"Turtanu" or "Turtan" (Akkadian: 𒌉𒋫𒉡tur-ta-nu;Hebrew:תַּרְתָּןtartān;Greek:Θαρθαν;Latin:Tharthan;Syriac:ܬܵܪܬܵܢtartan) is anAkkadian word/title meaning 'commander in chief'[1] or 'prime minister'. In Assyria, the Turtanu ranked next to the king.[2]
The Assyrian king would assign the individual who was turtanu to go to battle for him,[3] thus giving great power and influence to the turtanu.
The office seems to have been duplicated, and there was atartanu imni or 'tartan of the right', as well as atartanu shumeli or 'tartan of the left'. In later times the title became territorial; we read of a tartan of 'Kummuh' (Commagene). The title is also applied to the commanders of foreign armies; thus Sargon speaks of theTartan Musurai, or 'Egyptian Tartan'.[4] The Tartan of 720 BC was probably calledAshur-iska-danin; in 694 BC,Abdai, and in 686 BCBel-emurani, held the title.[4] It does not seem to have been in use among the closely relatedBabylonians.
There are two references to Tartans in theHebrew Bible: the Assyrian king sends a Tartan with two other officials to deliver a threatening message toJerusalem in2 Kings 18:17, andSargon II, the king of Assyria, sends a Tartan who takesAshdod during the reign of KingHezekiah at the time of the prophetIsaiah.[5][6]
Dayyan-Assur wasturtanu under the reign ofShalmaneser III (859-824BC). Dayyan-Assur led campaigns in lieu of Shalmaneser III who gave him power over the Assyrian army. These campaigns took the Assyrian army and influence into the Zagros, where encounters with future opponents the Medes and Manneans.[7]Another example of a turtanu wasShamshi-ilu. He was the Assyrian military commander underAdad-Nirari III (811-783BC) and laterShalmaneser IV (783-773) as well as others. He appears to have been of Bit-Adini descent, a province annexed by Assyria some time before. He led a campaign against theArgishti I of Urartu.[8]
The position ofturtanu led to a decline of centralized power in Assyria. Shamshi-ilu for example, who wasturtanu during four kings reigns, and was one of if not the most powerful individual in Assyria at the time (8th century BC), began to lead out his own campaigns without the sanction of the king. Shamshi-ilu was based out of Kar-Shalmaneser and began campaigning for his own kingdom west of the Euphrates.[9] These campaigns led to greater power held by Shamshi-ilu and a fragmentary Assyria.
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