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Ansud

Ansud (also read as Ianupu, Yanup, Anubu, Gansud, Anusu and Hanusum),^{[1][2][3][4][5]} was an early king (Lugal) of the second Mariote kingdom who reigned c. 2423-2416 BC.^[6] Ansud is known for warring against the Eblaites from a letter written by the later Mariote king Enna-Dagan.

Reign[edit]

Identity[edit]

It has been proposed that a bead (reference M. 4439) discovered at Mari, was sent as a gift by MesannepadaofUr 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]

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 DaganorEnlil), 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[edit]

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]

See also[edit]

• Eblaite-Mariote war

Notes[edit]

Citations[edit]