Ibbi-Sin

Ibbi-Sin (also Ibbi-Suen ) was from 2028 to 2004 BC. The fifth and last ruler of the III. Ur dynasty in ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq ). Ibbi-Sin succeeded his father Su-Sin to the throne. He was married to Geme-Enlila . He was crowned successively in three Sumerian cities - Ur , Uruk, and Nippur . When he came to the throne, he was very young. However, the fact that most senior officials remained in office shows that there was not an immediate change in political line. Taxes (in the form of cattle) poured in from all parts of the empire, and two literary works in Sumerian written at the beginning of Ibbi-Sin's reign suggest that the country was not affected by calamity.

Reign

After the second year of government, city after city ceased to recognize Ibbi-Sin's authority; Legal and administrative documents from these places are no longer dated with Ibbi-Sin's official annual formulas. The fact that Ibbi-Sin's sixth year of reign mentions the repair of defenses in the key cities of Nippur and Ur shows that one was faced with a military threat .

We are informed about the course of events by a letter addressed to Ibbi-Sin from a certain Išbi-Erra , a foreigner from Mari , who entered the service of Ibbi-Sin and who became King of Isin when the empire collapsed .

Inflation arose in Ur and took on devastating forms. As the grain areas were lost to the Amurites , inflation and famine no doubt spread to other parts of Sumer as well; the later omen literature reports of uprisings and rebellions against Ibbi-Sin. From the omission of Ibbi-Si's annual formulas after his seventh year of reign, one can conclude that he was no longer recognized in Nippur , the city of the god Enlil , through whom the dignity of king was bestowed.

Ibbi-Sin's empire shrank more and more until it finally encompassed little more than the city-state of Ur. With the collapse of central power in Sumer and Akkad , the country faced the repeated onslaught of the hill tribes in the east. Several years before the end of Ibbi-Sin's rule, Elamite peoples had invaded the country in raids.

In the 24th year of Ibbi-Sin’s reign, a group of people from Elam , possibly under Hutran-Tepti , attacked his country again: Ur was destroyed and Ibbi-Sin was brought to Elam as a prisoner. So went the III. Dynasty of Ur under. In Ur itself, an Elamite garrison was left in the ruins of the capital. From there it was only ousted by Išbi-Erra years later .

literature

• Henry William Frederick Saggs: Mesopotamia - Assyrians, Babylonians, Sumerians. Kindler publishing house, Zurich 1966.
• Erich Ebeling and Bruno Meissner: Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Volume 5, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1980, ISBN 978-3110071924 , p. 140

Web links

• Ur III Period - Douglas R. Frayne
• The 3rd dynasty of Ur

predecessor	Office	successor
Su-Sin	King of Ur 2028 BC Chr. - 2004 BC Chr.	1st dynasty of Isin