Kār-Kaššî

Kār-Kaššî was a city in ancient Media.

Kār-Kaššî was first mentioned as Karkasia, a Median settlement paying tribute to Assyrian king Shalmaneser II (1030–1019 BCE).^[1] Kār-Kaššî was later mentioned in tablets found in Nineveh, dating from the 7th-century BCE. During the 670s BCE, it was in the possession of Median chieftain, Kaštaritu.^[2]

In an article for the Journal asiatique in 1880, Joseph Halévy proposed that Kār-Kaššî was located in Karkathiokertha (Karkasiokertha) in Armenia. However, he later withdrew his interpretation.^[3] It is now generally believed that Kār-Kaššî was located in Media, within the Central Zagros Mountains (present-day Iran). Kār-Kaššî may have been presumably located near modern-day Karkasheh.

References

^ Halévy 1889, p. 178: "Les expressions textuelles ne disent pas comme je l'ai cru que Kashtaritu était un chef gimirrien, ni que la ville de Karkashshi se trouvait sur le territoire des Gimir. J'ai trouvé dernièrement la vraie position de cette ville. Elle est mentionnée, sous la forme peu différente de Garkasia, dans la liste des villes médiques qui ont payé tribut à Salmanassar II. Ce fait explique très naturellement le caractère visiblement iranien du chef.
^ Dandamayev: "KASHTARITI (kaš-ta-ri-ti, the Old Iranian Khshathrita), a city lord of Karkashshi which was located in the Central Zagros mountains."
^ Maspero 1900, p. 353: "Karkashshi had been identified with Karkathiokertha or Karkasiokertha in Armenia, by Halévy (Journal Asiatique, vol. xv. 1880, pp. 530, 531), who later on withdrew this interpretation (Recherches Bibliques, pp. 321, 325): the site is unknown, but the list of Median princes subdued by Sargon (Winckler, Die Keilschrifttexte Sargons, vol. ii. pl. 44 B) shows that it was situated in Media"