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Ilūni ruled the ancient Near East city-state of Eshnunna for between 8 and 20 years in the late 1700s BC. Ilūni was known to have maintained diplomatic relations with polities to its east including Niqqum, Kakmum, and Elam. One inscription has Ilūni asking Inzuršakšu (Insur-šaqšu). Thi), the ruler of Niqqum for timber to deal with breaches on the Ṭabān river.Guichard, Michael, "Guerre et diplomatie: Lettres d'Iluni roi d'Ešnunna d'une collection privée", Semitica 58, pp. 17-59, 2016Wasserman, N., & Bloch, Y., "The Kingdom of Babylon", The Amorites. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 424–483, 2023 The primary source for Ilūni is a group of 54 cuneiform texts recovered by Iraqi authorities after they had been looted and published by Basima Jaleel Abid. Information in the texts indicated that they originated at a city/kingdom called Basi. It has been suggested that the 21st Year Name of Babylon ruler Hammurabi "Year Hammurabi the king built the city wall of Baz" refers to this city. His predecessor Sin-Muballit had an identical 17th year name.Ebeling, E. and Meissner, B., "Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RIA-2)", Berlin, 1938 A few texts mentioning wIlūni ere also found at Me-Turan.Charpin, D., "Iluni, roi d'Ešnunna,", NABU 1998(1), No. 29, pp. 27–28, 1998 A number of looted texts from this archive are apparently in the publication process as of 2026.Beckman, Gary, "Recriminations on the Diyala: More on Ilūni", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 116, no. 1, pp. 107-124, 2026
The city and Kingdom of Eshnunna was conquered in roughly the 31st regnal year (mentioned in his 30th and 32nd year names) by Hammurabi (c. 1792-1750 BC) of First Babylonian Empire.Richardson, Seth, "Axes Against Ešnunna" Orientalia, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 42–50, 2005 Under his successor Samsu-iluna (c. 1749-1712 BC) the conquered polities in the southern and eastern of the empire, including Eshnunna, began to reassert their traditional independence beginning with a rebellion led by Rîm-Anum of Uruk in Samsu-iluna Year 10 followed by one led by Rim-Sin II of Larsa. At some point in this period Eshnunna regained its independence under the obscure ruler Lipissa (Lipit-Sin), the father of Ilūni. This is thought to have most likely occurred during the period covered by the revolts of Rîm-Anum and Rim-Sin II. A Lipissa, thought to be the same person, is mentioned in a Mari text as the leader of Eshnunna garrison of Ekallatum prevented by Išme-Dagan I (c. 1776-1765 BC), of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, from leaving. Lipsissa, called a general, then returns to Eshnunna. Eshnunna is known to have been an ally of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia at that time. The fall of that kingdom created by Samši-Adad I in the middle of the 1700s BC left a power vacuum in the east where polities like Eshnunna and Niqqum competed.Heimpel, Wolfgang, "Letters to the king of Mari: a new translation, with historical introduction, notes, and commentary", Vol. 12, Eisenbrauns, 2003Abed, B., "The Royal Archive of the King Iluni from Basi city", Baghdad, 2018
At some point there was peace between Ilūni and Samsu-iluna and Babylon. In one text from Ilūni it reads:
Based on a fragmentary statue inscription Samsu-iluna defeated and killed Ilūni in Samsu-iluna year 20 so the reign of Ilūni, allowing for traditional 6 regnal years, would have run from roughly c. 1735 BC until c. 1729 BC.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, 2020 If the at least 20 year reign for Ilūni indicated by the Basi texts is correct his reign would be more like c. 1749-1729 BC (Abed proposes 1759–1726 BC). Of course although Basi was clearly in the territory of Eshnunna it is not fully certain he was ruler of Eshnunna the entire time, versus Lipissa. It is also known that Ilūni was in a position of power in Eshnunna while Rîm-Anum ruled in Uruk based on a record of the Uruk prisoner center which read "Šamaš-naḫrārī, a man of Ešnunna, of Ilūni, the ensi2, man of Ešnunna, whom Dagānma-AN has sent from Mutiabal, royal gift to the god Šamaš. Received by Ubār-Šamaš, the chief administrator of the temple of the god Šamaš.".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, 2005Charpin, Dominique, "Chroniques Bibliographiques 15. Le royaume d’Uruk et le Pays d’Apum, Deux voisins de Babylone vaincus par Samsu-iluna", RA 108, pp. 121–60, 2014 In an inscription commemorating the rebuilding of the wall of Kish Samsu-iluna stated:
The Basi texts paint a much different and more nuanced picture of the conflict between Ilūni and Samsu-iluna, though the defeat of Ilūni by Samsu-iluna at the end remains the same.
One text (BM 134535) from a Ilūni to "the son of my lord", invoking Shamash and Marduk, is generally now not thought to have been the Ilūni who ruled Eshnunna.Reade, Julian, "The Ishtar Temple at Nineveh", Iraq, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 347–90, 2005 Similarly in (BM 97074) "Speak to Ilsu-ibni. Thus says Iluni. May Samas and Marduk keep you in good health. Concerning what you wrote to me, this (is what) you (said): "Ipqu-ilisu the judge has spoken at length against me in the assembly. ...", (BM 97256), (BM 97249), and (BM 97074).Van Soldt, W.H., "Letters in the British Museum", Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1990
Year names A number of year names of Ilūni, some partial, were known prior to the publication of the Basi texts. Only the order of a few are certain:Year Names of Iluni at CDLI mu i-lu-ni lugal - Year: Ilūni (became) king mu us2-sa i-lu-ni lugal - Year after the year: Ilūni (became) king mu bad3 iri ag-si-aki ba-gul - Year: (Ilūni) destroyed the wall of Agsia mu bad3 za-ab-ba-anki ba-dim2 - Year: (Ilūni) built the wall of Zabbân mu mus2-sa bad3 iri za-ab-ba-anki u3 iri la-szar-mar ba-dim2 - Year after the year: (Ilūni) built the walls of Zabbân and Lašamar mu alan dgeštin-an-na - Year: the statue of Geštinanna mu dingir-ni lugal-e i7 dur-ul3 nig2-ha-lam-ma-ta ka ba-uš2-a mu-un-ba-al-la2 - Year: Ilūni, the king, dug the mouth of the Diyala that was obstructed after the catastrophe
The Basi texts held 20 local year names for Ilūni, many covering local matters like waterway maintenance and fortifications. Examples of some new year names are: Year: King Ilūni secured and cleared the banks of the Turul and Ṭaban rivers with stone walls. Year: The king constructed a great defensive ring [fortress line] against the external enemies. Year: the king Ilūni has been digged Dayala river and made the golden monument for the goddess Anunitum (verbatim from Abed monograph)
See also Chronology of the ancient Near East List of Mesopotamian dynasties
References
Further reading Charpin, Dominique, "Old Babylonian Ešnunna: a historiographical case", Interdisciplinary Research on the Bronze Age Diyala, Brepols Online, pp. 7-21, 2021 de Boer, Rients, "Babylon between the Sealand, Syria, and the Zagros: Samsu-iluna’s last years", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 83.1, pp. 59-75, 2024 Ellis, Maria deJong, "Notes on the Chronology of the Later Ešnunna Dynasty", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 61–85, 1985 Henri Frankfort, Seton Lloyd, and Thorkild Jacobsen with a chapter by Günter Martiny, "The Gimilsin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar", Oriental Institute Publication 43, 1940 Matthew Rutz, and Piotr Michalowski, "The Flooding of Ešnunna, the Fall of Mari: Hammurabi’s Deeds in Babylonian Literature and History", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 68, pp. 15–43, 2016