Editing Shamshi-Adad I (section)

==Family ==
{{see also|Ishme-Dagan I|Yasmah-Adad}}
While Ishme-Dagan I was probably a competent ruler, his brother Yasmah-Adad appears to have been a man of weak character; something the disappointed father (Shamshi-Adad I) was not above mentioning:

{{quotation|"Are you a child, not a man, have you no beard on your chin?"}}

Shamshi-Adad I wrote in another letter:

{{quotation|"While here your brother is victorious, down there you lie about among the women."}}

Shamshi-Adad I clearly kept a firm control on the actions of his sons, as shown in his many letters to them. At one point he arranged a political marriage between Yasmah-Adad to Beltum, the princess of his ally in [[Qatna]]. Yasmah-Adad already had a leading wife and had put Beltum in a secondary position of power. Shamshi-Adad I did not approve and forced his son to keep Beltum in the palace in a leading position.<ref name="Mieroop" />

Shamshi-Adad I sent a letter on a tablet to [[Ishi-Addu]] (Beltum's father, the King of Qatna) in which he discussed their alliance, the attacks of their enemies, and the successful marriage between their children. In it Shamshi-Adad I wrote:

{{quotation|"I heard that you gladly dispatched my daughter-in-law on a safe way back to me, that you treated my servants when they stayed with you well, and that they were not hindered at all. My heart is very happy."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chavalas|first1=Mark W.|title=The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation|date=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden|isbn=0631235817|pages=114–115}}</ref>}}