6 herbert niehr
Mesopotamia and Syria. this term stems from the Semitic word for “boy.”
It is found in the ugaritic ġlm, hebrew ʿaelaem, aramaic ʿulīm, and arabic
ġulām or ġlm in South arabic. the sedentary population used this term in
the plural to refer to marauding nomads, who raided and attacked settle-
ments and travelers.37 the aḫlamû were also, however, partially seden-
tary. they gained their power from controlling the trade and travel routes
through the steppe. the aḫlamû originated from Suḫu, a country in the
Middle euphrates, but they also roamed parts of upper Mesopotamia.
the portrayal of nomads in texts changes in the 15th or 14th century B.c.
particularly relevant in this context is the kingdom of Mittani. Mittani’s
dominance over upper Mesopotamia was dissolved by King Šuppiluliuma
I (ca. 1355/50–1320 B.c.), the founder of the hittite empire, in the second
half of the 14th century after which it was reduced to the small kingdom
of hanigalbat, which was later conquered by the assyrians around 1200
B.c. the unrest and disputes between the former kingdom of Mittani and
egypt, the hittites, and the assyrian empire led to a substantial decrease
in settlements in the Jazirah region and caused its population to turn to
nomadism, a turn that was further encouraged by the destruction of sev-
eral Mittani cities, including the destruction of the city of emar in the first
quarter of the 12th century.
this settlement break in upper Mesopotamia should not be equated
with a population vacuum. the kingdom of Mittani had previously domi-
nated the Semitic nomads, but this changed after 1200 B.c. as the assyri-
ans were only able to sustain their newly acquired control over the regions
west of the euphrates from the second half of the 8th century B.c.
Further references to the aḫlamû are found in texts from emar from
the late 13th century B.c. In these texts mention is made of three persons
called aḫlamû.38 additionally, aḫlamû messengers from Suḫu report on a
raid by aḫlamû people on the city of Qaṭna. Suḫu was probably the city
from which the nomadic raiders of Qaṭna came.39
the first explicit mentions of aramaeans come from the assyrian heart-
land. during the 12th century B.c., King tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076 B.c.)
had, by his own account, repeatedly crossed the euphrates to fight against
the aramaeans without being able to permanently subdue them.40
37 cf. herles 2007 and esp. Lipiński 2000a: 37f and Younger 2007: 135–137.
38 arnaud 1986: 301f no. 322: 5; 307 no. 331: 1; id. 1991: 211–213 no. 9: 39.
39 cf. arnaud 1986: 259f no. 263 and also adamthwaite 1996: 94–97.
40 cf. the contribution of h. Sader in this volume