66 dagmar kühn
the production of luxury goods is especially typical for city-states with
élites. the tribute and booty lists of the assyrians record gold and bronze
household utensils; precious furniture with intarsia of gold, silver, or ivory;
and elephants. ivory did not have to be imported because elephants were
native to Syria.196 ivory products were also available, because produc-
tion centers of ivory carving existed in Syria. the different styles of ivory
objects found in the storerooms of the assyrian palaces197 hint at several
production centers in Syria.198 these centers are assumed to have been
located in Samʾal, til Barsib, and damascus.199 e. Lipiński notes that “the
discovery of an elephant’s tusk and tooth next to carved ivories in the
same room of building J at Zincirli, as well as the roughly carved, but not
decorated piece of ivory from til-Barsib, prove in any case that a tradition
of ivory carving existed in the aramaean states of north Syria, near the
sources of raw material.”200 assyrian palace reliefs show that an assyrian
ruling family used northern Syrian and phoenician furniture with ivory
carvings.201
4.3 Agriculture and Livestock Raising 202agriculture and livestock secured the food supply of the population in
antiquity. in the mountainous region of northern and western Syria it was
possible to carry out rain-based agriculture because of sufficient precipita-
tion. in other regions like damascus, hamath, and in the triangle between
the Khabur and the euphrates farming was possible with irrigation. the
fringes of the steppe, which had always been the home of semi-nomadic
tribes, served as a livestock-raising zone.203
196 the so-called Syrian elephant lived in Syria. it was hunted and given as tribute to
the assyrians. cf. Lipiński 2000a: 533: the elephants not only lived in the wild but were
also domesticated and raised. the argument that ivory production in Syria came to an end
when the elephant was eradicated by overhunting stands against domestication.
197 most of the ivories were found in the storerooms of nimrud. For a bibliography of
the contexts of the finds, see Bonatz 2004: 393f.
198 winter 1976a; ead. 1976b; ead. 1989; Barnett 1982; herrmann 2000; Bonatz 2004:
393–396.
199 winter 1976b: 53 and ead. 1981: 129f.
200 Lipiński 2000a: 534.
201 Bonatz 2004: 394f. Bonatz takes into consideration the fact that the import of
couches from Syria first introduced the tradition of dining on couches in assyria.
202 See dion 1997: 330–345 and Lipiński 2000a: 516–524.
203 dion 1997: 330 allocates livestock raising to the aramaean tribes and agriculture
to the indigenous population: “L’élévage pratiqué par ces tribus araméennes servait de
complément aux cultures de la vieille population sédentaire.”