Tegarama
{{short description|Bronze Age city in Anatolia}}
Tegarama (Old Assyrian: Tergarma; Hittite: Takarama; Luwian: Lakarma/Lukarma) was a city in Anatolia during the Bronze Age. It is often identified with Gürün and biblical Togarmah.
A fortified city in Kammanu (on the border of Tabal) mentioned in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions of the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries BC (reigns of Shalmaneser III, Sargon II, and Sennacherib) as Til-garimmu/Til-garimme.
Middle Bronze Age
The city contained a palace, a karum and an Assyrian colony office.Veenhof, K.R., Eidem, J., Wäfler, M. Annäherungen: the Old Assyrian Period. Mesopotamia Saint-Paul, 2008 {{ISBN|3525534523}} It was important in terms of trade which included tin, textiles, wool, slaves and wine. The city was inhabited during the Old Assyrian Kingdom and Hittite Empire.Bajramovic, Gojko Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period p.133, Museum Tusculanum Press, 2011 {{ISBN|8763536455}}
Late Bronze Age
= Reign of Tudhaliya III =
The city was sacked by Isuwa during the early reign of the Hittite king Tudhaliya III on the eastern border.
= Reign of Suppiluliuma I =
During his victorious campaign against Mitanni, Hittite king Suppiluliuma I halted in Tegarama and inspected his forces before attacking and capturing Karkemish.Burney, Charles Historical Dictionary of the Hittites Scarecrow Press, 2004 {{ISBN|0810865645}} Consequently, city must have been on the road from Hattusa to Karkhemish.
Iron Age
= Reign of Sargon II =
The vassal ruler of Melid, Tarḫun-azi, revolted against Sargon's rule, seeking assistance from king Midas of Phrygia.http://oracc.org/rinap/Q006482 After Sargon sacked Melid, Tarḫun-azi sought refuge in Til-garimme. Sargon eventually captured the city, imprisoned Tarḫun-azi and his family, and incorporated the city into the empire.http://oracc.org/rinap/Q006482
= Reign of Sennacherib =
The city seems to have been occupied by the armies of a certain king called Gurdî, king of the city Urdutu (possibly identical to Gurdî the king of Kulumma), who was warring against Sennacherib. Sennacherib besieged the city, incorporated the use of battering rams. Sennacherib claims to have destroyed the city, turning it into a "mound of ruins"http://oracc.org/rinap/Q003491 (lit. tīlli-ù-karme, which some scholars speculate to be a pun).Borger, HKL 1 p.319 It is possible this pun was used previously by Tiglath-pileser III in reference to the city,http://oracc.org/rinap/Q006333Yamada AoF 33 (2006) p.232 which he located in Gurgum.http://oracc.org/rinap/Q003448
Theories
The exact location of the city in Anatolia is disputed. Oliver Gurney placed Tegarama in Southeast Anatolia.map on inside cover of Gurney, The Hittites, Folio Society edition Others have located it in central Anatolia near the town of Gürün, Sivas about 90 miles (140 km) east of Kanesh.Burney, Charles. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. Scarecrow Press, 2004 {{ISBN|0810865645}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.hittitemonuments.com/gurun/|title = Hittite Monuments - Gürün}}
= Gürün =
Til-garimmu is usually identified with modern Gürün, biblical Tōgarmā, classical Gauraene/Gauraina, Old Assyrian Tergarama, Hittite Takarama, and Luwian Lakarma/Lukarma. However, no pre-Roman remains have been discovered at Gürün.
= Akçadaǧ =
Akçadaǧ, ca. 30 km west of Malatya, has been tentatively suggested as an alternate location.
= Changing location =
One theory is that the name of the city was 'moved' to another settlement during the history.Bajramovic, p.131
Biblical tradition
Bibliography
- YAMADA, SHIGEO. "The City of Togarma in Neo-Assyrian Sources" Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 33, no. 2, 2006, pp. 223-236. https://doi.org/10.1524/aofo.2006.33.2.223