Near East Kingdoms

Shehna (State of Apum / Abum) (Northern Mesopotamia)

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In southern Mesopotamia the city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

As irrigation improved so the more southerly reaches of the Euphrates could at last be occupied by humans and their animals, with permanent settlements arising from the sixth millennium BC. Initially these were pastoralist settlements, but soon farming villages appeared and they gradually grew and improved. At the same time, northern Mesopotamia experienced its own burgeoning development processes, largely starting under the Hassuna culture.

These processes took longer here than they did in the south, in what is now northern Iraq, the western edge of Iran, the south-eastern corner of Turkey, and the eastern wedge of Syria. An urban lifestyle only really appeared in the third millennium BC, thanks in part to such influences being imposed during Sumerian empire-building periods. Archaeology has uncovered a wealth of detail about settlements in this region, but many more sites remain to be examined.

The state of Apum developed as one of the more early larger states in ancient Syria and northern Mesopotamia. It encompassed more than one city and operated more on the basis of a small kingdom in much the same way as typical expanded city states of the second millennium BC. Its capital was the city of Shehna (Šehna or Shekhna, the modern archaeological site of Tell Leilan) in the lush pastureland of the Khabur valley.

The site was first built up around 2600 BC when it was expanded from a farming village. Dominance followed as a subject outpost of the Akkadian empire, perhaps as the empire's northernmost outpost. Severe drought around 2200 BC led to it being abandoned for about three hundred years just as Sumer in the south was heading into similar problems.

At its resurgent height in the eighteenth century BC the state of Apum controlled the eastern part of the Khabur/Habur basin, extending its control beyond Hamoukar, a vacant non-participant in the Amorite population. The city, however, remained a 'hollow capital', filled only sparsely with elaborately decorated administrative buildings such as the Acropolis temples.

There was also an area around Damascus in modern Syria which was known as Apum. This flourished in the first half of the second millennium BC. The two should not be confused, even though popular theory for a time assigned those kings who are mentioned in the Mari letters to the Damascus location. In fact, there is no known reference to the Damascene Apum in the Mari letters.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, Gwendolyn Leick (Penguin Books, 2001), from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from The First Empires, J N Postgate (Oxford 1977), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), and from External Links: Tell Leilan Project.)

c.2600 BC

The city of Shehna is first built up from a farming village into a major town at about the same time as similar city states flourish in northern Mesopotamia and Syria. This is about the same time as Enmebaraggesi of 'First Dynasty' Kish is in power in Sumer at the start of the region's empire-building phase.

While southern Mesopotamia flourished during the third millennium BC, it took longer for the same effect to be felt in northern Mesopotamia, with the first larger cities and city states only really emerging towards the end of the millennium (click or tap on map to view full sized)

c.2300 BC

Northern Mesopotamia is conquered by the Akkadian empire. The indigenous rulers of Shehna are removed from power. Instead the city becomes what may be Akkad's northernmost outpost, but a burn level in the archaeology here suggests that occupation is not consistent.

c.2193 BC

Abrupt and increasingly hostile climate change leads to severe drought. In an event which is quite possibly related to this, the Akkadian empire collapses when southern Mesopotamia is overrun by the Gutians. The drought also forces the abandonment of Shehna, with the last of the buildings being deserted by 2140 BC.

c.2193 - 1900 BC

For much of this period the city of Shehna remains abandoned, while even the once-vibrant civilisation of Sumer to its south collapses and undergoes a short dark age period of rebuilding. Shehna seemingly is re-inhabited and rebuilt by about 1900 BC, and perhaps for a generation beforehand.

The ruins of the once-vast city of Ur were excavated in 1922 by Sir Leonard Woolley, which is when the 'Royal Tombs' were discovered (External Link: Creative Commons Licence 4.0 International)

c.1900 BC

Around this time, Assyria has a trading centre at Kanesh in Anatolia with the city of Shehna, recently re-inhabited, appearing to play an important role in the trade route between northern Mesopotamia and Anatolia.

c.1809 - 1776 BC

Shehna is conquered by Shamshi-Adad and is incorporated into his newly-founded 'Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia'. Shehna is eventually taken as the capital of this new state - around 1806 BC - and is renamed Shubat-Enlil.

The kingdom collapses around three decades later under the weight of its opposing forces, so that much of the previous order can be re-established across northern Mesopotamia.

Now seemingly at the centre of a state called Apum, Shehna establishes trade relations with Zimri-Lim of Mari. With one of Shamshi-Adad's officials retaining control of the city, it probably remains part of Ishme-Dagan's domains while he rules from Ekallatum.

Shamshi-Adad's soldiers, who had proven to be so successful in forming a short-lived but powerful regional empire to the east of the Euphrates which is generally known as the kingdom of 'Upper Mesopotamia', are shown in this Assyrian relief

c.1776 - 1772 BC

Independent ruler. Former Shubat-Enlil official.

c.1772 - 1762 BC

Between them, Samija of Apum and Ishme-Dagan of Ekallatum can barely hold onto the city of Shehna for a few years. Nearly every king in the region hopes to conquer it and lay their hands on Shamshi-Adad's accumulated wealth.

For a decade from about 1772 BC no king is able to hold onto the city for long, with six different rulers controlling it for short periods. The first three appear to be vassals of Qarni-Lim of Andarig. The rulers Haya-abum and Zuzu are both mentioned in Mari's archives, but Zuzu only holds onto the city for a number of months before his death.

Initially constructed under Shamshi-Adad, the 'Northern Lower Town Palace' in Shehna is also associated with Qarni-Lim and is probably used by him as his 'embassy' when he visits the town - making it the earliest-known embassy.

The palace of Qarni-Lim at Tell Leilan - the ancient city of Shehna, capital of the second millennium BC state of Apum, displays the Andariq king's domination of the city

c.1772? BC

Seized the city? Vassal of Andarig?

c.1771? BC

Son. Vassal of Andarig.

c.1770? BC

Vassal of Andarig. Ruled for few months. Fell from the city wall.

c.1770? - 1765 BC

Following three opportunistic rulers in the city, the last of whom is a son of Qarni-Lim of Andarig, it falls under the control of the now-unified state of Elam as the most powerful of its occupiers. It remains an Elamite possession for much of the reign of Shimut-wartash I.

c.1765 - 1761 BC

A decade after Shamshi-Adad's death, Atamrum of Andarig seizes Shehna back from Elam, probably violently, as evidenced by ashy deposits and burnt floors in Levels 3 and 4 of the 'Eastern Lower Town Palace'. His successor, Himdija, continues to control the city, probably also rebuilding the palace (Level 2).

The Sinjar plain (now in northern Iraq) was the location of the city of Andarig, although the city's remains have yet to be discovered and examined by archaeologists

c.1765 - ? BC

King of Andarig. Seized Shehna.

Son, military leader, and king of Andarig.

c.1761 - 1750 BC

The city of Andarig collapses and quickly disappears following this short spell of occupation in Shehna. There follows a gap in Shehna's records but, by 1750 BC, the political chaos which has engulfed Apum seems to abate.

c.1750 BC

Records which are later discovered in the 'Eastern Lower Town Palace' document the final three rulers of the city of Shehna, probably all members of one family, and probably relatives of one Dari-epuh. He himself may or may not rule before them. He may also be the individual who seizes (or frees) the city from Andarig's control and then manages to hold onto it.

This was the situation in Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia which was inherited by the Hittites as they formed their early empire in the eighteenth century BC (click or tap on map to view full sized)

Ruled? Held the city after Andarig's collapse?

fl c.1750 BC

Brother.

c.1750 BC

By this time, the territory of the state of Apum is a small part of the Khabur plains, and campaigns are conducted by its rulers to the south and east. While Mutija is on the throne his two nephews hold positions of authority on state borders, in a form of governance which resembles that of the regional governors under Shamshi-Adad's 'Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia'.

Brother.

Till-abnu renews a treaty with traders from Ashur. These traders operate on an individual (family-based) basis and live in their own colony within the town of Shehna after having been thrown out during the Elamite occupation.

The archaeological Qal'at Sherqat mound is part of the ancient city of Assur, located along the Tigris in northern Mesopotamia in a specific geo-ecological zone at the borderline between rain-fed and irrigation agriculture

? - c.1728/27 BC

Brother. Sometimes classed as a usurper. Killed.

c.1728/27 BC

The thriving city of Shehna is sacked by Samsu-iluna of Babylon in the twenty-third year of his reign, and Yakun-ashar is killed. The city never recovers. Temporary settlers build ovens, a brick platform, and a few fragmentary walls on top of the ruins of the 'Eastern Lower Town Palace (Level 1)', before the site is full abandoned around 1700 BC.

The region around the old city suffers further decline across the subsequent century or so. By the end of the sixteenth century BC it is part of the Mitanni state which unifies much of northern Mesopotamia.