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Ekallatum

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Ekallatum (Akkadian: 𒌷𒂍𒃲𒈨𒌍, E2.GAL.MEŠ, Ekallātum, "the Palaces") was an ancient Amorite city-state and kingdom in upper Mesopotamia.

Stele of Adad-bel ukin, governor of Libbi-ali, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Ekallatum, Itu, and Ruqahu. From Assur, Iraq. 780 BCE. Pergamon Museum

Ekallatum, whose name means "the palaces," became the capital of an Amorite dynasty related to Babylon, which was important in the 19th and 18th centuries BCE period. The history of upper Mesopotamia in this period is documented in the archives of Mari, Syria. It was known to have been on the Tigris river, though which bank is still in some dispute, and in the general vicinity of Assur.

The gods of the city were Addu (Hadad), who resided in Ekallātum, and Istar of Radana, who visited the city from time to time.

History

Its first known king was the Amorite Ila-kabkabu, who seems to have entered into a conflict with Iagitlim of Mari. His son Shamshi-Adad I ascended to the throne around 1810 BCE, continuing the conflict and attempting to extend into the valley along the Khabur River. He was a sometime ally, sometime enemy of Dadusha of Eshnunna (whose second year name was "Year in which Dadusza defeated the army of Ekallatum") in regional conflicts. His expansion was halted by Iagitlim's son, Iakhdunlim, and he was soon after defeated by Naram-Sin of Eshnunna, brother and successor of Dadusha, which caused him to flee to Babylon, a city founded and ruled by fellow Amorites. He returned upon Naram-Sin's death. Soon thereafter, a series of military victories by Shamshi-Adad followed, and he seized all of Upper Mesopotamia, founding what historians now call the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia. The campaign included the annexing of nearby Assur. He founded his own capital at Shubat-Enlil, entrusting Ekallatum to his elder son Ishme-Dagan I. (His other son, Yasmah-Adad, was placed on the throne of Mari at the time.) Ishme-Dagan appears to have been a capable military leader, but when his father died in around 1775, he proved unable to maintain the whole kingdom; nonetheless, he kept Ekallatum, while his brother lost Mari and was killed.

The reign of Ishme-Dagan was chaotic, often being involved in military conflict with Nurrugum (location unknown). Unable to restore power to the city despite his many attempts, he was the target of nearby warlords, in particular, Zimrilim of Mari. When the Elamites took Ekallatum in 1765, he sought refuge with his traditional ally -- Hammurabi of Babylon—who helped him take back the throne. His time at Babylon may have been more in the way of captive than ally given:

"About the news on Išme-Dagan coming up to Ekallatum that my lord keeps hearing: he certainly did not to Ekallatum. Matters concerning him have happened, and they (people in Babylon?) started getting after him. The respondent (āpilum) of the god Marduk stood in the gate of the palace and was calling out repeatedly: “Išme-Dagan will not escape the hand of Marduk. He (Marduk) ties the bundle. And he will cross the border for it.” These things he called out repeatedly in the gate of the palace, and nobody said anything to him"

Subsequently, Ekallatum became a vassal city subservient to the king of Babylon Hammurabi (a year name was "Year Hammu-rabi the king subjugated the land of the region of Subartu, Ekallatum, Burunda and the land of Zamlasz from the banks of the Tigris to the Sippar canal"), who came to control all of Mesopotamia. With the death of Ishme-Dagan, his son Mut-Ashkur succeeded him. He was the last known king of Ekallatum. Later Ekallātum fell under the control of the Mitanni empire and eventually fell to the Hittites under Šuppiluliuma I (1344–1322 BC).

An inscription claims that the king of Babylon Marduk-nadin-ahhe (c. 1095–1078 BC) captured Ekallātum.

The Neo-Assyrian ruler Sennacherib (705–681 BC) reported that he returned the gods (their cult statues) "Adad and Shala" to Ekallātum after 418 years, claiming they had been deported by Babylonian ruler Marduk-nadin-ahhe (c. 1095–1078 BC).

Location

It was speculated by one researcher that the original name of Ekallātum was Hamazi, changed after it was destroyed by Ishbi-Erra of Isin after the fall of the Ur III empire.

An Ekallātum is mentioned in the Old Babylonian period texts of Mari as lying to the West of the Tigris River in the Khābōr Tringle Region. One prominent researcher has suggested that the Mari texts contain two towns named Ekallātum, one on the Tigris and one which was Shamsi-Adad's capital at the headwater of a tributary of the Khabur River at the modern location of "Khoueïltla".

In a long Old Babylonian itinerary from Emar and back (portions on the tablet are lost), Ekallātum is the first stop on the northward route after Assur and the last stop before Assur on the return route.

A tablet fragment was found at Tel Hazor which listed an expected trade path from Hazor to Mari and then on to Ekallatum.

It has been suggested that Ekallatum lies within a days journey of Assur, most likely at Tell Haikal (Tulul el-Haikal) (East: 43.272797 / North: 35.597384), 15 kilometers north of Assur on the East bank of the Tigris. More recently some researchers have discounted this location and instead suggested Tell Akra twenty kilometers east of Assur, also on the East bank of the Tigris.

Recently, the site of Tell Ḥuwaish (also Tal al-Huwaish), 18 kilometers north of Assur on the west bank of the Tigris, has been proposed as the location of Ekallātum.

See also

References

  1. Stiebing, William H. Jr. (July 2016). Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-315-51116-0.
  2. Buck, Mary E. (2019-09-16). The Amorite Dynasty of Ugarit: Historical Implications of Linguistic and Archaeological Parallels. BRILL. p. 88. ISBN 978-90-04-41511-9.
  3. D. Charpin and J. M. Durand, "Assur avant L'Assyrie", MARI 8 (1997), pp. 367-91, 1997
  4. Rollinger, Robert, "Dāduša's stela and the vexed question of identifying the main actors on the relief", Iraq, vol. 79, pp. 203–12, 2017
  5. Michalowski, Piotr, and Adnan Misir, "Cuneiform Texts from Kazane Höyük", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 50, pp. 53–58, 1998
  6. ^ Beitzel, Barry J., "Išme-Dagan’s Military Actions in the Jezirah: A Geographical Study", Iraq, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 29–42, 1984
  7. Sasson, J. M., "Zimri-Lim’s March to Victory", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 177–78, 1972
  8. Heimpel, W., "Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary", Mesopotamian Civilizations 12, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003
  9. Reade, Julian, "Assyrian King-Lists, the Royal Tombs of Ur, and Indus Origins", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 1–29, 2001
  10. Bechar, Shlomit, "Chapter 1. Introduction", in Political Change and Material Culture in Middle to Late Bronze Age Canaan, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 1-35, 2022
  11. Hallo, W. W., "Akkadian Apocalypses", Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 231–42, 1966
  12. Zaia, Shana, "State-Sponsored Sacrilege: “Godnapping” and Omission in Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 19-54, 2015
  13. Steinkeller, Piotr, "The Historical Background of Urkeš and the Hurrian Beginnings in Northern Mesopotamia", Pp.75–98 in Urkesh and The Hurrians: A Volume in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen, ed. Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. BibMes 26. Malibu: Undena, 1998
  14. Charpin, D. and Ziegler, N., "Mari et le Proche-Orient à l’époque amorrite: Essai d’histoire politique", FM 5, Paris: Société pour l’étude du Proche-Orient ancien, Sophie Démare-Lafont, 2003
  15. Frayne, Douglas, "Towards a Historical Geography of the Khābōr Triangle Region in Old Babylonian Times. Part 1.", Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 7, pp. 33-45, 2012
  16. Frayne, Douglas R., "Towards a Historical Geography of the Khābōr Triangle Region in Old Babylonian Times, Part II", CSMSJ 9/10, pp. 17-65, 2014- 2015
  17. Goetze, Albrecht, "An Old Babylonian Itinerary", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 51–72, 1953
  18. Hallo, William W., "The Road to Emar", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 57–88, 1964
  19. Horowitz, Wayne, and Nathan Wasserman, "An Old Babylonian Letter from Hazor with Mention of Mari and Ekallātum", Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 50, no. 3/4, pp. 169–74, 2000
  20. M. Birot, "Nouvelles decouvertes epigraphiques au Palais de Mari (Salle 115)", Syria 50, pp. 1-11, 1973
  21. Dittmann, R., "Ruinenbeschreibungen der Machmur-Ebene aus dem Nachlass von Walter Bachmann", in Finkbeiner, Dittmann, and Hauptmann (eds), pp. 87-102, 1995
  22. Eidem, J. and F. Højlund, "Assyria and Dilmun Revisited", in H. Waetzoldt, and H. Hauptmann (eds), Assyrien im Wandel derZeiten, Heidelberger Studien zum Alten Orient 6, pp. 25-31, 1997
  23. Nele Ziegler, Adelheid Otto, "Tell Ḥuwaish = Tell Ḥuwaish", Notes Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, pp. 214, 2022
  24. Ziegler, Nele, and Adelheid Otto, "Ekallatum, Samsi-Addu’s capital city, localised", Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 221-252, 2023

Further reading

  • D. Charpin, "Tell Munbaqa, Ekallâtum-sur-l'Euphrate", NABU 32, 1993
  • Horowitz W., and N. Wasserman, "From Hazor to Mari and Ekallātum: A Recently Discovered Old-Babylonian Letter from Hazor", in Nomades et sĂŠdentaires dans le Proche- Orient ancien: Compte rendu de la XLVIe Rencontre assyriologique internationale, Paris, 10–13 juillet 2000, ed. Christophe Nicolle. Amurru 3. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les civilisations, pp. 335–44, 2004
  • Nele Ziegler, Adelheid Otto, Christoph Fink, "The ”Road to Emar” Reconsidered", Adelheid Otto; Nele Ziegler. Entre les fleuves – III. O, the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography, Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient (30), PeWe Verlag, pp.135-220, 2023 ISBN 978-3-935012-64-5
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