Suteans

The Suteans (Akkadian: Sutī’ū, possibly from Amorite: Š^etī’u) were a nomadic Semitic people who lived throughout the Levant, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, specifically in the region of Suhum, during the Old Babylonian period. They were famous in Semitic epic poetry for being fierce nomadic warriors, and like the ʿApiru, traditionally worked as mercenaries. The Suteans spoke the Sutean language, an unattested language proposed to be related to either Aramaic or Arabic. They may have been part of the Ahlamu.

History

Bronze Age

Middle Bronze Age

One of the earliest instances of Suteans comes from a report of a Sutean attack on Qatna and Tadmor (Palmyra) at the time of Shamshi-Adad I's reign (c. 1808–1776 BC). They frequently attacked Mari's domains as a reprisal against what they saw as unjust Mariote hegemony over their territories in Suhum.

With the death of Shamshi-Adad, the Sutean leader, Hammi-Talu, seems to have rendered services for Mari during the reign of Zimri-Lim (c. 1775–1761). Then they inhabited the vicinity of Terqa (modern-day Tell Ashara, Syria). The Suteans were also utilized as couriers by Hammurabi during the Old Babylonian Empire. Following the Fall of Mari, the region was controlled by the Kingdom of Hana.

Late Bronze Age

Amarna letters

Around 1350 BCE, the Suteans are mentioned in 8 of 382 Amarna letters. Amarna Letter EA195 mentions the Suteans and is entitled "Waiting for the Pharaoh's words", from Biryawaza of Dimasqu-(Damascus) to pharaoh: "I am indeed, together with my troops and chariots, together with my brothers, my ʿApiru and my Suteans, at the disposition of the archers, wheresoever the king, my lord, shall order (me to go)." This usage is somewhat atypical of the use of ʿApiru and external mercenary forces in the Amarna documents since this letter quotes them and the Suteans as necessary and beneficial to Biryawaza's efforts.

They are listed in documents from the Middle Assyrian Empire (1395-1075 BC) as being extant in the Amorite city of Emar, in what is now northeast Syria.

Iron Age

During the Iron Age (c. 1150–950 BC), some Suteans are reported to have settled in southern Mesopotamia along with Chaldean, Aramean and Arab tribes. They reportedly occupied the region of Yadburu bordering Elam and the Persian Gulf, and many Suteans served as auxiliaries for the Elamite king Humban-nikash (r. 653–652 BCE).

During the Assyrian conquest of Babylonia, Sargon II besieged Dūr-Yakin and killed off its Ahlamaean (Aramaean) inhabitants, and the Suteans are reportedly lumped alongside Aramean Marsanu and Puqudu tribes.

There I sent my warriors flying like eagles over these canals, and they defeated him. They dyed the water of his canals red like nabasu wool. The Suteans, his allies who took his side and came to his aid, I slaughtered along with the Marsanu like sheep [...]

In 613 BCE, Babylonian king Nabopolassar led an expedition against the inhabitants of Suhum who rebelled against Babylon.

Language

The Sutean language has not been attested in any written texts, but appears to have been Semitic. This is known through individual names and tribal onomastics, most of which appear to be Akkadian and Amorite, while a small percentage appear to be neither but still belonging to a Semitic language. Such onomastics include the name of a tribe, "Almutu", and the Sutean warrior featured in 13th century BC Ugaritic texts, "Yatpan". Wolfgang Heimpel hypothesizes Suteans may have spoken a language close to the later Aramaic or even Arabic.

According to Diakonoff Suteans and the biblical name Seth (Hebrew: שֵׁת‎, Modern: Šēt, Tiberian: Šēṯ "placed, appointed") derive from the same root as Šīt and Šiite/Shiite.