Stele of Zakkur

Zakkur (also Zakkur of Hamath ) was a king of the city-states of Hamath and Lu'aš in the province Nuhašše, who ruled around 785 BC. He is regarded as a usurper, which replaced the older Hittite dynasty.

The inscription Zakkurs

Fund history

The inscription was found in 1905 by Henri Zakkurs Pognon about 45 km southwest of Aleppo near Aphis. The contents of the inscription was first published in 1907 by Pognon. There are only four fragments of the stele get that now in the Louvre. On the front two rows are 17 lines in the lower part on the left edge of 28 rows and to the right to read. Originally, the stele must have been about 2 m high and 27-30 cm wide.

Content

" The stele Zakkur, the king of Hamath, and Lu'aš, aufstellte for Iluwer ... Be'elšemayn called me king over Hazrak ( in Lu'aš ) ... But Bir - Hadad III. , The son of Hazael, king of Aram, 17 kings united against me. Bir - Hadad III, the king of Arpad, Bir - gus, king of Qu'e king of Amq king of Gurgum king of Ja'udi, the king of Melid, the [ ... rest destroyed] ... And they set on a wall, higher than the Wall of Hazrak ... Be'elšemayn said to me: "I will stand by you and deliver you from all these kings " ... And I built temples of the gods throughout the country ... Who removed this stele, [ ... ] Be'elšemayn, Ilu -Wer and [ ... ] Šamaš and Sahar [ ... ] and the gods of sky, [ ... ] may the name of the Zakkur and his house [ forever ]. "