Šimānum (also Simanum) was an ancient Near East city-state whose location is not yet known. Its areal location is known to be in the northernmost part of Mesopotamia or the southernmost part of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, in the vicinity of the

Tigris river The Tigris ( ; see below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, before merging ...

, north of the Upper Zab river, and near the confluence of the Tigris and eastern Habur river (often confused with the western Habur river off the Euphrates). It is well documented during the time of the Ur III Empire in the late 3rd Millennium BC. It has been proposed that Šimānum was known, under different names, in other periods. If those proposals are correct the site was active from the

Akkadian Empire The Akkadian Empire () was the first known empire, succeeding the long-lived city-states of Sumer. Centered on the city of Akkad (city), Akkad ( or ) and its surrounding region, the empire united Akkadian language, Akkadian and Sumerian languag ...

period though the

Old Babylonian period The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babyloni ...

. Šimānum is also the name of an Old Babylonian month.

History

The first ruler of Ur III,

Shulgi Shulgi ( dšul-gi,(died c. 2046 BC) formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from (Middle Chronology). His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great ...

, conducted a number of military campaigns in the northeast region of the empire around Šimānum. Šimānum itself appears to been a vassal rather than a tributary state. Records, in Shugi year 45 and

Amar-Sin Amar-Sin (: '' DAmar D Sîn'', "calf of Sîn", the "𒀭" being a silent honorific for "Divine"),(died c. 2037 BC) initially misread as Bur-Sin (c. 2046–2037 BC) middle chronology, was the third ruler of the Ur III Dynasty. He succeeded his fa ...

year 6, report bears being sent to Ur by the ruler of Simanium. Late in the reign of Shulgi (c. 2094–2046 BC), continuing into the reign of the Amar-Sin (c. 2046–2037 BC), the daughter of Shu-Sin, Kunši-matum (Submit, O land!) was given to the son of the then ruler of Simanum, Pušam/Bušam, in marriage. Pušam is noted, as ruler of Šimānum, in various Ur III records from the 2nd year of Amar-Sin until the 1st year of Shu-Sin. Pušam is also known from a seal found at

Urkesh Urkesh, also transliterated Urkish ( Akkadian: 𒌨𒆧𒆠 UR.KIŠKI, 𒌨𒋙𒀭𒄲𒆠 UR.KEŠ3KI; modern Tell Mozan; ), is a tell, or settlement mound, located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern ...

. In the first year of Shu-Sin Kunši-matum is recorded as being the bride (wife of the ruler) of Arib-atal of Šimānum. Arib-atal was the son of Pušam and brother of Ipḫuḫa. Ipḫuḫa later became ensi of Šimānum, noted in a text from the 1st year of

Ibbi-Sin Ibbi-Sin (, ), (died c. 2004 BC) son of Shu-Sin, was king of Sumer and Akkad and last king of the Ur III dynasty, and reigned c. 2028–2004 BC (Middle chronology). During his reign, the Sumerian empire was attacked repeatedly by Amorites. As f ...

. Arib-atal was denoted as being the "man" of Šimānum. There is some debate on the status of Pušam and Arib-atal, ranging from ensi (governor) under Ur to vassal to ruler of an independent though strongly allied state. In the second year of his reign, Ur III ruler Shu-Sin (c. 2037–2028 BC) launched an attack on polities to the north, including Simanum, Habura, and

Mardaman Mardaman (modern Bassetki) was a northern Mesopotamian city that existed between ca.2200 and 1200 BC. It was uncovered in 2018 after translation of 92 cuneiform tablets. The tablets were discovered in summer 2017, near the Kurdish village of Bass ...

. Royal inscriptions record that this attack resulted from the royal family of Šimānum, allied to and intermarried with Ur, being overthrown. Success was reported to the capitol and a reward "for the messenger Lugal-sisa who brought the good news of the defeat of Simanum". This attack was marked in two of his year names (SS3 and SS4). *mu ^Dszu-^Den.zu lugal ur₂i^ki-ma-ke₄ si-ma-num₂^ki mu-hul - Year Shu-Sin the king of Ur destroyed Šimānum *mu us₂-sa ^Dszu-^Den.zu lugal ur2i^ki-ma-ke₄ si-ma-num₂^ki mu-hul - Year after the year Shu-Sin the king of Ur destroyed Šimānum The later year name was only used for the early part of the year before being superseded. One record reports that daughter Kunši-matum was restored to the throne of Šimānum after the successful attack. In any event, correspondence between Ur and Šimānum continue until the early part of the reign of

(c. 2028–2004 BC). Ur III ruler

Shu-Sin Shu-Sin, also Šu-Suen (: '' DŠu D Sîn'', after the Moon God Sîn", the "𒀭" being a silent honorific for "Divine", formerly read Gimil-Sin) (died c. 2028 BC) was king of Sumer and Akkad, and was the fourth king of the Ur III dynasty. He su ...

, after destroying Šimānum settled the prisoners of that war in a town he founded near

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...

that he called Šimānum (sometimes called E-Šu-Suen). This practice for disposition of prisoners continued into the first millennium. Texts from

Drehem Puzrish-Dagan (modern Drehem) (Tall ad-Duraihim) is an important archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate (Iraq). It is best-known for the thousands of Clay tablet, clay tablets that are known to have come from the site through Archaeolo ...

, near Nippur, record a number of cases of "individuals of " being used as guarded workers, some of them acquired for a price. A tablet from

Irisaĝrig Irisaĝrig (also Urusagrig, Iri-Saĝrig, and in the Akkadian language Al-Šarrākī) was an ancient Near East city in Iraq whose location is not known with certainty but is currently thought to be at the site of Tell al-Wilayah, on the ancient Mam ...

dated to the 5th year of Shu-Sin recorded rations going to "ĝuruš from Simanum". Early during the reign of the next, and last, Ur III ruler, Ibbi-Sin, Ur lost control of the Nippur area and the last record from this prisoner town is dated to the 4th year of Ibbi-Sin.Michalowski, Piotr, "The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 3: Ur, Isin, Kazallu, and the Final Decades of the Ur III State (Letters 21–24)", The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 170-215, 2011

Ašimānum/Asimānum

Asimānum is known from the

period and is typically assumed to be Šimānum. A fragmentary text of ruler Naram-Sin reports

Šināmum

The poorly attributed Šināmum (now thought to be at

Üçtepe Höyük Üçtepe Höyük, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Diyarbakır Province, Turkey about 40 kilometers southeast of the modern city of Diyarbakır and about 10 kilometers southwest of modern Bismil. The village of Üçtepe is nearby. ...

), active during the Old Babylonian period, has been pointed to as possibly being Šimānum i.e. "Although it seems probable that Ur III Shimanum, Old Assyrian Shimala, Old Babylonian Shinamum and Neo-Assyrian Sinabu are one and the same place" though this has now lost favor. One of the few textual references was found at

Tell Shemshara Tell Shemshāra (ancient Shusharra) (also Tell Shimshara) is an archaeological site located along the Little Zab in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, in the Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous administrative division of Iraq. The site was inundated by Lake Dukan ...

Šibaniba/Šibānum

It has been proposed that Šibaniba (Šibanibe in the Neo-Assyrian period), known in the Middle Assyrian period and thought to be at the site of

Tell Billa Tell Billa (also Tell Billah, Tall Billa, and Baasheikhah) is an archaeological site near Bashiqa in Nineveh Province (Iraq) 20 kilometers northeast of Mosul. History The site consists of a large mound and covers around . There is some evidence o ...

, was earlier known as Šimānum though scant Ur III or

period remains were known from there, the excavations being thinly published, and the areal location is not favorable.Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, and Petra M. Creamer, "More to Tell About Billa! Asimānum/Šimānum and the Early and Middle Bronze Ages at Baˁšīqā, Iraq", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2022-0011

Location

While the rough areal location of Šimānum is known and a number of sites have been proposed all that is known about its specific location is that it was very near the 3rd millennium BC city of Habüra which was in turn near to the city of Maridaman (usually assumed to be the Middle Assyrian period Mardaman).

Near Habura

Šimānum is known to be near the city Ur III period city of Habüra (Ha-bu-ra^ki) which lay on the Habur river a tributary of the Tigris river (not to be confused with the western Habur river, off the Euphrates), at or near this confluence. In one text it is called "apqum sa Habür" (source of the Habür). In particular the large site of Basorin Tepe (also Basorin Hoyuk) has been proposed. Basorin has also been proposed as the site of Kipšūnu and of Šabīrēšu. Shamsi-Adad I, ruler of

Ekallatum Ekallatum ( Akkadian: 𒌷𒂍𒃲𒈨𒌍, URUE2.GAL.MEŠ, Ekallātum, "the Palaces") was an ancient Amorite city-state and kingdom in upper Mesopotamia. Ekallatum, whose name means "the palaces," became the capital of an Amorite dynasty related ...

, campaigned against a city of Haburâtum, generally thought to be Habüra. Haburâtum is also known from Mari texts and was near to

Razama Tell al-Rimah (also Tell ar-Rimah) is an archaeological settlement mound, in Nineveh Province, Iraq, roughly west of Mosul and ancient Nineveh in the Sinjar region. It lies 15 kilometers south of the site of Tal Afar. It has been proposed that ...

and Burullu. The location of Haburâtum was near the Habur, off the Tigris. It has also been speculated that the god Ḫabūrītum was from the city of Habüra. In a text of Samsi-Addu found at Tell Shemshara it states

Near Mardaman

The linkage with Mardaman (presumed to be Maridaman) is based on its listing with Habura in a later Shu-Sin military campaign primarily against Simaski. A location for Mardaman north of the modern city of

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

in the

Cizre Cizre () is a city in the Cizre District of Şırnak Province in Turkey. It is located on the river Tigris by the Syria–Turkey border and close to the Iraq–Turkey border. Cizre is in the historical region of Upper Mesopotamia and the cultura ...

region of Anatolia early on proposed based on the similarity in names but has since been discounted. More recently, the site of

Bassetki Bassetki () is a small village in Iraq, in Dohuk Governorate of autonomous Kurdistan Region. The village is associated with several archaeological finds. History The site was occupied in the Early Bronze, Middle Bronze, Mittani, Middle Assyrian, ...

has become generally accepted based on tablet found there in 2017.

Other proposals

Assuming the correspondence to Asimānum is correct, the location is thought to be near to the cities of Sisil and Talmuš, also unlocated (Gir-e Pān is proposed for Talmus). Sinan on the confluence of

Batman River The Batman River is a major tributary of the Tigris in southeast Turkey. The region along the Batman River is known for its oil fields. Course The river originates in Turkey's Anti-Taurus Mountains (at the Sason and Genç mountains) and flows ...

and Tigris near the present

Bismil Bismil () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Diyarbakır Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,679 km2, and its population is 118,698 (2022). The district was established on 4 January 1936. Neighborhoods There are 122 mahalle ...

in Turkey has been proposed.Douglas R. Frayne, "The Sargonic and Gutian Periods (2334–2113)", University of Toronto Press, 1993, A location in the "vicinity of Assur" has been proposed. A related suggestion was "north of

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

". At one time

Tell Hamoukar Hamoukar (, known locally as ''Khirbat al-Fakhar'') is a large archaeological site located in the Jazira region of northeastern Syria ( Al Hasakah Governorate), near the Iraqi and Turkish borders. The early settlement dates back to the 5th mille ...

was suggested based on its size and location.Forlanini, M., "Étapes et itinéraires entre Assur et l’Anatolie des marchands paléo-assyriens. nouveaux documents et nouveaux problèmes", Kaskal 3, pp. 147-176, 2006 A recent proposal, based on the location and the similarity of names Šibaniba and Šimānum, is the site of

References

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