Identification Seven A: Isin-Larsa Period
The Short Intermediate Period Lacking Universal Kingship
The Isin-Larsa period is named after the co-ruling dynasties of the region, obviously named after the cities Isin and Larsa. While they seemingly dominated the region together, the major difference between the two was a result of their ancestry. The dynasty at Isin were Sumerians, even though earlier kings preferred to use semitic names. However, the dynasty at Larsa appear to be actual Amorites, preempting the rise of the most famous Amorite, Hammurabi and his dynasty. This would place Larsa central in the rise of the various Amorite polities, as well as the events leading up to the fall of the previous dynasty of Ur.
Realistically most of these kings are not very relevant for our purposes, but there is more information on these dynasties than pretty much the entire previous eras combined. Isin mostly dominated over Larsa for the majority of the era, but eventually Larsa rose as the prime regional power. Quoting from our earlier section on Amraphel: “Later in this era when the governor of Larsa named Gungunum (great name) broke with the city of Isin, he established his own independent dynasty of Larsa sometime around 1930-1900 BCE. Gungunum’s successors both cut off Isin from the canals, crushing Isin’s relevance and bringing rise to the further dominance of Larsa.”
Sometime around this period sees Sumu-abum, an Amorite, become the king of the First Dynasty of Babylon, the same dynasty as Hammurabi. However, Sumu-abum doesn’t claim “King of Babylon” but rather “King of Kisurra” somewhere in the surrounding region. Isin and Larsa were still far dominant over the first three kings of Babylon, up until the time of Sin-Muballit, father of Hammurabi. In the 13th year of Sin-Muballit’s reign he was attacked by a force from Larsa, successfully repelling the invasion. Only four years later in the 17th year of his reign, Sin-Muballit actually takes over Isin from the final king of Isin preempting the eventual conquest of Larsa under Hammurabi.
We earlier extensively discussed the polity of Larsa and their most important brother kings Warad-Sin and Rim-Sin who take the title Eri-Aku, known as Arioch, king of Ellasar (Larsa). We mentioned their reign was muddy with presumably their father, Kudur-Mubuk, or Rim-Sin serving as regent for Warad-Sin during a period coinciding with Hammurabi. Unlike the early Larsa kings who appear to be Amorites such as Naplanum, Gungunum, Abisare, or Sumuel who all have semitic names, Kudur-Mabuk appears to be of Elamite descent despite having an Akkadian name.1 This might perhaps be the basis of the split between Babylon and Larsa, or simply Larsa was no longer a threat to the now ascendant Babylon.
As a primer for the next section on Hammurabi, it would make sense to reread the section on Amraphel. For the full story of Larsa, Rim-Sin, Warad-Sin and their connection to Arioch, king of Ellasar, read the previous section under the title “Who is Arioch?”. The section “Who is Chedorlaomer?” might also be helpful to contextualize Elam in this period. Those chapters can be viewed as an ‘insertion’ between this, and the following chapter
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Amanda H. Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East. Oxford University Press, 2022. 269.