Near East Kingdoms

Shadlash (City State) (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. 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.

By the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen independent city states which used local canals and boundary stones to mark their borders. Many of the smaller cities emerged in two broad waves, in the mid-third millennium BC and at the start of the second millennium BC. One of these was the city of Shadlash (correctly shown as Šadlaš' or Sadlas, but sometimes as Shadla).

The city of Akshak was located in the northern part of Sumer, a short way to the north of Umma. The city of Der lay some way to the direct east, in the Zagros mountain foothills, but a host of smaller cities lay close to it by the start of the second millennium BC, including Ishan-Mizyad, Kutha, Nerebtum, Shadlash, Shaduppum, Tutub, and Uzarlulu.

The precise location of Shadlash is unknown though. Initially it was connected to the modern archaeological site of Tell Ishchali, but later finds have connected that to Nerebtum (the favoured option), or perhaps Kiti (less favoured).

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(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 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 History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and Evolution of Sumerian kingship (Ancient World Magazine), and Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Project (Published between 2003-2021, part of the Babylonian section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology), and the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.)

fl c.1885? BC

Ruler. Known from two inscriptions.

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' (Shadlash).

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)

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 (see above) 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.

c.1880? BC

King of Shadlash. Contemporary with Hammi-dušur.

Sumu-numhim is known from the Nerebtum treaty which he signs with Hammi-dušur of Nerebtum, Tutub, Uzarlulu, and Shaduppum. The treaty covers sheep and cattle rustling and how the accused are to be handled by legal requirements.

Ceramic pot-bellows were employed to supply air to smelting furnaces, significantly contributing to early iron production in the region, with these examples coming from the later levels of ancient Uzarlulu (modern Tell al-Dhiba'i)

c.1864? BC

King of Nerebtum & Tutub? Gained Shaduppum.

c.1864? BC

The second feat which can be attributed to Sîn-abūšu of Nerebtum and Tutub is the taking of the land of 'Ṣit' a year after the Amīnum attack. This country is tentatively located around the towns of Mankisum and Šitullum, along the Tigris around Durand.

A broken Mari tablet also places him in 1851 BC, ensuring a reign of at least fourteen years. While Hammi-dušur has previously agreed a treaty with the city of Shadlas, it seems that hostilities continue.

One of Sîn-abūšu's year names attests to a siege of that city. He is apparently unsuccessful in conquering and incorporating Shadlash into his kingdom for any lasting time because, several decades later, it has a ruler by the name of Sumu-Šamaš.

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

fl 1830s? BC

Ruler.

c.1828 -1823 BC

After about 1862 BC, the city of Eshnunna under Ibiq-Adad II has been expanding its territory to incorporate the Diyala valley as far as its confluence with the Tigris. Previously independent minor cities are now subjugated (seemingly between about 1828-1823 BC).

These cities include Dur-Rimush, Nerebtum, Shaduppum (around 1823 BC), and Uzarlulu. It is highly likely that Shadlash is included in these conquests. It may be Apil-sin of Babylon who takes advantage of this by opportunistically grabbing for himself a few of Shaduppum's territorial holdings (which also include Tutub).