Zabaia (or Zabaya) ruled the
ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...
city-state
of
Larsa
Larsa (, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossus, Berossos and connected with the biblical Arioch, Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the Cult (religious pra ...
from 1941 BC to 1932 BC (
MC). He was an
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 ...
and the son of
Samium.
A brick inscription found at Larsa reads, "Zabaya, Chief of the Amorites, son of Samium, re-built the Ebabbar" (Zabaya rabian Amurri mar Samium Ebabbara ipus). The E-babbar is
a temple of the god
Shamash
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 ...
. An alternate reading is the he "built" the Ebabbar". This is the only known textual mention of Samium outside the Larsa King List. A damaged clay cone found
at
Mashkan-shapir carries a similar text. Larsa ruler
Abisare also used
the "Chief of the Amorites" title.
[Jahn, Brit, "The Migration and Sedentarization of the Amorites from the Point of View of the Settled Babylonian Population", Representations of Political Power: Case Histories from Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient Near East, edited by Marlies Heinz and Marian H. Feldman, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 193-210, 2007]
See also
*
Chronology of the ancient Near East
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 ...
*
List of Mesopotamian dynasties
The history of Mesopotamia extends from the Lower Paleolithic period until the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, after which the region came to be known as History of Iraq, Iraq. This list covers dynasties and monarchs of ...
Notes
External links
Amorite kings
19th-century BC Sumerian kings
Kings of Larsa
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