Mut-bisir or Mutu-bisir (in

Akkadian Cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform scripts are marked by and ...

: mu-ut-bi-si-ir, in transliterated

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 ...

: mut-biśir, "man of Biśri"; fl. 19th century BC) was a senior military official to the Amorite king

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 ...

. His name appears repeatedly in the Mari letters, and means "man of Biśir", referring to the desert region around the

Jebel Bishri Jebel Bishri or Mount Bishri ( ''Jabal al-Bišrī'', in Akkadian: ''ba-sa-ar'' or ''bi-si-ir'',Cinzia Pappi (2006).The Jebel Bishri in the Physical and Cultural Landscape of the Ancient Near East. ''Kaskal'', Volume 3. p. 241– in Amorite: ''B ...

. In these letters, Anson Rainey describes him as "frequently mentioned in connection with troops located near the '

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

." In one such letter, from Mut-biśir to Shamshi-Adad, he was the first recorded individual to refer to

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ites by name (Akkadian, ''ki-na-aḫ-nu(m)''). In this letter, Mut-biśir describes his soldiers and opposing Canaanite forces as tensely watching one another.Anson F. Rainey (1979). "Toponymic Problems (cont.)", ''Tel Aviv'', 6:3-4, 158-162, DOI: 10.1179/033443579788441172. p. 158. His residence in Mari seems to have eventually been given to Shibti, the daughter of Shamshi-Adad, and this household became a major supplier of foods to the royal palace.

References

Amorite people 19th-century BC people {{AncientNearEast-bio-stub