Mankisum (Ma-an-ki-siki) was an Old Babylonian period city in the ancient Near East which is still unlocated. It was a pivotal location in the power struggles between Shamshi-Adad I of Ekallatum, Mari, Babylon, Eshnunna, and Elam due to its location at a central ford across the Tigris river. Its history is known for only about two centuriesVan de Mieroop, Marc, "King Hammurabi of Babylon: a biography", John Wiley & Sons, 2008 Sîn-abušu, a ruler of Nērebtum (thought to be Tell Ishchali), had a year name "Year in which Sîn-abušu the king gave his daughter to (the ruler of) Mankisum".
History When first known the city was under the control of Shamshi-Adad I (c. 1813–1776 BC) of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia. In a letter from his son Ishme-Dagan of Ekallatum found at Mari:
A letter from a ruler of Eshnunna, thought to be Ipiq-Adad II or his successor Naram-Sin of Eshnunna, to Shamshi-Adad I of Ekallatum states:
A joint army of Shamshi-Adad I and Dādūša of Ešnunna met at Mankisum before marching down the Tigris to attack the city of Malgium.Rients de Boer, "Malgum, A Synthesis", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 75, pp. 13-26, 2023
In a text to the ruler of Eshnunna it read:
After the death of Shamshi-Adad I his kingdom dissolved and many polities in the region were overrun for a time by the Elamites. They moved up the Tigirs to Mankisum but then retreated and instead took Eshnunna.
After the Elamites withdrew from the region it was open to the expansion of Babylon under Hammurabi (c. 1810-1750 BC). Early in the reign of Hammurabi an Eshnunnan army had invaded the territory of Babylon and a text sent to the ruler of Mari stated, "A mass of troops of the prince of Ešnunna are assembling at Mankisum; Dannum-tahaz will cross the [ri]ver with them and go t[o] Rapiqum". It is known that there was a ford across the Tigris at Mankisum.Lewy, Hildegard, "The Historical Background of the Correspondence of Baḫdi-Lim", Orientalia, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 324–52, 1956Álvarez-Mon, J., & Wicks, Y., "Like a Raining Cloud: Archery as the Pillar of Elamite Warfare", in Brill’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 34–83, 2024 Early in the reign of Old Babylonian Empire ruler Hamurabi a conflict between Babylon, Mari, Eshnunna, and Elam resulted in Hamurabi being in control of the Upi area. A text from Mari showed diplomacy over that area's disposition:
Late in the reign of Hammurabi Babylon entered an expansionist phase which including conquering Mankisum. In his 32nd year name of "Year Hammu-rabi the king, the hero who gains victory for Marduk, defeated with his mighty weapons the entire army and soldiers of Eshnunna, Subartu and Gutium and conquered the land of Mankisum and the land on the banks of the Tigris up to the border of the Subartu mountains" and the Dadusha of Eshnunna year name "Year in which Dādūša seized Mankisum".Ebeling, E. and Meissner, B., "Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RIA-2), Berlin, 1938
The Edict of Ammiṣaduqa (c. 1646–1626 BC), ruler of Babylon, gave tax and debt relief to certain groups in a number of selected places. Four of the places – Idamaraṣ, Mankisum, Šitullum, Suḫûm, and Numḫia – were not Babylonian cites. In Mankisum only "markets" were covered. This is the last attested reference to Mankisum.Richardson, Seth, et al., "Aliens and Alienation, Strangers and Estrangement: Difference-Making as Historically-Particular Concept", Crossroads III: A Stranger in the House: Foreigners in Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Societies of the Bronze Age, Prague, pp. 307-340, 2019
Location
Mankisum is known to have been on the Tigris River near the convergence with the Little Zab river. It has also been suggested Mankisum lay to the south in the area of modern Baghdad. The site of Tell Kurr has been suggested as the location of that as has the Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya. This assumes there were in fact two Mankisums, one in the south and one in the north.Frayne, Douglas, "Towards a Historical Geography of the Khābūr Triangle Region in Old Babylonian Times. Part 1", Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 7, pp. 33-45, 2012
An itinerary text details a trip from Sippar to Assur by canal which stopped at Mankisum on the Tigris before arriving at Assur. It was also possible to go from Eshnunna to Rapiqum by road.Hallo, William W., "The Road to Emar", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 57–88, 1964
Texts from Mari indicate that the road from Rapiqum to Eshnunna crosses the Tigris river at Mankisum.Goetze, Albrecht, "An Old Babylonian Itinerary", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 51–72, 1953Albrecht Goetze, "Remarks on the Old Babylonian Itinerary", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 18:4, pp.114-119, 1964 Another Mari text notes that a siege took place at Mankisum.Vidal, Jordi, "Prestige weapons in an amorite context", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 70.2, pp. 247-252, 2011
See also Chronology of the ancient Near East Cities of the ancient Near East List of Mesopotamian dynasties
References
Further reading Beitzel, Barry J., "Išme-Dagan's Military Actions in the Jezirah: A Geographical Study1", Iraq 46.1, pp. 29-42, 1984 Frayne, Douglas R., "The Zagros campaigns of the Ur III kings", Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 3. pp. 33-56, 2008 Leemans, W.F., "Old Babylonian Letters and Economic History", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 11(1), pp. 171-226, 1968 Simmons, Stephen D., "Early Old Babylonian Tablets from Ḥarmal and Elsewhere", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 71–93, 1959 Van Koppen, Frans, and Denis Lacambre, "Sippar and the Frontier between Ešnunna and Babylon. New Sources for the History of Ešnunna in the Old Babylonian Period", Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 41, pp. 151-177, 2009 Ziegler, Nele, Adelheid Otto, and Christoph Fink, "The” Road to Emar” Reconsidered", Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 135-220, 2023