Shalim-ahum

Shalim-ahum or Šalim-ahum was a ruler of the city-state of Assur in the 20th century BC. The Assyrian King List records his name as Šallim-aḫḫe, inscribed šal-lim-PABMEŠ, meaning, “keep the brothers safe”, and he appears among the six kings “whose eponyms are not found”,[1] meaning that the length of his reign was unknown. He was described as the son of Puzur-Ashur I (dumu Puzu Assur) in his only known inscription.[2] He is the earliest independent ruler to be attested in a contemporary inscription.[3] Carved in curious archaic character mirror-writing in Old Assyrian on an alabaster block found during the German excavations at Assur under Walter Andrae, this sole exemplar of his contemporary inscriptions records that the god Ashur “requested of him” the construction of a temple and that he had “beer vats and storage area” built in the “temple area”.[4]: 6–7 [5]

Karum trading patterns
Shalim-ahum
Išši’ak Aššur
Reign20th century BC
PredecessorPuzur-Ashur I
SuccessorIlu-shuma
FatherPuzur-Ashur I

He ruled during a period when nascent Assyrian merchant companies in karums were branching out into Anatolia to trade textiles and tin from Assur for silver.[3] He was succeeded by his son, Ilu-shuma, as recorded in his brick and limestone inscriptions[4]: 7–8  and he appears in the genealogy of his grandson, Erishum I.[4]: 12, 15  His name appears in an inscription of Adad-nirari I and one of Shalmaneser I but only in the context of references to his son, Ilu-shuma.[4]: 68, 91  Shalim-ahum and his successors bore the title išši’ak Aššur, vice regent of Assur, as well as ensí.[6]

References
  1. K. R. Veenhof (2003). The Old Assyrian List of Year Eponyms from Karum Kanish and is Chronological Implications. Turkish Historical Society. p. 21.
  2. Albert Kirk Grayson (2002). Assyrian Rulers. Volume1: 1114 – 859 BC. p. 14.
  3. J. A. Brinkman (2001). "Assyria". In Bruce Manning Metzger, Michael David Coogan (ed.). The Oxford companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press. p. 63.
  4. Albert Kirk Grayson (1972). Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Volume 1. Otto Harrassowitz. pp. 6–8.
  5. Walter T. Farber (1991). "Šalim-aḫum Revisited". Annual Review of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia (ARRIM). 9: 13–15. with excavation photo.
  6. Barbara Cifola (1995). Analysis of variants in the Assyrian royal titulary from the origins to Tiglath-Pileser III. Istituto universitario orientale. p. 8.
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