Isar-Damu (reigned c. 2320 BC),
was the king (
Malikum) of the first
Eblaite kingdom. Isar-Damu fought a
long war with Mari which ended in Eblaite victory; he was probably the last king of the first kingdom.
Reign
Isar-Damu succeeded his father Irkab-Damu as a young child; his mother, Dusigu, seems to have taken advantage of her position as her husband favorite consort and her probable familial relation to the powerful
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
Ibrium
Ibrium (2322-2302 BC), also spelt Ebrium, was the vizier of Ebla for king Irkab-Damu and his successor Isar-Damu.
Ibrium is attested to have campaigned against the city of Abarsal during the time of vizier Arrukum. He took office after Arrukum d ...
in order to elevate her son to the throne, despite him being one of Irkab-Damu youngest sons.
The first years of Isar-Damus's reign were dominated by his mother and the vizier; texts from Ebla show that Isar-Damu's name appeared on official documents after that of his mother.
Ibrium was the commander of the army and he conducted multiple campaigns against rebellious vassal-rulers or neighboring kingdoms.
Isar-Damu concluded an alliance with
Nagar
Nagar ( -nagar) can refer to:
Places Bangladesh
* Nagar, Rajshahi Division, a village
* Nagar, Barisal Division, a settlement
India
* Nagar taluka, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra State
* Nagar, Murshidabad, a village in West Bengal
* Nagar, Rajasthan ...
and the relations progressed toward a dynastic marriage between princess
Tagrish-Damu, Isar-Damu's daughter, and prince
Ultum-Huhu, Nagar's monarch's son.
In year seven of
Ibrium
Ibrium (2322-2302 BC), also spelt Ebrium, was the vizier of Ebla for king Irkab-Damu and his successor Isar-Damu.
Ibrium is attested to have campaigned against the city of Abarsal during the time of vizier Arrukum. He took office after Arrukum d ...
's term, Nagar was defeated by Mari, causing the blockage of trade routes between Ebla and southern Mesopotamia via upper Mesopotamia.
Ibrium became vizier two years prior to Isar-Damu reign and kept his office for 20 years dying in Isar-Damu's 18th regnal year;
three years later, queen mother Dusigu died.
Following Ibrium's death, an Eblaite campaign was sent against
Alalakh
Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished, as an urban settlement, in the Middle and Late Bronze Ag ...
. Isar-Damu concluded an alliance with Nagar and
Kish
Kish may refer to:
Geography
* Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish
* Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish
* Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf
* Kish, Iran, ...
against Mari, and the campaign was headed by the Eblaite vizier
Ibbi-Sipish, Ibrium's son, who led the combined armies to victory in a battle near
Terqa
Terqa is the name of an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately from the modern border with Iraq and north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. ...
. Afterwards, the alliance attacked the rebellious Eblaite vassal city of
Armi.
Succession
Isar-Damu ruled 35 years,
and his main wife was Tabur-Damu but his crown prince
Ir'ak-Damu was his son by an earlier consort whose name is unknown.
Although Isar-Damu is generally considered Ebla's first kingdom last monarch, his son Ir'ak-Damu, who was married to Za'ase, Ibbi-Sipish's daughter,
might have succeeded him for a short period.
See also
*
Ebla tablets
The Ebla tablets are a collection of as many as 1,800 complete clay tablets, 4,700 fragments, and many thousands of minor chips found in the palace archives of the ancient city of Ebla, Syria. The tablets were discovered by Italian archaeologist ...
*
Cities of the ancient Near East
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
*
Eblaite-Mariote war
References
Citations
{{reflist, 2
24th-century BC rulers
Kings of Ebla
24th-century BC people