Samši-Adad I.

Šamši-Adad I or Shamschi-Adad was king in Upper Mesopotamia at the end of the ancient Assyrian period , where he established his own empire . Its exact date is disputed.

title

Šamši-Adad was the first ruler in Assyria to call himself Šar kiššatim , "King of the whole", following the example of Sargon . Furthermore, he called himself governor Enlils , šakin ^d En-líl , the supreme lord, the LUGAL kurkurra , lord of all countries, according to a clay tablet from Terqa also the embodiment of Dagān and issakku Aššurs .

history

In the Assyrian King List it is reported that he was the son of Ila-Kabkabi . The latter was an Amurri local prince, also known from other sources , whose power center is believed to be in the Terqa area or in Ekallatum . Ila-Kabkabi was initially allied with Jaggid-Lim von Mari . However, when Jaggid-Lim broke his contract, Ila-Kabkabi successfully took military action against him. These disputes continued even under Jaggid-Lim's successor, Jaḫdun-Lim .

The Old Assyrian Empire under Šamši-Adad I.

It has been suggested that this conflict was the reason for Šamsi-Adad's flight to Babylon and the impetus for his subsequent conquests. According to other assumptions, the taking of Ekallatum by Naram-Sin of Esnunna was the reason for this. The Assyrian list of kings informs us about the journey of Šamši-Adad to Babylon, it does not give reasons. Since his place of origin is unknown, Šamši-Adad and his father may have been nomad leaders.

In the list of kings it is reported that Šamši-Adad of Babylon conquered Ekallatum, ruled there for three years, then moved against Aššur , deposed the local ruler Erišum II and ruled Assyria for 33 years .

Subsequently, too, Šamši-Adad emerged as a conqueror. So he also took Terqa and arch rival Mari. In an inscription, he claims to have extended his rule to the Mediterranean. In fact, his sphere of influence consisted of northern Mesopotamia , northeastern areas of Syria and eastern parts of what is now Turkey . He also made alliances with other rulers. His fight against Jamchad , which he fought out together with Qatna , was unsuccessful.

The Crown Prince Išme-Dagan I gave Šamši-Adad great responsibility. He was installed as viceroy in Ekallatum, married to a princess from Qatna and not only had to stand up to the aggressive nomadic people of the Turukkäse , but also to resist Sirukduḫ of Elam and Dāduša of Ešnunna. He was unable to withstand this coalition for long after the death of Šamši-Adad, although he tried to use the connections to Babylon he had inherited from his father and to lean on the strengthening Hammurabi of Babylon.

Išme-Dagan's younger brother Jasmaḫ-Adad was installed by Šamši-Adad in Mari as the second viceroy. Much of his correspondence with his father has been found in the Mari archives. Therefore, Šamši-Adad is one of the best attested people of his era. Zimri-Lim was able to recapture Mari and Terqa at the end of Jasmah-Adad's reign.

buildings

At the older temple of the god Aššur in the city of the same name, Šamši-Adad had extensive construction work carried out. A building inscription by Shalmaneser III. reports from the Assur temple Ehursakurkurra : “When Ehursakurkurra, the temple of Aššur, my lord, which Ušpia , my ancestor, priest of Aššur, had built a long time ago, became dilapidated, my ancestor Erišum I , priest of Assur, restored it. “After 150 years, the temple was again dilapidated and Šamši-Adad, priest of Aššur, restored it. After that, 580 years passed until it was restored by Shalmaneser III. In addition, Šamši-Adad set up a large ziggurat in Aššur for the Enlil (who he equated with Aššur) , as he writes, out of gratitude that the Enlil of Nippur had appointed him ruler. Nevertheless, not Aššur, but Šeḫna became his residence, which he symbolically renamed Šubat-Enlil ( Akkadian for "abode of Enlil").

After a clay tablet found in Terqa, he also renovated the Dagan temple there.

chronology

Under the rule of Šamši-Adad, the Assyrian king list was probably compiled to legitimize his rule. It was then continued under later rulers. The rulers 1–17 show some similarities to the genealogy of Ammi-saduqa of Babylon and perhaps go back to a common Amurrite tradition. The rulers 17-26 of the king list represent the genealogy of Šamši-Adad. Šamši-Adad died after the 10th year of the reign of Hammurabi, usually the 17th palu is assumed. According to the various chronologies, death can therefore date to the years 1680/1712/1776 BC. To be dated.

literature

• Albert Kirk Grayson: Assyrian Royal inscriptions. Wiesbaden 1972, Doc. 348-377.
• H. Gasche et al .: Dating the fall of Babylon: A re-appraisal of second-Millennium chronology: A joint Ghent-Chicago-Harvard project. Mesopotamian history and environment, Series 2. Memoires 3 (Ghent and Chicago 1998).
• Barthel Hrouda (Ed.): The old Orient . Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1991, 1998, ISBN 3-572-00867-0 .
• Erich Ebeling, Bruno Meissner et al. (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie and Near Eastern Archeology . de Gruyter, Berlin / Leipzig / New York 1932–2017 (15 of 16 planned volumes so far), ISBN 3-11-003705-X .
• Wu Yuhong: A Political History of Eshnunna, Mari and Assyria during the early Old Babylonian Period . In: Journal of Ancient Civilizations (JAC). Supplement. IAHC, Changchung China 1994, ISSN  1004-9371 .
• Texts from the environment of the Old Testament . Vol. 1. New series. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2004, ISBN 3-579-05289-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Louvre XO 4628; P. Condamin, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 21, 1908, 247ff
2. ↑ Louvre XO 4628, François Thureau-Dangin / Eduard Dhorme, Cinq jours de fouilles à 'Ashârah (7-11 September 1923). Syria 5, 1924, 266

predecessor	Office	successor
Erišum II	Assyrian King 1808–1776 BC Chr. / 1744–1712 BC Chr. / 1712–1680 BC Chr.	Išme-Dagan I.