Babylonia at the time of Hammurabi, ca. 1792-1750 BC

Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in lower Mesopotamia. Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq) with Babylon as its capital Hammurabi ( Akkadian from Amorite ˤAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer" from ˤAmmu, "paternal kinsman" and Rāpi Circa (often abbreviated c, ca, ca or cca and sometimes Italicized to show it is Latin) means "about" For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Sumer ( Sumerian: sux-Latn [[Ki (earth ki]]-[[EN (cuneiform en]]-'''ĝir15''', Akkadian: Šumeru; possibly Biblical Shinar Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu. The Diyala River (نهر ديالى Persian: دیاله Kurdish: Sirwan سيروان) is a River and tributary of the Tigris that

The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak (Tispak). Tishpak ( Tispak) is an Akkadian god the tutelary deity of the city of Esnumma ( Eshnunna)

History

Occupied from the Early Dynastic Period, Eshnunna was eventually drawn within the sphere of Third Dynasty of Ur, before achieving a short-lived political prominence - after Ur's decline and fall - within the first two centuries of the second millennium BC. The Third Dynasty of Ur refers simultaneously to a 21st to 20th century BC ( Short chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of At this time, Eshnunna again represented the focus of an independent polity of significant size and influence.

Because of its control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna did function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Iranian culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought after goods such as horses, copper, tin, and other precious stones and metals. The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50

After being occupied by Elam, Eshnunna was ultimately conquered by Hammurabi, ruler of Babylon, and absorbed within the Old Babylonian Empire (sometimes called the First Babylonian Dynasty). Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Hammurabi ( Akkadian from Amorite ˤAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer" from ˤAmmu, "paternal kinsman" and Rāpi Babylon was a City-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq) with Babylon as its capital The Chronology of the first dynasty of Babylonia is debated as there is a Babylonian King List A and a Babylonian King List B. Thereafter, the city appears but rarely within cuneiform textual sources, reflecting a probable decline and eventual disappearance.

Main article: Eshnunna

Archaeology

The remains of the ancient city are now preserved in the mound of Tell Asmar, near Baqubah, excavated in the early 1930s by a Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen. Not to be confused with other ancient Mesopotamian kings with the same name Naram-Suen Naram-Suen (also transcribed Narām-Sîn, Zimrilim was king of Mari from about 1779 to 1757 BCE He was the son and heir of Iakhdunlim, but was forced to flee to Yamkhad when his father Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Baqubah ( BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq 's Diyala Governorate. Henri 'Hans' Frankfort ( February 24, 1897 - July 16, 1954) was a Dutch Egyptologist, archaeologist and orientalist Thorkild Jacobsen (Danish pronunciation yahkobsen; 7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned historian specializing in ^[1] Despite the long passage of time since the excavations at Tell Asmar, the work of examining and publishing the remaining finds from that dig continues to this day. ^[2]

Laws of Eshnunna

The Laws of Eshnunna consist of two tablets (found at Tell Harmal) and a fragment (found at Tell Haddad). They were written sometime around the reign of king Dadusha of Eshnunna and appear to not be official copies. When the actual laws were composed is unknown. They are similar to the Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi ( Codex Hammurabi) is the best-preserved ancient Law code, created ca ^[3]

Square Temple of Abu

During the Early Dynastic period, the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar (Eshnunna) went through a number of phases. This included the Early Dynastic Archaic Shrine, Square Temple, and Single-Shrine phases of contruction. They, along with sculpture found there, helped form the basis for the three part archaeological separation of the Early Dynastic period into ED I, ED II, and ED III for the ancient Near East. ^[4] A cache of 12 gypsum sculptures, in a geometic style, were found in Square Temple. They some of the best known examples of ancient Near East sculpture. ^[5]

Notes

References

• City In the Sand (2nd Edition), Mary Chubb, Libri, 1999, ISBN 1901965023

See also

• Cities of the ancient Near East

External links

• Law Code of Eshnunna tablet at Iraq National Museum