Zariqum or Zarriqum was a Sumerian governor (''šakkanakkum'') of the city of

Assur Aššur (; AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; ''Āšūr''; ''Aθur'', ''Āšūr''; ', ), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian city-state (2025–1364 BC), the Midd ...

under 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 ...

, attested there between the 44th year of

Shulgi Shulgi ( dšul-gi,(died c. 2046 BC) formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from (Middle Chronology). His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great ...

() and the 5th year of Amar-Sin (). He is the only governor of the city during this time, otherwise poorly known from surviving sources, to be known by name. Though he has also been suggested to have been an independent ruler, this is a minority view, as Assur is not generally regarded to have been independent before the time of

Puzur-Ashur I Puzur-Ashur I () was an Assyrian king in the 21st and 20th centuries BC. He is generally regarded as the founder of Assyria as an independent city-state, 2025 BC. He is in the Assyrian King List and is referenced in the inscriptions of later ...

, . Under the Sumerian Ur III empire, Assur is generally believed to have formed the northernmost peripheral province. In the ruins of one of the city's temples, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, an inscription by Zariqum states that he founded a new temple in the city, dedicated to the goddess Bēlat-ekallim (i.e. Ninegal), for the life of Amar-Sin, king of Ur. Zariqum was previously believed to have had a long and wide-spanning career, also having been a military officer and a governor of

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

Elam Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...

, due to the name Zariqum also being attested for contemporary individuals with those positions. Since the Zariqum who governed Susa governed simultaneously with the time Zariqum is attested as the governor of Assur, they cannot be the same person and must instead simply have been contemporary individuals with the same name.

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Bibliography

* * * * {{MEast-royal-stub Ancient Assyrians 21st-century BC people