Isin
Isin ( Arabic إيسن; today: Išān (al-) Bahrīyāt; al-Qadisiya government; Iraq ) was a city in ancient oriental Mesopotamia . Their remains are located about 200 km south-south-east of Baghdad and 35 km south-south-west of Nippur . It is already mentioned in cuneiform texts from the 3rd millennium BC. Mentioned. It had a particularly formative effect on Mesopotamian history at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. Chr. From.
City history
Before the city's rise to provincial capital in the Ur III period (2112–2004 BC), not much is known about Isin, but it can be assumed that it was of regional importance as the cult center of the city goddess Gula . After the fall of III. Isin dynasty became the capital of an independent principality. At that time, the former governor Išbi-Erra founded his own dynasty (1st dynasty of Isin, 2017–1794 BC). His empire was later destroyed in the wars with Larsa and Babylon. The city was conquered by Rim-Sin I. von Larsa, but did not remain in his possession undisturbed. Even Hammurabi (1792-1750 v. Chr.) Reports the conquest of Isin. At the end of Old Babylonian times, Isin and the news will run dry.
Later the city was under the rule of the Kassite , until finally the 2nd dynasty of Isin from 1158 to 1027 BC. BC with Nabu-kudurri-usur I (1124–1103 BC) as the most famous king won control of Babylonia. In the 1st millennium BC The city belonged to the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
Archaeological evidence
The oldest objects found in Isin date from the Chalcolithic , Obed and Uruk periods . Architectural findings - private houses and the temple of the city goddess Gula - are from the 3rd to 1st millennium BC. Occupied. Most of the small finds come from the Isin-Larsa period, including clay tablet archives, in which, among other things, a collection of laws by King Lipit-Ištar (1934–1924 BC) was.
Research history
In a first survey in 1926, RP Dougherty found material from the 3rd millennium BC on the surface. Since then, the area has been repeatedly ravaged by robbery graves. Regular excavations took place from 1973 to 1989 under the direction of Barthel Hrouda (LMU Munich) under the patronage of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Due to the problematic security situation in the country since the last Iraq war (2003), the urban area of Isin, like many other archaeological sites, has been massively looted.
literature
- Barthel Hrouda et al .: Isin - Išān Bahrīyāt I. The results of the excavations 1973–1974. Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-7696-0074-6 .
- Barthel Hrouda et al .: Isin - Išān Bahrīyāt II. The results of the excavations 1975–1978. Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-7696-0082-7 .
- Barthel Hrouda et al: Isin - Išān Bahrīyāt III. The results of the excavations 1983–1984. Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7696-0089-4 .
- Barthel Hrouda et al.: Isin - Išān Bahrīyāt IV. The results of the excavations 1986–1989. Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7696-0100-9 .
- Dietz-Otto Edzard , Barthel Hrouda, John A. Brinkman: Isin. In: Dietz Otto Edzard (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Aräologie . Volume 5, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976–1980, ISBN 3-11-007192-4 , pp. 181–192.
Individual evidence
- ^ Cultural preservation and archeology in Iraq. The second evaluation trip of UNESCO from June 27th to July 5th, 2003 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , by Margarete van Ess in the online magazine of the German Commission for UNESCO Issue 8, August 2003.
Coordinates: 31 ° 56 ′ 0.6 ″ N , 45 ° 17 ′ 6.7 ″ E