Content area
Full Text
Wilhelm, Gernot, The Hurrians. Trns. by Diana Stein. Warminster, UK: Aris & Philips Ltd., 1989. 132pp., map, illustrations, photographs, bibliography, index.
Grosz, Katarzyna, The Archive of the Wullu Family. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 1988. 286pp., genealogical charts, indices, bibliography.
Diakonoff, I. M. and S.A. Starostin, "Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Language," Münchener Stuthen zur Sprachwisssenscha.fi. New Series 12 (Munich, 1986).
Hurrians are the pre- Aryan ancestors of the Kurds and some of their smaller ethnic neighbors. At the time, the Kurdish mountains constituted by far the largest portion of the Hurrian territories and contained the heartland of that society for nearly 3000 years. The Hurrian society and culture subsequently merged with that of the new Aryan settlers of Kurdistan by about 2000 years ago. While the Indo-European language of the Aryans replaced that of the Hurrians, the cultural and human legacy of the Hurrians still outweighs all other previous and subsequent peoples and cultures introduced into Kurdistan.
The first two books reviewed here deal respectively with the microcosm and macrocosm of Hurrian civilization. While one may have a hard time getting any more specific than Grosz does by examining the home archives of a single Hurrian family from Arraphe (the Kirkuk of 3400 years ago) in 286 pages, Wilhelm in contrast summarizes the entire Hurrian history and human legacy in a mere 132 pages of a brilliant work.
Gemot Wilhelm' s work is the most useful little book on the Hurrians available. Its translation from German into English has rendered this even more so. The book, which the author rightly calls "an introduction", is basically a concise handbook on the Hurrians. It begins with an excellent introduction for any one unfamiliar with the Hurrians, and follows with chapters on history, society, trade, religion, mythology, folk culture and language and literature. It includes also a clear and informative chapter on art and architecture by Diana Stein (who is also the translator of the work into English).
For its conciseness, precision, judiciously selective bibliography and clear writing, this is a peerless work on the subject, and ought to be required reading in all fields of Kurdish studies.
Much new ground is broken by Wilhelm in this "introduction," even though this is not the...