THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ALBANIAN TRIBES IN THE CUNEIFORM TEXTS OF NEAR EAST

Abstract

The Caspians were one of the most ancient tribes of Albania. It is generally accepted that the earliest mention of them is contained in the Elephantine papyri and "History" by Herodotus, dating back to V BC, i.e. when there still was no Albanian state. Attempts to indentify the tribe with such conformable etnonyms ancient eastern cuneiform texts as “kashshu”, “kashka” haven't yielded positive results. Investigations in this field confirm the view of Asia Minor origin of the Kassites (= "kashshu" Babylonian inscriptions). The analysis of toponymical materials suggests that after falling of the power of the Kassites in Mesopotamia (about 1140 BC) the bulk of them advanced farther via Luristan to the shore of the Caspian Sea. This group managed to establish their dominance in the kingdoms of Namar, Khubushkia, Allabria and possibly in Manna which is the evidence of the Kassite title "yanzi" of their rulers. Data of the Assyrian kings is evidence that the same ethnic group called "kashka" still in the VIII century B.C. continued to dwell on the north-east of Anatolia. At the time one part of the kashka become the Assyrian’s subjects and the other part migrated to the south of Transcaucasia. Linguistic evidence indicate that the ethnonyms "kashshu" and "kashka" ascend to the name of the god of the Moon. Thus, “Kashka” was the name of the god of the Moon at the Hittites – the nearest neighbours of the kashka. Probably the same deity at the Kassites was Kashshu. In the pantheon of the Kassites the certain place belonged also to the Albanian deity which name is attested as an entry in theophoric names Burra-Alban (from the archive of the Hurrian Nuzi), Albadi-Sah and the names of the district and city Bit-Albada (in the Babylonian texts of Kassite period). Some words with an initial component of kash-, as well as the term alpa  are revealed in the texts of the Hurrians – the eastern neighbors of the kashkas. The tribe, esteemed the god Alban during the rule of Tiglatpalasar I (1114-1077 B.C.) has managed to create a small kingdom Albaya (modern Alban-Tepe) and Shururia (modern Sharur) in Nakhchivan. After the collapse of the military-political alliance Nairi, which included these kingdoms Albaya has turned into ruins and has found reflection in the placename Kua-Albani in Van inscription of Sarduri I (760-730 B.C.): toponym literally means “Destroyed Albani” (from biaynians ku/kua-"destroy”, "leave", "abandon"). Sounding of the modern Nakhchivan oronyms Akhura and Pusyan can be compared with such ancient geographical names as Ahuria (from the inscription of Argishty I) and Puzuni (from the inscription of Sarduri II), Puzuri (the kashka’s placename in the Hittite texts) or with the name of the Albanian tribe Puskh, known from “Armenian geography of the VII century”. Most likely, the Caspians (they are also the Kassites, the kashka), puskhs, legis and other ethnic groups before resettlement to Caucasus and becoming a part of the Albanian tribal union dwelt on the north-eastern part of Anatolia and adjoining areas of South Azerbaijan.