Rapiqum was a city of

Ancient Mesopotamia The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing i ...

during the second millennium BC. The city was located in the

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

of Babylon, probably on the eastern

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

of the Euphrates River, somewhere in the vicinity of today's

Ramadi Ramadi ( ar, ٱلرَّمَادِي ''Ar-Ramādī''; also formerly rendered as ''Rumadiyah'' or ''Rumadiya'') is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad and west of Fallujah. It is the capital and largest city of Al Anbar Governorate whi ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

; the exact location remains unknown.

History

The city is mentioned in several transaction records of the time, the records of king

Sin-Iddinam Sin-Iddinam (, dsuen-i-din-nam) ruled the ancient Near East city-state of Larsa from 1785 BC to 1778 BC. He was the son of Nur-Adad, with whom there may have been a short co-regency overlap. The annals for his 7-year reign record that he campa ...

Larsa Larsa (Sumerian logogram: UD.UNUGKI, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossos and connected with the biblical Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult ...

, and of the Mari kingdom. The city had been independent but was taken by

Hammurapi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...

in his 10th or 11th year of rule (around 1782 BC). It thereafter remained in

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state ...

. It was also taken at various times by

Adad-nirari I Adad-nārārī I, rendered in all but two inscriptions ideographically as md''adad-''ZAB+DAḪ, meaning “Adad (is) my helper,” (1305–1274 BC or 1295–1263 BC short chronology) was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire. He is th ...

, of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the As ...

and Ibal-pi-el II of

Eshnunna Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ...

Location

Hammurabi's Babylonia. The exact location of the city remains unknown but it appears to have been a border town of the Babylonian kingdom, on the Euphrates River, situated between Suhûm and Babylonia, somewhere near the Mari kingdom in Old Babylonia, and north of Babylon. Its exact location was previously thought to be near

but recent excavations suggest Tell Anbar, near

Fallujah Fallujah ( ar, ٱلْفَلُّوجَة, al-Fallūjah, Iraqi pronunciation: ) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important J ...

.Denis Lecambre
Sippar and the Frontier between Ešnunna and Babylon. New Sources for the History of Ešnunna in the Old Babylonian Period
p. 158. Excavations in the area of

have revealed textual evidence of the city of Rapiqum. Currently thinking is that the most likely location is Tell Anbar (Tell Mirmiran), near Falluga.Lacambre, D., 1997, La bataille de Hirîtum, MARI 8: 431-454. —, 2006, La région du Suhûm à l’époque des archives de Mari (XIXe-XVIIIe siècles av. J.-C.), 129-156 in: Chr. Kepinski, O. Lecomte and A. Tenu (eds.), Studia Euphratica. Le moyen Euphrate iraquien révélé par les fouilles préventives de Haditha (Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouvès 3, Paris)

References

{{coord missing, Iraq States and territories established in the 3rd millennium BC States and territories disestablished in the 18th century BC Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC 18th century BC Babylonia Former populated places in Iraq 2nd-millennium BC establishments Former monarchies of Asia History of Western Asia Ancient Assyrian cities