In his final years, Shamshi-Adad had to face a series of emergencies. These were not particularly relevant on a supra-regional level, but were equally threatening for his state. First, there was the attack of the Turukku, who managed to reach the foothills of the Tur Abdin. Second, there was the revolt of the Zalmaqum region, located in the Upper Balikh. Following the death of Shamshi-Adad’s ally Dadusha, a more ambitious ruler, Ibal-pi-El, came to power in Eshnunna. Similarly, in Aleppo the more energetic king Yarim-Lim succeeded king Sumu-epuh. Consequently, the ‘kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia’ found itself surrounded by threatening neighbours. The now aged Shamshi-Adad delegated more responsibilities to his sons Ishme-Dagan and Yasmah-Addu. He died shortly afterwards, and his death had an immediate impact on the kingdom. Apparently, a tribal chief of the Banu-Sim’al expelled Yasmah-Addu from Mari in favour of the heir of Yahdun-Lim, Zimri-Lim, who also had the support of Yamhad. Shortly after his enthronement, he married Shibtu, daughter of his protector Yarim-Lim.
Of the formerly great kingdom of his father, Ishme-Dagan only managed to keep Assyria, now dramatically reduced to its original size. This was essentially the Tigris Valley, from Ekallatum and Ashur to the area north of the Assyrian Triangle. The territories between Assyria and the Middle Euphrates — the Khabur and Balikh regions, as well as the Jebel Sinjar and Wadi Tharthar — broke down into a network of small independent kingdoms. The strongest contender in the area could then turn these kingdoms into vassal states. The main contest was centred on the rivalry between Zimri-Lim and Ishme-Dagan. From Mari’s perspective, this intermediary region was fundamental for its economy. Its water resources, as well as its role as preferred area for seasonal activities, made the Khabur basin a crucial territory for Mari. From an Assyrian perspective, this region was important for strictly commercial reasons, allowing caravans to move from Ashur to Cappadocia.
Zimri-Lim eventually succeeded, conquering the entire Khabur Triangle and the Sinjar’s foothills within the first years of his reign. In this way, he cut Ishme-Dagan out of Upper Mesopotamia and its Anatolian trade, which consequently disappeared. The kinglets of Upper Mesopotamia managed to keep the autonomy they enjoyed under Shamshi-Adad. However, the change of overlord brought in many cases a change in the local dynasties. New alliances were enforced by a series of inter-dynastic marriages between several daughters of Zimri-Lim and the kings of Ilansura, Ashlakka, Elahut, Andariq and many more. This was a bona fide political strategy, further cemented by the sending of his daughter ‘as wife’ of Shamash at Sippar, in order to establish friendly ties with Babylonia. There, the princess lived in a cloister of priestesses. The various letters sent by Zimri-Lim’s daughters living in Mesopotamia to their father indicate that their situation was not as good as they expected. There were several economic and cultural difficulties, so much so that some marriages had to be annulled.
However, the contest between Mari and Ashur soon became a much wider problem, involving the old state of Eshnunna, Babylon and even Elam. Initially, scholars thought that alliances were roughly separated into two groups: the one of the Euphrates, linking Yamhad, Mari, Babylon and Larsa; and the Tigris one, linking Assyria, Eshnunna and Elam. In reality, it was a much more intricate situation. First, Ibal-pi-El of
Eshnunna attempted to conquer Upper Mesopotamia through a series of expeditions. He followed the Middle Euphrates from Rapiqum to the border of Mari, conquering Suhum. He also fostered a revolt of the Benjaminites against the Sim’Alites of Zimri-Lim. He then followed the Middle Tigris reaching Ekallatum and Ashur, expelling Ishme-Dagan, who fled to Babylon. Ibal-pi-El did not stop there and also reached the Sinjar foothills and the Khabur Triangle.
This expansion, which consisted mainly of sieges rather than conflicts in the battlefield, was energetically opposed by Zimri-Lim. He found the support of Yamhad as well as Babylon, which was alarmed by the threatening rise of Eshnunna. After two or three years, Ibal-pi-El had to retreat, abandoning his conquered cities one after the other and leaving his former allies at the mercy of his enemies. After the peace with Eshnunna and the Benjaminites, Mari went through a relatively stable period for around five years. In this period, Zimri-Lim ordered a ‘census’ (tehihium) of the Benjaminites and travelled to Ugarit. This peaceful phase, however, was interrupted by the Elamite sukkal-mah, who invaded Mesopotamia. At first Mari and Babylon supported Elam in its siege of their old rival Eshnunna. However, the situation completely changed when Elam threatened Babylon and the Sinjar region. This led to the formation of a coalition between Mari and Babylon, along with their allies Larsa, Yamhad, Zalmaqum and all the kings in the Jezira. Within a few years, Elam was forced to retreat, although it still managed to plunder Eshnunna.
A few years later, Hammurabi of Babylon pursued the final expansionistic attempt of this period. Having conquered Larsa, as we will soon see, the king moved against the other surviving states of the time, former allies and enemies alike. He conquered Eshnunna, pushed back Assyria and conquered Mari in his thirty-second regnal year. Two years later, he destroyed it. Despite being a tragic event for the city’s inhabitants, the violent destruction of Mari’s royal palace managed to preserve an archive with crucial information on the events of the first half of the eighteenth century bc. This has provided us with an unusually detailed account for such a remote historical phase.
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