Eshnunna
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Coordinates: 33°45′N 44°45′E / 33.75°N 44.75°E Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in lower Mesopotamia. Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.
The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak (Tispak).
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[edit] History
Occupied from the Jemdet Nasr period, Eshnunna was a major city during the Early Dynastic period. Starting with the rise of the Akkadian Empire, Eshnunna oscillated between times of independence and domination by empires such as the Third Dynasty of Ur and Isin. Because of its control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna did function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Elamite culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought after goods such as horses, copper, tin, and other precious stones and metals.
After rising to prominence as an independent state in the early second millenium, during the time of Shamshi-Adad, it was occupied Elam, then conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon in the 38th year of his reign, and absorbed within the Old Babylonian Empire (sometimes called the First Babylonian Dynasty). Thereafter, the city appears but rarely within cuneiform textual sources, reflecting a probable decline and eventual disappearance.
| Ruler | Proposed reign | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Urguedinna | ~2000 BC | Governor under Shulgi of the Ur III |
| Kallamu | Governor under Shulgi of the Ur III | |
| Ituria | Governor under Shu-Sin of the Ur III | |
| Ilushuilia | Governor under Ibbi-Sin of the Ur III | |
| Nurakhum | Governor under Ibbi-Sin of the Ur III, Contemporary of Ishbi-Erra of Isin | |
| Kirikiri | ||
| Bilalama | Contemporary of Tan-Ruhuratir of Elam | |
| Isharramashu | ||
| Usurawasu | ||
| Ur-Ninmar | ||
| Ur-Ningizzida | ||
| Ipiq-Adad I | Contemporary of Abdi-Erah of Khafajah and Sumu-abum of Babylon | |
| Sarriia | ||
| Warassa | ||
| Belakum | ||
| Ibal-pi-El I | ||
| Ipiq-Adad II | ~1700 BC | Reigned at least 36 years |
| Naram-Sin | Son of Ipiq-Adad II, Contemporary of Shamshi-Adad | |
| Dannum-tahaz | Approximate position | |
| Dadusha | Son of Ipiq-Adad II, Contemporary of Shamshi-Adad | |
| Ibal-pi-El II | Contemporary of Zimri-Lim of Mari, Killed by Siwe-palar-huppak of Elam who captured Eshnunna | |
| Silli-Sin |
[edit] Archaeology
The remains of the ancient city are now preserved in the mound of Tell Asmar, near Baqubah, excavated in six seasons between 1930 and 1936 by an Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd. [1][2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Despite the long passage of time since the excavations at Tell Asmar, the work of examining and publishing the remaining finds from that dig continues to this day. These finds include roughly 1500 cuneiform tablets. [9]
In the late 1990s, Iraqi archaeologists worked at Tell Asmar. The results from that excavation have not yet been published.[10]
[edit] Laws of Eshnunna
The Laws of Eshnunna consist of two tablets, found at Shaduppum (Tell Harmal) and a fragment found at Tell Haddad. They were written sometime around the reign of king Dadusha of Eshnunna and appear to not be official copies. When the actual laws were composed is unknown. They are similar to the Code of Hammurabi. [11]
[edit] Square Temple of Abu
During the Early Dynastic period, the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar (Eshnunna) went through a number of phases. This included the Early Dynastic Archaic Shrine, Square Temple, and Single-Shrine phases of construction. They, along with sculpture found there, helped form the basis for the three part archaeological separation of the Early Dynastic period into ED I, ED II, and ED III for the ancient Near East. [12] A cache of 12 gypsum sculptures, in a geometric style, were found in the Square Temple. They some of the best known examples of ancient Near East sculpture. [13]
[edit] Notes
- ^ [1] The Diyala Project at the University of Chicago
- ^ [2] OIC 13. Tell Asmar and Khafaje: The First Season?s Work in Eshnunna 1930/31, Henri Frankfort, Thorkild Jacobsen, and Conrad Preusser, 1932
- ^ [3] OIC 16. Tell Asmar, Khafaje and Khorsabad: Second Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort, 1933
- ^ [4] OIC 17. Iraq Excavations of the Oriental Institute 1932/33: Third Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort, 1934
- ^ [5] OIC 19. Oriental Institute Discoveries in Iraq, 1933/34: Fourth Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort with a chapter by Thorkild Jacobsen, 1935
- ^ [6] OIC 20. Progress of the Work of the Oriental Institute in Iraq, 1934/35: Fifth Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort, 1936
- ^ [7] OIP 44. Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafajah, Henri Frankfort, 1939
- ^ [8] OIP 43. The Gimilsin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar, Henri Frankfort, Seton Lloyd, and Thorkild Jacobsen with a chapter by Günter Martiny, 1940
- ^ [9] Clay Sealings And Tablets From Tell Asmar
- ^ [10] TAARII efforts to rescue Iraqi Archaeological publications
- ^ The Laws of Eshnunna, Reuven Yaron, BRILL, 1988, ISBN 9004085343
- ^ "The Square Temple at Tell Asmar and the Construction of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia ca. 2900-2350 B.C.E,", Jean M Evans, American Journal of Archaeology, Boston, Oct 2007, Vol. 111, Iss. 4; pg. 599
- ^ [11] Tell Asmar Statue at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
[edit] References
- City In the Sand (2nd Edition), Mary Chubb, Libri, 1999, ISBN 1901965023
- [12] R. M. Whiting Jr., AS 22 - Old Babylonian Letters from Tell Asmar, Oriental Institute Assyriological Studies, 1987
- [13] I.J. Gelb, Sargonic Texts from the Diyala Region, Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 1, Chicago, 1961
- Maria deJong Ellis, Notes on the Chronology of the Later Eshnunna Dynasty, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 61-85, 1985
