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.

History

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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.

Eshnunna | Eshnunna | エシュヌンナ | Eshnunna | Eshnunna