.jpg)
TheAhlamu, orAḫlamū, were a group or designation ofSemitic semi-nomads. Their habitat was west of theEuphrates between the mouth of theKhabur andPalmyra.
They were first mentioned in sources ofRîm-Anum, a king ofUruk, ca. 1800 BC, and then in texts fromMari, and finally in the 14th century BC in Egyptian sources in one of theAmarna letters in the days ofAkhenaten in which it is affirmed that the Ahlamu had advanced to the Euphrates.[1][2]
Although the etymology and the meaning are ultimately uncertain, it can safely be said to derive from aSemitic language. It was once proposed as "companion or confederate" by an error of the scholar Wayne T. Pitard, comparing it to an unrelatedSemitic root inArabic, presumablyḤLFح ل ف, which indeed means such. The more recent proposal byEdward Lipiński, connects it instead toĠLMغ ل م, denoting a boy, lad, post-pubescent youth, a young man, a man full of virility or prowess, the prime of his life, full of testosterone, wild or lusty. The sense of puberty and hitting sexual, as well as physical maturity, can be found in the variantḤLMح ل م. He further compares the word form as abroken plural pattern that is found commonly inArabic: bands of wild young men.
There is also a scholarly debate as to whether this term is a proper name for a group or instead a designation of a type of group. The significance comes in identifying possible genealogical backgrounds and connections of some groups that are given the appellation, such as theArameans and even some tribes that had elsewhere been calledAmorites. That would imply either sub-tribes of an overarching "Aḫlamite" people or, rather, as separate, distinct peoples identified as such by a similar lifestyle. That would be a nomadic designation of the roaming raiding forces that made forays and razzias to capture flocks, slaves, and food supplies from the desert regions south and west of Mesopotamia.
In part, the Ahlamu certainly meant theAmorites. One of the tribes of the Ahlamu were theArameans, who often acted together with theSuteans. The Ahlamu raided in thePersian Gulf and may have disrupted or interrupted trading inDilmun.
In one of his inscriptions, Assyrian kingAdad-nirari II states that his father,Ashur-dan II, defeated different peoples of the mountains including Ahlamu nomads. According to the inscription of another Assyrian king,Shalmaneser I, the Ahlamu with theMitannian support ofShattuara II ofHanigalbat were defeated in their uprising against the Assyrians.
The Ahlamu even obstructed communication between kingdoms, as was mentioned Babylon KingKadashman-Enlil II in his relations with Hittite KingḪattušili III in which the former complains about the interruption of sending messengers between the two courts under the pretext of the assaults by Ahlamu bandits. From the 12th century BCE, the Mesopotamians increasingly referred to the same mobile groups as "Arameans."[3]
They are also known as enemies of the Assyrians. When Assyria resurfaces again, already in the time of KingAshur-resh-ishi I, he alluded to victories over the Ahlamu andGutians, as did his successor,Tiglath-Pileser I.[4]
Assyrian KingArik-den-ili turned westward into theLevant (nowSyria andLebanon), where he managed to subjugate theSuteans, the Ahlamu, and theYauru, in the region of Katmuḫi, in the middleEuphrates.[5]
Tiglath-Pileser III mentioned in his royal inscriptions the Aḫlamu of the land Ulluba,[6] as well as the "LÚ.aḫ-la-am-ak-ka-<di>" (the Aḫlam-Akkadî) .[7]Sargon II wrote that in his war withMarduk-apla-iddina II he built a canal to drown Marduk-apla-iddina's vanguard and "the Aḫlamu, people of the steppe who go at his side", and then spread them out to dry them and filled with them the surroundings of his city.[8]Sennacherib wrote he uprooted all of the Aḫlamu and theSuteans.[9]
The Ahlamu could fight on their own as they acted as mercenaries with other peoples like theHittites or theMitanni. For instance, the Suteans, a prominent Ahlamu group, were prized as capable and fierce warriors and were featured in theUgaritic texts as such. In addition, because of their excellent knowledge of the Syrian desert steppes, they were sometimes hired ascaravan guides ordrovers, the same as the nomadsSuteans for large commercial expeditions.[citation needed]