Early Bronze Inhabited since the
Jemdet Nasr period, around 3000 BC, Eshnunna was a major city during the
Early Dynastic period of Mesopotamia. It is known, from cuneiform records and excavations, that the city was occupied in the Akkadian period though its extent was noticeably less than it reached in Ur III times. Areas of the Northern Palace date to this period and show some of the earliest examples of widespread sewage disposal engineering including toilets in private homes.
Ur III period The first known rulers of the city were a series of vassal governors under the
Third dynasty of Ur. Eshnunna may have had special relationships to the royal family. For example,
Shulgi's wife Shulgi-Simtum showed devotion to two goddesses closely connected with the governor's dynasty at Eshnunna, and Shu-Sin's uncle Babati temporarily lived in Eshnunna. He erected a temple to
Shu-Sin in a new lower town. Soon after Shu-Sin's death, Ituria was followed by his son Šu-ilišu, who in 2026 BC got rid of the Ur III calendar and replaced it with a local one. His personal seal shows him facing the god Tishpak, who is holding a rod and ring in one hand and an axe in the other while standing on two subdued enemies. Bricks were found with his standard inscription "Nur-ahum, beloved of the god Tispak, governor of Esnunna". Rulers of Eshnunna after Shu-iliya would call themselves the steward of Eshnunna on behalf of Tishpak, and Tishpak even took on traditional titles usually attested by kings. The seal of Shu-iliya had him ruling under Tishpak i.e. "Tišpak, mighty king, king of the land Warum, king of the four quarters, Shu-iliya (is) his...". Kirikiri then ousted Nur-ahum from power. Not having ties to the previous ruler, he was likely an usurper, and a fire destroyed the northwestern part of the Su-Sin temple. However, he still called himself “ensi of Eshnunna” on behalf of Tishpak. An alternative view is that Kirikiri was actually the brother of Nur-ahum.
Bilalama formed a diplomatic marriage with
Elam, giving his daughter Me-Kubi to Tan-Ruhuratir. Both would eventually cooperate in a campaign against Qabra, and Shamshi-Adad and Dadusha's recount of the events were recorded in the Mardin stela and Dadusha stela respectively. The victory over Qabra was celebrated in the following year name of Dadusha, although the king would later die in the same year. Negotiations with Dadusha's successor Ibal-pi-El II proved difficult for Shamshi-Adad, and envoys from Eshnunna continued to come to Shamshi-Adad's kingdom to negotiate an agreement years later. Later, during the eponym of Nimer-Sin, Shamshi-Adad's troops would join Eshnunna and Babylon's in a campaign against Malgium. After the death of Shamshi-Adad, his kingdom split into two with
Ishme-Dagan as king in
Ekallatum and
Yasmah-Addu as king in
Mari. However,
Zimri-Lim would take the throne of Mari and Yasmah-Addu would disappear. The disappearance of Yasmah-Addu is usually attributed to a Simal tribal chief called Bannum. However, Heimpel suggests that Eshnunna may have played a role in Yasmah-Addu’s decision to flee Mari. Ibal-pi-El entered negotiations with Zimri-Lim, proposing to draw the border of their respective kingdoms at Harradum and to renew the relationship between Mari and Eshnunna from the time of the Mariote king Yahdun-Lim. He informed his benefactor Yarim-Lim, king of
Yamhad (Aleppo) that although Eshnunna wanted to forge an alliance, Zimri-Lim always turned the envoys down, which may not have been the case as there were several discussions between him and Eshnunna during this time. Ultimately, Zimri-Lim did not consider the agreement satisfactory, as he wanted to control the Suhum, and rejected the offer. The need to evacuate people from the Suhum in the 3rd (2nd) year of Zimri-Lim could imply a renewed offensive by Eshnunna. Mari and Eshnunna would be at war between the 3rd year and the 5th (2nd and 4th) years of Zimri-Lim. Eshnunna captured Rapiqum in the 3rd (2nd) year of Zimri-Lim, which was celebrated in Ibal-pi-El's 9th year name. Later Ibal-pi-El sent an ultimatum to Zimri-Lim that he would take
Shubat-Enlil. The army of Eshnunna, lead by former king of Allahad Atamrum and the Yaminite chief Yaggih-Addu took Assur and Ekallatum, and the event was described in a letter to Zimri-Lim how "Assur, Ekallatum and Eshnunna have now become one house." Ishme-Dagan seemed to have left the capital to go to
Babylon before Ekallatum was invaded. Eshnunna succeeded in capturing Shubat-Enlil, which seemed to have caused the submission of several kings in the region to Eshnunna. Eshnunna laid siege to Kurda after the city rejected the peace offerings, but they failed the siege and had to fall back to Andarig. They also supported the Yaminites against Zimri-Lim, who had to deal with a revolt by them earlier in his reign. Zimri-Lim, in his 4th (3rd) year, stayed at Ashlakka for a while, a city which he took in his 3rd (2nd) year, likely using the city as a base of operations to attack the Eshnunnian army. Then, Eshnunna withdrew from Shubat-Enlil leaving Yanuh-Samar behind as king with a few thousand troops, likely because they were attacked by Halmam. Zimri-Lim then successfully sieged Andarig and took the city. The Yaminites also attacked Mari at this time, and Charpin suggested that there was a plan to have the Eshnunnian army and the Yaminites meet, although it wasn't successful. After Mari took back Andarig, they began peace talks, although several groups in Mari were against concluding a peace treaty with Eshnunna, with the most famous case being a line from an oracle of
Dagan being relayed to Zimri-Lim in three different tablets, that "beneath straw runs water." In particular, Inib-shina (priestess and sister of Zimri-Lim) directly connects the oracle with the king of Eshnunna, and mentions that Dagan will destroy Ibal-pi-El. Lupakhum, someone also connected with the god Dagan, gave a vague warning about Eshnunna, and reprimanded the goddess
Dērītum for counting on a peace treaty with Eshnunna. Regardless, Zimri-Lim signed the treaty with the king of Eshnunna. With the treaty between Zimri-Lim and Ibal-pi-El in Zimri-Lim's 5th year, Mari was able to keep Hit, and Rapiqum was given to Babylon. By the 6th year of Zimri-Lim, then the geopolitical situation had grown very complicated, as shown in a letter sent to Zimri-Lim (Zimri-Lim's Mari is likely not mentioned because it is taken for granted): Later, between Zimri-Lim's 8th and 10th (7th year and 9th) year, contact with
Elam increased with gift exchanges going both sides, with Mari receiving tin on multiple occasions. The
sukkalmah of Elam had henceforth occupied a high position in international relations, and eventually Siwe-palar-huppak asked both Mari and Babylon for support against Eshnunna in Zimri-Lim's 8th (7th) year, which both obliged. Elam would succeed in taking Eshnunna early on in Zimri-Lim’s 10th (9th) year. Durand recently suggested that Eshnunna may have acted as an agent of Elam prior to Ibal-pi-El, which means that the Elamite invasion of Eshnunna was essentially an act against a rogue vassal. However, eventually an anti-Elamite coalition was formed, and Elam was forced to retreat back, but not before sacking the city of Eshnunna. Hammurabi would later write a letter to the sukkalmah that he did say the people of Eshnunna "would not fail to live up to their reputation as rebels." Hammurabi had expressed interest in taking the throne of Eshnunna, and Zimri-Lim had encouraged it, and if the people of Eshnunna disagreed, to install a prince loyal to Hammurabi onto the throne of Eshnunna. The letter also implies that some members of the royal family of Eshnunna fled and sought refuge in Babylon during the upheaval. However,
Silli-Sin, who was not related to the previous royal family of Eshnunna, was installed as king in Eshnunna by the Eshnunnian troops. Hammurabi and Silli-Sin exchanged tablets with each other to swear oaths. Later, the new king of Eshnunna blocked messengers between Elam and Babylon when the two were trying to reestablish relationships, which likely resulted in a rise in tension between Babylon and Eshnunna. Silli-Sin would later send a letter telling Ishme-Dagan and Hammurabi of Kurda to not send troops to Babylon even if asked and even tried to ask Zimri-Lim to do the same, but the messenger was intercepted and the incident was reported to Zimri-Lim. Troops from Mari were still stationed in Babylonian territory from the previous war with Elam, and Zimri-Lim wished to recover those. Hammurabi, when asked later to send the troops back to Mari, cited concerns with Eshnunna as the reason for why he was reluctant to do so. Charpin suggests that the territorial demands from Hammurabi was to discourage the new king of Eshnunna, as he would not conclude peace with Eshnunna if he's not given Upi, Shahaduni and the banks of the Tigris. Silli-Sin seemed to have rejected these proposals. Silli-Sin may have also called for a mobilization of troops, which would have worried Hammurabi. Ishme-Dagan also forsook his past alliance with Mari and Babylon and allied with Eshnunna, perhaps because Atamrum was given control of Shubat-Enlil. Atumrum seemed to have kept his old allegiance to Eshnunna, since Eshnunna was listed as one of his allies. However, the relationship between them seemed to have deteriorated as Atumrum later moved the troops from Eshnunna to a new quarters, which the soldiers complained was "a city in ruins." Representatives of Eshnunna was present in a treaty talk between Atamrum (king of Andarig and Allahad) and Ashkur-Addu (king of Karana). Heimpel remarks that the presence of a diplomat from Eshnunna was remarkable as Eshnunna and now an indirect enemy of Andarig and Karana for supporting Ishme-Dagan, and suggests that they were tolerated as observers as they were not officially enemies. Eshnunna seemed to have finally concluded a peace treaty with Babylon, and so dropped their support of Ishme-Dagan. Hammurabi and Silli-Sin also had a diplomatic marriage, where one of Hammurabi's daughters was married to Silli-Sin. In 1762 BC, in Year 31 of
Hammurabi of Babylon, the Babylonians occupied the city of Eshnunna. He returned the titular deity of Assur which had been removed when Eshnunna captured the city of Assur. The fate of Silli-Sin is unknown, as the Mari archives would end 4 months later. In his 38th year name, Hammurabi would claim to have destroyed Eshnunna with a flood. In the
Code of Hammurabi, the king states that he was the pious prince who brightened Tishpak’s face, which Charpin links to the ideology of the kings of Eshnunna, indicating that Hammurabi was presenting himself as the rightful king of Eshnunna. Charpin also notes that similarly, in Samsu-iluna’s inscriptions, he called himself prince after talking about his suppression of the revolt in Eshnunna, meaning that Samsu-iluna considered himself the king of Eshnunna after killing Iluni. During the reign of Hammurabi’s successor
Samsu-iluna, multiple insurgencies started from various Mesopotamian cities, with Iluni as the rebel king in Eshnunna. Iluni has at least 6 year names that can be attributed to his reign. Tablet archives from the Iraq Museum count 7 year names. Although it was previously thought that Iluni seized the throne of Eshnunna during the rebellion period similar to the likes of
Rim-Sîn II or
Rîm-Anum, newly published texts in 2018 appear to suggest that Iluni ascended to the throne of his father Lipissa. This possibly suggests that it was Lipissa, not Iluni, who restored Eshnunna’s independence. Wasserman and Bloch also considered the possibility that this Lipissa was the same Lipissa (Lipit-Sin) that led the reinforcement troops from Eshnunna for Ishme-Dagan’s war against the Turukkeans. The rebel kings were sometimes allies, but there were also conflicts between them. Samsu-iluna mentions defeating Rim-Sîn II (rebel king in Larsa) and Iluni in an inscription. It had been thought that the inscription jointly commemorates his defeat of Rim-Sîn II in year 10 with his defeat of Eshnunna in year 19 (20th year name), but a few variations of Samsi-iluna’s 10th year name suggests a victory over Eshnunna and the Yamutbal. Thus, the inscription actually commemorates events about a decade after they had already taken place, as he celebrated restoring the city wall of Kish that happened in his 23rd year (24th year name). Rim-Anum, the rebel king in Uruk, similarly claimed to have defeated Yamutbal, Eshnunna, Isin and
Kazallu. While Samsu-iluna did succeed in quelling the rebellion in the south, places like Eshnunna remained independent for a while. Samsi-iluna’s 20th year name referring to the defeat of Eshnunna may be the final defeat of Iluni. After Iluni, an inscription of
Samsu-Ditana mentions victory over a certain Ahushina, the king of Eshnunna.
Late Bronze In the 12th century BC the Elamite ruler
Shutruk-Nakhunte conquered Eshnunna and carried back a number of statues, ranging from the Akkadian period to the Old Babylonian period, to Susa. 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. A small number of seals and beads from the
Indus Valley civilization were also found. ==Archaeology==