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Sîn-kāšid (inscribed in : EN.ZU''-kà-ši-id'') was the
Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...
king of the ancient
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
n city of
Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...
during the 18th century BC. No date lists are known nor any year names so his regnal length is uncertain, but it is likely to have been fairly long due to the voluminous building inscriptions extant for which he is best known. He was contemporary with Nur-Adad of
Larsa Larsa (, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossus, Berossos and connected with the biblical Arioch, Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the Cult (religious pra ...
(c. 1866-1850 BC) and Enlil-bāni of
Isin Isin (, modern Arabic language, Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq which was the location of the Ancient Near East city of Isin, occupied from the late 4th millennium Uruk period up until at ...
(c. 1860 – 1837 BC). His apparent lack of relationship with any of the preceding rulers of Uruk and his omission of mentioning his father in any of his inscriptions has led to the belief that he was the founder of a dynasty. He participated in a diplomatic marriage with Šallurtum, the daughter of Sūmû-la-Il (c. 1880-1845 BC BC), the second king of the
First Babylonian Dynasty The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The Chronology of the Ancient Near East, chrono ...
, as her name and epithets appear in the seal impressions of three clay bullae recovered from the remains of his palace.


Biography

Sîn-kāšid seems to have begun his career as a viceroy of Dūrum, a small town near Uruk, a city initially under the hegemony of the kings of Isin. It was the beneficiary of his building works as cones commemorate his construction of a temple, the ''Eniḫušil'', “house that bears a fearsome splendour,” to one of the tutelary deities, Lugal-Irra, and the ''Emeslam'' for the other one, Meslamtae’a.Frayne, Douglas, "Uruk", Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 439-483, 1990 His letter to the god Meslamtae’a became a belles-lettre of later ages, used in scribal education. He successfully wrestled the city-state of Uruk away from the dominion of Larsa, thereby founding a 50-year dynasty. He shared genealogical links with
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
, as he belonged to the same royal lineage of the Amnānum tribe, an oft repeated claim in his inscriptions with his title of "king of the Amnānum," and married a daughter of the second king of Babylon to cement those links further. He constructed an enormous palace, the ''Ekituššaḫula'', “House – Abode of Rejoicing” and the numerous bricks, tablets and cones (examples pictured) which were imbedded in its walls have found their way into museum collections all over the world, giving him a prominence much greater than that which might have been suggested by political events of his time; a possible reconstruction of his palace can be see
here
A small cache of 25 school texts were found in a room in the ruins and include mathematical exercises and lexical lists. He rebuilt the temple, which was called ''
Eanna E-anna ( , ''house of heavens''), also referred to as the Temple of Inanna, was an ancient Sumerian temple in Uruk. Considered the "residence" of Inanna, it is mentioned throughout the ''Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is ...
'', "House of Heaven," and provided a
cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...
(''Epapaḫ'') for the gods An and
Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
in it, and thereafter styled himself ''ú-a-é-an-na'', “provider of Eanna.” He engaged in many other religious construction projects including the building of an “oval” for a temple (''E'' 'ša'''ḫula''), of the goddess Nanāia, temples for
Enki Enki ( ) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge ('' gestú''), crafts (''gašam''), and creation (''nudimmud''), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea () or Ae p. 324, note 27. in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) religion, and ...
, Iškur, the ''Egal-maḫ'' for
Ninisina Ninisina ( Sumerian: "Mistress of Isin") was a Mesopotamian goddess who served as the tutelary deity of the city of Isin. She was considered a healing deity. She was believed to be skilled in the medical arts, and could be described as a divine ph ...
, and a temple (''Ekankal''), for
Lugalbanda Lugalbanda was a deified Sumerian king of Uruk who, according to various sources of Mesopotamian literature, was the father of Gilgamesh. Early sources mention his consort Ninsun and his heroic deeds in an expedition to Aratta by King Enmerkar ...
and
Ninsun Ninsun (also called Ninsumun, cuneiform: dNIN.SUMUN2; Sumerian: ''Nin-sumun(ak)'' "lady of the wild cows") was a Mesopotamian goddess. She is best known as the mother of the hero Gilgamesh and wife of deified legendary king Lugalbanda, and appe ...
. He installed a daughter, Nīši-īnīšu, as NIN-DINGER priestess of his personal god, Lugalbanda, and built a shining “gipar,” or residence, for the ''entu''-priestess. Some of Sîn-kāšid’s religious endowment inscriptions make reference to the low prices of the commodities barley, wool, copper and vegetable oil, symptomatic of divine favor for the reign as manifested in a strong economy. A comparison with surviving contemporary economic texts, however, shows the pricing to be utopian, approximately a third of the market rate, but his propagandizing technique would be later imitated by others, Sîn-iddinam and Sîn-iqišam of Larsa, Šamši-Adad I of
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
, and others. He was eventually succeeded by his son Sîn-irībam, his grandsons Sîn-gāmil and Ilum-gāmil, and a certain Etēia of unknown provenance, before the dynasty was replaced by An-am, and his son ÌR-ne-ne ( Irdanene), kings who had adopted Sumerian names in marked contrast to the Akkadian monikers of his dynasty.Falkenstein, Adam, "Zu den Inschriftenfunden der Grabung in Uruk-Warka 1960-1961: A. von Haller zum 70. Geburtstag am 29. Mai 1962 gewidmet." Baghdader Mitteilungen 2, pp. 1-82, 1963 His daughter was Ninšatapada, "Lady Chosen by eans ofthe Heart mens" the high-priestess of Meslamtae’a in the city of Dūrum, who apparently authored a letter-prayer to Rim-Sin I (c. 1822-1763 BC), extant in six later copies, in which she pleaded him to end her exile. She supposedly wrote it in old age, after she had been exiled from Dūrum for 4 or 5 years. Rim-Sin would take the city celebrated in his twentieth year-name "Year in which Kisurra was seized and annexed to Larsa and (Rim-Sin), with the help of the strong weapon entrusted to him by Enlil, destroyed Durum (Der)". He was to capture Uruk the following year, driving out An-am’s son and successor, Irdanene. The distinct possibility remains that this letter was a poetic device created by a later
scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...
of Larsa, to provide ideological justification for Rim-Sin’s overthrow of the Sumerian-named kings that had succeeded Sîn-kāšid’s short dynasty, as it uses some of the very same phrases that appear in official date formulae and inscriptions of the Larsa dynasty. In a foundation tablet Sîn-kāšid names himself "... provider for Eanna, governor of Dürum, king of Amnã-num ...". It is known from other inscriptions that several other members of the dynasty took the title "King of the Amnanum (Tribe)" (lugal am-na-nu-um) and were members of the same Yaminite tribe of Amnanum as the rulers of Babylon.Michalowski, Piotr, "History as charter some observations on the sumerian king list", Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.1, pp. 237-248, 1983 An oath text of Ibel-pi-El, ruler of Eshnunna, provides synchronism for Sîn-Kāšid with several rulers:


See also

*
List of Mesopotamian dynasties The history of Mesopotamia extends from the Lower Paleolithic period until the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, after which the region came to be known as History of Iraq, Iraq. This list covers dynasties and monarchs of ...
*
Chronology of the ancient Near East The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...


Gallery

File:Mesopotamian - Sin-Kashid Tablet - Walters 481805 - View A.jpg,
Cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
tablet inscribed with Sîn-kāšid’s building dedication, from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. File:Dedicatory cone inscribed with the name of Sin-Kashid, 18th century BC, from Uruk, currently housed in the British Museum.jpg, Dedicatory cone inscribed with the name of Sin-Kashid, 18th century BC, from Uruk, currently housed in the British Museum File:Sin-kashid cone (sikkatu), c. 1850 BC - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07176.JPG, File:Sin-kashid cone (sikkatu), c. 1850 BC - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago File:Tablet of Sin-Gashid king of Uruk (Neo-Babylonian copy).jpg, Tablet of Sîn-kāšid, king of Uruk (Neo-Babylonian copy) File:Votive inscription of Sin-Kasid, king of Uruk. From Uruk, Isin-Larsa period, 1865-1833 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg, Votive inscription of Sin-Kasid, king of Uruk. From Uruk, Isin-Larsa period, 1865-1833 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul File:Clay nail, mentioning in detail the wealth of Sîn-kāšid, king of Uruk in Babylon. 19th century BCE. From Iraq. British Museum.jpg, Clay nail, mentioning in detail the wealth of Sîn-kāšid, king of Uruk in Babylon. 19th century BCE. From Iraq. British Museum


References


Further reading

*Mauer, G., "Ein Tontafelarchiv aus dem Palast des Sîn-kāšid in Uruk", BaM 18, pp. 133–198, 1987 *Sanati-Müller, Sh., "Texte aus dem Sîn-kāšid-Palast. Neunter Teil. Rohrtexte.", BaM 27, pp. 365–399, 1996 *Sanati-Müller, Sh., "Texte aus dem Sîn-kāšid-Palast. Zehnter Teil: Holztexte Elfter Teil:Fragmentarisch erhaltene Texte", BaM 31, pp. 93–16, 2000 *Sanati-Müller, Sh., "Kollationen zu ‘Ein Tontafelarchiv aus dem Palast des Sîn-Kāšid inUruk’ von Gerlinde Mauer", BaM 31, pp. 181–193, 2000


External links

Sîn-kāšid inscriptions at CDLI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sin-kashid 18th-century BC Sumerian kings Kings of Uruk