Samsu-ditāna, inscribed phonetically in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, 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 script ...

''sa-am-su-di-ta-na'' in the seals of his servants, the 11th and last king of the

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 ...

or First Dynasty of Babylon, reigned for 31 years,BM 33332 Babylonian King List A i 2.BM 38122 Babylonian King List B II. 1625 – 1595 BC (

Middle Chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

), 1617-1587 BC (Low Middle Chronology), or 1562 – 1531 BC (

Short Chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

). His reign is best known for its demise with the sudden fall of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

at the hands of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

History

He was the great great grandson of

Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, 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 the ci ...

and, although the Babylonian kingdom had shrunk considerably since its peak under this illustrious ancestor, it still extended north from Babylon and 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 ...

to Mari and

Terqa Terqa is an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately from the modern border with Iraq and north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. Its name had b ...

. For the most part, he appears to have been non-belligerent and content to stay at home at the seat of his kingdom as none of his year names describe the waging of war or the building of monumental edifices. They are about pious gifts to the gods and the erection of statues dedicated to himself. None of his inscriptions have survived. A royal epic of Gulkišar, the 6th king of the 2nd Dynasty of Babylon, the Sealand Dynasty, describes his enmity against Samsu-ditāna.

Fall of Babylon

Samsu-ditāna apparently feared an attack as evidenced in extant ''tamitu'' texts, oracle questions addressed to the gods

Šamaš Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...

and Adad, which name seven “rebel” enemies. However, he was powerless to prevent it, as the Babylonian state was in decay, with offices becoming hereditary, usurping royal prerogative, and payments accepted in lieu of military service to fund the bloated bureaucracy. The eventual coup-de-grace came from an unexpected quarter and his reign was brought to an abrupt end by a raid by the Hittite king, Muršili I in 1595 BC (Middle Chronology), 1531 BC (Short Chronology), which resulted in the sacking and complete devastation of Babylon. The Chronicle of Early KingsChronicle of early kings (ABC 20) tablet BM 96152, reverse, line 11: ana tar-ṣi ^mŠamaš-di-ta-na ^kurḪat-tu-ú ana ^kurAkkadi^ki lllik-ma tersely reported: “At the time of Samsu-ditāna, the Hittites marched against Akkad.” Muršili conquered just to seize loot and captives, without attempting any lasting occupation, a strategy he had previously employed in his opportunistic putsch against Halpa (ancient

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

). The Hittite account appears in the Edict of Telepinu, which relates: “Subsequently he marched to Babylon and he destroyed Babylon, and defeated the

Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

troops, and brought captives and possessions of Babylon to

Hattusa Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...

.”Edict of Telepinu (CTH19), KBo 3.1, KBo 7.15, KBo 12.4. He seized the statues of the Babylonian tutelary deity

Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...

and his consort Sarpatinum and transported them to Ḫani where they would not be recovered until the reign of the Kassite king Agum-Kakrime some 24 years later. Babylon was left in ruins and was not reoccupied until the advent of the Kassite dynasty, where documents from Tell Muhammad are dated by the number of years after it was resettled for the reign of Šipta'ulzi.

Inscriptions

References

External links

Samsu-ditāna year-names at CDLI.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samsu-ditana 16th-century BC kings of Babylon First dynasty of Babylon