Near East Kingdoms

Ekallatum (City State) (Northern Mesopotamia)

Mesopotamian States & Groups Canaanite States & Groups Islamic Empire Israelites & Israel Ancient Mesopotamia (Intro) Rome Syrian States & Groups

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.

Ekallatum was a small Amorite city state of the Numha tribe which was located somewhere on the west bank of the upper Tigris (as mentioned in Mari texts), to the south of Assyria's early capital at Ashur. It has yet to be linked to any specific archaeological tell (mound) as part of modern efforts to pin down its location. The much earlier minor city of Shakhi Kora seems to have lain due east of it.

While modern estimates at a location have varied far and wide, the best guesses have usually placed it within a day's walk to the south of Ashur. Ziegler and Otto have more recently provided a convincing argument for it to be located within a day's walk to the north of Assur, at the archaeological site of Tell Ḥuwaish.

The Ekallatum name means 'the palace'. The city was only important for the space of a century or so. Even its name suggests it was more of a small royal residence rather than a growing, bustling city, so its subsequent disappearance perhaps should not be so surprising. The Neo-Assyrian town of Ekallate may or may not be the same place, whether rebuilt or relocated to a fresh site.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, Samuel Noah Kramer ('List 1' of Sumerian rulers, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1963), from First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies, Peter Bellwood (Second Ed, Wiley-Blackwell, 2022), 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 The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, S Lloyd (Revised Ed, London, 1984), 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 History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Ancient History: A Theory About Ancient Times, L C Gerts (List 4 of Sumerian rulers, Chapter 12: The Sumerian king list, 2002), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), from The Age of the God-Kings, Kit van Tulleken (Ed, Time Life Books, Amsterdam 1987), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and The Sumerian Kings List, J A Black, G Cunningham, E Fluckiger-Hawker, E Robson, & G Zólyomi ('List 2' of Sumerian rulers, available via the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford, 1998), and Ancient History, Anthony Michael Love ('List 3' of Sumerian rulers at Sarissa.org), and Images from History (University of Alabama), and Ekallatum, Samsi-Addu's capital city, localised, Nele Ziegler & Adelheid Otto (HAL Open Science, 2024, available as HAL Id: hal-04379401 (PDF)).)

fl c.1830s BC

Possibly an Amorite member of the Assyrian royal house.

The Mari of Yaggid-Lim and Ekallatum under Ila-Kabkaba begin a feud which lasts until about 1761 BC. The two seemingly had been allies but perhaps growing power in their respective cities now sees them vying for supremacy over the trade routes.

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.1829 - 1819 BC

Son? Ousted and fled to Babylon.

c.1819 - 1812 BC

Ekallatum is captured and occupied by the powerful Naram-Sin of Eshnunna. Shamshi-Adad is forced to flee to Babylon, until he can recapture his home city seven years later.

c.1818 - 1812 BC

King of Eshnunna & Assyria. Died.

c.1812 - 1809 BC

Recaptured Ekallatum. Founded 'Upper Mesopotamia'. Died in battle.

c.1809 BC

Shamshi-Adad sets up an empire in 'Upper Mesopotamia' which stretches from Tuttul near the Mediterranean to the Assyrians and the foothills of the Zagros mountains.

He hands over Ekallatum to one of his sons to rule in his name, and incorporates Andarig, Ashur (which is rebuilt and expanded), Carchemish, Karana, Qattara, Razama, Shehna, Terqa, and Urkesh into his domains, amongst others.

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.1809 - 1741 BC

Son. Ousted, then restored by Babylon.

c.1776 BC

The 'Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia' is attacked simultaneously by Yamkhad and Eshnunna. Given that the approximate date in which he had begun his initial rule of Ekallatum is 1829 BC, fifty-three years before, then he must be at least sixty by now (if the possibility of a child-king is included) or even in his early seventies, an advanced age for the period.

Following this latest attack and seeming defeat, Shamshi-Adad dies soon afterwards, either in battle or of natural causes. His broad northern Mesopotamian empire quickly falls apart.

Although Ishme-Dagan is a capable military leader, his reign is chaotic and he is never able to assert control over his father's empire. Shehna, the kingdom's administrative capital, is lost very quickly while Ishme-Dagan continues to rule Ekallatum and control Ashur.

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.1776 BC

The 'Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia' is attacked simultaneously by Yamkhad and Eshnunna. Given that the approximate date in which he had begun his initial rule of Ekallatum is 1829 BC, fifty-three years before, then he must be at least sixty by now (if the possibility of a child-king is included) or even in his early seventies, an advanced age for the period.

Following this latest attack and seeming defeat, Shamshi-Adad dies soon afterwards, either in battle or of natural causes. His broad northern Mesopotamian empire quickly falls apart.

Although Ishme-Dagan is a capable military leader, his reign is chaotic and he is never able to assert control over his father's empire. Shehna, the kingdom's administrative capital, is lost very quickly while Ishme-Dagan continues to rule Ekallatum and control Ashur.

This tablet from eighteenth century BC Mari contains records of food supplies, with the symbol of a human head with a triangular object in front of it being the verb 'to eat' in later Sumerian

Yasmah-Adad is overthrown and Mari is also lost. That city becomes allied to the Babylonians under Hammurabi while Ishme-Dagan collects allies in the north and the two states - Ekallatum and Mari - renew their mutual hostilities.

c.1765 - 1763 BC

The now-powerful Elamites capture Ekallatum, forcing Ishme-Dagan to seek refuge in Babylon. Hammurabi crushes the Elamites, returning Ishme-Dagan to his throne, albeit as a vassal king. From this city he also seems to retain control over the Assyrian lands during his lifetime.

c.1760s? BC

The Yamutbal people - Amorites on the southern margin of the eastern Anatolian highlands - cede the city of Sadduwatum to Ekallatum, with the exchanged city being the first station on the trading route from Ashur to Kanesh (on the northern flank of Ashur, thereby supporting the Ziegler & Otto proposal that Ekallatum itself lies a short way to the north of Ashur).

The rough terrain of north-western Iraq, north-eastern Syria, and southern-central Turkey - all of which formed the northernmost parts of ancient Mesopotamia in which Yamatbul was located - offer a tough life, and one which even today is predominantly pastoralist

c.1741 - ? BC

Son. Faded from history.

Drove-Asqur is the last-known king of Ekallatum, while his potential brother, Mut-Ashkur, gains the city of Ashur and the Assyrian leadership. Both are obscure, primarily thanks to the sacking of Mari and the termination of its detailed records.

However, Drove-Asqur's Ekallatum becomes even more obscure, to the point of disappearing almost entirely from the historical record after his reign. It seems most likely that Mut-Ashkur inherits or captures the city and incorporates it into 'Old Kingdom' Assyrian holdings, albeit as 'Vassal Kings of Babylonia'.

The Kültepe tablets were written by Assyrian traders who were based at Kanesh between 1920-1740 BC, recording business transactions in the Old Assyrian dialect of Akkadian