Shar-Kali-Sharri

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Shar-Kali-Sharri (Template:Cuneiform, ^DShar-ka-li-Sharri;<ref>written šar-ka₃-li₂-šar-ri₂ Template:Cuneiform in later manuscripts of the Sumerian King List, but šar-ka₃-li₂ LUGAL-ri₂ Template:Cuneiform 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)</ref> died Template:Circa 2193 BC) reigned c. 2218–2193 BC (middle chronology) as the ruler of Akkad. In the early days of cuneiform scholarship the name was transcribed as "Shar-Gani-sharri".<ref>King, L. "Shar-gani-sharri, King of Akkad." Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 30 (1908): 238-242</ref> In the 1870s, Assyriologists thought Shar-Kali-Sharri was identical with the Sargon of Akkad, first ruler of Akkad, but this identification was recognized as mistaken in the 1910s.<ref>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</ref> 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".<ref>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</ref> He was the son and successor of Naram-Sin who deified himself during his lifetime.<ref name="Thureau-Dangin1912" >Thureau-Dangin, F., "Encore la Dynastie d'Agadé", Revue d'Assyriologie 9, pp. 81–83, 1912</ref>

Biography

Shar-Kali-Sharri succeeded his father Naram-Sin around 2218 BC. According to the Sumerian King List, his reign lasted 25 years, which is closely matched by the year name from his rule.<ref name="Thureau-Dangin1912" /> He completed the establishment of direct Akkadian rule, a process initiated by his predecessor.<ref name="Molina2019">[1] M. Molina, "The palace of Adab during the Sargonic period", D. Wicke (ed.), Der Palast im antiken und islamischen Orient, Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 9, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 151-20, 2019</ref> It is known, from the seal impressions of three of her majordomos (example - "Sar-kali-sarri, king of the subjects of the god Enlil. Tuta-sar-libbis, the queen: Iskun-Dagan, scr[ibe] and her major[d]omo, (is) [her] servant"), that the wife and queen of Shar-Kali-Shari was Tuta-sar-libbis.<ref>B. Buchanan and W.W. Hallo, "Early Near Eastern Seals in the Yale Babylonian Collection", New Haven and London, 1981</ref>

Naram-Sin maintained control over the various city-states by the simple expedient of appointing some of his many sons as key provincial governors, and his daughters as high priestesses. Shar-Kali-Shari would have inherited this system on his ascension but is not known if he had any offspring or, for the most part, the nature of his provincial governors. It has been suggested that he was governor of Nippur before assuming the crown.<ref>Gibson, McGuire, "Nippur: New Perspectives", Archaeology, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 26–37, 1977</ref><ref>Michalowski, Piotr, "Tudanapšum, Naram-Sin and Nippur", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 75, no. 2, pp. 173–76, 1981</ref> This is supported by the fact that text show that he was crowned in Nippur, a process that included his sister Tudanapšum who had been named high priestess of Enlil at Nippur.<ref>Charvát, Petr, "A Tale of Twin Cities: Archaeology and the Sumerian King List", Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique International at Rome, 4–8 July 2011, edited by Alfonso Archi, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 75-80, 2015</ref><ref>Westenholz, Joan, "EN-Priestess: Pawn or Power Mogul?", Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Würzburg 20–25 Jul, edited by Gernot Wilhelm, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 291-312, 2012</ref>

It was traditional for rulers in Mesopotamia to make an occasional "royal progress" visiting the major cultic sites. One such progress is known from the reign of his father Naram-Sin, fourth ruler of the Akkadian Empire. He was accompanied by three of his children, Bin-kali-šarrē, Tudanapšum, and crown prince Shar-Kali-Shari.<ref name="Foster1980" /> It is known that Shar-Kali-Sharri made a royal journey to Sumer early in his reign which lasted at least six months. Cities known to have been included in the royal progress were Umma, Zabala, Isin, Girsu, and Nippur with many royal gifts dispensed and much feasting.<ref>Kraus, N. L., "When the King Came Down to Sumer: The Royal Sojourn of Sar-Kali-Sarre and the Court of Akkad", Iraq. Journal of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, vol. 81, pp. 207–220, 2019</ref> In a show of military strength at least five sagina (generals) accompanied Shar-Kali-Shari.<ref>Foster, B. R., "Management and Administration in the Sargonic Period", in: M. Liverani (ed.) Akkad, the First World Empire: Structure, Ideology, Traditions HANES 5, Padova: Sargon srl., pp. 25–39, 1993</ref>

It is known that the governor of Adab under Shar-Kali-Shar was Lugal-gis based on three clay sealings reading "[S]ar-kali-sam, god, hero of Agade: Lugal-gis, scribe and go[vernor] of Ad[ab, (is) his] servant." (noting that the Dingir followed the rulers name here). His successor as ensi of Adab under Shar-Kali-Shali was Ur-tur, known from tablets found there. Many Adab tablets dated to his reign remain unpublished in the Istanbul Museum.<ref name="Molina2019" /> The governor of another city-state, Lagash is known. Lugal-ushumgal, was a governor (ensi) under Naram-Sin and that continued under Shar-Kali-Shari.<ref>Amiet, Pierre, "L’art d’Agadé au Musée du Louvre", Paris: Éditions des Musées Nationaux, 1976</ref> Several inscriptions of Lugal-ushumgal are known, particularly seal impressions, which refer to him as governor of Lagash and at the time a vassal (Template:Cuneiform, arad, "servant" or "slave") of Naram-Sin, as well as his successor Shar-kali-sharri.<ref>Seal of Lugal-ushumgal at CDLI (RT 165)</ref> One of these seals proclaims:

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Lugal-ushumgal was Governor of Lagash, a vassal of Naram-Sin and later of Shar-Kali-Sharri.<ref>Felli, Candida, "Some notes on the Akkadian glyptic from Tell Brak", Excavations at Tell Brak 2, pp. 141-150, 2001</ref> His successor as governor Puzer-Mama declared himself ruler of Lagash, possibly on the death of Shar-Kali-Shari, and began the 2nd Dynasty of Lagash<ref>[2] Frayne, Douglas R., "Lagaš", Sargonic and Gutian Periods, Toronto, Buffalo, London. University of Toronto Press Incorporated, pp. 269-273, 1993 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Volk, Konrad, "Puzur-Mama und die Reise des Königs", pp. 22-29, 1992</ref>

File:Ruins from a temple in Naffur.jpg

Modern photograph of the ruins of the Ekur temple at Nippur

One of the primary duties of the ruler of Mesopotamia was the maintenance of the Ekur temple of the chief god Enlil. Work on the temple, initiated by Naram-Sin, was completed by Shar-Kali-Shari.<ref>Goetze, Albrecht, "Akkad Dynasty Inscriptions from Nippur", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 54–59, 1968</ref> So important was this process that it was featured in seven of his year names, even naming the general appointed to lead the task, Puzur-Eshtar.<ref>[3]"Donald E. McCown and Richard C. Haines, Nippur I, Temple of Enlil, Scribal Quarter, and Soundings: Excavations of the Joint Expedition to Nippur of the University Museum of Philadelphia and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago", Oriental Institute Publication 78, 1967</ref> Inscribed bricks of Shar-Kali-Shari were found during the excavation of Nippur: Template:Blockquote

In a tablet inscription (HS 195) he also marked, after visiting the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the giving of a cult object to Enlil at Nippur.<ref>Gelb, I. J., and B. Kienast, "Die altakkadischen Königsinschriften des dritten Jahrtausends v. Chr", Freiburger altorientalische Studien 7, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1990</ref> Template:Blockquote

Shar-Kali-Shari also built new temples to Annunitum and to Ilaba (the tutelary deity deity of the Akkadian Empire) at Babylon, as reflected in a year name, with a further one to Ilaba at Zabala.<ref>Lambert, Wilfred G., "Babylon: Origins", Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess and Joachim Marzahn, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 71-76, 2011</ref>

File:To Shar-kali-sharri, king of Agade, Shaki-beli his servant.jpg

To Shar-kali-sharri, king of Agade, Shaki-beli his servant

Based on his year names the reign of Shar-Kali-Shari was fairly peaceful with the usual scuffles with nomadic groups like the MAR.TU and the Gutians as well as the traditional butting of heads with the Elamites.<ref>Thureau-Dangin, "Recherches sur Torigine de Tecriture cuneiformes", Ire partie: Lesformes archaiques et leurs equivalents modernes. Paris, 1898</ref> The economic texts from that period also would indicate a reasonable degree of prosperity.<ref>Milano, Lucio, and Aage Westenholz, "The “Šuilišu Archive” and Other Sargonic Texts in Akkadian", CUSAS27, Bethesda MD: CDL Press, 2015</ref><ref>Markina, Ekaterina, "Akkadian of the Me-ság Archive", Babel und Bibel 6, edited by Leonid E. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov and S. Tishchenko, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 169-188, 2012</ref><ref>Foster, Benjamin R., "New Light on the ‘Mu-Iti’ Texts", Orientalia, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 153–62, 1979</ref> Clearly the Gutians were growing in influence during his reign as at some point they made Adab their capital, though whether as a vassals of Akkad or not is unknown. That said, there was a historical tradition that the Akkadian Empire began to unravel during his rule. One much later Neo-Babylonian copy of an inscription (BM 38302) of Shar-Kali-Shari (which also marks the building of the temple of Ilaba in Zabala) indicated that he face a widespread revolt at one point which he overcame. This reflects the Great Revolt faced by his father Naram-Sin though it cannot be discounted that passage of millennia had blurred the history of one ruler with the other. Template:Blockquote

According to the Sumerian King List and later literary compositions, after Shar-Kali-Sharri's death in c. 2193 BC, the region fell into anarchy, with no king able to achieve dominance for long.<ref>Kraus, Nicholas, "The Weapon of Blood: Politics and Intrigue at the Decline of Akkad", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 1-9, 2018</ref> The king list states:

"Then who was king? Who was not the king? Igigi, Imi, Nanum, Ilulu: four of them ruled for only 3 years."

Akkad then resumed some resemblance of order for a time with the 21-year reign of Dudu followed by the 15-year reign of Shu-turul.

Year names of Shar-Kali-Sharri

Lists of year names can be found for many rulers from the time of the Akkadian Empire, including Shar-Kali-Sharri.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They shed light on the length of his reign and the main events: Template:Blockquote

Inscriptions

Tablet in Akkadian language recording domestic animals, Bismaya(Adab), reign of Shar-kali-sharri, c. 2100 BC, clay - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago
Seal of Shar-Kali-Sharri (previously attributed to Sargon), with seated deity
Seal of Shar-Kali-Sharri (previously attributed to Sargon), with Gilgamesh fighting a lion
Shar-Kali-Sharri seal (Louvre)
Brick Stamp of Shar-Kali-Sharri, National Museum of Iraq
Seal impression of Lugal-ushumgal as servant of Shar-Kali-Sharri: "Sharkalisharri, the mighty king of Agade, Lugalushumgal, ensi of Lagash, is thy servant."