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. The precise location is uncertain, but it has been estimated to have been about fifteen or so kilometres east-south-east of Babylon, which was still insignificant at the time of Kazallu's short-lived rise to power in the early second millennium BC.

Along with Isin in the south, the city 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 or Numushda (or even Numuszda), who was regarded as being a powerful, tempestuous deity.

He was associated with nature, the raw force of floods, and warfare. He was generally considered to be the son of the Sumerian moon god, Nanna (or Suen), and the goddess Ningal. His consort was the poorly-documented goddess, Namrat, with statues being made for both of them in the 1800s BC.

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(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), from Some Rīm-Anum Texts from the Bīt asīrī Kept at the British Museum, Annunziata Rositani (Rivista Degli Studi Orientali, Vol 82, No 1/4, Fabrizio Serra Editore, Sapienza - Universita di Roma, 2009, pp 97-121), from Early Mesopotamia: the presumptive state, Seth Richardson (Past & Present, No 215, 2012, pp 3-49), 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 the minimal details originate in an unsupported account, it seems that Kazallu is devastated by Sargon for resisting Akkadian power as he is expanding his territory. He also defeats Lagash, invades Syria and the Levant four times, and campaigns against the Gutians, the Hatti, Marhashi, and Simurrum.

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

c.2254? BC

Kish leads a 'Great Revolt' against the Akkadian empire, rallying the northern Sumerian cities of Apiak, Borsippa, Dilbat, Eresh, Kazallu, Kiritab, Kutha, Sippar, and Tiwa, and placing a well-organised army in the field which is then defeated.

c.2066 BC

Shulgi of Ur has extended his father's empire to include all of the Assyrian city states and their neighbours such as the Lullubi. He has also re-conquered Susa from Elam and its Simashki rulers, and may be responsible for completing rebuilding work at Nippur.

Ur's governors are in place at Kazallu from at least the twenty-eighth year of Shulgi's reign. The first (?) five names are known as are their years of appointment. The last, Apillaša, remains in office throughout the reign of Amar-Sin and into that of Shi-Sin. Then surviving records fail and only one further governor is known.

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.2066 - ? BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Shulgi of Ur.

c.2063 - ? BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Shulgi of Ur.

c.2051 - ? BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Shulgi of Ur.

c.2047 - ? BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Shulgi of Ur.

c.2039 - 2030 BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Amar-Sin of Ur.

fl c.2016 - 2013 BC

Ensi (governor) of Kazallu under Ibbi-Sin of Ur.

c.2016 BC

The governor of Kazallu appeals around 2016 BC 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, by about 2013 BC. Marad goes the same way.

The governor in question can probably be equated with a governor of that name who writes to Ibbi-Sin before the fall of Kazallu. That individual is Puzurnumushda, who provides the vital identification for Zinnum, governor of Kish, who may play a part in the Elamite invasion of Ur around 2004 BC.

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.2004 BC

The waning Sumerian civilisation which has at its centre the 'Third Dynasty' city of Ur now collapses entirely when the Simashki ruler of Elam, Kindattu, together with the people of Susa, sacks the city and captures Ibbi-Sin. The great brick mausoleums and temples of the third dynasty kings of Ur are destroyed and the king is carried off into captivity, ending Sumerian civilisation.

Documentation from Umma now ceases. Isin now enjoys a period of dominance in Sumer while now-Amorite-dominated cities of Kazallu, Kish, and Ur re-emerge under reduced circumstances.

Kazallu (Amorite City State) (Southern Mesopotamia)

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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. Sumerian civilisation collapsed entirely when the Simashki ruler of Elam sacked Ur and captured its king around 2004 BC.

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. At least one of its rulers bore a Semitic name but 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. Kazallu's forces reached the city of Marad but held onto it for perhaps only a century while it continually warred with Isin, Larsa, and Babylon.

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c.1950 BC

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

c.1900? BC

Perhaps benefiting from Isin's considerable problems at this time, Kazallu breaks away from Isin to form a state of its own. It expands along the canal network to its south which is where Marad lays. The city is held for some time by Kazallu.

About a hundred and fifty kilometres to the south of Baghdad lies a great archaeological mound which is about eighteen metres high and almost 1.5 kilometres across: Nippur, the city of Enlil the 'mooring-rope' of heaven and earth which served as Sumer's primary religious centre

? - 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. Details of its rulers amount to little more than the odd inscription.

King. Also in Marad.

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. The fighting continues on-and-off.

King. Also in Marad.

King, but not in Marad.

c.1880s? BC

Sumu-Amnānum of Shadlash is known only from two inscriptions, one of which comes from Nerebtum while the other comes from Uzarlulu. Both are dedications to Inanna, 'the lady of Šadlaš'.

Babylon began life as a modest town which had been seized from Kazallu, but was quickly fortified by the building of a city wall in the nineteenth century BC

When precisely he rules at Shadlash is unknown, but it probably takes place before the reign of Sumu-numhim - who is known from the Nerebtum treaty - so approximately during the time of Sumu-nabi-yarim (or Sumun-abi-yarim) of Uzarlulu or that of Mašparum.

The latter's home city is unknown, as are those of two other contemporary kings - Abdi-Erah and Šiqlānum (possibly of Eshnunna) - but all of them are dated between about 1900-1880 BC. It is Mašparum who is involved in negotiating with Ḫalun-pi-umu of Marad regarding his intentions to go to war, seemingly as a king who is independent of Kazallu.

? - c.1854 BC

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

c.1861 - 1854 BC

In expectation of trouble, the Babylon king drives out Yakhzir-ilu around the year 1861 BC, ruler both in Kazallu and Marad. Two years later (circa 1859 BC) the ramparts are torn down and Babylon fights the city's inhabitants, finally killing the king seven years after he is first driven out (circa 1854 BC).

This general map of Mesopotamia and its neighbouring territories roughly covers the period between 2000-1600 BC. It reveals the concentration of city states in the former Sumer, in the south (click or tap on map to view full sized)

fl c.1830s BC

King. Represented by a statue. Also in Marad. Probably Semitic.

c.1838? BC

A year name which is issued by Sin-iqisham of Larsa records the 'year (Sin-iqiszam) made (statues) of / for Numuszda (Kazallu's patron deity), Namrat (his goddess wife), and Lugal-apiak (the ruler) and brought them into the city of Kazallu'. Those seemingly good relations do not last very long at all.

c.1836 BC

To commemorate Year 5 of his reign (his last, as it turns out), Sin-iqisham of Larsa gives it the name '[the] year Uruk, Kazallu, the army of the land of Elam, and Zambija the king of Isin were defeated'. This would be the coalition which seemingly had been forming since the reign of Sin-iddinam of Larsa.

c.1833 BC

The second year of the reign of Warad-Sin of Larsa bears the year name '[the] year in which the city wall of Kazallu was destroyed and the army of Mutibal which occupied Larsa was smitten by weapons'.

The modern archaeological site of Tell es-Senkereh is the site of ancient Larsa, one-time capital of Sumer during a brief period of domination and one of the largest archaeological sites in Iraq

The Mutibal are the Yamutbal tribe from which hail Warad-Sin and his own kin, perhaps not an unusual mix with the claim to be rulers of an obscure state in the traditionally rough country to the north of Susa.

fl c.1820s? BC

King. Also in Marad.

c.1800s BC

If Babylon has not already integrated Kazallu and Marad into its domains by this point, it certainly does so by around 1800 BC. This immediately follows a period of domination of Kazallu by Rim-Sin of Larsa during which he uses Kazallu's troops in a failed attack on Uruk. Kazallu largely disappears from the historical record, fully abandoned after about 1595 BC.