Larsa ( Sumerian

logogram In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, ...

: UD.UNUG^KI, read ''Larsam^ki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossos and connected with the biblical Ellasar, was an important

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult of the sun god

Utu Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. ...

. It lies some southeast of

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

Dhi Qar Governorate Dhi Qar Governorate ( ar, ذي قار, translit=Thi Qār, ) is a governorate in southern Iraq. The provincial capital is Nasiriyah. Prior to 1976 the governorate was known as Muntafiq Governorate. Thi Qar was the heartland of the ancient Iraqi civ ...

, near the east bank of the Shatt-en-Nil canal at the site of the modern settlement Tell as-Senkereh or Sankarah.

History

The historical "Larsa" was already in existence as early as the reign of

Eannatum Eannatum ( sux, ) was a Sumerian '' Ensi'' (ruler or king) of Lagash circa 2500–2400 BCE. He established one of the first verifiable empires in history: he subdued Elam and destroyed the city of Susa as well as several other Iranian cities, ...

Lagash Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...

(reigned circa 2500–2400 BCE), who annexed it to his empire. The city became a political force during the

Isin-Larsa period The Isin-Larsa period (circa 2025-1763 BCE, Middle Chronology, or 1961-1699 BCE, Short Chronology) is a phase in the history of ancient Mesopotamia, which extends between the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur and the conquest of Mesopotamia by King ...

. After the

Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BC ( middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians consider t ...

collapsed c. 2000 BC,

Ishbi-Erra Ishbi-Erra ( Akkadian: d''iš-bi-ir₃-ra'') was the founder of the dynasty of Isin, reigning from ''c.'' 2017 — ''c.'' 1986 BC on the middle chronology or 1953 BC — ''c.'' 1920 BC on the short chronology. Ishbi-Erra was preceded by Ibbi-Si ...

, an official of the last king of the Third Dynasty of Ur,

Ibbi-Sin Ibbi-Sin ( sux, , ), son of Shu-Sin, was king of Sumer and Akkad and last king of the Ur III dynasty, and reigned c. 2028–2004 BCE ( Middle chronology) or possibly c. 1964–1940 BCE (Short chronology). During his rei ...

, relocated to Isin and set up a government which purported to be the successor to the Third Dynasty of Ur. From there, Ishbi-Erra recaptured Ur as well as the cities of

and Lagash, which Larsa was subject to. Subsequent rulers of Isin appointed governors to rule over Larsa; one such governor was an

Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied la ...

named

Gungunum Gungunum ( akk, , Dgu-un-gu-nu-um) was a king of the city state of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia, ruling from 1932 to 1906 BC. According to the traditional king list for Larsa, he was the fifth king to rule the city, and in his own inscriptions h ...

. He eventually broke with Isin and established an independent dynasty in Larsa. To legitimize his rule and deliver a blow to Isin, Gungunum captured the city of Ur. As the region of Larsa was the main center of trade via the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

, Isin lost an enormously profitable trade route, as well as a city with much cultic significance. Gungunum's two successors,

Abisare Abisare ruled the ancient West Asian city-state of Larsa from 1841 BC to 1830 BC. He was an Amorite.Chronology of the Larsa Dynasty, E.M. Grice , C.E. Keiser, M. Jastrow, AMS Press, 1979, The annals of his 11-year reign record that he smote Isin i ...

(c. 1841–1830 BC) and Sumuel (c. 1830–1801 BC), both took steps to cut Isin completely off from access to canals. Isin quickly lost political and economic influence. Larsa grew powerful, but never accumulated a large territory. At its peak under king Rim-Sin I (c. 1758–1699 BC), Larsa controlled only about 10-15 other city-states — nowhere near the territory controlled by other dynasties in Mesopotamian history. Nevertheless, huge building projects and agricultural undertakings can be detected archaeologically. After the defeat of Rim-Sin I by

Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...

of Babylon, Larsa became a minor site, though it has been suggested that it was the home of the First

Sealand Dynasty The First Sealand dynasty, (URU.KÙKIWhere ŠEŠ-ḪA of King List A and ŠEŠ-KÙ-KI of King List B are read as URU.KÙ.KI) or the 2nd Dynasty of Babylon (although it was independent of Amorite-ruled Babylon), very speculatively c. 1732–1460 B ...

of Babylon. Larsa was known to be active during the Neo-Babylonian period based on building bricks as well as a number of cuneiform texts from the Larsa temple of Samash which were found in Uruk. Larsa is thought to be the source of a number of tablets involving

Babylonian mathematics Babylonian mathematics (also known as ''Assyro-Babylonian mathematics'') are the mathematics developed or practiced by the people of Mesopotamia, from the days of the early Sumerians to the centuries following the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Babyl ...

, including the

Plimpton 322 Plimpton 322 is a Babylonian clay tablet, notable as containing an example of Babylonian mathematics. It has number 322 in the G.A. Plimpton Collection at Columbia University. This tablet, believed to have been written about 1800 BC, has a table ...

tablet that contains patterns of

Pythagorean triples A Pythagorean triple consists of three positive integers , , and , such that . Such a triple is commonly written , and a well-known example is . If is a Pythagorean triple, then so is for any positive integer . A primitive Pythagorean triple is ...

Kings of Larsa

Archaeology

Compilation of plane geometry problems from Larsa

The remains of Larsa cover an oval about in circumference. The highest point is around in height. The site of Tell es-Senkereh was first excavated, under the rudimentary archaeological standards of his day, by William Loftus in 1850 for less than a month. Loftus recovered building bricks of Nebuchadnezzar II of the

Neo-Babylonian Empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bei ...

which enabled the site's identification as the ancient city of Larsa. Much of the effort by Loftus was on the temple of Shamash, rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II. Inscriptions of

Burna-Buriash II Burna-Buriaš II, rendered in cuneiform as ''Bur-na-'' or ''Bur-ra-Bu-ri-ia-aš'' in royal inscriptions and letters, and meaning ''servant'' or ''protégé of the Lord of the lands'' in the Kassite language, where Buriaš (, dbu-ri-ia-aš₂) is a ...

of the

Kassite dynasty The Kassite dynasty, also known as the third Babylonian dynasty, was a line of kings of Kassite origin who ruled from the city of Babylon in the latter half of the second millennium BC and who belonged to the same family that ran the kingdom of ...

of Babylon and

of the

First Babylonian dynasty The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to BC – BC, 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 ...

were also found. Larsa was also briefly worked by

Walter Andrae Walter Andrae (February 18, 1875 – July 28, 1956) was a German archaeologist and architect born near Leipzig. He was part of the mission that stole the Ishtar Gate out of Iraq in the 1910s. Career Archaeologist He initially studied architectu ...

in 1903. The site was inspected by

Edgar James Banks Edgar James Banks (May 23, 1866 – May 5, 1945), was an American diplomat, antiquarian and novelist. Biography Banks was an antiquities enthusiast and entrepreneurial roving archaeologist in the closing days of the Ottoman Empire, who has been h ...

in 1905. He found that widespread looting by the local population was occurring there. The first modern, scientific, excavation of Senkereh occurred in 1933, with the work of

André Parrot André Charles Ulrich Parrot (15 February 1901 – 24 August 1980) was a French archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, and is best known for his work at Mari, Syria, where he led i ...

. Parrot worked at the location again in 1967. In 1969 and 1970, Larsa was excavated by Jean-Claude Margueron. Between 1976 and 1991, an expedition of the Delegation Archaeologic Francaise en Irak led by J-L. Huot excavated at Tell es-Senereh for 13 seasons. Numerous inscriptions and cuneiform tablets were found representing the reigns of numerous rulers, from

Ur-Nammu Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian: , ruled c. 2112 BC – 2094 BC middle chronology, or possibly c. 2048–2030 BC short chronology) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries ...

to Hammurabi all the way up to Nebuchadnezzar II. In 2019 excavations were resumed.Vallet, R. et al., sous presse. Preliminary Report on the XIVth and XVth Campaigns at Larsa. Sumer LXVI, 2020

Notes

References

*Judith K. Bjorkman, "The Larsa Goldsmith's Hoards-New Interpretations", ''

Journal of Near Eastern Studies The ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press, covering research on the ancient and medieval civilisations of the Near East, including their archaeology, art, history, literature, lin ...

'', vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 1–23, 1993 *T. Breckwoldt, "Management of grain storage in Old Babylonian Larsa", '' Archiv für Orientforschung'', no. 42-43, pp. 64–88, 1995–1996 *Feuerherm, Karljürgen G. “Architectural Features of Larsa’s Urban Dwelling B 27.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 66, no. 3, 2007, pp. 193–204 *Madeleine Fitzgerald
The Rulers of Larsa
Yale University Dissertation, 2002 *Ettalene M. Grice, Clarence E. Keiser, Morris Jastrow, ''Chronology of the Larsa Dynasty'', AMS Press, 1979 *W.F. Leemans, ''Legal and economic records from the Kingdom of Larsa'', Brill, 1954 *Lutz, Henry Frederick. Early Babylonian Letters from Larsa. Vol. 2. Yale University Press, 1917. *Marcel Segrist, ''Larsa Year Names'', Andrews University Press, 1990 *Tyborowski, Witold. “Šēp-Sîn, a Private Businessman of the Old Babylonian Larsa.” Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 33, 2003, pp. 68–88.

External links

* ttp://cdli.ucla.edu/tools/yearnames/HTML/T10K1.htm Yearnames of Larsa rulers at CDLIbr>On-line digital images of Larsa Tablets at CDLI
{{Authority control Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC States and territories established in the 20th century BC States and territories disestablished in the 17th century BC 1850 archaeological discoveries Sumerian cities Archaeological sites in Iraq Former populated places in Iraq Dhi Qar Governorate Isin-Larsa period City-states