Haradum (also Harrâdum), modern Khirbit ed-Diniye (also Khirbet ed-Diniyé), in Al Anbar Governorate Iraq, was an ancient Near East city on the middle Euphrates about 90 kilometers southeast of Mari. It was part of the ancient region of Suhum. The name of the town meant "the place where one stands watch". It was strategically placed on the border of four kingdoms, Eshnunna, Ekallatum, Mari and Babylon and is thought to have been first settled by Eshnunna. It is known that a tollbooth was established on the river and a toll collected.Kepinski, Christine, "Organization of Harrâdum, Suhum, 18th–17th Centuries b.c., Iraqi Middle Euphrates", Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Würzburg 20–25 Jul, edited by Gernot Wilhelm, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 143-154, 2022
History Middle Bronze Age
While the site of Haradum was occupied earlier, under the control of Eshnunna, being mentioned in texts from Mari, after a hiatus it grew into a proper town until the 18th century BC under the control of the First Dynasty of Babylon. Tablets from the reign of Babylonian rulers Samsu-iluna, Abi-eshuh, Ammi-ditana, and Ammi-saduqa have been found at Haradum. The earliest dated text is from the 26th year of Samsu-iluna (c. 1749–1712 BC), son of Hammurabi, and the latest text is from the 18th year of Babylonian ruler Ammi-saduqa (c. 1646-1626 BC). For a time under the reign of Samsu-iluna lost Babylon control of Haradum to the city of Terqa but soon regained it. Yamada, Shigeo, "A pudûm rotation list from Tell Taban and the cultural milieu of Ṭabatum in the post-Hammurabi period", Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 105.1, pp. 137-156, 2011
Iron Age Two cuneiform tablets from the late Middle Assyrian period, apparently during the reign of Aššur-dān I (c. 1178–1133 BC), were also found. Tenu, Aline, "Building the Empire. Settlement Patterns in the Middle Assyrian Empire", Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire. Essays dedicated to Frans Wiggermann, pp. 75-88, 2015 It was later the site of a Neo-Assyrian fortress.Wolfgang Heimpel, "Letters to the King of Mari", Eisenbrauns, 2003
Haradum is noted for being one of the earliest examples of a planned city, with a rectilinear layout and straight streets. It contained two temples (dedicated to Ishtar and Adad respectively) but no palace.C.Kepinski-Lecomte, "Spatial occupation of a new town Haradum", in Houses and Households in ancient Mesopotamia. K.R. Veenhof (ed.); Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, pp. 191-96, 1996
Archaeology The site of Haradum is small, about 1.5 hectares in area (a 150 by 150 meter square) with a fortification wall having a main gate in the western wall. It was excavated for six seasons between 1981 and 1988 by a team from the Délégation Archéologique Française en Iraq led by Christine Kepinski-Lecomte. A number of cuneiform tablets were found in residential and temple contexts. The work was a salvage operation in response to Haditha Dam construction though by the end of excavations the site had still not been inundated.Christine Kepinski and Olivier Lecomte, "Mari et Haradum", Mari Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, vol. 4, pp. 615-621, 1985Christine Kepinski and Olivier Lecomte, "Haradum/Harada, une forteresse sur l'Euphrate", Archeologia, vol. 205, pp. 46-55, 1985F. Joannes, C. Kepinski, and O.Lecomte, "Présence babylonienne dans le pays de Suhu au XVIIe siècle av. J.-C: L'exemple de Kherbet ed Diniye, Iraq", Revue d'assyriologie d'archéologie orientale, vol. 77, pp. 119-142, 1983F. Joannes, "Haradum et le pays de Suhum", Archeologia, vol. 205, pp. 56-59, 2005 Cuneiform tablets, found in private houses and the mayoral residence, included divination texts:
The excavators found four 2nd Millennium BC building layers. The first (3D) was from the time of Mari ruler Zimri-Lim (1775–1761 BC) and included a fortification wall. Later construction followed the street plan established at that time. The subsequent levels, under Babylonian and later Middle Assyrian rule dated c. 1750-1700 BC (3C), c. 1700-1665 BC (3B) destroyed by fire, and c. 1665-1130 BC (3A)."Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82", Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983"Excavations in Iraq, 1983-84", Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 215–39, 1985"Excavations in Iraq 1987-88", Iraq, vol. 51, pp. 249–65, 1989
Part of the later was overlaid, in the 11th through 8th centuries BC, by the fortress named Haradu, controlled by the Middle Assyrians, the Aramaeans, and then the Neo-Assyrians. The fortress had a casemate wall with angles oriented to the cardinal points and no internal structures and is considered to be a strictly military construction. It had three construction phases. The first phase was laid on the remains of the Old Babylonian defensive wall of Haradum. The second phase reinforced the casemate wall and included a tomb dug into the bedrock. Grave good included "bronze objects, a goblet, a sieve, a zoomorphic drinking vessel, two knobs of a stick, small plaques" also a bunch of iron arrows held together with a thread and one gold earring. The third and final phase added buttressing and the fortress reached its maximum size of 150 square meters with 30 meter thick defensive fortifications. A cemetery was found at the southwest of the wall. Kepinski, Christine, "Conflict, Territory and Culture: the Case of Haradu, a fortress on the Iraqi Middle Euphrates (11th-7th centuries bc)", Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire 86, pp. 149-158, 2009Tenu, Aline. "Imperial Culture: Some Reflections on Middle Assyrian Settlements", Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Barcelona, July 26th-30th, 2010, edited by Lluis Feliu, J. Llop, A. Millet Albà and Joaquin Sanmartín, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 575-584, 2013
A 3-D virtual relality reconstruction of the site is being developed, Patrimoine du Proche-Orient. Louise Quillien, Mustapha Djabellaoui, "Orient Cunéiforme: the Benefits of New Technologies for the Propagation of Knowledge and Scientific Research", W. Sommerfeld. Dealing with Antiquity: Past, Present & Future, RAI Marburg, AOAT 460, Ugarit-Verlag, pp.199-209, 2020
See also Cities of the ancient Near East Short chronology timeline
References
Further reading D. Charpin, "Les pouvoirs locaux à l’époque paléo-babylonienne : le cas du maire et des Anciens de Harrâdum", dans S. Dönmez (dir.), DUB.SAR E.DUB.BA.A., Studies Presented in Honour of Veysel Donbaz / Veysel Donbaz’a Sunulan Yazılar, Istanbul, pp. 41–54, 2010 Charpin, Dominique, "La «maison de Riš-Šamaš» à Harradum, nouvelle approche", Parcours d'Orient. Recueil de textes offert à Christine Kepinski, hrsg. v. Bérengère Perello, Aline Tenu, pp. 61–76, 2016 D. Charpin, "Harrâdum, entre Babylone et le “pays de Mari”", dans E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, J. Klinger et G.G.W. Müller (dir.), Diversity and Standardization, Perspectives on social and political norms in the ancient Near East, Berlin, pp. 27-48, 2013 Mark W. Chavalas, "Terqa and Haradum: A Comparative Analysis of Old Babylonian Period Houses Along the Euphrates" in The 90th Anniversary Volume of the Archaeological Institute of America, St. Louis Chapter, ed., A. Dempsey (St. Louis: Archaeological Institute of America, St. Louis Chapter, 1997 Christine Kepinski-Lecompte, "Haradum I: Une ville nouvelle sur le Moyen-Euphrate", Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1992, F. Joannes, C. Kepinski-Lecompte, Gudrun Colbow, "Haradum II. Les Textes de la Periode Paleo-Babylonienne (Samsu-iluna - Ammi-saduqa)", ERC, 2006, C. Kepinski, "Haradum III : Haradu, forteresse du moyen Euphrate iraquien (XIIe-VIIIe s. av. J.-C.)", Paris, 2012 Kepinski, Christine, "Harrâdum dans le paysage archéologique du Moyen Euphrate au début du second millénaire av. J.-C.", ISIMU 14, pp. 29–37, 2011 Kepinski-Lecomte, Christine, "La polarité occidentale d'Haradum, Moyen-Euphrate irakien (XVIIIe-XVIIe s. av. J.-C.)", Anatolia antiqua, Eski Anadolu 3.1, pp. 33–53, 1995 C. Kepinski, "Material Culture of a Babylonian Outpost on the Iraqi Middle Euphrates: the Case of Haradum during the Middle Bronze Age", Akkadica, vol. 126, pp. 121–131, 2005 C. Kepinski, "La conquête du pays de Suhum par le royaume d’Eshnunna et les liens tribaux entre la Diyala, la Mésopotamie du sud, la péninsule arabique et la vallée du moyen-Euphrate", dans Baghdader Mitteilungen 37, pp. 117–130, 2006 Brigitte Lion, "Francis Joannès, with contributions from Ch. Kepinski-Lecomte and G. Colbow, Haradum II. The texts of the Paleo-Babylonian period (Samsu-iluna - Ammi-zaduqa)", Syria 86, pp. 359–362, 2009 Sauvage, Martin, "Le Contexte Archeologique et la Fin des Archives a Khirbet Ed-Diniye — Haradum", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 89, no. 1, pp. 41–55, 1995
External links Site Plan of Haradum town center Site Plan of Haradum at La Maison René-Ginouvès Inscriptions found at Haradum - CDLI