*Beitzel, Barry J., “Išme-Dagan’s Military Actions in the Jezirah: A Geographical Study1”, Iraq 46.1, pp. 29-42, 1984
*Beitzel, Barry J., “Išme-Dagan’s Military Actions in the Jezirah: A Geographical Study1”, Iraq 46.1, pp. 29-42, 1984
*Frayne, Douglas R., “The Zagros campaigns of the Ur III kings”, Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 3. pp. 33-56, 2008
*Frayne, Douglas R., “The Zagros campaigns of the Ur III kings”, Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 3. pp. 33-56, 2008
*Leemans, W.F., “Old Babylonian Letters and Economic History”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 11(1), pp. 171-226, 1968
*Van Koppen, Frans, and Denis Lacambre, “Sippar and the Frontier between Ešnunna and Babylon. New Sources for the History of Ešnunna in the Old Babylonian Period”, Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 41, pp. 151-177, 2009
*Van Koppen, Frans, and Denis Lacambre, “Sippar and the Frontier between Ešnunna and Babylon. New Sources for the History of Ešnunna in the Old Babylonian Period”, Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 41, pp. 151-177, 2009
*Ziegler, Nele, Adelheid Otto, and Christoph Fink, “The” Road to Emar” Reconsidered”, Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 135-220, 2023
*Ziegler, Nele, Adelheid Otto, and Christoph Fink, “The” Road to Emar” Reconsidered”, Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 135-220, 2023
The Old Babylonian period city of Mankisum (Ma-an-ki-siki) is known to have been on the Tigris river
near the convergence with the Little Zab river or with the Diyala River. It has been suggested that there was another city named Mankisum to the south in the area of modern Baghdad. The site of Tell Kurr has
been suggested as the location of that as has the Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya. The later
assumes that were were in fact two Mankisums, one in the south and one in the north.[1]
An itinerary text details a trip from Sippar to Assur by canal which stopped at Mankisum
on the Tigris before arriving at Assur. It was also possible to go from Eshnunna to
Rapiqum by road.[2]
Sîn-abušu, a ruler of Nērebtum (thought to be Tell Ishchali), had a year name “Year in which Sîn-abušu the king gave his daughter to (the ruler of) Mankisum”.
When first known the city was under the control of Shamshi-Adad I (c. 1813–1776 BC) of the Kingdom
of Upper Mesopotamia. In a letter from Ishme-Dagan of Ekallatum found at Mari:
Speak to Yasmah-Addu, thus says Ishme-Dagan your brother. I wrote to you before to say that I had gone to Karana to help Samu-Addu. The ruler of Eshnunna, together with all his troops, his courtiers and his friends, has assembled and is staying in Upe and he kept writing to the ruler of Babylon (Hammurabi) to meet him in Mankisum, but the ruler of Babylon did not agree.[3]
A letter from a ruler of Eshnunna, thought to be Ipiq-Adad II or his successor Naram-Sin of Eshnunna, to Shamshi-Adad I of Ekallatum it states:
“His messengers are constantly coming [to you]. […] like a string in [its] thickness [I made my voice] and caused him to submit, until the moment when [his] mes[sengers] will stop coming to you. Šinam that you constantly favour, is like his reputation, exhausted and abandoned. Come on! Wherever Šinam went as military aid, it did not save Nerebtum, nor did it save the land of Uršitum, nor did it save Diniktum, neither Mankisum. …”[4]
A joint army of Shamshi-Adad I and Dādūša of Ešnunna met at Mankisum before marching down the
Tigris to attack the city of Malgium.[5]
After the death of Shamshi-Adad I his kingdom dissolved and many polities in the region were taken over
for a time by the Elamites. They moved up the Tigirs to Mankisum but then retreated and instead took Eshnunna.
After the Elamites withdrew from the region it was open to the expansion of Babylon under Hammurabi (c. 1810-1750 BC).[6]
Early in the reign of Hammurabi an Eshnunnan army had invaded the territory of Babylon and a text
sent to the ruler of Mari stated “A mass of troops of the prince of Ešnunna are assembling at Mankisum; Dannum-tahaz will cross the [ri]ver with them and go t[o] Rapiqum”. It is known that there was a ford accross
the Tigris at Mankisum.[7]
Texts from Mari indicate that the road from Rapiqum to Eshnunna crosses the Tigris river at Ma-ki-sum. This is thought to be the same city as mentioned in the 32nd year name of Hamurapi “Year Hammu-rabi the king, the hero who gains victory for Marduk, defeated with his mighty weapons the entire army and soldiers of Eshnunna, Subartu and Gutium and conquered the land of Mankisum and the land on the banks of the Tigris up to the border of the Subartu mountains” and the Dadusha of Eshnunna year name “Year in which Dadusza seized Mankisum”.[8][9] Another Mari text notes that a siege took place at Mankisum.[10]
Early in the reign of Old Babylonian Empire ruler Hamurabi a conflict between Babylon, Mari, Eshnunna, and Elam resulted in Hamurabi being in control of the Upi area. A text from Mari showed diplomacy over that area’s disposition:
“If he releases Mankisum, Upi, Shahadunu, and the banks of the Tigris River three double-miles south of Upi — which is the border my grandfather Apil-Sin fixed – then, I will make peace with him. Otherwise, if I am to release Mankisum, he should repay me (for) my efforts that I expended against the Sukkal of Elam for Mankisum. (Only) then may he take Mankisum and I (will take) Upi, Shahadunu and three double-miles south of Upi (along) the banks of the Tigris River.”[11]
The Edict of Ammiṣaduqa (c. 1646–1626 BC), ruler of Babylon, gave tax and debt relief to certain groups in a number of selected place. Four of the places, Idamaraṣ, Mankisum, Šitullum, Suḫûm, and Numḫia were not Babylonian cites. In Mankisum only “markets” were covered. This is the last attested reference to Mankisum.[12]
- ^ Frayne, Douglas, “Towards a Historical Geography of the Khābūr Triangle Region in Old Babylonian Times. Part 1”, Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 7, pp. 33-45, 2012
- ^ Hallo, William W., “The Road to Emar”, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 57–88, 1964
- ^ Dalley, Stephanie, “Rulers and Vassals”, Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities: With a New Introduction by the Author, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 30-49, 2002 ISBN 1-931956-02-2
- ^ Hussein, L.-M. and Ziegler, N., “Two Sets of Letters From Tell Harmal Addressed by the Ruler of Ešnunna to Samsi-Addu”, Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale, 118(1), pp. 47-66, 2024
- ^ Rients de Boer, “Malgum, A Synthesis”, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 75, pp. 13-26, 2023
- ^ Álvarez-Mon, J., & Wicks, Y., “Like a Raining Cloud: Archery as the Pillar of Elamite Warfare”, in Brill’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 34–83, 2024
- ^ Lewy, Hildegard, “The Historical Background of the Correspondence of Baḫdi-Lim”, Orientalia, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 324–52, 1956
- ^ Ebeling, E. and Meissner, B., “Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RIA-2), Berlin, 1938
- ^ [1]Goetze, Albrecht, “An Old Babylonian Itinerary”, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 51–72, 1953
- ^ Vidal, Jordi, “Prestige weapons in an amorite context”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 70.2, pp. 247-252, 2011
- ^ Miglio, Adam E., “The Beginning Of The End: Zimrilims’s War With Elam”, Tribe and State: The Dynamics of International Politics and the Reign of Zimri-Lim, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 187-234, 2014
- ^ Richardson, Seth, et al., “Aliens and Alienation, Strangers and Estrangement: Difference-Making as Historically-Particular Concept”, Crossroads III: A Stranger in the House: Foreigners in Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Societies of the Bronze Age, Prague, pp. 307-340, 2019
- Beitzel, Barry J., “Išme-Dagan’s Military Actions in the Jezirah: A Geographical Study1”, Iraq 46.1, pp. 29-42, 1984
- Frayne, Douglas R., “The Zagros campaigns of the Ur III kings”, Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 3. pp. 33-56, 2008
- Leemans, W.F., “Old Babylonian Letters and Economic History”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 11(1), pp. 171-226, 1968
- Van Koppen, Frans, and Denis Lacambre, “Sippar and the Frontier between Ešnunna and Babylon. New Sources for the History of Ešnunna in the Old Babylonian Period”, Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 41, pp. 151-177, 2009
- Ziegler, Nele, Adelheid Otto, and Christoph Fink, “The” Road to Emar” Reconsidered”, Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 135-220, 2023
