An-am

AN-am3
King of Uruk
Reign18th century BC
PredecessorSîn-gāmil
SuccessorIrdanene
House6th Dynasty of Uruk
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Location of Uruk.

An-am (AN-am3) (also Dingiram or Anam) was a ruler of the Old Babylonian period city of Uruk. He took the titles of "Shepard of Uruk" and "Army Chief of Uruk". An-am is known to be the father of the succeeding ruler Irdanene from the latter's year name "... brought a statue in gold representing Dingiram his father into the temple of Nanaia".[1] Unlike the rest of the dynasty An-am and Irdanene had Sumerian names.[2] A royal hymn to An-am was found at Uruk.[3] He restored the temples of An and Inanna "the ancient work of divine Ur-Nammu and Sulgi".[4]

From one inscription found at Uruk we know that he was the son of Ilān-šemeā and that he rebuilt the city wall of Uruk.

"Anam, army chief of Uruk, son of Ilān-šemeā, when the wall of Uruk, the old construction of Gilgameš, he restored, that the waters going around it might roar (without damaging it) with burnt bricks he built it for him (Gilgameš)"[5]

In another inscription he records building a temple for the goddess Kanisurra, called the "mistress of the Iturungal", with the Iturungal being a major canal in Sumer.[6]

Several of An-am's year names are known:[7]

  • Year AN-am became king
  • Year in which (Dingiram) made opposite the gate of the gipar / "nunnery" a pure (bed) and placed there (in the gate) a statue adorned with gold for An and Inanna
  • Year (Dingiram made) 2 thrones (and) a statue of the king
  • Year he restored the interior of the decaying temple of An and Inanna

In a letter to ruler of Babylon Sin-muballit (c. 1813-1792 BC), An-am reminds him that they are both of "one house" ie. from the Yaminite tribe of Amnanum. Sîn-kāšid, the founder of the 6th Dynasty of Uruk, took as a title "King of the Amnanum (Tribe)" (lugal am-na-nu-um) as did the third ruler, Sîn-gāmil.[8]

"... Ever since the kings of Uruk and Babylon are one house—except for the present moment when my heart and your heart were grieved—and, by what I have heard from the mouth of my father and my grandfather, whom I have known personally, ever since the time of Sin-kašid and since the time I witnessed myself until now, the army of Amnan-Yahrur (troops of Babylon) has indeed arrived here two or three times for military assistance to this house ..."[2][9][10]

A few of the inscriptions of An-am are thought to have antedated his reign.[11] In two inscriptions of An-am from the rule of Sîn-gāmil on the construction of a temple for the god Nergal in the city of Uṣarpara close with "Anam, archivist, son of Ilān-šemeā, built this temple". The location of Uṣarpara is unknown.[4]

A millennium later an inscribed barrel cylinder of Babylonian ruler Marduk-apla-iddina II (722–710, 703–702 BC) records rebuilding a "house of the god Ningishzida" in Uruk built by An-am.[12][13][14]

  1. ^ Year Names of Irdanene - CDLI
  2. ^ a b Falkenstein, Adam, "Zu den Inschriftenfunden der Grabung in Uruk-Warka 1960-1961: A. von Haller zum 70. Geburtstag am 29. Mai 1962 gewidmet." Baghdader Mitteilungen 2, pp. 1-82, 1963
  3. ^ Hallo, William W., "Royal Hymns and Mesopotamian Unity", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 112–118, 1963
  4. ^ a b Frayne, Douglas, "Uruk", Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 439-483, 1990
  5. ^ [1]"RIME 4.04.06.04 Composite Artifact Entry", Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), January 20, 2013
  6. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "New light on the hydrology and topography of southern Babylonia in the third millennium", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 91, iss. 1, pp. 22-84, 2001
  7. ^ Köcher, Franz, "Keilschrifttexte Aus Assur 2", Vol. 2, Die Babylonisch-Assyrische Medizin in Texten Und Untersuchungen, De Gruyter, 1963
  8. ^ Michalowski, Piotr, "History as charter some observations on the sumerian king list", Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.1, pp. 237-248, 1983
  9. ^ van Koppen, F., "Miscellaneous Old Babylonian period documents", in Chavalas, M.W. (ed.), The ancient Near East: historical sources in translation, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 107-133, 2006
  10. ^ Sasson, Jack M., "Kingship", From the Mari Archives: An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 21-118, 2015
  11. ^ William W. Hallo, "Early Mesopotamian Royal Titles: A Philological and Historical Analysis", AOS 43, 1957
  12. ^ Gadd, C. J., "Inscribed Barrel Cylinder of Marduk-Apla-Iddina II", Iraq, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 123–34, 1953
  13. ^ Lenzen, H., "The Ningišzida Temple Built by Marduk-Apala-Iddina II at Uruk (Warka)", Iraq 19.2, pp. 146-150, 1957
  14. ^ [2]Steven W. Holloway, "Sargon II and His Redactors Repair Eanna of Uruk", Biblical Research 43, pp. 22-49, 1998