblical World, Vol. XXXIII, Febr. 1909, p. 79-84. *Pritchard, The Ancient Near East, ANET 501-502 ==External links== * [http://www.aramaic-dem.org/English/History/The_Aramaic_Inscription_of_Zakar_King_of_Hamath.htm The Aramaic Inscription of Zakar, King of Hamath] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213013712/http://www.aramaic-dem.org/English/History/The_Aramaic_Inscription_of_Zakar_King_of_Hamath.htm |date=2014-12-13 }} www.aramaic-dem.org * [https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/SyriaHamath.htm The kings of ancient Hamath] historyfiles.co.uk Category:Neo-Hittite kings Category:8th-century BC Aramean kings --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zakkur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakkur) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakkur?action=history)). 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