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Near East Kingdoms

Ancient Mesopotamia

 

Isin (City State) (Sumer)

FeatureThe 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.

FeatureBy 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.

Sumerian civilisation was declining in the last century of the third millennium BC. Agriculture was collapsing and civil destabilisation was on the increase until around 2004 BC when the 'Third Dynasty' city of Ur was defeated by the Elamite state of the Simashki and its wide-ranging administrative system was destroyed.

Amorites, large numbers of whom had been settling in Mesopotamia for some centuries, effectively became the successors to the Sumerians, assimilating their culture and founding city states of their own such as those at Babylon, Ebla, and Hamath, and at Isin.

The city of Isin (modern Ishan al-Bahriyat) already existed under 'Ur III' rule, but there are no records the Sumerian period of any rulers here. Instead, the city only achieved independence and self-governance in the last days of Ur III. One of the last Ur kings witnessed the betrayal of one of his officials, Ishbi-Erra, when he moved to Isin and established himself as a ruler there.

Ishbi-Erra continued continued many of Ur's traditions and ceremonies, as well as taking over control of many of the Ur III cities after 2004 BC. The priesthood at Nippur acknowledged him and his immediate successors as they undertook public works in many of Sumer's cities.

For a century the region enjoyed comparative peace, until Larsa broke away to establish its own rival empire. Then other cities took the opportunity to break away, and the region fell into a phase of inter-city rivalry and conflict. Isin's power and prosperity suffered badly as a result.

There are a number of versions of the Sumerian king list which contain many differences from one another. One version comes from an inscription on a block of stone which was found at Isin. This one was an update of earlier Sumerian king lists, adding Isin's kings to Sumer's royal roster, and it was inscribed during the reign of Damiqilishu, the last of Isin's kings. The inscription was made only a few years before Hammurabi of Babylon conquered large swathes of southern Mesopotamia in the mid-eighteenth century BC.

According to the Sumerian king list, a total of eleven kings (MS P4+Ha has sixteen) ruled for 159 years (MS P4+Ha has 226 years), once (in one dynasty) in Isin. This is the twentieth set of entries on the list comprising kings 125-139. List 1 has fourteen kings ruling for 203 years. Here, List 1 is primarily used, backed up by List 2 (see the main Sumer page for details).

Sumerians

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, Gwendolyn Leick (Penguin Books, 2001), 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), from History & Philology, Walther Sallaberger & Ingo Schrakamp (Eds, Arcane III, Brepols, 2015), 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 The Ancient Near East, A Life, Piotr Michalowski & Gary Beckman (Orientalia lovaniensia Analecta 220, 2012, and available to download as a PDF).)

c.2017 BC

FeatureThe Sumerian 'Post-Diluvian' king list (various versions are available - see feature link) states that: 'After kingship was brought back to Ur... five kings ruled for a total of 108 years before Urim [Ur] was defeated.

'The very foundation of Sumer was torn out [as a result of outsiders claiming superiority and the worldwide climate-induced farming catastrophe], and its kingship carried off to Isin'.

With Ur rapidly fading in power and influence, a power vacuum had emerged which the larger city states had been scrabbling to fill. One of the officials under Ibbi-Sin of Ur now takes the opportunity to move to the subject city of Isin and create his own city state there.

c.2017 - 1984 BC

Ishbi-Erra / Icbi-Erra / Ishbierra

Ex-official of Ur in Mari. Founded the city state. Ruled for 33 years.

c.2016 BC

Isin occupies and plunders the province of Hamazi as Ur's empire collapses. Ishbi-Erra holds Ur to ransom by withholding shipments of grain, and has long since formed an alliance with Nippur.

c.2013 BC

Kazallu is conquered by Isin. Eshnunna receives Isin's help in battle against Subartu.

c.1998 BC

Six years after the great brick mausoleums and temples of the 'Third Dynasty' kings of Ur are destroyed by the Simashki ruler of Elam and a large contingent of people from Susa (about 2004 BC), Isin is strong enough to force out the Elamites, seizing Ur and restoring the temples, although Ur is no longer a capital city.

At the same time Isin gains control of the Sumerian spiritual centre of Nippur, along with another culturally symbolic and commercially crucial town, Uruk, and the province of Lagash, of which Larsa is a part.

Ishbi-Erra of Isin also maintains good relations with Eshnunna, another regional power at this time, while Kazallu gains similar levels of power in central Mesopotamia. Ishbi-Erra claims the title 'king of Ur' in an attempt to confirm the authority of his domination of the region.

c.1984 - 1974 BC

Shuilishu / Cu-ilicu

Son. Ruled for 10/20/10/15 years.

c.1974 - 1953 BC

Idin-Dagan / Iddin-Dagan

Son. Ruled for 21/25 years.

c.1953 - 1933 BC

Ishme-Dagan / Icme-Dagan

Son. Ruled for 20/18 years. Rebuilt the temple at Ur.

c.1940 BC

The Assyrians begin making raids into central and southern Mesopotamia, attacking the Amorite city states.

c.1933 - 1922 BC

Lipit-Ishtar / Lipit-Ectar

Son. Ruled for 11 years.

c.1922 - 1894 BC

Ur-Ninurta

Son. Ruled for 28 years.

c.1920? BC

Isin suddenly and rapidly begins to decline. The precise events are not known but, around this time, Gungunum, Isin's governor of the province of Lagash (and apparently based at Larsa), seizes Ur. This move cuts Isin's vital trade route, economically crippling the city.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the local Kütepe period civilisation (2000-1700 BC) which is based at Kanesh in Anatolia is at its height between 1950-1800 BC, which accounts for the Karum-Kanesh level II archaeological period.

The Kültepe tablets
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

c.1904 - 1866 BC

Gungunum's two successors at Ur seek to cut off Isin's access to water by rerouting canals to Larsa. Nippur is also lost around this time, Kazallu seemingly follows suit at some point around 1900 BC, and Uruk breaks away around 1865 BC.

Eshnunna begins using the title of 'king' for its rulers instead of ensi (governor). The indication is that Isin is losing its authority there too, and the situation gradually declines even further.

The city of Zabalam has been under the dominance of Isin - as reported by the year names of several rulers including Itar-pisa (see below) and Ur-Ninurta (above). At a point around this time Zabalam falls into the sphere of dominance of the governors of Larsa (notably Abisare, for whom a year name reports the building of the 'Favourite of Inanna of Zabalam' canal).

c.1897? BC

Ikūn-pî-Ištar

Son. Ruled for 28 years.

c.1897? BC

A short-lived and little known ruler by the name of Ikūn-pî-Ištar is ascribed either as a pre-independence ruler of Babylon to predate Sumu-abum, or as a ruler in Isin. It may be the case that he is instead a short-lived usurper in or rival for the Isin throne at this time.

c.1894 - 1873 BC

Bur-Sin / Bur-Suen

Son. Ruled for 21 years.

c.1873 - 1868 BC

Lipit-Enlil

Son. Ruled for 5 years.

c.1868 - 1860 BC

Erraimitti / Erra-imitti

Ruled for 8/7 years. Overthrown to end dynasty.

c.1860 BC

The much-weakened throne of Isin is seized by Enlilbani, ending the dynasty of kings which had been established over 150 years previously. The city state remains weak, but independent.

c.1860 - 1836 BC

Enlilbani / Enlil-bani

Seized the throne. Ruled for 24 years.

c.1836 - 1833 BC

Zambia / Zambiya / Zambija

Ruled for 3 years.

c.1833 - 1829 BC

Iterpisha / Iter-pica

Ruled for 4 years.

c.1829 - 1825 BC

Urdukuga / Ur-dul-kuga

Ruled for 4 years.

c.1825 - 1814 BC

Sinmagir / Suen-magir

Ruled for 11 years.

c.1840 BC

Now the Sumerian king list of the 'Post-Diluvian' period states that: 'After kingship was brought to Isin, Ishbi-Erra ruled for thirty-three years; Shuilishu, son of Ishbi-Erra, ruled for ten years; Idin-Dagan, son of Shuilishu, ruled for twenty-one years; Ishme-Dagan, son of Idin-Dagan, ruled for twenty years; Lipit-Ishtar, son of Ishme-Dagan, ruled for eleven years.

'Ur-Ninurta ruled for twenty-eight years; Bur-Sin, son of Ur-Ninurta, ruled for twenty-one years; Lipit-Enlil, son of Bur-Sin, ruled for five years; Erraimitti ruled for eight years; Enlil-bani ruled for twenty-four years; Zambia ruled for three years; Iterpisha ruled for four years; Urdukuga ruled for four years, and Sinmagir ruled for eleven years.

'All told, fourteen kings ruled for a total of 203 years'. The Sumerian king list ends here, having been supported by an Isin which has been very keen to establish its authenticity and right to rule but which is soon superseded by Babylonia.

c.1814 - 1791 BC

(No data) / Damiq-ilicu / Damiqilishu

Ruled for 23 years. Updated the king list. Last king.

c.1810 - 1806 BC

Rim-Sin of Larsa is aggressively expanding his empire and, following the fall of Isin (usually ascribed to about 1793 BC), Uruk is a prime target. It remains unmolested while Larsa appears to be comparatively weakened, but is seemingly a ringleader in opposition activities until it leaves the loose coalition.

Year 2 of the reign of Rimanum of Uruk is noted for a gathering around the city of the armies of the land of Emut-balum (Larsa), together with those of former rivals, Eshnunna, Isin, and Kazallu (the latter shown as a fragment of the name in the inscription in question).

The best interpretation (as examined by Michalowski and Beckman) suggests that these armies approach Uruk while claiming to be allies. Their approach stirs up an enormous dust cloud. When it settles, Rimanum is able to defeat them. His victory is short-lived as Uruk's walls are destroyed the following year.

c.1800 BC

Scribes in Sumer record that rich shipments from the Indus Valley culture suddenly cease at around this time.

c.1793 BC

Rim-Sin of Larsa captures Isin. The city has long been one of his fiercest rivals, and one of the main organisers of resistance against him, so he ensures he fully ends the city's independence.

c.1787 (1791?) BC

Isin is attacked and defeated by Hammurabi's Babylonian empire. Direct rule of Isin appears to be taken by Larsa.

c.1763 BC

With the defeat of Larsa by the Babylonian empire. Hammurabi fully controls Isin.

c.1732 BC

Claiming descent from Damiq-ilicu, Iluma-Ilum gains the freedom of Sumer south of Nippur, founding the Babylonian Dynasty of the Sealand.

1156 BC

Following invasions by the Elamites, the Babylonians rally around the Isin nobility, which is now part of Babylonian nobility, and they reclaim the throne and strengthen it.

 
Images and text copyright © all contributors mentioned on this page. An original king list page for the History Files.