Tardunni

Tar...dun...ni (Cuneiform: 𒋻...𒂅...𒉌, tar...dun...ni, or Tar…ni, …birini, …irpirin)^[1] son of Ikki (also reads Ikkibshakhmat, or Ikkipshakhmat; fl. c. 2000 BC), was a king, prince, ruler, or high-ranking official of the Zagros mountains area.^[2] Although "Tardunni" is the way his name has been traditionally deciphered, he may have been called differently: it has been proposed that he was rather called Lisir Pirini, son of Ikkid Samad.^[3]

Tar...dun...ni 𒋻...𒂅...𒉌
Relief of "Tar...dunni"
Years active	c. 2000 BC
Parent	Ikki

Tardunni relief

Location of the Tardunni relief in Iraq

He is mainly known from a rock relief discovered in the valley of the Diyala river, in the Belula Pass, near the Lake of Darbandikhan, on the Horen Shekhan mountain (Kurdish: هۆرێن و شێخان; Arabic هورين- شيخان), in the extreme northeast of Iraq, near the border with Iran.^[3]

Very little is known about Tardunni. He was probably a ruler of the Lullubi mountain tribe.^[4] Some of their reliefs are known around 55 kilometers away, such as the Anubanini rock relief, which are very similar to the relief of Tardunni.^[2][3] Another opinion suggests that he was a Gutian.^[1]

In his relief, he is seen wearing weapons and trampling enemies. On the side, the relief has an inscription in Akkadian, invoking the protection of the deities Shamash and Adad:^[2]

"Tar...dunni, prefect (?), son of Sin (?)-Ipshah, all this image was replaced. As it was falling apart, he restored it. Anybody who destroys this image, his race, his name will be eradicated by Shamash and Adad!"

— Inscription of Tardunni.^[5]

• 
  Rock-relief of Darband-i Belula at Horen Shekhan, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
• 
  Akkadian script of the rock-relief of Darband-i Belula, Horen Shekhan, Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan
• 
  Drawing of Tardunni, and reproduction of the inscription
• 
  Rock-relief of "Tar...dunni" at Darband-i Belula, Horen Shekhan, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
• 
  Inscription and transcription.
• 
  Portrait of Tardunni
• 
  The name "Ta...dun...ni" and its proposed transcription in standard Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform

See also

• Video of Tardunni's rock-relief at Darband-i Belula on YouTube.