Habiru-like Bands in the Assyrian Empire and Bands in Biblical Historiography.

• Author: Naaman, Nadau

The first part of this article discusses the term [urbi.sup.LU] mentioned three times in Assyrian royal inscriptions. It is suggested that this word refers to groups of fugitives who, in response to Assyrian military campaigns, fled from their homelands to peripheral areas, formed bands, and served on occasion as mercenaries in the armies of rulers in revolt against Assyria. These characteristics are typical of the bands of Habiru so well known from late third- and second-millennium B.C. ancient Near Eastern documents. The assumed make-up and role of the [urbi.sup.LU] are then reconstructed on the basis of what is known of the Habiru bands. In the second part of the article it is suggested that some biblical descriptions of bands found in the narratives of the period of the Judges and the early monarchy were strongly influenced by the political and social situation of the narrator's time (the late eighth and seventh centuries B.C.).

The term [urbi.sup.LU] for a certain kind of troop or band is mentioned three times in the Assyrian royal inscriptions. They are, in translation and in chronological order:

(1) Sennacherib's first campaign after he conquered the cities of the Chaldeans (703 B.C.):

The urbi ([ur.sup.LU]-bi), Arameans ([Aramu.sup.LU], (and) Chaldeans ([Kaldu.sup.LU] who were in Uruk, Nippur, Kish, (and) Hursagkalamma, together with the citizens mare ali), the rebels, I brought forth and counted as spoil. [1]

(2) Sennacherib's third campaign against Judah (701 B.C.):

Hezekiah himself, the awe-inspiring splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him, and he sent me after my (departure) to Nineveh, my lordly city, the urbi ([ur.sup.LU]-bi) and his elite troops ([sabe.sup.LU]-su damquti), which he had brought in to strengthen (ana dunnun) Jerusalem, his royal city, and were auxiliary troops irsu tillati), together with 30 talents of gold.... [2]

(3) Assurbanipal's third campaign against Elam (653 B.C.):

I brought as spoils from the land of Gambulu to the land of Ashur the rest of Bel-iqisha's sons, his kinsmen, the members of his family... together with the urbi ([ur.sup.LU]-bi), the rebels ([tebe.sup.LU], the inhabitants (nise) of the land of Gambulu, cattle, sheep and goats.... [3]

Scholars have offered two main lines of interpretation for urbi: an ethnic group, i.e., Arabs; and a designation of a type of warrior. The first was dismissed long ago by I. Eph[GRAPHIC EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]al, [4] and abandoned. The second interpretation has many variants. H. Winckler [5] and T Bauer [6] suggested that urbi means "fugitives" or "bandits." A. L. Oppenheim [7] translated it "irregular troops." H. Tadmor [8] has translated it "a special type of soldiery," "elite troops," and considered a possible West Semitic derivation (from the Hebrew verb [contais]rb, "lie in wait"). Finally, E. Frahm [9] has suggested combining the two ethnic and military interpretations. He assumed that urbi is a designation of elite troops named after an assumed Arab tribe, [supset]Urbu.

It seems to me that urbi is an Assyrian form, which (as suggested by Winckler and Bauer) is derived from the verb nerubu ("to flee, run away, escape"), and is closely related to other derivatives of this verb, such as arbu ("fugitive, person without family"), arbutu ("flight"), munnarbu ("runaway") and nerubtu ("flight"). The term urbi refers to groups of fugitives who, in the face of Assyrian military campaigns, often involving destruction or annexation, fled from their homeland and found shelter in peripheral areas. These uprooted people tried to adapt themselves to new circumstances by forming a band under the command of a prominent leader. The bands were independent armed bodies, restricted in number and characterized by their predatory nature and military ability. Often they became dangerous to sedentary and pastoral societies. Thanks to their military ability, they served on occasion as...