Historical Geography of the Central Zagros in the Neo-Assyrian Period I: Namri, Hamban, Karalla, Parsua and Allabria

In the first half of the 1st millennium BC and before the formation of the Median Kingdom, i.e. 10th-7th centuries B.C, many petty states were formed in the western parts of Iran which were considered as the eastern neighbors of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The campaigns of Assyrian armies into the Zagros Mountains have been reported in Cuneiform inscriptions with significant details which provide us with remarkable knowledge on the Zagros petty kingdoms. In fact the Assyrian written documents are the most significant sources for localization of the Zagros toponyms. Despite passing of more than a century from the beginning of the studies relating to the historical geography of Neo-Assyrian Empire, however, localization of some Zagros petty states has been the subject of dissensions between scholars. The present study deals with the localization of the Zagros place-names and petty states such as Namri, Bit-Hamban, Karalla, Parsua, Allabria and Ellipi which are considered to be in modern provinces of Kermanshah, Lorestan and Kurdistan in western Iran. The main question is where these place-names are exactly located? In order to reach a valid answer we have analyzed geographical data of the Neo-Assyrian inscriptions particularly those which reporting the Assyrian army campaigns’ into western Iran. We also try to identify the well-known late Iron Age sites of western Iran with the mentioned place-names. The result of the study indicates that Namri could be localized in western parts of modern Kermanshah while Hamban and Parsua are situated respectively in central and northern part of the province. Karalla is situated in Hawraman (Oraman) and Allabria can be localized north of it. As it is been indicated before, the small kingdom of Ellipi were formed in the territory of modern province of Lorestan.