Ansud

Ansud
King of Mari
Reign	c. 2423 – c. 2416 BC
Predecessor	Possibly Ikun-Shamagan
Successor	Possibly Saʿumu
Died	c. 2416 BC

Ansud (also read as Ianupu, Yanup, Anubu, Gansud, Anusu and Hanusum;^{[1][2][3][4][5]} died c. 2416 BC^[6]), was an early king (Lugal) of the second Mariote kingdom. Ansud is known for warring against the Eblaites from a letter written by the later Mariote king Enna-Dagan.

Reign

Identity

It has been proposed that a bead (reference M. 4439) discovered at Mari, was sent as a gift by Mesannepada of Ur to king "Hanusum" (Gansud) of Mari.^[7][8][9] This has now been corrected with new translations only giving Mesannepada as son of Meskalamdug:^[10][11]

Mari bead^[12]

𒀭𒈗𒌦 𒈩𒀭𒉌𒅆𒊒𒁕 𒈗 𒋀𒀊𒆠 𒌉 𒈩𒌦𒄭 𒈗 𒆧𒆠 𒀀 𒈬𒈾𒊒

^dlugal-kalam mes-an-ne2-pa3-da lugal uri5^ki dumu mes-ug-du10 lugal kish^ki a munaru

"To god Lugalkalam ("the Lord of the Land", identified with Dagan or Enlil), Mesannepada, king of Ur, son of Meskalamdug, king of Kish, has consecrated this bead""

— Mesannepada Mari bead^{[13][14][10][11][12][15]}

It is unclear how this bead came to be in Mari, but this points to some kind of relation between Ur and Mari at that time.^[9] The bead was discovered in a jar containing other objects from Ur or Kish.^[16]

The letter of Enna-Dagan is extremely difficult to read,^[17] and the word "Sa'umu" appeared in three passages of it.^[3] In the second and third passages, the word referred to Ansud's successor Sa'umu.^[3][18] However, in the first passage, "Sa'umu" was read as a verb by Giovanni Pettinato, who later read it as (Anudu).^[3] Alfonso Archi, recognized that this verb is a personal name of a monarch and read it as Anubu (motivated by the Sumerian King List which record a dynasty of Mari and king Anbu as the first monarch of the dynasty).^[3] However, the discovery of an intact (SKL) with the names of Mari's dynasty bearing no resemblance to second kingdom monarchs, eliminated the need for Archi's identification.^[3] According to Michael Astour, the name is Anusu (Ansud) and must be correlated with king Hanusum.^[5]

Campaigns

In the letter Ansud is recorded defeating the cities of Aburu, Ilgi in the lands of Belan.^{[note 1][1][20]} The king is also mentioned leaving ruins in the mountains of Labanan,^[1] which were identified by Pettinato with Lebanon.^[21] However, this identification was ruled as geographically impossible by Astour.^[21]

King Ansud of Mari
Regnal titles
Preceded by Possibly Ikun-Shamagan	King of Mari c. 2423 - c. 2416 BC	Succeeded by Saʿumu

See also

• Eblaite-Mariote war

Notes

1. Belan is located 26 km west of Raqqa.^[19]

Citations

1. "Monuments of War, War of Monuments: Some Considerations on Commemorating War in the Third Millennium BC. Orientalia Vol.76/4". Davide Nadali. 2007. p. 354. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
2. Joan Aruz; Ronald Wallenfels (2003). Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 463. ISBN 9781588390431.
3. Cyrus Herzl Gordon; Gary Rendsburg; Nathan H. Winter (2002). Eblaitica vol.4. Eisenbrauns. p. 57. ISBN 9781575060606.
4. Nakl. Ceskoslovenské akademie věd (1969). Archiv Orientální, Volume 37 (in French). p. 623.
5. Cyrus Herzl Gordon; Gary Rendsburg; Nathan H. Winter (2002). Eblaitica vol.4. Eisenbrauns. p. 58. ISBN 9781575060606.
6. William J. Hamblin (2006). Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. Routledge. p. 242. ISBN 9781134520626.
7. Mario Liverani (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Routledge. p. 117. ISBN 9781134750849.
8. Parrot, André (1965). "Les Fouilles de Mari". Syria. 42 (3): 220. doi:10.3406/syria.1965.5808.
9. orientalia Vol.38. Gregorian Biblical BookShop. p. 358.
10. Description with photograph: Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2003. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-58839-043-1.
11. Orientalia: Vol. 73. Gregorian Biblical BookShop. p. 183.
12. Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2003. ISBN 978-1-58839-043-1.
13. Orientalia: Vol. 73 (in Italian). Gregorian Biblical BookShop.
14. "CDLI-Archival View". cdli.ucla.edu.
15. "Mission archéologique de Mari" volume 4, p. 44, fig. 35 (photo); p. 53, fig. 36
16. Matthews, Donald M. (1997). The Early Glyptic of Tell Brak: Cylinder Seals of Third Millennium Syria. Saint-Paul. p. 108. ISBN 978-3-525-53896-8.
17. Martha A. Morrison; David I. Owen (1987). General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi 9/1. p. 12. ISBN 9780931464089.
18. Douglas Frayne (2008). Pre-Sargonic Period: Early Periods, Volume 1 (2700-2350 BC). p. 761. ISBN 9781442690479.
19. P.M. Michèle Daviau; Michael Weigl; John W. Wevers (2001). The World of the Aramaeans: Studies in Honour of Paul-Eugène Dion, Volume 1. p. 233. ISBN 9780567200495.
20. Winters, Ryan (2019). "Negotiating Exchange: Ebla and the International System of the Early Bronze Age" (PDF). PhD Diss., Harvard University: 42–43.
21. Cyrus Herzl Gordon; Gary Rendsburg (1992). Eblaitica vol.3. Eisenbrauns. p. 29. ISBN 9780931464348.