Aplahanda

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A seal dedicated to goddess Kubaba by Matrunna, daughter of Aplahanda, 18th century BCE. Image from page 35 of "Ancient seals of the Near East" (1940).jpg
A seal dedicated to goddess Kubaba by Matrunna, daughter of Aplahanda, 18th century BCE.

Aplahanda was a king of Carchemish proposed to have reigned between 1786 and 1766 BCE, [1] during the Middle Bronze IIA.

Contents

Attestations

He was first known from a cylinder seal translated by Rene Dussaud in 1929. The seal was found at the base of the mound of Ugarit before excavations began. [2] [3]

At least 6 seals naming Aplahanda have been published. They are skilfully produced, and show mostly Babylonian influence, although some Syrian and Egyptian motifs are also present. [3]

He is also found mentioned in the Mari tablets, reigning at the same time as Yasmah-Addu and Zimri-Lim, by whom he is addressed as a brother. His name was suggested to be Amorite by I. J. Gelb and the hypothesis of a Semitic origin was supported by Wilfred G. Lambert. [4] [3]

At Acemhöyük (Anatolia), the Sarıkaya Palace yielded two bullea mentions Aplahanda. [5]

Reign

He was allied with Shamshi-Adad (1809/1808–1776/1775 BC) in a war against Sumu-Epuh of Aleppo (Yamhad) that was unsuccessful. [1] He was contemporary with king Hammurabi of Babylon (1792–1750 BC).

Death

He is known to have died in 1766 based on a letter of Ishtaran-Nasir. [3] [1] [6] Aplahanda was succeeded by his son, Yatar-Ami, who ruled for only two years.

His daughter called Matrunna is also known; she had a non-Semitic, possibly Hurrian name. His other son was Yahdul-Lim.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hamblin, W.J. (2006). Warfare in Ancient Near East. Taylor & Francis. pp. 267–. ISBN   978-0-415-25588-2.
  2. ↑ Virolleaud, Charles (1929). "Les Inscriptions Cunéiformes de Ras Shamra". Syria. 10 (4): 304–310. doi:10.3406/syria.1929.3411. JSTOR   4236960.
    Schaeffer, Claude F.A. (1939). The Cuneiform Texts of Ras Shamra-Ugarit. The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy. Oxford University Press. OCLC   1484767216.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Collon, D. (1999). "Seals naming Aplahanda of Carchemish". In Van Lerberghe, Karel; Voet, Gabriela (eds.). Languages and Cultures in Contact: At the Crossroads of Civilizations in the Syro-Mesopotamian Realm; Proceedings of the 42th RAI (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 96. Peeters. pp. 49–59. ISBN   978-90-429-0719-5.
  4. ↑ Gelb, I.J. (1980). Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological studies. Vol. 21. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ISBN   0-918986-21-4. OCLC   6683407.
  5. ↑ Manning SW, Griggs CB, Lorentzen B, Barjamovic G, Ramsey CB, Kromer B, Wild EM (2016). "Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology". PLOS ONE. 11 (7) e0157144. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1157144M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157144 . PMC   4943651 . PMID   27409585.
  6. ↑ Klengel, Horst (1992). Syria, 3000 to 300 B.C.: a handbook of political history. Akademie Verlag. ISBN   978-3-05-001820-1.
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