Editing Shamshi-Adad I (section)

==Rise==
[[File:Third Mari.png|thumb|256px|left|A map of the [[Ancient Near East]] showing the geopolitical situation around the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia (light brown) near contemporary [[great powers]] such as: [[Eshnunna]] (light blue), [[Yamhad]] (dark blue), [[Qatna]] (dark brown), the [[First Dynasty of Babylon]] (yellow), and the Third Mariote Kingdom (shortly before the conquest of the long-abandoned town of [[Tell Leilan|Šubat-Enlil]] c. 1808 BC by the [[Amorite]] conqueror Šamši-Adad I.)]]

Shamshi-Adad I inherited the throne in [[Ekallatum]] from [[Ila-kabkabu]] (fl. c. 1836 BC – c. 1833 BC). Ila-kabkabu is mentioned as the father of Shamshi-Adad I in the "[[Assyrian King List]]" (AKL);<ref name="Glassner1">{{cite book|last=Glassner|first=Jean-Jacques| title=Mesopotamian Chronicles |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature| year=2004| pages=137| isbn=1589830903| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1i5b6STWnroC}}</ref> a similar name (not necessarily the same figure) is listed in the preceding section of the AKL among the “kings whose fathers are known”.<ref name=" Glassner1"/> However, Shamshi-Adad I did not inherit the Assyrian throne from his father but was instead a conqueror. Ila-kabkabu had been an Amorite king not of [[Assur]] (Aššur) (in [[Assyria]]) but of Ekallatum. According to the ''[[Mari Eponym Chronicle|Mari Eponyms Chronicle]]'', Ila-kabkabu seized Shuprum (c. 1790 BC), then Shamshi-Adad I “entered his father's house” (Shamshi-Adad I succeeded Ila-kabkabu as the king of Ekallatum, in the following year.)<ref name="Glassner1"/><sup>:163</sup> Šamši-Adad I had been forced to flee to [[Babylon]] (c. 1823 BC) while [[Naram-Sin of Eshnunna|Narām-Sîn of Eshnunna]] (fl. c. 1850 BC – c. 1816 BC) had attacked [[Ekallatum]]. Shamshi-Adad I had remained in exile until the death of Naram-Sin of Eshnunna (c. 1816 BC.) The AKL records that Shamshi-Adad I "went away to [[Babylonia]] in the time of Naram-Sin". Shamshi-Adad I did not return until retaking Ekallatum, pausing for some time, and then overthrowing King [[Erishum II]] of Assur (fl. c. 1818 BC – c. 1809 BC)
Shamshi-Adad I conquered Assur and emerged as the first Amorite king of Assyria (c. 1808 BC)<ref name="Mieroop">{{cite book|last1=Van De Mieroop|first1=Marc|title=A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC|date=2004|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=9781405149112|page=107|edition=2nd}}</ref>

Although regarded as an Amorite by later Assyrian tradition, earlier archaeologists assumed that Shamshi-Adad I had indeed been a native Assyrian. Usha was the second last in the section "kings who lived in tents" of the AKL, however; Ushpia has not been confirmed by contemporary artifacts. Ushpia is succeeded on the AKL by his son [[Apiashal]].<ref name="Roux">{{cite book|last=Roux|first=Georges|title=Ancient Iraq|date=March 1993|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|publication-date=Aug 27, 1992|isbn=978-0140125238|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientiraq00roux}}</ref> Apiashal was a [[List of Assyrian kings|monarch]] of the [[Early Period of Assyria]], according to the AKL.<ref name="Glassner1" /> Apiashal is listed within the section of the AKL as the last of whom "altogether seventeen kings, tent dwellers".<ref name="Glassner1" /><ref name="Bruno">{{cite book|last=Meissner|first=Bruno|title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|location=Berlin|year=1990|volume=6|pages=103|isbn=3110100517|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OIeiZaIo91IC}}</ref> This section shows marked similarities to the ancestors of the [[First Babylonian dynasty]].<ref name="Bruno" /> Apiashal is also listed within a section of the AKL as the first of the ten "kings whose fathers are known". This section (which in contrast to the rest of the list) had been written in reverse order—beginning with [[Aminu (Assyrian king)|Aminu]] and ending with Apiashal "altogether ten kings who are ancestors"—has often been interpreted as the list of ancestors of Shamshi-Adad I. In keeping with this assumption, scholars have inferred that the original form of the AKL had been written (among other things) as an "attempt to justify that Shamshi-Adad I was a legitimate ruler of the city-state Assur and to obscure his non-Assyrian antecedents by incorporating his ancestors into a native Assyrian genealogy". However, this interpretation has not been accepted universally; the ''[[Cambridge Ancient History]]'' rejected this interpretation and instead interpreted the section as being that of the ancestors of [[Sulili]].<ref name=Hildegard>Hildegard Levy, "Assyria c. 2600-1816 BC", ''Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 1, Part 2: Early History of the Middle East'', 729-770, p. 745-746.)</ref>

In the city-state Assur, Shamshi-Adad I held the title "Governor of Assur". Stone tablets with [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] inscriptions (formatted in three columns and one hundred and thirty-five lines, from Shamshi-Adad I) have been found near the temple of the god [[Ashur (god)|Assur]]. Many bricks and objects inside the temple have the inscription "Shamshi-Adad I, Builder of the Temple of Assur" carved into them. In this inscription he claimed to have been "King of the Universe" and "Unifier of the Land Between [[Tigris River|Tigris]] and [[Euphrates River|Euphrates]]". He asserted that the king of the Upper Land had paid tribute to him and that he had built the temple of [[Enlil]]. He outlined the market prices of that time as being one [[shekel]] of silver being worth two [[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement|kor(gur-cube)]]s of barley, fifteen [[Mina (unit)|mina]]s of wool, or two [[Seah (unit)|seahs]] of oil.