Abi-Eshuh

Biography

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.Tablet BM 16998. The Chronicle of Early Kings recalls his damming of the Tigris in a vain attempt to capture Ilum-ma-ilī, the founder of the Sealand Dynasty. A clay cylinder fragmentAsh. 1924.616. 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 canal (year “I”). He is described as “the great champion” in his son, Ammī-ditāna's inscription,Late Babylon copy on a tablet, BM 38308. and in the genealogy of his descendant Ammī-ṣaduqa.

The Elamites under their king Kutir-nahhunte I raided into Babylonia early in his reign and sacked 30 cities.

Two copies of a building inscriptionTablets BM 38446 and BM 55472 + 40125. commemorate his construction activities at Luḫaia, a town founded by Ḫammu-rāpi on the Araḫtum canal to the north of Babylon. A single inscription exists found on an onyx eye stone dedicated to the goddess Ningal.Eyestone, Ash. 1922.293.

He is richly attested in the cylinder seal impressions of his minions with oneOn tablet MLC 2239 dated to year 20 of Ammī-ditāna, at Yale. of his servant, Lamānum, son of Bēl-kulla, anotherOn tablets YBC 8385 and YBC 5885 dated to Abī-Ešuḫ’s years “m” and “y,” at Yale. of Luštāmar-Adad, son of Mār-Sipparim, anotherOn tablet MLC 1539, at Yale. of Nabi’um-an[dasa], son of Ilšu-ib[nīšu], anotherOn tablet UMM 36, in the University Museum of Manchester. ... son of Awīl-..., anotherCylinder seal VA 3242, in Berlin. Ilšu-nāṣir, diviner, son of Marduk-nāṣir, another a copyCylinder seal BM 89101, in the British Museum. Iddin-Šamaš, sanga priest of the goddess Ninisina, son of Ku-Ninisina, and anotherCylinder seal in the Lands of the Bible Archaeology Foundation. overseer of the merchants, Sīn-iddina[m] son of Šērum-bān[i]. records that "during the reign of Abī-ešuḫ, the king, Gimil-Gula and Taqis-Gula were the scholars.".

Inscriptions

References

References

1. Douglas Frayne, ''The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia: Early Periods'', vol. 4: ''Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 BC)'' Toronto, 1990: 408.
2. C. B. F. Walker, "Mesopotamian Chronology," in: Dominique Collon, ''Ancient Near Eastern Art'', Berkeley, 1995: 235; T. De Jong & V. Foertmeyer, "A New Look at the Venus Observations of Ammisaduqa," ''Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux'' 42 (2010) 141–157.
3. Albert Kirk Grayson. (1975). "Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles". J. J. Augustin.
4. JJ Finkelstein, ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' 20 (1966): 96, 27.
5. Douglas Frayne. (1990). "Old Babylonian period (2003-1595 BC): Early Periods, Volume 4 (RIM The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia)". University of Toronto Press.
6. The ''Uruk List of Kings and Sages''W 20030,7 the Seleucid ''List of Sages and Scholars,'' recovered from Anu’s Bīt Rēš temple during the 1959/60 excavation.
7. Alan Lenzi. (2008). "The Uruk List of Kings and Sages and Late Mesopotamian Scholarship". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions.