Shar-Kali-Sharri

Shar-Kali-Sharri
𒀭𒊬𒂵𒉌 𒈗𒌷
Impression of a cylinder seal of the time of Akkadian King Sharkalisharri, with central inscription:

𒀭𒊬𒂵𒉌 𒈗𒌷 𒁕𒈝 𒈗 𒀀𒂵𒉈𒆠 𒅁𒉌𒈗 𒁾𒊬 𒀵𒋢
DShar-kali-sharri da-num lugal a-ga-deki ibe-šarrum dub-sar arad2-su
"Divine Sharkalisharri, the mighty king of Agade, Ibni-Sharrum, the Scribe his servant".[1]

Circa 2217-2193 BC. Louvre Museum.[2]
King of the Akkadian Empire
Reignc. 2217  BC – 2193  BC
PredecessorNaram-Sin
SuccessorIgigi
SpouseTuta-sar-libbis
DynastyDynasty of Akkad
FatherNaram-Sin of Akkad
Akkadian language cuneiform for Sharkalisharri. The star symbol "𒀭", the "Dingir", is a silent honorific for "Divine".

Shar-Kali-Sharri (𒀭𒊬𒂵𒉌 𒈗𒌷, DShar-ka-li-Sharri;[3]) reigned c. 2217–2193 BC (middle chronology) as the ruler of the Akkadian Empire. In the early days of cuneiform scholarship the name was transcribed as "Shar-Gani-sharri".[4] In the 1870s, Assyriologists thought Shar-Kali-Sharri was identical with the Sargon of Akkad, first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, but this identification was recognized as mistaken in the 1910s.[5] His name was sometimes written with the leading Dingir sign demarking deification and sometimes without it. Clearly at some point he was deified and two of his designations marked his divine status, "heroic god of Akkade", and "god of the land of Warium".[6] He was the son and successor of Naram-Sin who deified himself during his lifetime.[7]

  1. ^ Full transcription of Ibni-Sharrum seal "CDLI-Archival View". cdli.ucla.edu.
  2. ^ "Cylinder Seal of Ibni-Sharrum". Louvre Museum.
  3. ^ written šar-ka3-li2-šar-ri2 𒊬𒂵𒉌𒊬𒌷 in later manuscripts of the Sumerian King List, but šar-ka3-li2 LUGAL-ri2 𒊬𒂵𒉌 𒈗𒌷 in royal inscriptions even though the LUGAL ("king") sign did not have the phonetic value of šar in Sumerian (Laurence Austine Waddell, The Makers of Civilization 1968, p. 529)
  4. ^ King, L. "Shar-gani-sharri, King of Akkad." Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 30 (1908): 238-242
  5. ^ D. D. Luckenbill, "Review of: The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria by Morris Jastrow, Jr.", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Apr., 1917), pp. 252-254, 1917
  6. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "The Divine Rulers of Akkade and Ur: Toward a Definition of the Deification of Kings in Babylonia", History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 107-157, 2017
  7. ^ Thureau-Dangin, F., "Encore la Dynastie d'Agadé", Revue d'Assyriologie 9, pp. 81–83, 1912