Revised Account of Mesopotamian History

As first outlined by Damien Mackey
CIAS Encyclopedia
Old Mesopotamia
El Amarnas Mesopotamians
The Chaldean/Sumerians

Introduction
Shamsi Addad
Hadadezer
Rezon
 Zimri Lim
Diviners
Summary
The Sumerians

Intermediate Menu
Zimri Lim
Modern View of Sargon's Mesopotamia
Seal Impressions


Introduction
Evidence is mounting that certain famous kings of Mesopotamia need to be radically re-dated. Among these are:

1. Shamsi Adad I., whom we believe to have been Hadadezer, the foe of King David of Israel.
2. Zimri Lim of Mari, whom we believe to have been Solomon's Syrian foe Rezon and who was probably also known as Tushratta, whose brother Artatama sent his daughter to be married to Amenhotep III as Queen Mutemwiya.
3. Iahdunlim, whom we believe to have been Eliada, father of Rezon.
4. Yarim Lim of coastal Yamkhud, whom we believe to have been Hiram, king of Tyre.

Here is the story of their reign

We should recognize that the ancient history of Mesopotamia is not yet based on a secure chronology. Typically king lists of Mesopotamia contain merely names with no indications as to overlapping and time periods. Modern historians tried to parallel their concepts of Egyptian data with those of Mesopotamian history. In our estimate there are a few clues which allow for equating certain kings with those from Biblical history where they are known under different names. What we intend to do is bring source material together of three central figures, Shamsi Adad I, Zimri Lim and Yarim Lim. We shall use them as pillars to present a defensible chronology which we shall elaborate on as new information comes in.

Shamsi Adad is conventionally dated to about 1815-1782 BC. His name is found in the so-called `Assyrian Kinglist'. Shamsi Adad's father was `Ila-kabkabuhu', who was according to all appearances an insignificant local ruler at Assur. From Shamsi Adad we have building inscriptions written in what scholars call `Old Babylonian'.

But first we quote from the scriptural source since many can follow along these verses in their own copy of this book.
Hadadezer was the foe of King David of Israel. "And ... David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took `Metheg-am-mah' out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts. David smote also `Hadadezer', the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates. Ancient warsAnd David took from him a thousand chariots: and 700 horsemen, and 20,000 footmen: and David lamed (cut the heel's sinew) all the chariot horses, but saved of them 100 chariots. But when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians 22,000 men. Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass. When `Toi', king of Hammath, heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, then `Toi' sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass: Which also king David did dedicate unto the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he had subdued; of Syria and Moab, and of all the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah." 2.Samuel 8:1-12
"When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David's nostrils, they hired 20,000 Aramean soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with a 1,000 men, and also 12,000 men from Tob. ... Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. ... After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the River (Euphrates); they went to Helam, with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them. ... When David was told of this he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. But they fled before Israel, and David killed 700 of their charioteers and 40,000 of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of the army, and he died there. When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore" [2.Samuel 10:6-17 NIV]

One significant chronological anchor is the information that Shamsi-Adad boasted that he had erected triumphal stelae in Lebanon. He was allied with the princes of upper Syria, notably Carchemish and Qatna, and with Hammurabi of Babylon. We know from Scripture that Hadadezer liked to set up victory monuments; David defeated him "as he went to set up his monument at the river Euphrates" (1.Chronicles 18:3). Scripture records also that the Syrian was ruler of the kings beyond the river (2.Samuel 10:16,19), i.e. the Euphrates, as later records from Assyria confirm as well. Hickman thought that "this description resembles that of Shamsi-Adad". According to Dean Hickman, Shobach was probably Shamsi Adad's pleasure loving son Iasmakh-Adad.
In a date formula from Eshnunna the army of Iasmakh-Adad, the son of Shamsi-Adad, is called "the host of Shubartu and Khana". Cities described in 2.Samuel 8:8 to belong to Hadadezer were:
1. Betakh
2. Berothai
3. Tibhath or Tebah
4. Chun 		?
perhaps Bereitan, a town south of Baalbek
Tubikhu
Kunu (Roman Conna), Khana
Some So-Called Confused History Explained

Some writers have pointed out that the Biblical narrative first claims that David defeated the Syrians and two chapters later when David was campaigning against the Ammonites, the Syrians, he had just defeated, (the author, being a poor scholar, actually makes a defeat into a total wipe out) are now sending troops to help the Ammonites. How can that be? Well, as we learn about the Mesopotamian kings we realize they ruled off and on over a large region and would have had no problem in raising new armies.

Some of these tribute items of precious metals, if not all, brought by Joram may have been among those later transported to Egypt by the caravans of Pharaoh Thutmose III. We learn from the scriptures that Assur was called Zobah in Israel and Shamsi Adad's father was called Rehob. Shamsi Adad did seem to have controlled the three major city centers of Assur, Niniveh and Erbil. He also set up stone stela on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. We learn that he had a significant army including siege engines and many chariots but little training to fight a war against an experienced guerrilla warfare tactician like David. His successes against the kings of the north ensured a period of peace which lasted into the time of Solomon. The defeat of Hadadezer/Shamsi Adad marked the eventual weakening of the Assur of his days. Hadadezer had another capital `Shubat-Enlil', the `Residence of Enlil' located at the source waters of the Khabur River. The ruins of `Chagar-Bazar' are thought to be that second capital where an administrative archive from the time of Shamsi-Adad/Hadadezer was found. Shamsi/Hadadezer had two sons, `Ishme-Dagan' sub-king of Ekallatum on the Tigris, and Yasmah-Adad sub-king of Mari. It appears that Yasmah was inferior in his administrative skills to his brother as letters from his father to him show. These letters reveal a father full of anxiety, parental concern sometimes alternating with an ironic approach and even humorous in some cases. Hadadezer/Shamsi was an able administrator who kept a close eye on the affairs in his realm. He castigated officers in his army who were unfair in dividing up the spoils of warfare. Reading the letters we can hear the direct voices of authentic, ancient kings. His influence reached to Carchemish and the shores of the Mediterranean. In ancient times a kingdom was often the product of its founder and largely disappeared with him. The person who took up where Hadadezer/Shamsi Adad left off was Rezon.

Rezon we identify as Zimri Lim of Mari who once wrote:
A historically important Mari letter:

"There is no king who can be mighty alone. Behind Hammurabi, the man of Babylon, march 10, 15 kings; as many march behind Rim-Sin, the man of Larsa, Ipal-piel, the man of Eshnunna, Amut-piel, the man of Qatna, and behind `Yarim Lim', the man of Yahmad, march 20 kings." [Mari letters; Qatna also known as Tell Mishrife; For an image of a Mari letter see BAR, Vol. 29, Jan/Feb 2003, p. 46; The ML shown mentions a royal official, `Itur-Asdu', `Malik-Dagan' and `Zimri-Lim'.]
Of the palace archives of Mari 1,600 letters have been published addressed partly to the palace at Mari or copies of letters sent from the palace. Most of them cover the period from Yasmah Adad, son of Hadadezer/Shamsi Adad to Rezon/Zimri Lim.
Ancient Mesopotamia Besides these letters we have over a hundred legal documents and about 1,000 administrative documents. The archive records details covering the ancient world from Crete in the west to Susa and Larsa in the east, Hazor in the southwest in Palestine and north into Anatolia. The letters mention frequently Elam in diplomatic type letters, gifts from Crete are mentioned and copper from Cyprus. But among all these places mentioned in their world, we find it strange that there are no references to Egypt.
To explain that we must remember that the 18th Dynasty had just begun to reign in about 1012 BC when the Amalekite/Hyksos occupiers were defeated by Ahmose with the help of King Saul. David's reign extended from 1010 to 970 BC and Solomon's from 970 to 930 BC. We can see that Egypt at this time was just beginning to become a regional power again. Its mightiest native kings after the days of Ahmose were still in the future. However, applying conventional chronology it certainly would be a puzzling question why Egypt was not mentioned in the Mari letters.

But Mesopotamia had another treasure trough of a cuneiform library in store. In 1986 a 14 x 9 foot library at Sippar, Iraq, containing about 2000 tablets, was found. Among these was one described as a prologue to the Codex Hammurabi.

Zimri Lim's Contemporaries and the Evidence from Mari

The scriptures tell us about Rezon:

"And God stirred up another adversary, Rezon, the son of Eliadah, who fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah: And he gathered men unto himself, and became captain over a band, when David slew those of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria." [1.Kings 11:23-25]

"To Zimri Lim communicate the following: `Thus says your brother Hammurabi [of Yamhad]: The king of Ugarit has written to me as follows: "Show me the palace of Zimri Lim! I wish to see it." With this same courier I am sending on his man.'" [Mari tablet, transl. G. Dossin, 1937]
"This building is not ... the gem of the Orient, rather one palace on a par with many others." [Margueron, 1982]
Zimri Lim was a contemporary of king Hammurabi the author of the famous Hammurabi Codex, Book of Laws. Being a contemporary of Solomon he may very well have been one of all those "kings of the earth" who came to visit Solomon. This consideration explains also how Hammurabi's famous Law Code could have so many parallels to the Mosaic law. Zimri Lim's multi-storied palace at Mari with over 260 rooms is the source of one of the richest sources of written documents anywhere in the Middle East. Famous rooms include the shrine of Ishtar in the palace, the Court of the Palms, the King's Throne Room, the Banquet Hall, and the Royal Apartments but later excavators (Margueron) identified the use of the rooms quite different from Perrot. In later times it was Hammurabi, the former friend, who conquered Mari and burned the palace. The palace occupied more than 6 acres which were excavated by the French archaeologist A. Perrot in 1933. He viewed the whole complex as belonging to Zimri Lim without considering its longer history. The wall-paintings in the throne room were in five registers depicting scenes from myth, religion, and secular themes. Some wall paintings of men and women represent them as wearing long, colorful robes and headdress, others wear kilt style tunics reaching to the knees or with split cutouts further up the thigh. No foot wear can be seen. Two winged lions with the head of bearded man with headdress are seen as well as a large cow behind the throne of the king which to our taste does not seem to fit in. If this art belonged to Zimri Lim or Hammurabi we cannot tell for sure. Besides destroying at least parts of the palace Hammurabi also reconstructed it and apparently lived there. The final word on the functions of the various rooms of the palace has not yet come in.

Could Zimri Lim be Rezon when one lived in Mari and the other made Damascus his headquarters? Zimri Lim is supposed to have reigned for about 20 years while Rezin was a foe to Solomon for a large part of his reign. We can say that Zimri Lim was not of royal lineage, his father was Iahdunlim; neither was Rezon, whose father was Eliada. His Damascus phase may very well have been during the earlier part of his courier.

The literary form of the Mari letters remind us of the El Amarna letters which were written just some 100 years later. Rulers of equal status address each other as `brother', `father' and `son' even if they are overlord or vassal. Subordinates to the king call him `lord' and themselves `slaves'. Names of locations or cities and sometimes personalities associated with them, which occur in the Mari archives include: Mari, Kibri-Dagan of Terqa, two official of Hammurapi (Tabelimatim and Sinbelaplim) were staying in the city of Maškanšabra, the natives (servants) of Mutiabal entered Yamutbal, Tu[.]wi, Gaššim, Šunem and Sagaratim. [A.L. Oppenheim, Letters from Mesopotamia', Univ. of Chikago Press.]

From Mari also comes what has been described as the earliest mention of Canaan but which we consider not that early. There we read simply: "Thieves and Canaanites are in Rahisum. We just face each other." The interesting observation we would like to make on the Canaanites of the time of Zimri Lim/Rezon, being the time of Solomon in our revision is, knowing this comment about the Canaanites, why would anyone attribute the period of high achievements in art and productions in Palestine to them who apparently associated at least for a time with criminal elements? Of course we cannot place all Canaanites into one hat. But the same is true for the Israelites, they also cannot all be put into the same hat - meaning that they were diverse enough in that they would use pottery made by their own potters as well as pottery from the Canaanites. Are the excavation layers really that sharply differentiated that such mixing of pottery is not observed or is it the lines of sedimentary separation that are drawn which keep them apart?

Will the letters of Zimri Lim/Rezon echo anything which might remind us to what we know about Solomon? Both kings were rich and perhaps that is the best parallel we can point to about the contemporaneity to these two rulers. Zimri Lim/Rezon was not going to be second when it came to wealth compared to Solomon.

A typical letter states the following:

"10 minas tin (for) Sumu-Erah at Muzunnum; 8 1/3 minas tin (for) Wari-taldu at Laish; 30 minas tin (for) Ibni-Adad, king of Hazor. ..."

In another letter, Bahdi-Lim informs Zimri-Lim:

"To my Lord speak, Thus speaks Bahdi-Lim Thy servant, A group of messengers from Hazor and Qatna arrived here. ... Two messengers from Babylon who have long since resided at Hazor, with one man from Hazor as their escort, are crossing to Babylon."
Here we find 2 Palestinian cities and 1 Syrian city mentioned which are very well known from the Book of Joshua in the case of Laish and in the Books of Joshua, Judges and Samuel in the case of Hazor, well within the time of the early Israelite kings.

We also have correspondence of Zimri Lim showing him to prepare for war against none-Palestinian sites. In some of these letters he asks to have quantities of arrow heads made of different weight in bronze.

Diviners and Prophets in the Ancient Near East

In other countries `diviners' were a type of prophet we are already acquainted with from the history of Israel. The people of Ebla (north Syria) used the term `nabi' and several official letters from the royal archive of Mari on the Euphrates convey `prophetic' messages to the ruler (who was away from the city). The behavior of the diviners of Mari was similar to that of Israel's prophets. One time, after blaming King Zimri-lim for not being faithful in consulting the deity, the diviner promises:

"Then I will make the sheikhs of the Jaminites wriggle in a fish basket and will place them before you." [Mari text]

Both, the bold promise on behalf of the god, and the vivid picture language, are like the messages we find in the prophets of the Bible. [For example the incident of the prophet Samuel before King Saul after he had disobeyed the Lord's command to slay the Amalekites. (1.Samuel 28:15-20)]

While there may be some parallels among prophets in the way they worked and spoke or wrote, there is a world of difference between a prophet called and inspired by God and self-made prophets, who did their work because of skill and/or opportunity they had in that direction. The Bible presents various tests for a `true prophet' of the Lord which can be found by studying the Bible.

Summary

Since we present just a short review of two or three characters of ancient Mesopotamia in this revised scenario we cannot address everything which has been presented by conventional scholars to explain the history of that region. When reading their reports, however, we may have the impression of great liberties being taken in placing these cultures far back in time and grasping for clues which do not necessarily make such guesses reliable.

Addendum: Outstanding, illustrated articles on Mari can be found in the Biblical Archaeologist, June 1984. The authors were Marie-Henriette Gates, `The Palace of Zimri-Lim at Mari', Dennis Pardee and Jonathan T. Glass, `The Mari Archives', Andre Lemaire, `Mari, the Bible and the Northwest Semitic World' and Jack Sasson, `Thoughts of Zimri Lim'. Some 20,000 tablets have been found of which about Ľ were translated, mostly in French. [See also A.L. Oppenheim, `Letters from Mesopotamia', Univ. of Chicago Press; Contains Letters from Mari, Amarna, Niniveh, Ugarit and the Hittites.]

An excerpt by Gunnar Heinsohn on the Sumerian/Chaldeans

RECONNECTING OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION

Though the ancient Greeks freely admitted that their science teachers were Chaldaeans (from Southern Mesopotamia/Babylonia), they never gave any hint that they trailed their inspirers by one and-a-half millennia. They rather gave the impression that Chaldaean knowledge was obtainable by traveling Greek students. Today, we are taught that there were no Chaldaean teachers to speak of. This supposedly most learned nation of mankind, did not leave us bricks or potsherds, not to mention written treatises. Yet, modern scholars also teach us that there is one grain of truth in the Greek tradition. The teachers of humanity did indeed derive from Southern Mesopotamia/Babylonia. However-though they lived in the very territory of the Chaldaeans, where the Chaldaeans are missing-they were not Chaldaeans but Sumerians, and the Greeks had never heard of them: When their poleis (city-states) began culturally to blossom in the early -6th century, the wise men of Sumeria had already met their fate 1,500 years earlier. Nevertheless, researchers before 1868-when Jules Oppert created the term Sumerian-had called proto-Chaldaean that today is called Sumerian. Up to the end of the l9th century, art historians labeled as Chaldaean artifacts which today are called Sumerian artifacts. At the turn of the century, major European museums underwent a relabeling procedure from Chaldaean to Sumerian on their exhibition pieces from Southern Mesopotamia.

As the writer tried to prove, the sensationally unexpected Sumerians received a hidden fundamentalist Abrahamic date, whereas the Chaldaeans received a Classical Greek date. If we leave unscholarly dating systems aside, and resort to comparative stratigraphy, we will immediately recognize the contemporaneity of the early Greek city-states and the so-called Neo- Sumerians, who thereby are touted as the painfully-missing Chaldaeans. "Neo-Sumerian" Chaldaeans and early -6th century poleis alike, are found merely two strata-groups below Hellenism. This still leaves a head start for Chaldean scholarship. Yet, it is not measured by millennia or centuries, but by decades at most.
For numerous images on Mesopotamia see National Geographic Society, `Splendors of the Past - Lost Cities of the Ancient World', 1981, on numerous pages.
For a two page color image of the painted wall art of the Mari Royal Palace see `The Horizon Book of the Lost Worlds', New York, 1962, p. 162f. The damaged image shows figures in their coloreful clothing, winged, sphinx like beings, a coconut palm tree and other trees and ceremonial type activities.
See also L. Stager, `Jerusalem as Eden', BAR, Vol. 26, May/Jun 2000, p. 36-47. In particular p. 38 for artful Mari wall paintings, p. 42f for Deir el-Bahari, p. 44f for colorful wall paintings from Akhetaten (city of Akhnaton) and p. 46f color drawings of Assyrian art from the palace of Sennacherib at Niniveh.

A Woman's Head from Mari
The out of gypsum sculptured 6 inch tall head of a Mari (Tell Hariri) woman under a tall polo (headgear) was found near the entrance to the temple of Ishtar either representing a queen with elaborate headgear or a devoted priestess or follower of local cults. The face had four accentuated lines once filled with bitumen and wide open eyes made of shell and originally inlaid with lapis lazuli pupils. Her mouth is closed and drawn out as if in an expression of expectant surprise. The headgear is described as cylindrical but also seems to resemble somewhat the shape of a Swiss cow bell with an added border around the rim. Her hair is parted in the middle and combed back to either side. One ear is missing, the other has still a part of an earring. For the account see BAR, Vol. 20, May/Jun 1994, p. 96.
A terra-cotta "mold" depicting a lion attacking a stag was found in the palace of Mari. [BA, Mar 1985, p. 38.]
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