DEVANIKA
/ ABI-ESHUH
Devanika
/ Abi-Ešuh (variants: a-bi-ši, "Abiši",
E-bi-šum, "Ebišum") was the 8th king of the
1st Dynasty of Babylon and reigned for 28 years from ca. 1648–1620
BC (short chronology) or 1711–1684 BC (middle chronology).
He was preceded by Samsu-iluna, who was his father.
Biography
:
His exuberant titles included, “descendant of
Atithi / Sumu-la-El, princely heir of Kshemadhan
/ Samsu-iluna , eternal seed of kingship, mighty king, king
of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, king who makes
the four quarters be at peace.” This was presumably achieved
by his two aggressive military campaigns. His fourth year-name records
that he subdued the army of the Kassites. The Chronicle of Early
Kings recalls his damming of the Tigris in a vain attempt to capture
Ilum-ma-ili, the founder of the Sealand Dynasty. A clay cylinder
fragment from Kiš is tentatively assigned to this king because
the events it commemorates coincide with three of his year-names.
It mentions the Tigris river (year “o” the damming of
the Tigris), the Tigris gate (year “m” the ká-gal-iidigna),
the fashioning of a mace for Marduk (year “g”) and digging
of the Zubi canal (year “I”). He is described as “the
great champion” in his son, Ammi-Ditana's inscription, and
in the genealogy of his descendant Ammi-saduqa. The Elamites under
their king Kutir-nahhunte I raided into Babylonia early in his reign
and sacked 30 cities.
Two
copies of a building inscription commemorate his construction activities
at Luhaia, a town founded by Hammu-rapi on the Arahtum canal to
the north of Babylon. A single inscription exists found on an onyx
eye stone dedicated to the goddess Ningal.
He
is richly attested in the cylinder seal impressions of his minions
with one of his servant, Lamanum, son of Bel-kulla, another of Luštamar-Adad,
son of Mar-Sipparim, another of Nabi’um-an[dasa], son of Ilšu-ib[nišu],
another… son of Awil-…, another Ilšu-nasir, diviner,
son of Marduk-nasir, another a copy Iddin-Šamaš, sanga
priest of the goddess Ninisina, son of Ku-Ninisina, and another
overseer of the merchants, Sin-iddina[m] son of Šerum-ban[i].
The Uruk List of Kings and Sages records that “during the
reign of Abi-ešuh, the king, Gimil-Gula and Taqis-Gula were
the scholars.”
Inscriptions
:
1. |
Chronicle
of Early Kings, (ABC 20), Tablet B, reverse, lines 8 to 10. |
2. |
Babylonian
King List B, obverse line 8. |
3. |
Tablet
BM 16998. |
4. |
Ash.
1924.616. |
5. |
Late
Babylon copy on a tablet, BM 38308. |
6. |
Tablets
BM 38446 and BM 55472 + 40125. |
7. |
Eyestone,
Ash. 1922.293. |
8. |
On
tablet MLC 2239 dated to year 20 of Ammi-ditana, at Yale. |
9. |
On
tablets YBC 8385 and YBC 5885 dated to Abi-Ešuh’s
years “m” and “y,” at Yale. |
10. |
On
tablet MLC 1539, at Yale. |
11. |
On
tablet UMM 36, in the University Museum of Manchester. |
12. |
Cylinder
seal VA 3242, in Berlin. |
13. |
Cylinder
seal BM 89101, in the British Museum. |
14. |
Cylinder
seal in the Lands of the Bible Archaeology Foundation. |
15. |
W
20030,7 the Seleucid List of Sages and Scholars, recovered
from Anu’s Bit Reš temple during the 1959/60 excavation. |
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abi-Eshuh
