After rising to prominence as an independent state in the early second millennium, during the time of Shamshi-Adad, Eshnunna was occupied by Elam, then conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon in the 38th year of his reign, and absorbed within the Old Babylonian Empire (sometimes called the First Babylonian Dynasty).
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Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.
Eshnunna |
It enjoyed independence briefly during the 18th century under the reigns of the Amorite chieftains (ra-bí-an MAR.DÚ) Itur-šarrum, attested on a single seal from Ešnunna, and Sîn-gāmil, son of Sîn-šēmi and a contemporary of Zimri-Lim (ca. 1710–1698 BC short) of Mari and Ḫammu-rapī (ca. 1728–1686 BC short) of Babylon.
Hammurabi of Babylonia's 30th year name was "Year Hammurabi the king, the mighty, the beloved of Marduk, drove away with the supreme power of the great gods the army of Elam who had gathered from the border of Marhashi, Subartu, Gutium, Tupliash (Eshnunna) and Malgium who had come up in multitudes, and having defeated them in one campaign, he (Hammurabi) secured the foundations of Sumer and Akkad."
Between 1930 and 1937 Frankfort and his team conducted extensive horizontal and vertical excavations on four mounds: Khafajah, Tell Asmar (ancient Eshnunna), Tell Agrab, and Ishchali.