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Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Although situated in the Diyala Valley northwest of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu. It is sometimes, in archaeological papers, called Ashnunnak or Tuplias. The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak (Tišpak) though other gods, including Sin, Adad, and Inanna of Kititum were also worshiped there. The personal goddesses of the rulers were Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban. Inhabited since the Jemdet Nasr period, around 3000 BC, Eshnunna was a major city during the Early Dynastic period of Mesopotamia. It is known, from cuneiform records and excavations, that the city was occupied in the Akkadian period though its extent was noticeably less than it reached in Ur III times. Areas of the Northern Palace date to this period and show some of the earliest examples of widespread sewage disposal engineering including toilets in private homes. The first known rulers of the city were a series of vassal governors under the Third dynasty of Ur. Eshnunna may have had special relationships to the royal family. For example, Shulgi's wife Shulgi-Simtum showed devotion to two goddesses closely connected with the governor's dynasty at Eshnunna, and Shu-Sin's uncle Babati temporarily lived in Eshnunna. Ituria, the governor of Eshnunna, erected a temple to Shu-Sin in a new lower town. Soon after Shu-Sin's death, Ituria was followed by his son Shu-iliya, who in 2026 BCE got rid of the Ur III calendar and replaced it with a local one. He also stopped calling himself the ensi (governor) of Eshnunna, instead referring to himself as lugal (king) and "beloved of Tishpak". His personal seal shows him facing the god Tishpak, who is holding a rod and ring in one hand and an axe in the other while standing on two subdued enemies.

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Related concepts (26)

Eshnunna

Babylon

Babylon is an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia, with its rulers establishing two important empires in antiquity, namely the 18th century BC Old Babylonian Empire and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the city would also be used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire.

Iraq

Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in the Middle East. It is a federal parliamentary republic that consists of 19 governorates. The country is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. The Iraqi people are diverse; mostly Arabs, as well as Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidis, Mandaeans, Persians and Shabakis with similarly diverse geography and wildlife.