Asinum

Asium
Reign	1730s BC
Successor	Puzur-Sin (usurper)
Father	Shamshi-Adad I (grandfather)

Asinum was possibly a king of Assyria during the 18th century BC, and a grandson of Shamshi-Adad I. He was overthrown by Puzur-Sin because he was of Amorite extraction; not included in the standard King List, but attested in Puzur-Sin's inscription.

Asinum was deposed in a revolt that aimed to restore the traditions of Old Assyrian period. In the inscription left by Puzur-Sin, the Amorite kings beginning with Shamsi-Adad were described as "foreign plague not of the flesh of the city of Assur" while the latter was accused of constructing a palace for himself (possibly a reference to the so-called Old Palace built next to the ziggurat) and destroying old Assur shrines. ^[1] After Asinum's rule, anarchy ensued in Assyria after a series of eight usurpers seized the throne. ^[2]

It is unclear whether Asinum was a personal name or a title. ^[3]

References

1. Larsen, Mogens Trolle (2015). Ancient Kanesh: A Merchant Colony in Bronze Age Anatolia. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN   978-1-107-11956-7.
2. Bertman, Stephen (2003). Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 81. ISBN   978-0-19-518364-1.
3. Reade, J. E. (2001). "Assyrian King-Lists, the Royal Tombs of Ur, and Indus Origins" . Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 60 (1): 1–29. doi:10.1086/468883. JSTOR   545577. S2CID   161480780.