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Gutium

Gutium was a tribe that overran southern Mesopotamia when the Akkadian empire collapsed ca. 2083 BC (short chronology). Sumerian sources portray them as a barbarous, ravenous people from the mountains. ^[1] The Sumerian king list represents them as ruling over Sumer for a time, and paints a picture of chaos within the Gutian administration. ^[2]

The Sumerian ruler Utu-hengal is credited with defeating the Gutian ruler Tirigan and removing the Guti from the country (ca. 2050 BC (short)). ^[3]

Next to nothing is known about the group or their origins, as no "Gutian" artifacts have surfaced from that time; all we have are the tribe's name and a list of rulers from contemporary sources. ^[4]

By the first millennium BC, the term "Gutium" was used to refer to all tribes east of the Tigris who had hostile relations with the peoples of lowland Mesopotamia. ^[5]

References

See also

• Gutian dynasty of Sumer