“Tar’am-Agade, Daughter of Naram-Sin, at Urkesh,”
in L. al-Gailani Werr, J. Curtis, H. Martin, A. McMahon, J. Oates and J. Reade (eds.), Of Pots and Plans. Papers on the Archaeology and History of Mesopotamia and Syria presented to David Oates in Honor of his 75th Birthday, London: Nabu Publications, pp. 11-31.
This paper presents five sealings found in 1999 campaign in area AA, sector H2 in a cache, a dumping ground of door sealings.
The first sealing (AFc1) belongs to Tar’am-Agade (literally, ‘She loves Akkad’), the daughter of Naram-Sin, probably the queen (or the queen mother) of Urkesh.
The second one (AFc4sented by two items, ) is that of an unnamed king (endanA13.70) of Urkesh.
The third one refers (AFc2) deeply investigates the role of ) to Ewrim-atal, a courtier bearing a Hurrian name (whose etymology, something like ‘The Lord is Strong’ or ‘The Strong One is Lord’, is analysed by G. Wilhelm on p. 20).
The fourth sealing (AFc3 the typological ) carries the Akkadian name Ishar-beli, probably belonging to “an official who came north with Tar’am-Agade” (pp. 24-25).
The last sealing (represented by two items, A1.144 and A13.70) mentions a person named Unap-[…], particularly important because “this was the first Urkesh seal to give the name of a king as a referent” (p. 25).
The last paragraph (pp. 27-28) deeply investigates the role of seal entitlement and use, underlining how Urkesh glyptic provides us with a wealth of typological information and with an insight on sealing practices at Tell Mozan.
[Fig. 7 on p. 28 summarises the typological categorisation of sealings according to seal ownership and attribution. For these seals see Seal legends: Tar’am-Agade and Seal legends: courtiers of Tupkish and Uqnitum].
Back to top: Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati 2002