Eshnunna

Sumerian male worshiper, in alabaster with shell eyes. It is of the twelve statues found in the Tell Asmar Hoard.

Occupied from the Jemdet Nasr period, about 3000 BC, Eshnunna was a major city during the Early Dynastic period of Mesopotamia. Beginning with the rise of the Akkadian Empire. The first leader of the city was a governor under the Akkadian Empire named Ituria. Ituria would build a palace and a temple dedicated to Shu-Sin.[1]The Next leader of the city was Shu-ija, who would declare independence from Akkad in 2026 BCE. During 2010 BCE, the city of Eshnunna, and its king, Nurahum had a conflict with Subartu, another city.[1] The following kings, named Kirikiri and Bilalamaboth had Elamite names.[1] This suggests that Eshnunna retained good relationships with the Elamites. Although, it seems unlikley they were conquered by the Elamites.[1] Later the city was sacked.[1] It is unknown who sacked the city but it might have been Anum-muttabbil of Der.[1] The sacking of the city could have resulted in the lack of information we have about the following kings.[1] By 1870 BCE Eshnunna was revived.[1] This could have occured due to the decline of the cities of Isin and Larsa.[1]During the years in between 1862 to 1818 BCE Ipiqadad II, king of Eshunna, conquered the cities of Nerebtum and Dur-Rimush.[1]From 1830-1815 BCE king Naramsin expands his cities territory to Babylon, Ekallatum, and Ashur.[1] In 1780 BCE the kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia turned on Eshnunna and conquered the cities Nerebtum and Shaduppum.[1] During the year of 1766 BCE two things happened. Ibalpiel II wanted to relieve the siege of Razama.[1] Although Razama fell Before he was able to join the siege.[1] Another thing that happened was the retaking of Nerebtum and Shaduppum after the death of the king of Upper Mesopotamia.[1] Afterwards, a great flood ravages the city. It is possible this flood caused a decline and eventual disappearance of the cities.[1] In 1764 BCE, Silli-Sin formed a coalition with Mari to attack Babylon, although it failed.[1]In 1762 BCE Eshnunna is captured by Babylon. During 1741-1736 BCE Eshnunna’s leader, Anni, would side with a king of Larsa in a rebellion against Babylon. Anni would be captured and killed by the Babylonians. Later which it was conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon in the 38th year of his reign, and thus absorbed within the Old Babylonian Empire. Eshnunna would be destroyed by the Babylonians.[1]

Because of its promise of control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna could function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Elamite culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought-after goods such as horses from the north, copper, tin, and other metals and precious stones. In a grave in Eshnunna, a pendant made of copal from Zanzibar was found.[2] A small number of seals and beads from the Indus Valley Civilization were also found.[3]

Old-Babylonian plaque of a nude female, from Tell Asmar, Iraq

The remains of the ancient city are now preserved in the tell, or archaeological settlement mound, of Tell Asmar, some 38 km in a straight line northeast of Baghdad and 30 km in a straight line southeast of Baqubah. It was first located by Henri Pognon in 1892 but he neglected to report the location before he died in 1921. It was refound and excavated in six seasons between 1930 and 1936 by an Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The expedition's field secretary was Mary Chubb.[10]

Despite the length of time since the excavations at Tell Asmar, the work of examining and publishing the remaining finds from that dig continues to this day. [11] These finds include roughly 1,500 cuneiform tablets.[12]

In the late 1990s, Iraqi archaeologists worked at Tell Asmar. The results from that excavation have not yet been published.[13]

Stele of Dadusha

Square Temple of Abu

Head of a statue from Tell Asmar, excavated by the Oriental Institute in 1933. The Sulaymaniyah Museum

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 construction. 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.[16] A cache of 12 gypsum temple sculptures, in a geometric style, were found in the Square Temple; these are known as the Tell Asmar Hoard. They are some of the best known examples of ancient Near East sculpture. The group, now split up, show gods, priests and donor worshippers at different sizes, but all in the same highly simplified style. All have greatly enlarged inlaid eyes, but the tallest figure, the main cult image depicting the local god, has enormous eyes that give it a "fierce power".[17][18][19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eshnunna.

• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Khafajah
• Tell Ishchali
• Short chronology timeline
• Mari (ally)
• Andarig (ally)

• Chubb, Mary (1999). City In the Sand (2nd ed.). Libri. ISBN 1-901965-02-3.
• Clemens Reichel, Centre and Periphery—the Role of the ‘Palace of the Rulers’ at Tell Asmar in the History of Ešnunna (2,100 –1,750 BCE), Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies, 2018
• R. M. Whiting Jr., "Old Babylonian Letters from Tell Asmar", Assyriological Studies 22, Oriental Institute, 1987
• I.J. Gelb, "Sargonic Texts from the Diyala Region", Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 1, Chicago, 1961
• Maria deJong Ellis, "Notes on the Chronology of the Later Eshnunna Dynasty", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 61–85, 1985
• I. J. Gelb, "A Tablet of Unusual Type from Tell Asmar", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 219–226, 1942
• Romano, Licia, "Who was Worshipped in the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar?", KASKAL 7, pp. 51–65, 2010
• Pinhas Delougaz, "Pottery from the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 63, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1952, ISBN 0-226-14233-7
• Pinhas Delougaz, Harold D. Hill, and Seton Lloyd, "Private Houses and Graves in the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 88, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967
• Pinhas Delougaz and Seton Lloyd with chapters by Henri Frankfort and Thorkild Jacobsen, "Pre-Sargonid Temples in the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 58, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1942

• The Diyala Project at the University of Chicago
• Tell Asmar Statue at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago