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In the Recently Available Festschrift Van Lerberghe (2012), R.H AN EARLY OLD BABYLONIAN ARCHIVE FROM THE KINGDOM OF MALGIUM? RIENTS DE BOER In the recently available Festschrift Van Lerberghe (2012), R.H. Mayr published an extremely interesting group of clay tags in his article “Seal Impressions on Administrative Tags from the Reign of Su-Amurru”. The tags register the loss or disposal of sheep and goats. However, their main interest lies in the seal impressions and year names they contain. They introduce us to one known and two hitherto unknown early Old Babylo- nian kings: Su-Kakka (misread as il3-su-ni-ga, Mayr 2012 p. 415 seal J), his son Nabi-Enlil and Nabi-Enlil’s son Su-Amurru: three generations of kings. In this contribution I propose that these kings were in fact early Old Babylonian kings of Malgium. A YEAR NAME CONTAINING DAMKINA Nine tags are published by Mayr. They give us six year names. For one of them I propose a reading different from the one suggested by the editor. This year name is found on tag 7 (Mayr 2012 p. 421), Mayr’s reading is: mu.ús.sa iri-ddamki na-~ [x-x]? ~[mu] ús.sa.bi. Basing myself on the provided copy I read: mu.ús.sa uru ddam.ki.na, x x, [x?] x x “The year after (the year in which) (he fashioned?) the mural crown of Damkina…”. Even though I am not able to read the complete year name, the reference to the goddess Damkina provides us with an impor- tant clue to the provenance of these tags. The same year name could perhaps also be read on tag nr. 9: [it]i ezen? […], [mu.ú]s.[sa] [uru?], d[dam.k]i.na x, x x. Journal Asiatique 301.1 (2013): 19-25 doi: 10.2143/JA.301.1.2994458 996408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd6408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd 1919 229/10/139/10/13 008:408:40 20 R. DE BOER The sumerogram /uru/ (akkadian: alum) is sometimes used to describe a type of headgear that looks “like the crenellated wall of a city”, a “Mauerkrone” in German or “mural crown” in English (1). That this reading for /uru/ is highly likely in this year name is substan- tiated by another year name published below (I thank prof. Stol for this idea). Damkina was, together with Ea, the chief deity of Malgium (Kutscher 1987-1990 p. 303-304). A “sanga of Ea” from Malgium, called Su-Nin- mug, is mentioned in AbB 6 138. Malgium was an important city of the OB period that has not yet been located. It is likely to be found some- where along the ancient course of the Tigris upstream from Maskan- sapir. In this respect it is interesting that another year name, found on Mayr’s tags nr. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, states that the fortress “Dunnum” on the Tigris was destroyed. KINGS OF MALGIUM KNOWN UNTIL NOW Until now only two kings of Malgium were known to us through three royal inscriptions: Takil-ilissu son of Istaran-asû, and Ipiq-Istar, son of Apil-ilisu (Frayne 1990 RIME E4.11.1 and E4.11.2). The aforementioned Ipiq-Istar is actually known to have been king of Malgium around 1763 BC; it was this man who was probably defeated by Hammurabi in the same year as Mari (1761 BC, see Charpin 2004 p. 330 and Van Koppen 2005). Takil-ilissu and Ipiq-Istar have the divine determinative added to their names in their inscriptions, just as Su-Kakka, Nabi-Enlil and Su- Amurru: this was apparently normal practice for some royal houses right after the collapse of the Ur III state (eg. Isin, Esnunna (2) and Der (3)). Su-Kakka was already known from a seal impression published by Whiting in 1987, even though Whiting was not able to connect Su-Kakka to a city. The seal impression is undoubtedly from a so-called “servant seal”. It was found at Esnunna “in the dump of the Bilalama excava- tions” (Whiting 1987 p. 34). The seal impression shows part of an intro- duction scene. Whiting rendered the inscription as: Journal Asiatique 301.1 (2013): 19-25 996408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd6408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd 2020 229/10/139/10/13 008:408:40 AN EARLY OLD BABYLONIAN ARCHIVE FROM THE KINGDOM … 21 1. [d]su-kak-kà Su-Kakka 2. [lugal] kala.ga Mighty King 3. [dutu m]a.da.na Sun(god) of his land 4. […]-um ... 1’. [i-q]i4(?)-[is] presented (this seal) Basing himself on the theonym Kakka, Whiting proposed Maskan- sarrum, located somewhere along the middle Tigris, as Su-Kakka’s seat of power (on Kakka and Maskan-sarrum, see Steinkeller 1982). Whiting provides a tentative dating for Su-Kakka, based on the unpublished Esnunna tablet 1930-T745. This text records a “special (diplomatic) gift d for Su-Kakka”(Whiting 1987 p. 35: níg.su.tak4.a su- kak-kà), and it is dated to the time of Bilalama (ca.1995 BC). From the seal impressions published by Mayr we can state that this Su-Kakka was most likely the father of Nabi-Enlil, grandfather of Su-Amurru and a king of Malgium. A YEAR NAME BELONGING TO SU-KAKKA M. Sigrist wrote to me about a number of unpublished texts in Okla- homa that he studied. He kindly provided me with a provisional list of the year names found on some of those texts and the permission to quote them, for which I thank him. Many of the year names are unknown, but some of them are similar to those published by Mayr (tag 1: mu i7 e?- ki tés?-tum mu.ba.al and tags 2, 3 and 4: mu du-nu-um sà gú i7 idigna ba.hul). It is likely that Sigrist saw texts from the same archive as Mayr. Among Sigrist’s list we find year names mentioning Damkina, Dam- galnunna (another name of Damkina), Nanna, and Istaran (a god associ- ated with transtigridian Der). One year name in particular caught my eye: mu dsu-kak-kà lugal.e uru za.gìn kù.gi ddam.gal.nun.na.ra mu.na.dím. “The year: Su-Kakka, the king, fashioned a mural crown of lapis lazuli and gold for Damgalnunna”. Again I have interpreted /uru/ as a type of crown. It does not seem likely to me that Su-Kakka made a whole city of lapis lazuli and gold for Damgalnunna. An object intended for Damgalnunna’s cultic statue is more plausible. Journal Asiatique 301.1 (2013): 19-25 996408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd6408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd 2121 229/10/139/10/13 008:408:40 22 R. DE BOER HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS The existence of a royal dynasty at Malgium right after the fall of the Ur III empire changes our perspective on the period. We already knew that Isin, Esnunna and presumably Der had asserted their independence towards the end of Ibbi-Sîn’s reign (Charpin 2004 p. 60-68). In the Correspondence of the Kings of Ur III, Malgium is mentioned once: in the letter sent by Puzur-Numusda to Ibbi-Sîn (Michalowski 2011 no. 23 p. 439-462). According to the events therein, Isbi-Erra had con- quered the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates and installed a man named “Iddi” at Malgium (4). It is curious that Malgium does not feature in any of the tens of thousands of Ur III texts (5) and is then suddenly men- tioned as an important strategic town (6). In any case, we cannot link Iddi to Su-Kakka, even though there could not have been more than 15-20 years between them. If Whiting’s tentative dating of the Su-Kakka seal impression is correct (ca. 1995 BC), we can state that Su-Kakka of Malgium was contempo- rary with Bilalama of Esnunna, Isbi-Erra and Su-ilisu of Isin, Ilum- mutabbil of Der and Tan-Ruhuratir, ensi of Susa and king of Simaski. The territory of Malgium is at the crossroads of all of these kingdoms and its role must have been considerable, despite the dearth of sources to proof it. It is interesting that none of the three early OB kings of Malgium carries an Amorite name: the time of kingdoms led by monarchs carrying Amorite names had not yet come. We know that Esnunna entertained diplomatic contacts with Su- Kakka, but also with Ilum-mutabbil of Der. This man boasts in his inscriptions (RIME E4.12.2) that he had defeated the armies of Ansan, Elam and Simaski. We can only guess the role of Malgium in these feats, but I suspect that Malgium and Der had a special relationship throughout the OB period. However, despite being neighboring king- doms, Der and Malgium remained independent until the time of Ham- murabi (7). Though it is not yet possible to date the reigns of Nabi-Enlil and Su- Amurru more exactly, they must be somewhere between 1995 and 1914 BC. This latter date is Gungunum 19; which commemorates his victory over Malgium. Journal Asiatique 301.1 (2013): 19-25 996408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd6408_JA_2013/1_02_de_Boer.indd 2222 229/10/139/10/13 008:408:40 AN EARLY OLD BABYLONIAN ARCHIVE FROM THE KINGDOM … 23 All in all, it seems plausible to me that the texts published by Mayr were found somewhere in the ancient kingdom of Malgium. This makes Su-Kakka, Nabi-Enlil and Su-Amurru kings of Malgium. The usage of Ur III month names and the orthography point towards a date not long after the fall of the Ur III empire, but anterior to the kings Takil-ilissu and Ipiq-Istar.
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