Ḫabiru-Like Bands in the Assyrian Empire and Bands in Biblical Historiography

Abstract

The first part of this article discusses the term LU urbī, mentioned three times in Assyrian royal inscriptions. It is suggested that this word refers to groups of fugitives who, in response to Assyrian military campaigns, fled from their homelands to peripheral areas, formed bands, and served on occasion as mercenaries in the armies of rulers in revolt against Assyria. These characteristics are typical of the bands of Habiru so well known from late third- and second-millennium B.C. ancient Near Eastern documents. The assumed make-up and role of the LU urbi, are then reconstructed on the basis of what is known of the Habiru bands. In the second part of the article it is suggested that some biblical descriptions of bands found in the narratives of the period of the Judges and the early monarchy were strongly influenced by the political and social situation of the narrator's time (the late eighth and seventh centuries B.C.).