Rim-Sîn II (also Rīm-Sîn II) ruled the ancient Near East city-state of Larsa from c. 1742 BC to 1739 BC (MC) and was the last of the Dynasty of Larsa.Michalowski, Piotr, "Memories of Rim-Sin II", De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin, pp. 669-692, 2019 It is now thought that his total reign lasted less than 2 years. His name was sometimes preceded by a Dingir though there is no record of him being deified. Rim-Sin II was a contemporary of Samsu-iluna of Babylon (c. 1749-1712 BC), and fellow rebels Ilūni of Eshnunna, Rim-Šara of Umma, and Rîm-Anum of Uruk. M. Fitzgerald, "The Rulers of Larsa", Yale University Dissertation, 2002 Marcel Segrist, "Larsa Year Names", Andrews University Press, 1990 E.M. Grice, C.E. Keiser, M. Jastrow, Chronology of the Larsa Dynasty, AMS Press, 1979 Though he joined in revolting against Babylon Rim-Anum of Uruk had been in conflict with Larsa based on his year name of "Year in which Rîm-Anum the king defeated the land of Emutbal, the troops of Eshnunna, Isin and Kazallu who marched together against him to make booty ... which was not counted since ancient times ... and defeated them".Rositani, A., "The public management of war prisoners within and outside the bīt asīrī", Archiv Orientalni, 88(2), pp. 193-219, 2020 Rim-Sin II is mentioned as a son of one Warad-Sin though it is unclear if that is the Warad-Sin who was the previous ruler of Larsa.Charpin, D., "Histoire politique du Proche-Orient amorrite", in D. Charpin, D.-O. Edzard and M. Stol, Mesopotamien: Die altbabylonische Zeit (OBO 160/4). Fribourg: Academic Press, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 25–480, 2004Rubio, G., "Tradition and the poetics of innovation: Sumerian court literature of the larsa dynasty (c. 2003-1763 BCE)", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 60, 117-124, 2008 It is not even clear that he came from Larsa.Andrea Seri, "Conclusion", The House of Prisoners: Slavery and State in Uruk during the Revolt against Samsu-iluna, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 237-263, 2013 In one of the letters of Rim-Sin II suggests his family came from Kesh:
Several year names of Rim-Sin II are known (note that the Emudkura temple was at Ur):Frayne, Douglas, "Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods", Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990Stol, Marten, "Studies in Old Babylonian History", Istanbul and Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, 1976Sigrist, Marcel and Peter Damerow, "Mesopotamian Yearnames: Neo-Sumerian and Old Babylonian Date Formulae", Volume I. Potomac, MD: Capital Decisions Limited, 1991 The year Rim-Sîn [became] king Year the foundations of (the temple) Emudkur in Ur were laid at? the ki-eden Alt - The year Rim-Sîn, the king of Ur, established the Emudkurra at Year in which Ninmah raised greatly in the Kesh temple, the foundation of heaven and earth, (Rim-Sin) to kingship over the land, (king) having no enemy, no hostile (king), opposing him in all foreign lands. Alt - Year Ninmah elevated Rim-Sin to the kingship over all the countries in the temple of Kis, foundation of heaven and earth, and he (Rim-Sin) let not the bad and wicked come back Alt - The year Ninmaḫ raised Rim-Sin, the king, to kingship (over) the entire land in the Keš temple, the temenos of heaven and earth, while the enemies, the evil Kassites, had not retreated from the land
Rim-Sîn II is primarily known for leading the Babylonian Rebellion by a number of southern cities against Babylon which at that time was led by Samsu-iluna, the son and successor of Hammurabi. A statue inscription of Samsu-iluna detailed his destruction of the rebellion, from his perspective. This conflict was mentioned (Tablet B) in the much later fragmentary Chronicle of Ancient Kings.Jean-Jacques Glassner, Benjamin R. Foster, "Mesopotamian chronicles", Brill, Boston, 2005 The rebellious cities included Ur, Uruk, Larsa, Girsu, Umma, Nippur, Kazallu, Kutalla, and Bad-tibira as well as Eshnunna in the north. The rebellion began in the 8th regnal year of Samsu-iluna. Rim-Sîn II controlled the cities of Nippur and Ur for a time.Marine Béranger, "Dur-Abi-ešuh and the Abandonment of Nippur During the Late Old Babylonian Period: A Historical Survey", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 75, pp. 27-47, 2023 Documents at Nippur were dated to Samsu-iluna until his year 8, then to Rim-Sin II, returning to being dated to Samsu-iluna in his year 11.Meinhold, W., "Prebends and Prebendaries in Old Babylonian Nippur", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, 19(1-2), pp. 55-70, 2019 There were Kassite troops included in his forces.Paulus, Susanne, "The Babylonian Kudurru Inscriptions and their Legal and Sociohistorical Implications", Volume 1 Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites 1, edited by Alexa Bartelmus and Katja Sternitzke, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 229-244, 2017 The rebellion ended for Rim-Sîn II about 18 months later with his death and the fall of Larsa to Samsu-iluna with his year name of "Year in which Samsu-iluna the king with the great strength of Marduk smote with weapons the troops of Ida-maras, Emutbal, Uruk and Isin". It continued until Samsu-iluna 14 when his year name was "Year in which Samsu-iluna the king with great power smote with his weapons the hateful king(s) who had brought the people of Akkad to revolt". Lambert, Wilfred G., and Mark Weeden, "A statue inscription of Samsuiluna from the papers of WG Lambert", Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 114.1, pp. 15-62, 2020De Graef, Katrien, "Bad Moon Rising: The Changing Fortunes of Early Second-Millennium BCE Ur", Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia, July 11–15, 2016, pp. 49-87, 2021 In a text Samsu-iluna stated:
See also Chronology of the ancient Near East List of Mesopotamian dynasties
References
Further reading Charpin, Dominique, "Les archives d'Apil-Ašnan et de ses voisins à Ur sous Samsu-iluna et Rim-Sin II", ARCHIBAB 4. Nouvelles recherches sur les archives d'Ur d'époque paléo-babylonienne 22, pp. 61–84, 2020 Guichard M., "Guerre et diplomatie: Lettres d’Iluni roi d’Ešnunna d’une collection privée", Semitica 58, pp. 17–59, 2016 Horsnell, Malcolm J.A., "The Year-Names of the First Dynasty of Babylon, Volume 2. The Year-Names Reconstructed and Critically Annotated in Light of their Exemplars", Hamilton, Ontario: McMaster University Press, 1999 Rositani, A., "The Status of War Prisoners at Uruk in the Old Babylonian Period", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, 12(1), pp. 141–167, 2025 Andrea Seri, "The archive of the house of prisoners and political history", The House of Prisoners: Slavery and State in Uruk during the Revolt against Samsu-iluna, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 20–54, 2013 Sollberger, Edmond, "Samsu-IlŪna's Bilingual Inscriptions C and D", Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 63.1, pp. 29–43, 1969 Elyze Zomer, "An Uprising at Karkar: A New Historical-Literary Text", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 2019 71, pp. 111–120, 2019
External links Rim-Sin II Year Names at CDLI Tablet from reign of Rim-Sin II found at Ur - British Museum