Ishbi-Erra ( Akkadian: ^d''iš-bi-ir₃-ra'') was the founder of the dynasty of Isin, reigning from c. 2017— 1986 BC ( MC). Ishbi-Erra was preceded by Ibbi-Sin of the

third dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC ( middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...

in ancient Lower Mesopotamia, and then succeeded by Šu-ilišu. According to the

Weld-Blundell Prism The Weld-Blundell Prism ("WB", dated 1800 BCE) is a clay, cuneiform inscribed vertical Prism (geometry), prism housed in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The prism was found in a 1922 expedition in Larsa in modern-day Iraq by British archaeologist ...

,WB 444, the Weld-Blundell prism, r. 33. Išbi-erra reigned for 33 years and this is corroborated by the number of his extant year-names. While in many ways this dynasty emulated that of the preceding one, its language was Akkadian as the

Sumerian language Sumerian ) was the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the List of languages by first written account, oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 2900 BC. It is a local language isolate that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the a ...

had become moribund in the latter stages of the third dynasty of Ur.

Biography

At the outset of his career, Ishbi-Erra was an official working for

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian King Ibbi-Sin, the last king of the

. Ishbi-Erra was described as a man of Mari,Tablet UM 7772. either his origin or the city for which he was assigned. His progress is recorded in letters to the king and to the governor of Kazallu (Puzur-Numushda, later renamed Puzur-Šulgi). These are literary letters, copied in antiquity as scribal exercises and their authenticity is unknown. Charged with acquiring grain in Isin and Kazallu, Ishbi-Erra complained that he could not ship the 72,000 GUR he had bought for 20 talents of silver—apparently an exorbitant price—and now kept secure in Isin to other

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

s due to the incursions of the

Amorites The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic languages, 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 Eg ...

("Martu") and requested Ibbi-Sin supply 600 boats to transport it while also requesting governorship of Isin and Nippur.CBS 2272, letter from Išbi-erra to Ibbi-Sin. Although Ibbi-Sin baulked at promoting him, Ishbi-Erra apparently succeeded in wrestling control over Isin by Ibbi-Sin's 8th year, when he began assigning his own regnal year-names, and thereafter an uneasy chill descended on their relationship. Ibbi-Sin bitterly lambasted Ishbi-Erra as being "not of Sumerian seed" in his letter to Puzur-Šulgi and opined that: "

Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...

has stirred up the Amorites out of their land, and they will strike the Elamites and capture Ishbi-Erra." Puzur-Šulgi seems to have originally been one of Ishbi-Erra's own messengers and indicated the extent to which loyalties were in flux during the waning years of the regime of the third dynasty of Ur. While there was no outright conflict, Ishbi-Erra continued to extend his influence as Ibbi-Sin's steadily declined over the next 12 years or so, until Ur was finally conquered by Kindattu of Elam. Ishbi-Erra went on to win decisive victories against the Amorites in his 8th year and the Elamites in his 16th year. Some years later, Ishbi-Erra ousted the Elamite garrison from Ur, thereby asserting suzerainty over

and Akkad, celebrated in one of his later 27th year-name, although this specific epithet was not used by this dynasty until the reign of Iddin-Dagan. He readily adopted the regal privileges of the former regime, commissioning royal praise poetry and hymns to deities, of which seven are extant, and proclaiming himself Dingir-kalam-ma-na, "a god in his own country."Tablets NBC 6421. 7087. 7387. He appointed his daughter, En-bara-zi, to succeed that of Ibbi-Sin's as Egisitu(priestess of An), celebrated in his 22nd year-name. He founded fortresses and installed city walls, but only one royal inscription is extant.IM 58336, Construction of a great lyre for Enlil. Various hymns to Ishbi-Erra, king of Isin, are known.

Inscriptions

References

External links

A tigi to Nanaya for Išbi-erra at ETCSL.

Year names for Išbi-erra at CDLI.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishbi-Erra 20th-century BC Sumerian kings Sumerian kings Dynasty of Isin

Biography

See also

Inscriptions

References

Further reading

External links