Hella in Babilonie ost Caldea nu Irak.

Title

Hella in Babilonie ost Caldea nu Irak.

Description

Decorative and detailed view of the city Urkes, Irak.

ca. 1680

Artist

Bouttats (1640-1695-96)

Gaspar Bouttats the Elder was a Flemish printmaker and engraver of the Baroque period. He was born in Antwerp in a family of engravers. He was the son of the engraver Frederick Bouttats the Elder and Marie de Weert. His uncle Philibert Bouttats as well as his younger brother Frederik Bouttats the Younger built reputations as engravers.

Historical Description

Urkeš, also Urkesh, is a Bronze Age settlement mound (tell) in northeastern Syria that was inhabited in the late 4th to mid 2nd millennia. The city was probably a Hurrian foundation. Hurrian names, such as Ewrim-Atal, an official at the time of Naram-Sin, are attested. It belonged to the kingdom of Akkad and after its end came under the influence of Mari, which had the city administered by a viceroy, who, however, was not very popular among the population, as letters from the archives of Mari prove. Urkeš is located on the upper Chabur about 5 km from the city of Amûdê, near the mouth of the Wadi Da'a, on the southern edge of Tur Abdin, which at that time was probably called Nawar. It was thus located on the road that connected the Anatolian highlands to the north, with its rich copper deposits, with Mesopotamia, and the east-west route from the Mediterranean to the Zagros. Thus, Urkeš controlled trade in the area of the upper Chabur.