THE EARLIER RULERS OF ELAM, THE DYNASTY OF ISIN, AND THE RISE OF BABYLON
The kingdom of Sumer and Akkad, which had been founded by Ur-Engur, survived the fall of his dynasty, and the centre of authority merely passed from one city to another. The change of capital did not imply the existence of any new racial movement, such as that which had led to the rise of Kish and the Empire of Akkad. The kings of Isin were probably Sumerians like their immediate predecessors, and they shared with them the same ideals and culture. No doubt a rivalry existed between the great Sumerian cities, and any one of them would have been ready to contest the power of Ur had there been a prospect of success. At first sight indeed it might appear that Isin now emerged as the victor from such a struggle for the hegemony. In the dynastic chronicle from Nippur the close of the Dynasty of Ur and the rise of Isin is briefly recorded in the words "the rule of Ur was overthrown, Isin took its kingdom." From this passage alone it might be imagined that Ishbi-Ura, the founder of the Dynasty of Isin, had headed a revolt against the rule of Ur, and had been the direct agent in Ibi-Sin's deposition.
But the fall of the Dynasty of Ur, like that of the First Dynasty of Babylon, was due to an external cause and not to any movement within the limits of Babylonia itself. We possess no contemporary record of the catastrophe which at this time overwhelmed the empire, but an echo of it has been preserved in an omen-text, inscribed upon an Assyrian tablet from the Library of Ashur-bani-pal. We have already noted instances in which genuine historical traditions have been incorporated in the later augural literature, and we need have no hesitation in accepting the historical accuracy of this reference to past events. The text in question enumerates certain omens which it associates with the fall of "Ibi-Sin, the King of Ur," who, it states, was carried captive to Anshan.[1] We may thus infer that it was an Elamite invasion that put an end to the Dynasty of Ur. The foreign provinces, on the possession of which Dungi had based his claim to the rule of the four quarters of the world, had finally proved the cause of his empire's downfall.
We have few data on which to form an estimate of the extent of the Elamite conquest of Babylonia, or of the period during which the country or a portion of it was in the hands of the invaders. The deportation of the king of Ur can hardly have been the result of a spasmodic raid, following one of the numerous provincial revolts which had at last proved successful. It is far more likely that the capture followed the fall of Ur itself, and such an achievement argues the existence of an organized force in Elam, which it must have required some years to build up. It is therefore permissible to conjecture that, in the course of the twenty-five years of his reign, Ibi-Sin had gradually been losing his hold upon the Elamite portion of his empire, and that an independent kingdom had been formed in Elam under a native ruler. For a time Ibi-Sin may have continued to hold certain districts, but, after the successful invasion of Babylonia, the whole of Elam, and for a time a part of Babylonia itself, may have fallen to the lot of the conqueror.
It would be tempting to connect the fall of Ur with the sack of the neighbouring city of Erech by the Elamite king Kudur-Nankhundi, which is referred to in an inscription of Ashur-bani-pal. When he captured Susa in 650 B.C., the Assyrian king relates that he recovered the image of the goddess Nanâ, which Kudur-Nankhundi had carried off from Erech sixteen hundred and thirty-five years before.[2] By accepting these figures Kudur-Nankhundi's invasion has been assigned to an approximate date of 2285 B.C., and it was formerly supposed that it was an episode in the Elamite wars of the First Dynasty of Babylon. But, in consequence of the reduction in dates necessitated by recent discoveries, it follows that, if Ashur-bani-pal's figures be accepted as correct, Kudur-Nankhundi's invasion must have taken place before the rise of Babylon. It cannot have occurred at a time when the kings of Ur were all-powerful in Babylonia, and still retained an effective hold on Elam; so that, unless we assign the invasion to some period of unrest during the Dynasty of Isin, no more probable epoch presents itself than that of the Elamite invasion which put an end to the Dynasty of Ur, and allowed Isin to secure the hegemony in Babylonia.
The want of some synchronism, or fixed point of contact, between the earlier history of Elam and that of Sumer and Akkad renders it difficult to settle the period of those native Elamite rulers whose names occur in building-inscriptions, recovered during the French excavations at Susa. Some of the texts enumerate a succession of Elamite princes, who had in turn taken part in the reconstruction of buildings in that city,[3] and, although we are thus enabled to arrange their names in relative chronological order, it is not until towards the close of the First Dynasty of Babylon that we can definitely fix the date of any one of them. Of earlier rulers, the members of the dynasty of Khutran-tepti probably reigned at a period subsequent to that of Basha-Shushinak.[4] In addition to Khutran-tepti himself, the names of three of his descendants have been recovered, Itaddu I., and his son Kal-Rukhuratir, and his grandson Itaddu II. Since these rulers bore the title patesi of Susa, it is possible that, like Urkium, Zarik and Belia-rik, who are mentioned on tablets from Tello,[5] they owed allegiance to Babylonia, during the period of the Dynasty of Ur.[6] A later Elamite dynasty was that which traced its descent from Ebarti, or from his son Shilkhakha. Two of Shilkhakha's descendants[7] were Shirukdu' or Shirukdukh, and Simebalar-khuppak, and these were divided from a later group by Kuk-Kirmesh, the son of Lankuku. The later group of his descendants, whose names have yet been recovered, consists of Adda-Pakshu, Temti-khalki and Kuk-Nashur, or Kukka-Nasher, the descendant of Kal-Uli.[8] What intervals of time separated the different members of the dynasty from one another is still a matter for conjecture.
It is noteworthy that the members of Ebarti's dynasty, whose inscriptions have been recovered, bear different titles to those of the earlier dynasty of Khutran-tepti. While the latter styled themselves patesis of Susa and governors (shakkanakku) of Elam, their successors claim the title of sukkal of Elam, of Simash, and of Susa. It has been suggested that the title of sukkallu may have carried with it an idea of independence from foreign control, which is absent from that of patesi, and the alteration of title has been regarded as reflecting a corresponding change in the political condition of Elam. The view has been put forward that the rulers of Elam, who styled themselves sukkallu, reigned at a period when Elam was independent and possibly exercised suzerainty over the neighbouring districts of Babylonia.[9] The worker of this change was assumed to be Kudur-Nankhundi, and in support of the suggestion it was pointed out that a certain Kutir-Nakhkhunte, whose name occurs in a votive inscription of the period, should possibly be identified with the conqueror of Erech. He is mentioned on inscribed bricks of Temti-agun, a sukkal of Susa and a descendant of Shirukdukh, from a temple built by this ruler with the object of prolonging his own life and those of four other Elamites, among them Kutir-Nakhkhunte.[10] It was thought possible that Temti-agun might have been the local ruler of Susa, at a time when Kutir-Nakhkhunte exercised control over the whole of Elam and a great part of Babylonia.
The suggested synchronism, if established, would have been of considerable assistance in arranging the chronology of an obscure period of history, but it cannot be regarded as probable. Temti-agun sets no title after Kutir-Nakhkhunte's name, an omission that is hardly compatible with the theory that he was his superior and suzerain. Moreover, it is now certain that the title of sukkallu, so far from implying a measure of independence, was a distinctive mark of subjection to foreign control. For an inscription of the sukkal Kukka-Nasher has recently been published,[11] which is dated by a formula of Ammi-zaduga, the last king but one of the first Babylonian dynasty, proving that he governed Susa in Ammi-zaduga's name. This synchronism is the only certain one in the early history of the two countries, for it probably disposes of another recently suggested between Adda-Pakshu and Sumu-abu, the founder of the Babylonian monarchy. A contract-tablet of the epoch of Adda-Pakshu is dated in "the year of Shumu-abi," who has been identified with Sumu-abu, the Babylonian king.[12] Apart from the fact that no title follows Shumu-abi's name, it has been pointed out that a far shorter interval separated Adda-Pakshu from Kuk-Nashur.[13] We are therefore reduced to the conclusion that at any rate the later members of Ebarti's dynasty owed allegiance to Babylon, and it is a legitimate assumption that the earlier rulers, who also bore the title of sukkallu, acknowledged the suzerainty of either Babylon or Isin. The control exercised by the sovereign state was doubtless often nominal, and it is probable that border warfare was not of infrequent occurrence. A reflection of such a state of affairs may probably be seen in the short inscription of Anu-mutabil, a governor of the city of Der, which he engraved upon an olive-shaped stone now in the British Museum.[14] This local magnate, who probably lived at about the period of the Dynasty of Isin, boasts that he broke the heads of the men of Anshan, Elam and Simash, and conquered Barakhsu.
We thus obtain from native Elamite sources no evidence that Elam exercised control over a portion of Babylonia for any considerable period after the fall of Ur. The invasion of the country, which resulted in the deportation of Ibi-Sin, no doubt freed Elam for a time from foreign control, and may well have led to the establishment of a number of independent states under native Elamite rulers. In addition to Kudur-Nankhundi we may provisionally assign to this period Kisâri, king of Gankhar,[15] a district which had previously been held by the kings of Ur. But it would seem that the Elamite states, after their long period of subjection, were not sufficiently strong or united to follow up the success achieved by Anshan. The dynastic chronicle from Nippur records that Isin took the kingdom of Ur, and we may assume that Ishbi-Ura was not long in re-establishing the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad with his own city as its capital. The Elamite invasion may well have been confined to the south of Sumer, and among the cities that had been left unaffected the most powerful would naturally assert itself. Evidence that Ishbi-Ura soon freed himself from Elamite interference may possibly be seen in a reference to him upon an Assyrian omen-tablet, which states that "he had no rivals."[16] The phrase is certainly vague, but it at least bears witness to the reputation which his achievements secured for him in the traditions of a later age.