Editing Shamshi-Adad I

{{Short description|Amorite conqueror (r. 1808–1776 BC)}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Shamshi-Adad I
| title        = [[King of the Universe]]<br>Pacifier of the Land between [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Veenhof|first=Klaas R.|year=2017|chapter=The Old Assyrian Period (20th–18th century BCE)|title=A Companion to Assyria|editor=E. Frahm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|isbn=978-1118325247|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken}}</ref>
| native_lang1 = Akkadian
| native_lang1_name1 = Šamši-Adad
| native_lang2 = Amorite
| native_lang2_name1 = Shamshi-Addu
| image        = Shamshi-Adad I.png
| caption      = Line-drawing of an incomplete seal of Shamshi-Adad I (𒀭𒌓𒅆𒀭𒅎 - <sup>[[DINGIR|d]]</sup>UTU.ši-<sup>d</sup>[[Hadad|IM]])
| succession   = King of Upper Mesopotamia
| reign        = {{circa}} 1808–1776 BC<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chen|first=Fei|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3znDwAAQBAJ|title=Study on the Synchronistic King List from Ashur|publisher=BRILL|year=2020|isbn=978-9004430914|location=Leiden|chapter=Appendix I: A List of Assyrian Kings|chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004430921/back-1.xml?body=fullhtml-43184}}</ref>
| predecessor  = 
| successor    = [[Ishme-Dagan I]] <small>([[Assur]] and [[Ekallatum]])</small><br>[[Yasmah-Adad]] <small>([[Mari, Syria|Mari]])</small>
| father       = [[Ila-kabkabu]]
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = {{circa}} 1776 BC
| death_place  = [[Tell Leilan|Šubat-Enlil]]|
}}
'''Shamshi-Adad''' ({{langx|akk|Šamši-Adad}}; [[Amorite language|Amorite]]: ''Shamshi-Addu''), ruled {{Circa}} 1813–1776 BC, was an [[Amorite]] [[warlord]] and conqueror who had conquered lands across much of [[Syria]], [[Anatolia]], and [[Upper Mesopotamia]].<ref name="Rice">Some of the Mari letters addressed to Shamsi-Adad by his son can be found in the Mari Letters section of {{cite book|author=Shaika Haya Ali Al Khalifa and Michael Rice|year=1986|title=Bahrain through the Ages|publisher=KPI|isbn=0-7103-0112-X}}</ref> His capital was originally at [[Ekallatum]] and later moved to [[Tell Leilan|Šubat-Enlil]].<ref>[https://hal.science/hal-04379401v1/file/Ziegler-Otto-2023_BBVO-30_Ekallatum.pdf]Ziegler, Nele, and Adelheid Otto, "Ekallatum, Samsi-Addu’s capital city, localised", Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 221-252, 2023</ref>

==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.

==Conquests==
[[File:Raid of Shamshi-Adad I to the great sea.png|thumb|right|Shamshi-Adad I and his armies reach the [[Mediterranean Sea]], as envisaged by artist A. C. Weatherstone.]]

Shamshi-Adad I took over the long-abandoned town of Shekhna (today known as [[Tell Leilan]]), converted it into the capital city of the [[Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia]], and then renamed it Šubat-Enlil (meaning "the residence of the god Enlil" in the [[Akkadian language]])<ref>Harvey Weiss, Tell Leilan and Shubat Enlil, Mari, Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, vol. 4, pp. 269-92, 1985</ref> c. 1808 BC.<ref>Leilan.yale.edu, Harvey Weiss et al., The genesis and collapse of Third Millennium north Mesopotamian Civilization, Science, vol. 291, pp. 995-1088, 1993</ref>  During his reign, the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia competed for power in [[Lower Mesopotamia]] against: King [[Naram-Sin of Eshnunna]] (who died c. 1816 BC), Naram-Sin's successors, and [[Yahdun-Lim]] of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chavalas|first1=Mark W.|title=The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation|date=2006|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd|isbn=0-631-23581-7|page=95}}</ref> A main target for expansion was the city of Mari, which controlled the caravan route between [[Anatolia]] and Mesopotamia. King Yahdun-Lim of Mari (fl. c. 1800 BC – c. 1700 BC) was assassinated by his own servants (possibly on Shamshi-Adad I's orders.) The heir to the throne of Mari, [[Zimri-Lim]], was forced to flee to [[Yamhad]]. Shamshi-Adad I seized the opportunity and occupied Mari c. 1796 BC. He placed his sons ([[Ishme-Dagan I]] and [[Yasmah-Adad]]) in key geographical locations and gave them responsibility to look over those areas. Shamshi-Adad I  put his eldest son (Ishme-Dagan I) on the throne of [[Ekallatum]], while Shamshi-Adad I remained in Šubat-Enlil. Shamshi-Adad I put his second son, Yasmah-Adad, on the throne in Mari.<ref name="Mieroop" /> With the annexation of Mari, Shamshi-Adad I had carved out a large empire<ref name="Rice" /> encompassing much of Syria, Anatolia, and the whole of [[Upper Mesopotamia]] (this empire often referred to as either the "[[Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia]]" or the "Upper Mesopotamian Empire".) Shamshi-Adad I proclaimed himself as "King of All" (the title had been used by [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon]] of the [[Akkadian Empire]] c. 2334 BC – c. 2279 BC).

King [[Dadusha]] of [[Eshnunna]] (fl. c. 1800 BC – c. 1779 BC), made an alliance with Shamshi-Adad I to conquer the area between the two [[Zab River (disambiguation)|Zab river]]s c. 1781 BC. This military campaign of joint forces was commemorated on a victory stele which states that Dadusha gave the lands to Shamshi-Adad I. Shamshi-Adad I later turned against Dadusha by attacking cities including [[Shaduppum]], Nerebtum and [[Andarig]]. On inscriptions Shamshi-Adad I boasts of erecting triumphal [[stelae]] on the coast of the [[Mediterranean Sea]], but these probably represent short expeditions rather than any attempts at conquest. His campaigns were meticulously planned, and his army knew all the classic methods of [[siegecraft]], such as encircling ramparts and battering rams. The 5th year name of Dadusha's son and successor, [[Ibal-pi-el II]] records the death of Shamshi-Adad.<ref>[https://cdli.ucla.edu/tools/yearnames/HTML/T30K20.htm Year Names of Ibal-pi-el II at CDLI]</ref><ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289038501_The_Conquest_Eponyms_of_Samsi-Adad_I_and_the_Kanes_Eponym_List] Yigal Bloch, "The Conquest Eponyms of Šamšī-Adad I and the Kaneš Eponym List", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 73(2), pp. 191-210, Oct 2014</ref>

==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>}}

==Reign ==
Shamshi-Adad I was a great organizer and he kept firm controls on all matters of state, from high policy down to the appointing of officials and the dispatching of provisions. Spies and propaganda were often used to win over rival cities. He allowed conquered territories to maintain some of their earlier practices. In [[Nineveh]] he used state resources to rebuild the [[Ishtar]] temple. The local rulers of the city [[Qattara]] maintained authority (but became [[vassal states|vassals]]) when they were incorporated into the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia. User of these Assyrian [[Eponym dating system]] was enforced throughout the [[Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia]] in cities such as: Mari, [[Tuttul]], [[Terqa]], and the capital city [[Tell Leilan|Šubat-Enlil]].<ref name="Mieroop" />

==Fall ==
[[File:Yamhad and Vassals.png|thumb|256px|right|A map of the [[Ancient Near East]] showing the geopolitical situation around Assyria near contemporary great powers such as: [[Yamhad]] (dark blue) and [[Qatna]] (dark brown), after the conquests of [[Hammurabi]] of the [[First Dynasty of Babylon]] (green) c. 1750 BC.]]
Shamshi-Adad I continued to strengthen his kingdom throughout his life, but as he got older, the state became more vulnerable and the neighboring great powers [[Yamkhad]] and [[Eshnunna]] began attacking. The empire lacked cohesion and was in a vulnerable geographical position. Naturally, Shamshi-Adad I's rise to glory earned him the envy of neighboring kings and tribes, and throughout his reign, he and his sons
faced several threats to their control.

=== Death ===
After the death of Shamshi-Adad I, Eshnunna captured cities around Assur.<ref name="Mieroop" /> When the news of Shamshi-Adad I's death spread, his old rivals set out to topple his sons from the throne. [[Yasmah-Adad]] was soon expelled from Mari by [[Zimri-Lim]] (fl. c. 1775 BC – c. 1761 BC), and the rest of the empire was eventually lost during the reigns of Išme-Dagān I and [[Mut-Ashkur]], first to a coalition of Mari, Andarig, and Eshnunna, then to another Amorite ruler, [[Hammurabi]] of Babylon (fl. c. 1792 BC – c. 1750 BC)<ref>Lewy, Hildegard. “The Historical Background of the Correspondence of Baḫdi-Lim.” Orientalia, vol. 25, no. 4, 1956, pp. 324–52.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Timeline of the Assyrian Empire]]
* [[Chronology of the ancient Near East]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*OBO (''Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis'') 160/4
* {{cite book|last=Nelson |first=Glueck |year=1959 |title=Rivers in the Desert 
|publisher=HUC}}
* {{cite book|first= William H.|last= McNeil|author2=Jean W. Sedlar  |year=1962 |title=The Ancient Near East |publisher=OUP}}
* {{cite book|first= Andrew |last=George |year=2000 |title=The Epic of Gilgamesh |publisher=Penguin|id=No14-044721-0}}
* {{cite book|first=James B.|last= Pritchard |year=1968 |title=The Ancient Near East |publisher=OUP|isbn=0-691-03532-6}}
* {{cite book|first= Shaika Haya Ali |last=Al Khalifa |author2=Michael Rice  |year=1986 |title=Bahrain through the Ages |publisher=KPI|isbn=0-7103-0112-X}}
* {{cite book|first=Muhammed Abdul |last=Nayeem |year=1990 |title=Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula|location=Hyderabad}}
* {{cite book |first=Michael |last=Roaf |year=1990 |title=Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East |publisher=Equinox |isbn=0-8160-2218-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/culturalatlasofm0000roaf }}
* {{cite book|first=Nicholas |last=Awde |author2=Putros Samano  |year=1986 |title=The Arabic Alphabet |publisher=Billing & Sons Ltd.|isbn=0-86356-035-0}}
* {{cite book |first=Gerard |last=Herm |year=1975 |title=The Phoenicians |publisher=William Morrow & Co. Inc. |isbn=0-688-02908-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/phoenicianspur00herm }}
* {{cite book|last= Pedersén|first=Olof |year=1998 |title=Archives and Libraries in the Ancient Near East: 1500-300 B.C.|location=[[Bethesda, Maryland|Bethesda]] |publisher=CDL Press}}
* {{cite journal|first= Y. |last=Shiloh |title=The Population of Iron Age Palestine in the Light of a Sample Analysis of Urban Plans, Areas and Population Density|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |year=1980|issue=239|pages=25–35|doi=10.2307/1356754 |jstor=1356754 |s2cid=163824693 }}
* {{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|location=Malden|isbn=9781405149112|pages=89, 99, 104, 106–11|edition=2nd}}
* {{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=93, 95–6, 103, 116, 102–3,115–6, 118–20, 370}}
* P. Villard, "Shamshi-Adad and Sons: The Rise of an Upper Mesopotamian Kingdom", in J. M. Sasson (ed.), ''Civilizations of the Ancient Near East'', vol. II, Scribner, New York, 1995, p.&nbsp;873-883

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shamshi-Adad 01}}
[[Category:Amorite kings]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:18th-century BC deaths]]
[[Category:Kings of the Universe]]