Yahdun-Lim
{{Short description|King of Mari}}{{distinguish|Yahdul-Lim}}
File:Disk Yahdun-Lim Louvre AO18236.jpg
{{Mari, Syria}}Yahdun-Lim (or Yakhdunlim, Yahdunlim; from Akkadian ia-aḫ-du-un-li-im, in Amorite Yaʿdun-lîm{{Cite book |last=Streck |first=Michael P. |title=Das amurritische Onomastikon der altbabylonischen Zeit |publisher=Ugarit-Verlag |year=2000 |volume=1: Die Amurriter, die onomastische Forschung, Orthographie und Phonologie, Nominalmorphologie |pages=345 |language=de}}) was the king of Mari probably in 1820—1796 BC. He was of Amorite origin, and became king after the death of his father Iaggid-Lim. Yahdunlim built Mari up to become one of the major powers of the region. He led a successful campaign to the coast of the Mediterranean.
Reign
File:Brique de fondation Yahdun Lim AO21815.jpgYahdun-Lim started his reign by subduing seven of his rebelling tribal leaders, and rebuilding the walls of Mari and Terqa in addition to building a new fort which he named Dur-Yahdun-Lim.{{sfn|Frayne|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=u2nUT_RtyQ8C&pg=PA603 603]}}
Yahdun-Lim's kingdom was threatened by incursions from various nomad tribes, such as the Canaanites, but he was able to subjugate them and force them to pay tribute. After having established internal peace, he built a temple to the god Shamash.
He then expanded west and claimed to have reached the Mediterranean,{{sfn|Frayne|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=u2nUT_RtyQ8C&pg=PA606 606]}}{{sfn|Fowden|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0VOzAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 93]}} however he later had to face a rebellion by the Yaminite nomads who were centered at Tuttul, and the rebels were supported by Yamhad's king Sumu-Epuh, whose interests were threatened by the recently established alliance between Yahdun-Lim and Eshnunna.{{sfn|Bryce|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=E1aF0hq1GR8C&pg=PA451 451]}}{{sfn|Frayne|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=u2nUT_RtyQ8C&pg=PA606 606]}} Yahdun-Lim defeated the Yaminites but an open war with Yamhad was avoided.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=41-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 19]}}
= Shamshi-Adad I =
Yahdun-Lim then became occupied by his rivalry with Shamshi-Adad I of Shubat-Enlil, the son of the late Ila-kabkabu.{{sfn|Pitard|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&pg=PA38 38]}}
He received pleas for help from kings threatened by Shamshi-Adad's expansionist plans. But before Yahdunlim could move against Shamshi-Adad, he was assassinated in c. 1798 BC by his possible son Sumu-Yamam,{{sfn|Launderville|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=z4oHNWUWTSkC&pg=PA271 271]}}{{sfn|Frayne|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=u2nUT_RtyQ8C&pg=PA613 613]}} who himself got assassinated two years after ascending the throne.
But according to William J. Hamblin, Yahdun-Lim was killed in a battle with Shamshi-Adad ca 1796 BC. Shamshi-Adad then assigned his son Yasmah-Addu to the lordship of Mari.{{cite book|author=William J. Hamblin|title=Warfare in Ancient Near East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5IQQir5eFEC&pg=PA267|access-date=4 October 2012|date=12 April 2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-25588-2|pages=170 }} // [https://archive.org/stream/WarfareInTheAncientNearEastTo1600BCBySamySalah/Warfare+in+the+Ancient+Near+East+to+1600+BC+By+Samy+Salah_djvu.txt Archived version]
In the chaos that followed, Shamshi-Adad advanced and annexed Mari.{{sfn|Bryce|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=41-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 20]}} The war ended in a defeat for Mari.{{sfn|Pitard|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&pg=PA38 38]}}{{sfn|Van Der Meer|1955|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gB8VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29 29]}}
Zimrilim, Yakhdunlim's son and heir, was forced to flee to Aleppo, where he would remain as an exile until Shamshi-Adad's death.
Yahdul-Lim of Carchemish may also be sometimes referred to as Yahdun-Lim.
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Literature
- {{cite book|title= The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia|first= Trevor|last=Bryce|publisher= Routledge|year= 2009 |isbn= 978-1-134-15908-6}}
- {{cite book|title= Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History|last=Bryce|first=Trevor|publisher= Oxford University Press|year= 2014|isbn=978-0-19-100292-2}}
- {{cite book |last1=Fowden |first1=Garth |title=Before and After Muhammad: The First Millennium Refocused |date=21 November 2013 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4816-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VOzAAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
- {{cite book|series=The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Early Periods|volume=4|title=Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 BC)|first= Douglas |last= Frayne|publisher= University of Toronto Press|year= 1990|isbn= 978-0-8020-5873-7}}
- {{cite book |last1=Launderville |first1=Dale |title=Piety and Politics: The Dynamics of Royal Authority in Homeric Greece, Biblical Israel, and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia |date=2003 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-4505-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4oHNWUWTSkC |language=en}}
- {{cite book|chapter= Before Israel: Syria-Palestine in the Bronze Age|title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World|editor-first=Michael David|editor-last=Coogan|first1=Wayne T.|last1=Pitard|publisher=Oxford University Press|orig-year= 1998|edition=revised|year= 2001|isbn=978-0-19-513937-2}}
- {{cite book|title=The Chronology of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt|first=Petrus|last=Van Der Meer|edition=2|publisher=Brill|series=Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui|volume=2|orig-year=1947|year=1955|oclc=4727997}}
{{Rulers of Mari}}