Near East Kingdoms

Diniktum (City) (Southern Mesopotamia)

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The city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. It 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. Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was subjected to permanent settlement, initially in the form of pastoralists but soon as farmers too. Cultures around the edges of this progression included the Hassuna and Samarra which began this settlement process, and perhaps elements of the Hissar culture in the Iranian highlands were also involved.

By the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states which were independent of one another and which used local canals and boundary stones to mark their borders. Many early historical events in the region are found only in the Sumerian king list, which notates the rulers of the city states (and see feature link), but archaeology has also uncovered a wealth of detail.

The city of Diniktum (or Di-ni-ik-tum) was located in the Diyala region of modern Iraq (not far to the immediate north-east of Baghdad). Its heyday may have been brief, but it was certainly one of a series of flourishing small cities in this region in the first half of the second millennium BC.

Its precise location is yet to be pinned down, as this would rely on a tablet or inscription being found on a site which names that site. At best the city of Agade was regarded as being on the northern edges of traditional Sumerian territory. Tell Muhammad, on the outskirts of Baghdad, has been suggested as a candidate but is yet to be fully examined. Alternatively this site has been suggested as the location of Diniktum.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information 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 The Ancient Near East, c.3000-330 BC, Amélie Kuhrt (Routledge, 2000, Vol I & II), from Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 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), and from External Links: Evolution of Sumerian kingship (Ancient World Magazine).)

c.2300 BC

It is Sargon who claims to be the first king to unite Mesopotamia (Sumer and Agade, plus a wide swathe of northern Mesopotamia), although Enshakushanna of Uruk has already achieved that in the mid-twenty-fifth century BC.

Sargon 'the Great', the warrior king of apparently humble origins, unified Sumer for (perhaps) the first time in recorded history through a series of campaigns and the defeat of the current holder of Sumer's equivalent of a high kingship

This is the approximate period in which the northern edges of Sumer undergo a range of developments which include the gradual appearance of new cities.

They are smaller and less politically powerful than those of the south, largely in their early years being dependencies of the Akkadian empire. Shaduppum is one such small city to emerge around this time, but Diniktum may be another.

fl c.1870 - 1830 BC

Within this period, king (or equivalent ruling title).

c.1870? BC

One king who is associated with early Old Babylonian Nerebtum (perhaps succeeding Sîn-abūšu there) is Ikun-pi-Sin who seemingly rules in Uzarlulu around 1870 BC. He is first known from a Tutub year name, one which credits him with the capture of Diniktum. He is also credited with ruling Shaduppum, at least for a certain unspecified period.

Some of the earliest cities, such as Sippar, Borsippa, and Kish in the north, and Ur, Uruk, and Eridu in the south, formed the endpoints of what became the complex Sumerian network of cities and canals (click or tap on map to view full sized)

c.1830 - 1760? BC

Amorite ruler of Diniktum.

c.1824 BC

Records regarding Uruk become very sparse from this point under its series of Amorite kings who seem to achieve very little in a period in which Mesopotamia is still recovering from the collapse of Sumer. Singamil (not the later ruler of Diniktum) is succeeded by his brother, Ilumgamil, rather than his son, Salim-palih-Marduk.

c.1776 BC

Upon the death of Shamshi-Adad, his kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia falls apart. The Amorite Zimri-Lim of Alakhtum and Terqa destroys Yasmah-Adad's forces in Mari. Yasmah-Adad himself is either killed or flees (sources fail to agree) and Zimri-Lim now rules Mari.

fl c.1770s? BC

Amorite chief or ruler?

fl c.1760s BC

Son. Amorite ruler who succeeded Itur-šarrum.

Zimri-Lim greatly extends Mari's glory when he expands the royal palace to encompass more than three hundred rooms, as well as founding the state archives.

This aerial view from 2023 shows the River Diyala at the late Chalcolithic (Copper Age) site of Shakhi Kora in today's Kurdistan region of Iraq

He establishes strong ties with Alep, Babylon and Hazor, having previously married Princess Shiptu, daughter of Sumu'epuh of Alep, and having been sold the city state of Alakhtum. He later marries the daughter of the king of Qatna, Dam-hurasim.

He also establishes trade relations with at least thirty-two kings (mentioned in the palace archives), including those of Andarig and Apum, and counts Anum-Herwa of Zalwar and Sharrum-kima-kalima of Razama as his vassals.

Sîn-gamil, son of Sîn-šemi, ruler of Diniktum, is a contemporary of his (not to be confused with a nineteenth century BC ruler of Uruk who bears the same name). His fate is unknown, as is that of the city he rules.