Sumu-Epuh
King of Yamhad
Tenurec. 1810 BC – c. 1780 BC. Middle chronology
SuccessorYarim-Lim I
King of Yamhad
WifeSumunna-Abi
IssueYarim-Lim I

Sumu-Epuh (reigned c. 1810 BC – c. 1780 BC Middle chronology) is the first attested king of Yamhad (Halab).[1] He founded the Yamhad dynasty which controlled northern Syria throughout the 17th and 18th centuries BC.

Reign

Although Sumu-Epuh's early life or the way he ascended the throne is not known, he is considered the first king of Yamhad, and his realm included Alalakh and Tuba.[2][3] Sumu-Epuh entered the historical records when he was mentioned by Yahdun-Lim of Mari, as one of the leaders who fought against him.[4] Yahdun-Lim was an ambitious ruler who campaigned in the north claiming to have reached the Mediterranean, in spite of having a dynastic alliance with Yamhad to oppose Assyria.[5] Those campaigns caused Sumu-Epuh to support the Yaminite tribes centered at Tuttul against the Mariote king,[6][7] who emerged victorious but was soon killed by his own son. Yahdun-Lim's death was followed by Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria's conquest of Mari.

War Against Assyria

Sumu-Epuh aided by Khashshum attacked a kingdom in Zalmakum (a marshy region between the Euphrates and lower Balikh).[8] Khashshum later shifted alliance and joined Shamshi-Adad, who surrounded Yamhad by alliances with the city of Urshu and king Aplahanda of Charchemish in the north, and by conquering Mari in the east (after the death of Yahdun-Lim) in c. 1796 BC, and installing his son Yasmah-Adad on its throne. Shamshi-Adad then concluded an alliance with Yamhad's rival to south Qatna, by marrying his son Yashmah-Adad to princess Beltum, the daughter of Ishi-Addu, king of Qatna.[9]

Sumu-Epuh welcomed Zimri-Lim the heir of Mari who fled to Yamhad, in hope that he might be useful some day since in the eyes of the people of Mari, Zimri-Lim was the legitimate king.[10] Shamshi-Adad's coalition attacked Aleppo but failed to take the city. Sumu-Epuh allied himself with the tribes of the Suteans and the Turukkaeans, who attacked the Assyrian king from the east and the south.[9] Sumu-Epuh also conquered the Assyrian fortress Dur-Shamshi-Adad and renamed it Dur-Sumu-Epuh.[11]

Death and legacy

Sumu-Epuh apparently was killed in c. 1780 BC during his fight with Shamshi-Adad,[7] His successor was Yarim-Lim I, his son by his queen Sumunna-Abi. The dynasty of Sumu-Epuh continued to hold power in the Levant until c. 1344 BC.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Douglas Frayne (1 January 1990). Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 BC). p. 780. ISBN 9780802058737.
  2. ↑ Trudy Ring; Robert M. Salkin; Sharon La Boda (1995). International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe. p. 10. ISBN 9781884964022.
  3. ↑ Sarah Melville; Alice Slotsky (2010). Opening the Tablet Box: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Benjamin R. Foster. p. 376. ISBN 978-9004186521.
  4. ↑ Douglas Frayne (1990). Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 BC). p. 780. ISBN 9780802058737.
  5. ↑ Mario Liverani (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. p. 354. ISBN 9781134750917.
  6. ↑ Wossink, Arne (2009). Challenging Climate Change: Competition and Cooperation Among Pastoralists and Agriculturalists in Northern Mesopotamia. p. 128. ISBN 9789088900310.
  7. 1 2 Trevor Bryce (7 March 2013). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. p. 773. ISBN 9781134159086.
  8. ↑ Sidney Smith (1956). Anatolian Studies: Journal of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. Special number in honour and in memory of John Garstang, 5th May, 1876 - 12th September, 1956, Volume 6. p. 38.
  9. 1 2 William J. Hamblin (20 August 2006). Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. p. 171. ISBN 9780203965566.
  10. ↑ William J. Hamblin (11 January 2013). Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. p. 259. ISBN 9781134520626.
  11. ↑ Horst Klengel (20 March 1992). Syria, 3000 to 300 B.C.: a handbook of political history. p. 52. ISBN 9783050018201.
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