Tell al-Rimah (also Tell ar-Rimah or Tell el-Rimah) is an archaeological settlement mound, in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq, roughly west of Mosul and ancient Nineveh in the Sinjar region. It lies 15 kilometers south of the site of Tal Afar.
It has been proposed that its ancient name in the 2nd millennium BC was Karana or Qattara or Razama. Karana and Qattara were very close together and thought to be part of a small kingdom.Charpin, Dominique, and Jean-Marie Durand, "Le nom antique de Tell Rimāh", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie Orientale, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 125–46, 1987 It has also been suggested that the site's name in the 1st Millennium BC was Zamaḫâ. It is near the circular walled similar archaeological sites of Tell Hadheil, a large Early Dynastic site with Old Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian occupation, and Tell Huweish. Tell Hamira, known earlier as Tell Abu Hamira, is 16 kilometers to the east and has also been suggested as the site of Karana.
Currently, archaeology leans toward Qattara as the ancient name of Tell Al-Rimah but this is not at all certain. Given that Qattara and Karana were clearly closely linked and proximate makes this difficult.Nashef, Khaled, "Qaṭṭarā and Karanā", Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 19, 1988, pp. 35–39, 1988 The town of Ṣarbat is known to have been close to Karana and Qattara.Cohen, Noam, "The Iltani Archive and the Messiness of Spousal Violence", Avar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Life and Society in the Ancient Near East 3.1, pp. 45-72, 2024Langlois, A. I., "Archibab 2. Les archives de la princesse Iltani découvertes à Tell al-Rimah (XVIIIe siècle av. J.-C.) et l'histoire du royaume de Karana/Qaṭṭara", Mémoires de NABU 18, Paris: SEPOA, 2017
Archaeology The site covers an area roughly 25 hectares, surrounded by a polygonal city wall. The interior holds a number of low mounds and a large central mound 30 meters high and 100 meters in diameter.David Oates, "Excavations at Tell al Rimah A Summary Report", Sumer, vol. 19, no. 1-2, pp. 69-78, 1963
The region was originally surveyed by Seton Lloyd in 1938, who also investigated the nearby site of Tell Taya.Seton Lloyd, "Some Ancient Sites in the Sinjar district, Iraq", vol. 5, pp. 123ff, 1938 The site of Tell al-Rimah was excavated from 1964 to 1971 by a British School of Archaeology in Iraq team led by David Oates, joined by the Penn Museum and Theresa Howard Carter in the first three years.David Oates, "The Excavations at Tell al Rimah: 1964", Iraq, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 62-68, 1965David Oates, "The Excavations at Tell al Rimah, 1965", Iraq, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 122-139, 1966David Oates, "The Excavations at Tell al Rimah, 1966", Iraq, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 70-96, 1967David Oates, "The Excavations at Tell al Rimah: 1967", Iraq, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 115-138, 1968David Oates, "The Excavations at Tell al Rimah, 1968", Iraq, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1-26, 1970David Oates, "The Excavations at Tell al Rimah: 1971, Iraq", vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 77-86, 1972 A large temple and palace (central-eastern part of the tell, 150 meters northeast of the temple) from the early second millennium BC were excavated, as well as a Neo-Assyrian building. Tell al-Rimah also is known for having a third millennium example of brick vaulting.Barbara Parker, "Cylinder Seals from Tell al Rimah, Iraq", vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 21-38, 1975 It has been suggested that the city-goddess of Karana was Geshtinanna in Old Babylonian times.Dalley, Stephanie, "Cults and Beliefs", Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities: With a New Introduction by the Author, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 112-138, 2002
Although only a small portion, 12 rooms encompassing 385 square meters, of the 1,319 square meter palace was excavated due to its depth, a number of Old Babylonian tablets contemporary with Zimri-Lim of Mari and 40 tablets from the time of Shalmaneser I were found as well as other objects.Battini, Laura, "La dernière phase du palais de Tell al-Rimah : nouvelle approche", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie Orientale, vol. 95, no. 2, pp. 115–40, 2001 Most of the Older texts were from the time of the Karana ruler, Aqba-Ḫammu with a few dating to the time of an earlier ruler Ḫadnû-rāpi. The tablets are mostly administrative documents involving loans of grain or tin.H. W. F. Saggs, "The Tell al Rimah Tablets: 1965", Iraq, vol. 30, vo. 2, pp. 154-174, 1968D. J. Wiseman, "The Tell al Rimah Tablets: 1966, Iraq", vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 175-205, 1968Stephanie Page, "The Tablets from Tell Al-Rimah 1967: A Preliminary Report", Iraq, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 87-97, 1968 The tablets also showed a thriving wine industry.McGovern, Patrick E., "Wine and the Great Empires of the Ancient Near East", Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 167-209, 2019 A god, Saggar, known from Mari is also attested in the texts.Archi, Alfonso, "Studies in the Pantheon of Ebla", Ebla and Its Archives: Texts, History, and Society, Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 592-600, 2015
Among the finds were over 40 Middle Assyrian period faience rosettes with "transverse perforations on the reverse sides and a knob disc attached to their obverse sides".Puljiz, Ivana, "Faience for the empire: A Study of Standardized Production in the Middle Assyrian State", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 100-122, 2021 In Room 1 of the palace a number of large storage jars, in fragments, were found, dated to the reign of Ḫadnû-rāpi by associated tablets. One held an inscription indicating its volume, added after firing, "1 homer 5 sutū 1/3 qû, measured in the sutū of Šamaš.". The jar was determined to hold between 119 and 123 liters.J. N. Postgate, "An Inscribed Jar from Tell Al-Rimah", Iraq 40, pp. 71–5, 1978
History Middle Bronze It reached its greatest size and prominence during the second millennium BC. The second millennium activity was primarily strong during the Old Babylonian (contemporary with Zimri-Lim of Mari, Hammurabi of Babylon and Ishme-Dagan of Ekallatum who was the son of Shamshi-Adad I) and Mitanni periods. In a letter found at Mari:
In the Middle Bronze period the site experienced widespread destruction and was abandoned before being re-occupied in the Late Bronze period. In the Mitanni period that followed the Old Babylonian occupation Karana is frequently mentioned in tablets found at the trading city of Nuzi and two Nuzi type tablets were found at Karana. The city was no longer fortified at that time but appears to have been quite prosperous. Another period of abandonment then occurred, followed by re-occupation on a much smaller scale in Neo-Assyrian times.Dalley, Stephanie, "The Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age", Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities: With a New Introduction by the Author, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 179-207, 2002
A notable find was a large archive of letters of Iltani, daughter of Samu-Addu, king of Karana from the Old Babylonian period. The archive covers about a four-year period and amounts to about 200 tablets.Jesper Eidem, "Some Remarks on the Iltani Archive from Tell al Rimah", Iraq, vol. 51, pp. 67–78, 1989Langlois, Anne-Isabelle, "'You Had None of a Woman's Compassion': Princess Iltani from her Archive Uncovered at Tell al-Rimah (18th Century BCE)", Gender and methodology in the ancient Near East: Approaches from Assyriology and beyond 10, pp. 129-148, 2018 It is known she had at least two sons, one named and a sister in Assur.Stol, Marten, "The court and the harem before 1500 BC", Women in the Ancient Near East, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 459-511, 2016 Another sister, Amat-Shamash, who was a priestess in Sippar who once sent her a gift of shrimp.
Her husband was Aqba-aḫum of Qaṭṭara who in a text found at Mari wrote to her saying "The ice (house) of Qaṭṭara should be unsealed, so that the goddess, you, and Belassunu could drink from it as needed. But the ice must remain under guard.".Sasson, Jack M., "Religion". From the Mari Archives: An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 235-293, 2015 Another Mari text involving Iltani reveals that there was a version of the goddess Istar at Qatara.
An Old Babylonian period seal was found saying "i-lí-sa-ma-[ás] dumu iq-qa-at utu/iskur ir pí-it-ha-na," i.e., "Ill-Samas, son of Iqqāt-Šamas Addu, servant of Pithana" which has given rise to the suggestion that this referred to Pithana who was ruler of the Anatolian city of Kuššara, although that reading of the ruler's name is not certain.Lacambre, Denis, and Werner Nahm, "Pithana, an Anatolian Ruler in the Time of Samsuiluna of Babylon: New Data From Tell Rimah (Iraq)", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie Orientale, vol. 109, pp. 17–28, 2015Frayne, Douglas, "Qaṭṭarā / Karanā", Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 737-747, 1990
Late Bronze Age Occupation is known primarily from the Abu-tab archive of about 100 tablets and fragments found in the courtyard on the south side of the temple. Some were dateable by limmu to the reign of Middle Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser I (c. 1273–1244 BC) with a few to early years of following ruler Tukulti-Ninurta I c. 1243–1207 BC. Most are economic in nature.
Iron Age
The site was lightly occupation in the later Iron Age period. The most notable artifact found was the stele of Neo-Assyrian ruler Adad-nirari III (811 to 783 BC), known as the Tell al-Rimah stela, which may mention an early king of Northern Israel stating "He received the tribute of Ia'asu the Samaritan, of the Tyrian (ruler) and of the Sidonian (ruler)" and contains the first cuneiform mention of Samaria by that name. On the side of the stele was an inscription of Nergal-ereš, who names himself "governor of Raṣappa".Page, Stephanie, "A Stela of Adad-Nirari III and Nergal-Ereš from Tell al Rimah", Iraq, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 139–53, 1968Shea, William H., "Adad-Nirari III and Jehoash of Israel", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 101–13, 1978Parpola, Simo, "The Location of Raṣappa", At the Dawn of History: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of J. N. Postgate, edited by Yağmur Heffron, Adam Stone and Martin Worthington, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 393-412, 2017 It has been suggested, based on the stele, that Tell al-Rimah has called Zamaḫâ at that time.May, Natalie N., "'The True Image of the God...:' Adoration of the King's Image, Assyrian Imperial Cult and Territorial Control", Tales of Royalty: Notions of Kingship in Visual and Textual Narration in the Ancient Near East, edited by Elisabeth Wagner-Durand and Julia Linke, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 185-240, 2020Page, S., "Joash and Samaria in a New Stela Excavated At Tell Al Rimah, Iraq", Vetus Testamentum, 19(4), pp. 483-484, 1969 A larger version of this stele was found at Dūr-Katlimmu.Radner, Karen, "The Stele of Adad-nērārī III and Nergal-ēreš from Dūr-Katlimmu (Tell Šaiḫ Ḥamad)", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 265-277, 2012
Karana Known rulers of Karana Samu-Addu - father of Iltani and Ashkur-Addu. fled to Eshnunna Hatnu-rapi Ashkur-Addu - son of Samu-Addu, brother of Iltani, father of Bini-shakim Aqba-hammu - husband of Iltani, vassal of Hammurabi
Samu-Addu held power in the last years of Shamshi-Adad of Ekallatum and may have been a vassal. With the death of Shamshi-Adad Mari, under Zimri-Lim expanded in the region and Hatnu-rapi, an ally of Zimri-Lim, took power. Hatnu-rapi was present at the sack of Shubat-Enil, the royal city of Shamshi-Adad. In a letter found at Karana: