Eshnunna
Eshnunna is the transliteration of the ancient name of a
Sumerian city and city-state in lower
Mesopotamia. Although situated in the
Diyala Valley north-east of
Sumeria proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural millieu. Because of its control over lucrative trade routes, it did function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Iranian culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought after goods such as horses, copper, tin, and other precious tones and metals. The remains of the ancient city are now preserved in the mound of
Tell Asmar, excavated by an
American team led by
Henri Frankfort in the
1930s.
Occupied from the
Early Dynastic Period, Eshnunna was eventually drawn within the sphere of
Third Dynasty of Ur, before achieving a short-lived political prominence - after Ur's decline and fall - within the first two centuries of the
second millennium BCE. At this time, Eshnunna again represented the focus of an independent polity of significant size and influence.
Because of its control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna did function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Iranian culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought after goods such as horses, copper, tin, and other precious tones and metals.
Eshnunna was ultimately conquered by
Hammurabi, ruler of
Babylon, and absorbed within the
Old Babylonian Empire (sometimes called the
First Babylonian Dynasty). Thereafter, the city appears but rarely within
cuneiform textual sources, reflecting a probable decline and eventual disappearance. There is evidence that in c. 1755, just four years after its supposed capture, the entire town was ravaged by a terrible flood.
