Yarim-Lim I

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Yarim-Lim I
Great King of Yamhad
Tenure c. 1780 BC – c. 1764 BC. Middle chronology
Predecessor Sumu-Epuh
Successor Hammurabi I
Great King of Yamhad
Wife Gashera
Issue Hammurabi I
Shibtu
Father Sumu-Epuh
Mother Sumunna-Abi

Yarim-Lim I, also given as Yarimlim, (reigned c. 1780 BC – c. 1764 BC) was the second king of the ancient Amorite kingdom of Yamhad in modern-day Aleppo, Syria.

Reign

Early Reign and Conflicts

Yarim-Lim was the son and successor of the first king Sumu-Epuh and his queen Sumunna-Abi. The kingdom of Yamhad was being threatened by the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad I who had surrounded Yamhad through his alliance with Charchemish and Urshu to the north, Qatna to the south, and conquering Mari to the east, appointing his son Yasmah-Adad on its throne.[1] Yarim-Lim ascended the throne after his father was killed in 1780 during his campaigns against Shamshi-Adad.[2] He was able to stand up to Shamshi-Adad by surrounding him with deft alliances with Hammurabi of Babylon and Ibal-pi-el II of Eshnunna. His alliance with Hammurabi was credited with saving Babylon from an Assyrian attack by attacking their rear.[3]

In 1777 Yarim-Lim conquered the city of Tuttul, on the confluence of the rivers Balikh and Euphrates. He appointed his ally, Zimri-Lim, the heir to the throne of Mari who was living in exile at his court, as king. When Shamshi-Adad died in 1776, he helped Zimrilim regain his throne in Mari and oust Yasmah-Adad. The alliance between Mari and Yamhad was cemented with the royal marriage between Zimrilim and Yarim-Lim's daughter Shibtu, two days after the marriage ceremony queen Sumunna-Abi died.[4]

Ibal-pi-el II of Eshnuna exploited Shamshi-Adad death to pursuit an expansionist policy, advancing on the account of Assyria and causing stress to the alliance,[5] he later allied himself with Elam the enemy of Hammurabi who was Yarim-Lim ally.[6]

Relations with Mari

Zimri-Lim ascension to the throne with the help of Yarim-Lim I effected Mari status, Zimri-Lim referred to Yarim-Lim as his father and acted under the guidance of Aleppo main deity Hadad of which Yarim-Lim was the mediator.[7]

The tablets of Mari recorded many events that revealed Zimri-Lim subordination. On two occasions Zimri-Lim demanded the extradition of his subordinates from Yarim-Lim I, the first case was related to a vassal king of Zimri-Lim who addressed him as a brother instead of a father and the demand was refused,[8] while the second was through the Mariote ambassador in Aleppo Daris-Libur in which Zimri-Lim asked for some fugitives to which Yarim-Lim answered with decline twice before agreeing on the Mariote ambassador third attempt.[9]

At one instance Nur-Sin the Mariote ambassador in Aleppo wrote to his master for the handing of an estate called Alahtum to Hadad (meaning Aleppo),[10] and in another instance, Ibal-pi-el offered peace and fixing the borders to Zimri-Lim who sent envoys to Yarim-Lim asking for authorization which wasn't given, leading Zimri-Lim to refuse the treaty on three different occasions.[11]

Later Reign and Succession

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There is no king who is mighty by himself. Ten or fifteen kings follow Hammurabi the ruler of Babylon, a like number of Rim-Sin of Larsa, a like number of Ibal-pi-el of Eshnunna, a like number of Amud-pi-el of Qatanum, but twenty follow Yarim-Lim of Yamhad.

—An excerpt from a tablet from the archives at Mari[12]

Yarim-Lim extended his influence to several other important city-states in Syria through alliance and vassalage, including Urshu and the rich kingdom of Ugarit.[3] The relationship between Qatna and Yamhad seems to have improved during Yarim-Lim's reign as well.[2] The armies of Aleppo campaigned as far as Elam near the modern southern Iraqi-Iranian borders, a tablet discovered at mari revealed the extent of those military interventions in Mesopotamia, the tablet includes a declaration of war against Dēr and Diniktum in retaliation for their Evil deeds, a reminder to the king of Dēr about the military help given to him for fifteen years by Yarim-Lim and the stationing of 500 Aleppan warships for twelve years in Diniktum.[13] By the time of his death, Yarim-Lim, had more than twenty kings as vassals and allies. According to Historian William J. Hamblin he was at the time the "mightiest ruler in the Near East outside of Egypt,"[3] he died c. 1764 BC and was succeeded by his Son Hammurabi I.

Yarim-Lim I
Died: 1764 BC
Regnal titles
Preceded by Great King of Yamhad
1780 – 1764 BC		 Succeeded by
Hammurabi I

References

Citations

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Bibliography

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  1. ↑ Hamblin, 2002, p. 258.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bryce, 2009, p. 773.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Hamblin, 2002, p. 259.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Dalley, 2002, p. 44.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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