Kikkia

Kikkia (sometimes given as Kikkiya), inscribed ^mKi-ik-ki-a^{[i 1][i 2]} was the 28th ruler of Assyria to be recorded on the Assyrian King List.^[1] He was listed after Sulili, the son of Aminu, and before Akia.

Biography

His name is given as the second of a group of rulers “(named) on bricks whose eponyms are not found,” suggesting he preceded the period when an annual limmu official was appointed and gave his name to the year. Consequently, the length of his reign is undetermined.

Apart from his appearance in two copies of the Assyrian Kinglist (the Khorsabad and SDAS copies, but not the Nassouhi one which is damaged at the top where he might have appeared), he is only known from two building inscriptions of his successors. The earliest of these is that of Aššur-rā’im-nišēšu, c. 1398–1391 BC, who commemorated his reconstruction of the wall of the inner city of Aššur by listing the previous restorers on a commemorative cone,^{[i 3]} beginning with Kikkia. The later king, Salmānu-ašarēd III also restored this wall and gave credit to his predecessor in his inscription.^[2]

The erection of a defensive wall suggests that Kikkia may have won his independence from waning Ur III influence. An earlier Assyrian šakkanakkum (KIŠ.NITA₂) and chief magistrate of Aššur, Zāriqum, who was omitted from the extant copies of the king lists, was a contemporary and vassal of Šulgi (2029–1982 BC) and AMAR-Sîn of Ur (1981–1973 BC),^[3] so one would suppose that Kikkia must have reigned after this time.

Thesis of Hurrian origin

Arthur Ungnad interpreted Kikkia's name, as well as that of Ushpia, as Hurrian (BA VI, 5, S. 13), but more recent research no longer holds this thesis as tenable. Even Arno Poebel wasn't convinced by the interpretation.^[4]

Inscriptions

1. Khorsabad Kinglist, i 23.
2. SDAS Kinglist, i 22.
3. Cone VAT^? 2764.

References

1. I. J. Gelb (1954). "Two Assyria King Lists". Journal of Near Eastern Studies 13 (4): 212–213, 224. doi:10.1086/371224.
2. Hildegard Lewy (1966). The Cambridge Ancient History: Assyria c. 2600-1816 B.C. p. 21.
3. Klaas R Veenhof (2008). Mesopotamia: The Old Assyrian Period. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 19,124.
4. Arno Poebel, The Assyrian King List from Khorsabad, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 1/3, 1942, 253