Akkadian Šu-ilišu Parents Ishbi-Erra Predecessor Ishbi-Erra | House First Dynasty of Isin Successor Iddin-Dagan Children Iddin-Dagan Great grandchild Lipit-Ishtar | |
Reign fl. c. 1920 BC — c. 1911 BC | ||
Shu-Ilishu (Akkadian: Šu-ilišu; fl. c. 1920 BC — c. 1911 BC by the short chronology of the ancient near east, or c. 1984 BC — c. 1975 BC by the middle chronology) was the 2nd ruler of the First Dynasty of Isin. He reigned for 10 years (according to his extant year-names and a single copy of the Sumerian King List, which differs from the 20 years recorded by others.) Šu-ilišu was preceded by Išbi-erra. Iddin-Dagān then succeeded Šu-ilišu. Šu-ilišu is best known for his retrieval of the cultic idol of Nanna from the Elamites and its return to the city-state Ur.
Biography
Šu-ilišu’s inscriptions gave him the titles: “Mighty Man” — “King of Ur” — “God of His Nation” — “Beloved of the gods: Anu, Enlil, and Nanna” — “King of the Land of Sumer and Akkad” — “Beloved of the god Enlil and the goddess Ninisina” — “Lord of his Land”, but not “King of Isin” (a title which was not claimed by a ruler of this city-state until the later reign of Išme-Dagān.) Šu-ilišu did, however; rebuild the walls of his capital city: Isin. He was a great benefactor of the city-state Ur (beginning the restoration which was to continue through his successors: Iddin-Dagān and Išme-Dagan.) Šu-ilišu built a monumental gateway and recovered an idol representing Ur's patron deity (Nanna, god of the moon) which had been expropriated by the Elamites when they sacked the city-state, but; whether he obtained it either through diplomacy or conflict is unknown. An inscription tells of the city-state's resettlement: “He established for him when he established in Ur the people scattered as far as Anšan in their abode.” The “Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur” was composed around this time to explain the catastrophe, to call for its reconstruction and to protect the restorers from the curses attached to the ruins of the é.dub.lá.maḫ.
Šu-ilišu commemorated: the fashioning of a great emblem for Nanna, an exalted throne for An, a dais for Ninisin, a magur-boat for Ninurta, and a dais for Ningal in year names for Šu-ilišu's reign. An adab (or hymn) to Nergal was composed in honor of Šu-ilišu, together with an adab of An and perhaps a 3rd addressed to himself. The archive of a craft workshop (or giš-kin-ti) from the city-state Isin has been uncovered with 920 texts dating from Išbi-Erra year 4 through to Šu-ilišu year 3 — a period of 33 years. The tablets are records of receipts and disbursements of the: leather goods, furniture, baskets, mats, and felt goods that were manufactured along with their raw materials. A 2nd archive (of receipt of cereal and issue of bread from a bakery, possibly connected to the temple of Enlil in Nippur) includes an accounting record of expenditures of bread for the provision of the king and includes entries dated to his 2nd through 9th years which was used by Steele to determine the sequence of most of this king's year-names.