Diniktum, inscribed ''Di-ni-ik-tum''
KI, was a
middle bronze-age town located somewhere in the
Diyala Governorate
Diyala Governorate ( ar, محافظة ديالى ) or Diyala Province is a governorate in central-eastern Iraq.
Provincial government
*Governor: Muthana al-Timimi
*Deputy Governor: Mohammed Jassim al-Jubouri
Council
Geography
Diyala Gov ...
of
Iraq. On the
Tigris river downstream from
Upi and close to the northern border of
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
. It is possibly at or in the vicinity of Tell Muḥammad, which lies in south-eastern part of modern
Baghdad.
Diniktum mentioned in the Harmal geographical list.
History
It enjoyed independence briefly during the 18th century under the reigns of the
Amorite chieftains (''ra-bí-an'' MAR.DÚ) Itur-šarrum,
attested on a single seal from
Ešnunna, and Sîn-gāmil, son of Sîn-šēmi and a contemporary of
Zimri-Lim (ca. 1710–1698 BC
short) of
Mari and
Ḫammu-rapī (ca. 1728–1686 BC short) of
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
. In an old Babylonian letter from
Yarim-Lim I, the king of
Yamḫad to the Yašub-Yahad, the king of
Dēr, he says:
Yarim-Lim I would defeat the king of Diniktum in battle.
One king of Diniktum named Itur-šarrum ruled Diniktum for around a century before his successor Sîn-gāmil became the new ruler of the kingdom.
Ikūn-pî-Sîn (“The word of Sin is truthful”), the ruler of Nērebtum and possibly
Tutub, cities in the sphere of Ešnunna, has a year name: “Year when Ikū(n)-pî-Sîn captured Diniktum." It was absorbed into the kingdom of Ešnunna and consequently embroiled in its conflicts with Elam during the reigns of Ibāl-pî-El II (ca. 1715–1701 BC short) and Ṣillī-Sîn (ca. 1700–1698 BC short). During an
Elamite invasion of
Mesopotamia the Elamites sacked
Eshnunna. This caused many soldiers in the Elamite army that were from Eshnunna to defect. Because of the mass desertion, the Elamite king retreated back to Diniktum. While in Diniktum, the Elamites would sue for peace with
Hammurabi. The Elamites were than driven from the city.
The town was still settled in the later bronze-age, as a year name gives ““the year
n which Kadašman-Ḫarbe, the king, dug the canal of Diniktum.” Kadašman-Ḫarbe was a
Kassite king of Babylon of the late 15th century.
Tell Muhammad
Also Tell Mohammed and Tall Muhammad, is an ancient Near East archaeological site currently in the outskirts of Baghdad. It was worked for 8 seasons beginning in 1978 by the Iraqi State Antiquities Organization in 1978, under the direction of Sd. Mu'tasim Rashid Abdur-Ra. The excavations have revealed remains dating to the Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods.
["Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82." Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, 1983, pp. 199–224]
References
See also
*
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 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diniktum
Ancient cities of the Middle East
City-states
Former populated places in Iraq