Shalim-ahum

Šalim-ahum was a ruler of the city state of Assur around 1900 BC (short chronology).[1]

He is the earliest independent ruler to be attested in a contemporary inscription.[1] The Assyrian Kinglist records his name as Šallim-aḫḫe, inscribed šal-lim-PAB-MEŠ, meaning “keep the brothers safe”, and he appears amongst the six kings “whose eponyms are not found”,[2] meaning that the length of his reign was unknown. He reigned near the beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC.

He was described as the son of Puzur-Ashur I (dumu Puzu Assur) in his only known inscription.[3] Carved in curious archaic character mirror-writing in old Assyrian on an alabaster block found during the German excavations at Assur under Walter Andrae, this sole exemplar of his contemporary inscriptions records that the god Ashur “requested of him” the construction of a temple and that he had “beer vats and storage area” built in the “temple area.” [4]:6–7

He ruled during a period when nascent Assyrian merchant companies were branching out into Anatolia to trade textiles and tin from Assur for silver.[1] He was succeeded by his son, Ilu-šūma, as recorded in his brick and limestone inscriptions[4]:7–8 and he appears in the genealogy of his grandson, Erišum I.[4]:12,15 His name appears in an inscription of Adad-nārārī I and one of Šulmanu-ašaredu I but only in the context of references to his son, Ilu-šūma.[4]:68,91

Shalim-ahum and his successors bore the title išši’ak aššur, vice regent of Assur, as well as ensi.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 J. A. Brinkman (2001). "Assyria". In Bruce Manning Metzger, Michael David Coogan. The Oxford companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press. p. 63.
  2. ↑ K. R. Veenhof (2003). The Old Assyrian List of Year Eponyms from Karum Kanish and is Chronological Implications. Turkish Historical Society. p. 21.
  3. ↑ Albert Kirk Grayson (2002). Assyrian Rulers. Volume1: 1114 – 859 BC. p. 14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Albert Kirk Grayson (1972). Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Volume 1. Otto Harrassowitz. pp. 6–8.
  5. ↑ Barbara Cifola (1995). Analysis of variants in the Assyrian royal titulary from the origins to Tiglath-Pileser III. Istituto universitario orientale. p. 8.
Preceded by
Puzur-Ashur I		 King of Assyria
ca. 1900 BC 		Succeeded by
Ilu-šūma
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