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17. BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE 251
the kingdom of Musasir – for which the fortified city of URU.Zap-pa-ri-a and 46 other settlements are reported
in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) 59 – covered the hilly high plain dominated today by
Sidikan (also Sidekan; 36° 47b N, 44° 40b E). 60
Fig. 17.05. Sketch map of the region round Sidekan (after Boehmer 1993-1997: 447).
According to Shalmaneser I, the city was founded on bedrock, and Sargon II refers to its king Urzana as
a ‘mountain dweller’ 61 . But while Musasir was protected by its mountainous location, once reached by an
enemy army it could offer little resistance: among others, Shalmaneser I and Sargon II of Assyria and Rusa of
Urartu entered the city by force. Already an 18th century attestation for the city in a letter excavated in Susarra
59 Grayson 1996: 70 A.0.102.14 ll. 178-179; 83 A.0.102.16 ll. 325’-326’. The description of life in the village of Rust with a population
of 700, recorded in the mid 20th century AD before it was connected to the Rowanduz road (Galloway 1958), gives an idea of the climatic
conditions and the economic conditions in the Sidikan area.
60 Zimansky 1990: 3 with n. 11, 20.
61 Sg 8: 310: LÚ.sad-da-a-’u-ú.