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Abi-eshuh

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Abī-EšuḫTitleKing of BabylonTerm28 years; ca. 1648–1620 BCPredecessorSamsu-ilunaSuccessorAmmī-ditānaAbī-Ešuḫ (variants: ma-bi-ši,[i 1] “Abiši”, mE-bi-šum,[i 2] “Ebišum”) was the 8th king of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon and reigned for 28 years from ca. 1648–1620 BC (short chronology) or 1711–1684 BC (middle chronology).[1] He was preceded by Samsu-iluna, who was his father.Contents [hide]1Biography2External links3Inscriptions4ReferencesBiography[edit]His exuberant titles included, “descendant of Sumu-la-El, princely heir of Samsu-iluna, eternal seed of kingship, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, king who makes the four quarters be at peace.” This was presumably achieved by his two aggressive military campaigns. His fourth year-name records that he subdued the army of the Kassites.[i 3] The Chronicle of Early Kings[i 1] recalls his damming of the Tigris in a vain attempt to capture Ilum-ma-ilī, the founder of the Sealand Dynasty. A clay cylinder fragment[i 4] from Kiš is tentatively assigned to this king because the events it commemorates coincide with three of his year-names. It mentions the Tigris river (year “o” the damming of the Tigris), the Tigris gate (year “m” the ká-gal-i7idigna), the fashioning of a mace for Marduk (year “g”) and digging of the Zubi cannal (year “I”). He is described as “the great champion” in his son, Ammi-Ditana's inscription,[i 5] and in the genealogy of his descendant Ammī-ṣaduqa.[2] The Elamites under their king Kutir-nahhunte I raided into Babylonia early in his reign and sacked 30 cities.Two copies of a building inscription[i 6] commemorate his construction activities at Luḫaia, a town founded by Ḫammu-rāpi on the Araḫtum canal to the north of Babylon.[3] A single inscription exists found on an onyx eye stone dedicated to the goddess Ningal.[i 7]He is richly attested in the cylinder seal impressions of his minions with one[i 8] of his servant, Lamānum, son of Bēl-kulla, another[i 9] of Luštāmar-Adad, son of Mār-Sipparim, another[i 10] of Nabi’um-an[dasa], son of Ilšu-ib[nīšu], another[i 11] … son of Awīl-…, another[i 12] Ilšu-nāṣir, diviner, son of Marduk-nāṣir, another a copy[i 13] Iddin-Šamaš, sanga priest of the goddess Ninisina, son of Ku-Ninisina, and another[i 14] overseer of the merchants, Sīn-iddina[m] son of Šērum-bān[i].[3] The Uruk List of Kings and Sages[i 15] records that “during the reign of Abī-ešuḫ, the king, Gimil-Gula and Taqis-Gula were the scholars.”.[4]External links[edit]Abī-Ešuḫ year-names at CDLI.A hymn to Marduk for Abī-Ešuḫ at ETCSL.A praise poem of Abī-Ešuḫ at ETCSL.Inscriptions[edit]^ Jump up to: a b Chronicle of Early Kings, (ABC 20), Tablet B, reverse, lines 8 to 10.Jump up ^ Babylonian King List B, obverse line 8.Jump up ^ Tablet BM 16998.Jump up ^ Ash. 1924.616.Jump up ^ Late Babylon copy on a tablet, BM 38308.Jump up ^ Tablets BM 38446 and BM 55472 + 40125.Jump up ^ Eyestone, Ash. 1922.293.Jump up ^ On tablet MLC 2239 dated to year 20 of Ammī-ditāna, at Yale.Jump up ^ On tablets YBC 8385 and YBC 5885 dated to Abī-Ešuḫ’s years “m” and “y,” at Yale.Jump up ^ On tablet MLC 1539, at Yale.Jump up ^ On tablet UMM 36, in the University Museum of Manchester.Jump up ^ Cylinder seal VA 3242, in Berlin.Jump up ^ Cylinder seal BM 89101, in the British Museum.Jump up ^ Cylinder seal in the Lands of the Bible Archaeology Foundation.Jump up ^ W 20030,7 the Seleucid List of Sages and Scholars, recovered from Anu’s Bīt Rēš temple during the 1959/60 excavation.References[edit]Jump up ^ Albert Kirk Grayson (1975). Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles. J. J. Augustin. p. 203.Jump up ^ JJ Finkelstein, JCS 20, 1966, p96, 27.^ Jump up to: a b Douglas Frayne (1990). Old Babylonian period (2003-1595 BC): Early Periods, Volume 4 (RIM The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia). University of Toronto Press. pp. 404–410.Jump up ^ Alan Lenzi (2008). "The Uruk List of Kings and Sages and Late Mesopotamian Scholarship". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 8 (2): 137–169. doi:10.1163/156921208786611764.