Ansud (also read as Ianupu, Yanup, Anubu, Gansud, Anusu and Hanusum;
died 2416 BC
), was an early king (
Lugal
( Sumerian: ) is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man." In Sumerian, ''lú'' " 𒇽" is "man" and ''gal'' " 𒃲" is "great", or "big."
It was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state could ...
) of the second
Mariote kingdom. Ansud is known for warring against the
Ebla
Ebla (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', , modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a Tell (archaeology), tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was ...
ites from a letter written by the later Mariote king
Enna-Dagan.
Reign
Identity
It has been proposed that a bead (reference M. 4439) discovered at Mari, was sent as a gift by
Mesannepada
Mesannepada (, ES-AN-NE2-PAD3-DA, Mesh-Ane-pada or Mes-Anne-pada ("Youngling chosen by An"; died ) was the first king listed for the First Dynasty of Ur on the Sumerian king list. He is listed to have ruled for 80 years, having overthrown Lu ...
of
Ur to king "Hanusum" (Gansud) of Mari.
This has now been corrected with new translations only giving Mesannepada as son of
Meskalamdug:
[Description with photograph: ]
It is unclear how this bead came to be in Mari, but this points to some kind of relation between Ur and Mari at that time.
The bead was discovered in a jar containing other objects from Ur or Kish.
The letter of Enna-Dagan is extremely difficult to read, and the word "Sa'umu" appeared in three passages of it.
In the second and third passages, the word referred to Ansud's successor Sa'umu.
However, in the first passage, "Sa'umu" was read as a verb by
Giovanni Pettinato
Giovanni Pettinato (30 April 1934, in Troina – 19 May 2011, in Rome) was an Assyriologist and paleographer of writings from the ancient Near East, specializing in the Eblaite language, His major contributions to the field include the decipheri ...
, who later read it as (Anudu).
, recognized that this verb is a personal name of a monarch and read it as Anubu (motivated by the
Sumerian King List
The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient Composition (language), literary composition written in Sumerian language, Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims ...
which record a dynasty of Mari and king Anbu as the first monarch of the dynasty).
However, the discovery of an intact (SKL) with the names of Mari's dynasty bearing no resemblance to second kingdom monarchs, eliminated the need for Archi's identification.
According to
Michael Astour, the name is Anusu (Ansud) and must be correlated with king Hanusum.
Campaigns
In the letter Ansud is recorded defeating the cities of
Aburu,
Ilgi in the lands of
Belan.
The king is also mentioned leaving ruins in the mountains of Labanan,
which were identified by Pettinato with
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
.
However, this identification was ruled as geographically impossible by Astour.
See also
*
Eblaite-Mariote war
Notes
Citations
{{Early Rulers of Mesopotamia
25th-century BC monarchs
Kings of Mari
3rd-millennium BC births
3rd-millennium BC deaths