Asinum was possibly a king of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

during the 18th century BC, and a grandson of

Shamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad (; Amorite: ''Shamshi-Addu''), ruled 1813–1776 BC, was an Amorite warlord and conqueror who had conquered lands across much of Syria, Anatolia, and Upper Mesopotamia.Some of the Mari letters addressed to Shamsi-Adad by his son ca ...

. He was overthrown by Puzur-Sin because he was of

Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...

extraction; not included in the standard King List, but attested in Puzur-Sin's inscription. Asinum was deposed in a revolt that aimed to restore the traditions of Old Assyrian period. In the inscription left by Puzur-Sin, the Amorite kings beginning with Shamsi-Adad were described as "foreign plague not of the flesh of the city of Assur" while the latter was accused of constructing a palace for himself (possibly a reference to the so-called Old Palace built next to the ziggurat) and destroying old Assur shrines. After Asinum's rule, anarchy ensued in Assyria after a series of eight usurpers seized the throne. It is unclear whether Asinum was a personal name or a title.

References

18th-century BC Assyrian kings Amorite kings {{Assyrian-stub