It is known to have been occupied, at least, during the Akkadian, Old Babyonian, Kassite, Sasanian and Early Islamic periods.
Kassite |
A similar curse dates to the Kassite dynasty (12th century BC), threatening oath-breakers: "May Marduk, king of heaven and earth, fill his body with dropsy, which has a grip that can never be loosened".
Evidence of the stretch of Kassite influence comes to us from a tomb at Metsamor where a remarkable carnelian cylinder seal with a hieroglyphic inscription mentioning the Kassite king Kurigalzu I was found.
Šagarakti-Šuriaš, Šuriaš (a Kassite sun god corresponding to Babylonian Šamaš, and possibly to Vedic Surya) gives me life, (1245–1233 BC short chronology) was the twenty seventh king of the Third or Kassite dynasty of Babylon and ascended the throne early in the month of Nisan.
Šubši-mašrâ-Šakkan (sometimes given as Šubši-mešrê-šakkan), inscribed mšub-ši-maš-ra-a-dGÌR was the narrator of the poem, Ludlul bēl nēmeqi, “I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom,” known as The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer and thought to have been composed during the reign of Kassite king of Babylon Nazi-Maruttaš (ca. 1307–1282 BC), who is mentioned on line 105 of tablet IV.
The Mitanni kingdom of Ḫanigalbat, here given the Babylonian pronunciation Ḫaligalbatû, had been annexed under the preceding reign of Adad-nārārī I (1307–1275 BC) or Salmānu-ašarēdu I (1274–1245 BC) and Akaptaḫa (a Hurrian name) seems to have been one of the political refugees (munnabittu, refugee, displaced persion, foreigner) who consequently sought asylum in the Kassite kingdom.