Reign ca. 1953 BC - 1921 BC House 1st Dynasty of Isin Children Shu-Ilishu | Predecessor None Successor Shu-Ilishu Grandchild Iddin-Dagan | |
Išbi-erra was the founder of the 1st Dynasty of Isin, the successors to the neo-Sumerian Ur III kingdom in ancient southern Mesopotamia. According to the Weld-Blundell Prism, he reigned for 33 years and this is corroborated by the number of his extant year-names, 1953 BC - 1921 BC (short chronology). His name was written phonetically in cuneiform: diš-bi-èr-ra, in contemporary inscriptions. While in many ways this dynasty emulated that of the preceding one, its language was Akkadian as the Sumerian language had become moribund in the latter stages of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
History
At the outset of his career, Išbi-erra was an official working for Ibbi-Sin, the last king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He was described as a man of Mari, either his origin or the city for which he was assigned. His progress was witnessed in correspondence with the king and between Ibbi-Sin and the governor of Kazallu, Puzur-Numushda, latterly renamed Puzur-Šulgi. These are literary letters, copied in antiquity as scribal exercises and whose authenticity is unknown. Charged with acquiring grain in Isin and Kazallu, Išbi-erra complained that he could not ship the seventy-two thousand GUR he had bought for 20 talents of silver - apparently an exorbitant price - and now kept secure in Isin to the other Ur III conurbations due to the incursions of the Amorites (“Martu”) and requested Ibbi-Sin supply 600 boats to transport it while also requesting governorship of Isin and Nippur. Although Ibbi-Sin baulked at promoting him, Išbi-erra had apparently succeeded in wrestling control over Isin by Ibbi-Sin’s 8th year, when he began assigning his own regnal year-names, and thereafter an uneasy chill descended on their relationship.
Ibbi-Sin bitterly lambasted Išbi-erra as “not of Sumerian seed” in his letter to Puzur-Šulgi and opined that “Enlil has stirred up the Amorites out of their land, and they will strike the Elamites and capture Išbi-erra.” Curiously, Puzur-Šulgi seems to have originally been one of Išbi-erra’s own messengers and indicates the extent to which loyalties were in flux during the waning years of the Ur III regime. While there was no outright conflict, Išbi-erra continued to extend his influence as Ibbi-Sin’s steadily declined over the next twelve years or so, until Ur was finally conquered by Kindattu of Elam.
He went on to win decisive victories against Amorites, in his 8th year, and Elam, in his 16th. Some years later, Išbi-erra ousted the Elamite garrison from Ur, thereby asserting suzerainty over Sumer and Akkad, celebrated in one of his later 27th year-name, although this specific epithet was not used by this dynasty until the reign of Iddin-Dagan. He readily adopted the regal privileges of the former regime, commissioning royal praise poetry and hymns to deities, of which seven are extant, and proclaiming himself Dingir-kalam-ma-na, “a god in his own country.” He appointed his daughter, En-bara-zi, to succeed that of Ibbi-Sin’s as Egisitu-priestess of An, celebrated in his 22nd year-name. He founded fortresses and installed city walls, but only one royal inscription is extant.