Near East Kingdoms

Kazallu (City) (Sumer)

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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.

Briefly mentioned during domination under the Akkadian empire, the small city of Kazallu was situated in central Mesopotamia. This is just fifteen or so kilometres north-north-west of Babylon, which was still insignificant at the time of Kazallu's short-lived rise to power in the second millennium BC. Kazallu, along with Isin in the south, gained control of its respective region upon the fall of Ur and the dismissal of the conquering Simashki ruler of the Elamites. The city's patron saint was Mumushda / Numushda.

(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 Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), 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 History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), and from External Links: Images from History (University of Alabama), and Beginnings of Old Babylonian Babylon: Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El, Rients de Boer (Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol 70, 2018, and available to read via JSTOR), and The Ancient Near East, A Life, Piotr Michalowski & Gary Beckman (Orientalia lovaniensia Analecta 220, 2012, and available to download as a PDF).)

fl c.2330 BC

Perhaps a sub-king. Revolted against Sargon of Agade.

c.2330 BC

Although it is an unsupported account, it seems that Kazallu is devastated by Sargon for resisting Akkadian power.

c.2254? BC

Kish leads a revolt against the Akkadian empire, rallying the northern Sumerian cities of Apiak (location unknown, but close to the Tigris, to the east of Nippur), Borsippa, Dilbat, Eresh, Kazallu, Kiritab, Kutha, Sippar, and Tiwa, and placing a well-organised army in the field which is then defeated.

fl c.2040 - 2030 BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Ur.

fl c.2016 - 2013 BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Ur.

c.2016 BC

The governor of Kazallu appeals to Ibbi-Sin of Ur for help against the encroaching forces of Ishbi-Erra of Isin. That help is refused, and within three years Kazallu falls to Isin.

Kazallu (Amorite City State) (Southern Mesopotamia)

The city of Uruk had been one of the first great cities in Sumer, and across Mesopotamia as a whole (largely covered by today's Iraq and southern Turkey). It seems to have been singly responsible for the Uruk IV period in the fourth millennium BC, and was a major Sumerian city throughout the third millennium BC.

Civilisation in Sumer waned towards the end of that millennium, seemingly due to the Euphrates undergoing a major shift in course, but also to a degree of aridisation and climate dryness which was being felt around the world.

Sumer and the now-dominant city of Ur collapsed entirely when the Simashki ruler of Elam, Kindattu, together with the people of Susa, sacked Ur and captured its king around 2004 BC. Uruk of its 'Fifth Dynasty' was briefly occupied by the invading Elamites before becoming a possession of Isin.

Semitic-speaking Amorites had been inhabitants of Sumer for some centuries, and it was they who rose to fill the gap left by the end of Sumerian civilisation. Under them the small and hitherto not especially important city of Kazallu briefly became a regional power, vying first against Isin and then against Babylon. However, it is questionable how much direct influence Amorites had in its rise, as 'at least one' of its rulers bore a Semitic name while the others are less certain.

The city, which had been an ally of Ibbi-Sin's Ur, conquered a swathe of territory which largely followed the line of the canals in a southwards direction. They reached the city of Marad but held onto it for perhaps only half a century.

c.1950 BC

Kazallu remains a minor city state with no power outside its own territory and under the governance of Isin.

Represented by a statue. Possible king.

Represented by a statue. Possible king, probably Semitic.

c.1900? BC

Perhaps benefiting from Isin's considerable problems at this time, Kazallu seems to break away to form a state of its own. It expands along the canal network to its south and probably now seizes the small city of Marad at the same time.

? - c.1897 BC

Also overlord of Babylon, Kish, & Marad.

c.1897 BC

Upon the death of Sumuditama, Kish and Babylon both succeed in freeing themselves from Kazallu's domination. However, Kazallu still controls a large swathe of territory which reaches from Sippar in the north down to Marad in the south, which had been seized from Isin. Details of its rulers amount to little more than the odd inscription.

c.1883? BC

Sumuabum of Babylon lays waste to his implacable enemy in Kazallu, but it appears the city survives and continues to hold a position of some power in the region.

? - c.1854 BC

A Semitic name. Driven out, and later killed by Babylon.

c.1861? BC

In expectation of trouble, the Babylon king drives out Yakhzir-ilu. Two years later the ramparts are torn down and Babylon fights the city's inhabitants, finally killing the king seven years after he is first driven out.

If Babylon does not integrate the territory into its domains at this point, it certainly does so by around 1800 BC, immediately following a period of domination of Kazallu by Rim-Sin of Larsa during which he uses Kazallu's troops in a failed attack on Uruk.