Ekallatum

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Ekallatum ( Akkadian : ?????, URU E 2 .GAL.MEŠ, Ekallātum, meaning palaces for large houses ) was an Upper Mesopotamian city ​​that probably served as the residence of an Amorite dynasty in the ancient Assyrian period . Its exact location is still unclear, but it is believed to be on the left bank of the Tigris , south of the Assyrian capital Aššur ( Qal'at Šerqat ). The clay tablet archives of Mari in Syria provide information about their political history .

The first king of Ekallatum attested by written sources is Ila-Kabkabi , who presumably descended from Semitic nomads who had lived since the 3rd millennium BC. Mesopotamia increasingly infiltrated. He waged a war with his former ally Jaggid-Lim , the king of Mari, who was also continued under Ila-kabkabu's son Šamši-Adad I (from around 1810 BC), the founder of the first Assyrian state , and lasted until the time of Jaggid-Lim's successor Jaḫdun-Lim . During these conflicts, Šamši-Adad fled to Babylon for reasons that were not finally clear , in order to return to Ekallatum from there. After three years of reign he managed to conquer Aššur and to assert himself on the Assyrian throne for over 30 years.

After he had founded his own residence with Šubat-Enlil (Tell Leilan), Šamši-Adad I handed over the rule of Ekallatum to his son and viceroy Išme-Dagan I. After Šamši-Adad I's death, Išme-Dagan I found it difficult to maintain the throne. Zimri-Lim managed to rule over Mari, where Šamši-Adad I had installed his younger son Jasmah-Adad , and he was now taking military action against Ekallatum. 1765 BC Ekallatum was conquered by invading Elamers , whereupon Išme-Dagan I. fled to Babylon. The local ruler Hammurabi helped him back to the throne, with Ekallatum now taking the status of a Babylonian vassal state . The last known ruler of Ekallatum was Išme-Dagan's son Mut-Aškur , after whom Ekallatum disappears from Mesopotamian historiography.

literature

  • Dominique Charpin, Nele Ziegler: Mari et le Proche-Orient à l'époque amorrite : essai d'histoire politique. Paris: SEPOA, 2003.