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Concept
Tabal
Summary
Tabal (c.f. biblical Tubal; Assyrian: 𒋫𒁄) was a Luwian speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom (and/or collection of kingdoms) of South Central Anatolia during the Iron Age. According to archaeologist Kurt Bittel, references to Tabal first appeared after the collapse of the Hittite Empire. Tabal was likely an exonym applied by the Assyrians to Cappadocia. While its native name is uncertain, it is possible that it was called Sura, as mentioned in the records of Yariri, ruler of Carchemish.
Originally, Tabal was likely the name of a region or collection of kingdoms. However, Tabal may have later consolidated into a single kingdom, perhaps annexing, or being annexed by, the neighboring kingdom of Melid.
The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III records that he received gifts from their 24 kings in 837 BC and the following year. A century later, their king Burutash is mentioned in an inscription of king Tiglath-Pileser III. The kings of Tabal have left a number of inscriptions from the 9th-8th centuries BC in hieroglyphic-Luwian in the Turkish villages of Çalapverdi and Alişar.
During the reign of Sargon II, Tabal entered in an alliance with the Mushki and Carchemish to counter Assyria.
Toward the end of the 8th century BC, Tabal was at least partially conquered by Assyria.
In 640 BC, inspired by the Cimmerians, the Tabalian king Mugallu rebelled against Ashurbanipal. However, Mugallu was defeated.
Some have attempted to link Tabal to the tribe of the Tibareni (Tibarenoi in Greek, Thobeles in Josephus) who lived near the Black Sea. The Tibareni are mentioned in the works of Hecataeus of Miletus, Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, and Apollonius of Rhodes, who stated they were Scythians.
The Tibareni are often viewed as Colchian, and their name may be explained as proto-Kartvelian. The Georgian historian Ivane Javakhishvili (1950) considered Tabal, Tubal, Jabal and Jubal to be an early Kartvelian tribal designation. Cyril Toumanoff also regarded the Tabal (Tubal, Tibal, Tibar) people as proto-Georgians (Kartvelians) who would migrate with the Mushki north to the Pontic region and contribute to the formation of the Kingdom of Iberia.
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