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Bullet hole disfiguring king’s face
King of western Iran a regal model 4,000 years ago
But his curse did not have much effect. His 4,500-year-old tablet was riddled with bullets, so much so that it is now difficult to make out his true image. The soldiers who served in the Dasht-e Zahab district, in Sarpol-e Zahab, between 1975 and the early 1990s, brought this disaster upon the inscription. They mistook it for a target practice board.
We are looking at the oldest rock relief and inscription in Iran. Anubanini, the king of the Lullubi, stands with a hatchet in his left hand and a bow and arrow in his right, facing the goddess Nini, or Ishtar, the goddess of war and guardian of herds and flocks. Above them, a sun shines, symbolizing Ishtar. Ishtar has brought him a ring of power, but that’s not all. The goddess of war has also brought him two prisoners, their noses pierced by a ring that is attached to a rope she holds. The two prisoners, naked and kneeling before the king, have their hands tied behind their backs.
Anubanini stands with authority. He has been victorious in battles that he now wants to commemorate on Mount Bater, now known as Mian Kall. He has brought the Lullubi to the highest level of power and controls trade from present-day Kermanshah and south of Lake Urmia to the other side of present-day Sulaymaniyah in Iraq. They were neighbors of the Kassites and Gutians and were in contact with the Akkadians, Hurrians, and Sumerians in Mesopotamia. They were a Zagros-dwelling people who were probably the first powerful Iranian tribes that lived in the west and parts of northwestern Iran, up to present-day Sulaymaniyah, and are now showing their authority in the region with this inscription.
This authority is evident under Anubanini’s feet. Six naked prisoners, their hands tied behind their backs, walk with difficulty. All of them wear similar hats, just like the ones worn by the prisoners brought by the goddess Nini. We don’t know who they are, but recent research suggests that they were probably local rulers who were captured and then killed by Anubanini. Among them, one person wears a different hat, a crown-like hat, and may be a king. What he wears reminds us of the soldiers and officers of the Achaemenid Empire, with the difference that they came to power 2,000 years after this inscription. We don’t know who he is, but it is possible that he is from the eastern Pars region.
The authority of the Lullubi lasted for over two centuries. The rulers after Anubanini also left their own inscriptions, most of which are in Sarpol-e Zahab. This one is his son, who, like his father, has placed his foot on the chest of a prisoner, a sign of his victory. The other Lullubi inscriptions are similar, and all of them have their feet on the prisoners they have defeated. Like the one in Horin Shikhan, a place near the Iranian border that once belonged to Iran, which shows Tarduni, the king of the Lullubi, bringing his enemies to their knees. Enemies who wear similar hats to those defeated by his ancestor, Anubanini.
The Lullubi were Zagros-dwellers and culturally not dissimilar to the Mesopotamians. They probably knew and respected the Mesopotamian gods and goddesses. But these cultural similarities did not bring about eternal peace between the Zagros-dwellers and the Mesopotamians. About 200 years after Anubanini’s death, Satuni was the king of the Lullubi. He fought against Naram-Sin, the grandson of Sargon the Great of the Akkadians. Anubanini never dared to fight against Sargon the Great. The Akkadians had become the most powerful tribe in Mesopotamia during his time. But Satuni rose up against Naram-Sin’s grandson. Naram-Sin depicted the war in this way. He is shown climbing a stone wall with a two-horned hat, and the Lullubi are being killed one by one under his feet. He has an arrow in his left hand and a bow in his right, and two shining suns above his head.
Naram-Sin, after defeating the Lullubi, orders another inscription to be carved on a mountain that is now in modern-day Iraq. He had seen Anubanini’s inscription and depicts himself similarly. A powerful man with a hatchet in his right hand and a bow in his left, the Lullubi are being killed under his feet. The Lullubi in this depiction have pointed beards and long, braided hair.
What Anubanini carved on Mount Bater, now known as Mian Kall, gave similar ideas to many kings after him. But it was not just his children and descendants, and even his enemies, who wanted to be like Anubanini. 2,000 years later, when Darius of the Achaemenid came to power, he also ordered the carving of the Bisotun inscription, inspired by Anubanini’s relief. He is depicted exactly like Anubanini, holding a bow, with his foot on the chest of Gaumata the Magus, and nine bound prisoners standing before him.