Doctor of Philosophy / Umman-manda (literally “Troops of Manda”) is an Akkadian compound expression used to denote military entities and/or foreign peoples in a diverse number of texts pertaining to separate periods of ancient Near Eastern history. The dissertation initially discusses the various difficulties in ascertaining the etymology of the second component of the term Umman-manda. A very plausible etymology is proposed based on new research on the semantic range of the Sumerian word mandum. The thesis then focuses mainly on the references made to the Umman-manda in the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources, where it is used to denote the Cimmerians and Medes respectively. The starting point is that these references are making literary allusions to the Standard Babylonian version of the Cuthaean Legend. New information gained from these literary allusions provides insight into the significance of the term Umman-manda in the first millennium B.C.: it recalls the various attributes of the Umman-manda depicted in the Cuthaean Legend and applies these attributes to contemporary political events. The Cuthaean Legend envisions a powerful enemy that emerges unexpectedly from the distant mountains and establishes hegemony after a sudden burst of military power. This enemy will eventually be destroyed without the intervention of the Mesopotamian king. The thesis studies how the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources allude to the Cuthaean Legend and in this way they identify the Cimmerians and the Medes as the Umman-manda.

Doctor of Philosophy / Umman-manda (literally “Troops of Manda”) is an Akkadian compound expression used to denote military entities and/or foreign peoples in a diverse number of texts pertaining to separate periods of ancient Near Eastern history. The dissertation initially discusses the various difficulties in ascertaining the etymology of the second component of the term Umman-manda. A very plausible etymology is proposed based on new research on the semantic range of the Sumerian word mandum. The thesis then focuses mainly on the references made to the Umman-manda in the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources, where it is used to denote the Cimmerians and Medes respectively. The starting point is that these references are making literary allusions to the Standard Babylonian version of the Cuthaean Legend. New information gained from these literary allusions provides insight into the significance of the term Umman-manda in the first millennium B.C.: it recalls the various attributes of the Umman-manda depicted in the Cuthaean Legend and applies these attributes to contemporary political events. The Cuthaean Legend envisions a powerful enemy that emerges unexpectedly from the distant mountains and establishes hegemony after a sudden burst of military power. This enemy will eventually be destroyed without the intervention of the Mesopotamian king. The thesis studies how the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources allude to the Cuthaean Legend and in this way they identify the Cimmerians and the Medes as the Umman-manda.

Em nossa dissertação, estudamos o excerto da crônica Kitāb al-Kāmil fi l-ta\'rīkh, de Ibn al-Athīr, que relata os anos de governo de Nūr ad-Dīn. Nossa pesquisa é dividida em três partes. Na primeira, apresentamos o autor e sua obra, a origem e a composição da crônica, além do debate historiográfico sobre a obra. Na segunda, abordamos os gêneros retóricos da Retórica de Aristóteles e a aplicação de dois destes gêneros, epidítico e deliberativo, na composição do discurso de Ibn al-Athīr. Na terceira, realizamos uma síntese das definições de jihād tanto no Alcorão quanto nos tratados jurídicos muçulmanos e mostramos como o nosso autor se apropria deles para legitimar as ações de Nūr ad-Dīn e construir, por meio de seu discurso, a figura do biografado como um exemplo de governante. / In our dissertation, we study the extract of Ibn al-Athīr\'s chronicle, Kitāb al-Kāmil fi l-ta\'rīkh, reporting the years of Nūr ad-Dīn\'s governmet. Our research is divided into three parts. The first presents the author and his work, the chronicles origin and the composition, besides presenting the historiographical debate on the work. The second approachs the rhetoric genres of Aristotles Rhetoric and the use of two of these genres, epideictic and deliberative, at the construction of Ibn al-Athīr\'s discourse. The third discusses the definitions of jihād both at Coran and at muslims juridical treatises, indicating how our author uses them to legitimate Nūr ad-Dīn\'s action in order to elaborate him, through his discourse, as an example of ruler.

Em nossa dissertação, estudamos o excerto da crônica Kitāb al-Kāmil fi l-ta\'rīkh, de Ibn al-Athīr, que relata os anos de governo de Nūr ad-Dīn. Nossa pesquisa é dividida em três partes. Na primeira, apresentamos o autor e sua obra, a origem e a composição da crônica, além do debate historiográfico sobre a obra. Na segunda, abordamos os gêneros retóricos da Retórica de Aristóteles e a aplicação de dois destes gêneros, epidítico e deliberativo, na composição do discurso de Ibn al-Athīr. Na terceira, realizamos uma síntese das definições de jihād tanto no Alcorão quanto nos tratados jurídicos muçulmanos e mostramos como o nosso autor se apropria deles para legitimar as ações de Nūr ad-Dīn e construir, por meio de seu discurso, a figura do biografado como um exemplo de governante. / In our dissertation, we study the extract of Ibn al-Athīr\'s chronicle, Kitāb al-Kāmil fi l-ta\'rīkh, reporting the years of Nūr ad-Dīn\'s governmet. Our research is divided into three parts. The first presents the author and his work, the chronicles origin and the composition, besides presenting the historiographical debate on the work. The second approachs the rhetoric genres of Aristotles Rhetoric and the use of two of these genres, epideictic and deliberative, at the construction of Ibn al-Athīr\'s discourse. The third discusses the definitions of jihād both at Coran and at muslims juridical treatises, indicating how our author uses them to legitimate Nūr ad-Dīn\'s action in order to elaborate him, through his discourse, as an example of ruler.