Šimānum (also Simanum) was an ancient Near East city-state whose location is not yet known. Its areal location is known to be in the northernmost part of Mesopotamia or the southernmost part of Anatolia, in the vicinity of the Tigris river, north of the Upper Zab river, and near the confluence of the Tigris and eastern Habur river (often confused with the western Habur river off the Euphrates). It is well documented during the time of the Ur III Empire in the late 3rd Millennium BC. It has been proposed that Šimānum was known, under different names, in other periods. If those proposals are correct the site was active from the Akkadian Empire period though the Old Babylonian period. Šimānum is also the name of an Old Babylonian month.
History The first ruler of Ur III, Shulgi, conducted a number of military campaigns in the northeast region of the empire around Šimānum.Michalowski, P., "The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom", MC 15, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011 Šimānum itself appears to have been a vassal rather than a tributary state. Records, in Shugi year 45 and Amar-Sin year 6, report bears being sent to Ur by the ruler of Simanium.Michalowski, Piotr, "Of Bears and Men: Thoughts on the End of Šulgi’s Reign and on the Ensuing Succession", Literature as Politics, Politics as Literature: Essays on the Ancient Near East in Honor of Peter Machinist, edited by David S. Vanderhooft and Abraham Winitzer, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 285-320, 2013
Late in the reign of Shulgi (c. 2094–2046 BC), continuing into the reign of the Amar-Sin (c. 2046–2037 BC), the daughter of Shu-Sin, Kunši-matum (Submit, O land!) was given to the son of the then ruler of Simanum, Pušam/Bušam, in marriage. Pušam is noted, as ruler of Šimānum, in various Ur III records from the 2nd year of Amar-Sin until the 1st year of Shu-Sin. Pušam is also known from a seal found at Urkesh.K. Volk, "Beschriftete Objekte aus Tall Mozan/Urke", MDOG 136, pp. 87-101, 2004 In the first year of Shu-Sin Kunši-matum is recorded as being the bride (wife of the ruler) of Arib-atal of Šimānum. Arib-atal was the son of Pušam and brother of Ipḫuḫa. Ipḫuḫa later became ensi of Šimānum, noted in a text from the 1st year of Ibbi-Sin.Sollberger, Edmond, "Selected Texts from American Collections", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 11–31, 1956 Arib-atal was denoted as being the "man" of Šimānum.Michalowski, Peter, "The Bride of Simanum", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 716–19, 1975Stol, Marten, "The court and the harem before 1500 BC", Women in the Ancient Near East, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 459-511, 2016Michalowski, Peter, "Love or Death? Observations on the Role of the Gala in Ur III Ceremonial Life" Journal of Cuneiform Studies 58, pp. 49-61, 2006 There is some debate on the status of Pušam and Arib-atal, ranging from ensi (governor) under Ur to vassal to ruler of an independent though strongly allied state.Klein, Jacob, "Šeleppūtum a Hitherto Unknown Ur III Princess", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 80, no. 1-2, pp. 20-39, 1990
In the second year of his reign, Ur III ruler Shu-Sin (c. 2037–2028 BC) launched an attack on polities to the north, including Simanum, Habura, and Mardaman.Bonatz, Dominik, "Response: Two Tales of Royalty, Or the Intermediality of Image and Text in the Third millennium BCE", Tales of Royalty: Notions of Kingship in Visual and Textual Narration in the Ancient Near East, edited by Elisabeth Wagner-Durand and Julia Linke, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 155-162, 2020Sallaberger, Walther, "From Urban Culture to Nomadism: A History of Upper Mesopotamia in the Late Third Millennium", in Sociétés humaines et changement climatique à la fin du troisième Millénaire: Une crise a-t-elle eu lieu en Haute Mésopotamie? Actes du Colloque de Lyon, 5–8 décembre 2005, ed. C. Kuzucuoğlu and C. Marro. Paris: de Boccard, pp.417–56, 2007
Royal inscriptions record that this attack resulted from the royal family of Šimānum, allied to and intermarried with Ur, being overthrown.Michalowski, Piotr, "The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 2: Great Walls, Amorites, and Military History: The Puzur-Šulgi and Šarrum-bani Correspondence (Letters 13–14 and 19–20)", The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 122-169, 2011 Success was reported to the capitol and a reward "for the messenger Lugal-sisa who brought the good news of the defeat of Simanum".Michalowski, Piotr, "The Amorites in Ur III Times", The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 82-121, 2011 This attack was marked in two of his year names (SS3 and SS4).Ebeling,E. and Meissner,B., "Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RIA-2), Berlin, 1938
mu Dszu-Den.zu lugal ur2iki-ma-ke4 si-ma-num2ki mu-hul - Year Shu-Sin the king of Ur destroyed Šimānum mu us2-sa Dszu-Den.zu lugal ur2iki-ma-ke4 si-ma-num2ki mu-hul - Year after the year Shu-Sin the king of Ur destroyed Šimānum
The later year name was only used for the early part of the year before being superseded. One record reports that daughter Kunši-matum was restored to the throne of Šimānum after the successful attack. In any event, correspondence between Ur and Šimānum continue until the early part of the reign of Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BC).Michalowski, Piotr, "The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 1: The Affairs of King Šulgi (Letters 1–12, 15–18)", The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 64-81, 2011
Ur III ruler Shu-Sin, after destroying Šimānum settled the prisoners of that war in a town he founded near Nippur that he called Šimānum (sometimes called E-Šu-Suen). This practice for disposition of prisoners continued into the first millennium.Steinkeller, Piotr, "Corvée Labor in Ur III Times", From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22–24 July 2010, edited by Steven J. Garfinkle and Manuel Molina, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 347-424, 2013 Texts from Drehem, near Nippur, record a number of cases of "individuals of " being used as guarded workers, some of them acquired for a price.Gelb, I. J., "Prisoners of War in Early Mesopotamia", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 32, no. 1/2, pp. 70–98, 1973 A tablet from Irisaĝrig dated to the 5th year of Shu-Sin recorded rations going to "ĝuruš from Simanum".Sigrist, Marcel and Ozaki, Tohru, "Catalog of Texts", Tablets from the Iri-saĝrig Archive, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 1-51, 2019
Early during the reign of the next, and last, Ur III ruler, Ibbi-Sin, Ur lost control of the Nippur area and the last record from this prisoner town is dated to the 4th year of Ibbi-Sin.Michalowski, Piotr, "The Royal Letters in Their Historical Setting 3: Ur, Isin, Kazallu, and the Final Decades of the Ur III State (Letters 21–24)", The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 170-215, 2011
Ašimānum/Asimānum Asimānum is known from the Akkadian Empire period and is typically assumed to be Šimānum. A fragmentary text of ruler Naram-Sin reports
Šināmum The poorly attributed Šināmum (also Šinamu), now thought to be at Üçtepe Höyük, active during the Old Babylonian period, has been pointed to as possibly being Šimānum i.e. "Although it seems probable that Ur III Shimanum, Old Assyrian Shimala, Old Babylonian Shinamum and Neo-Assyrian Sinabu are one and the same place" though this has now lost favor.Sallaberger, W., "From Urban Culture to Nomadism, in: C. Kuzucuoğlu/C. Marro (eds.), Sociétés humaines et changement climatique à la fin du troisième millénaire: une crise a-t-elle eu lieu en Haute Mésopotamie? Actes du Colloque de Lyon (5–8 décembre 2005), Istanbul, pp. 417-456, 2007Genç, B./J. MacGinnis, "A text of Shalmaneser I from Üçtepe and the location of Šinamu", Anatolian Studies 72, pp. 1-17, 2022 One of the few textual references was found at Tell Shemshara.
Šibaniba/Šibānum It has been proposed that Šibaniba (Šibanibe in the Neo-Assyrian period), known in the Middle Assyrian period and thought to be at the site of Tell Billa, was earlier known as Šimānum though scant Ur III or Akkadian Empire period remains were known from there, the excavations being thinly published, and the areal location is not favorable.Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, and Petra M. Creamer, "More to Tell About Billa! Asimānum/Šimānum and the Early and Middle Bronze Ages at Baˁšīqā, Iraq", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2022-0011
Location While the rough areal location of Šimānum is known and a number of sites have been proposed all that is known about its specific location is that it was very near the 3rd millennium BC city of Habüra which was in turn near to the city of Maridaman (usually assumed to be the Middle Assyrian period Mardaman).Pfälzner, P. and H. A. Qasim, "From Akkadian Maridaban to Middle-Assyrian Mardama. Excavations at Bassetki in 2018 and 2019", ZOrA 13, pp. 12-89, 2020
Near Habura Šimānum is known to be near the city Ur III period city of Habüra (Ha-bu-raki) which lay on the Habur river a tributary of the Tigris river (not to be confused with the western Habur river, off the Euphrates), at or near this confluence.Astour, Michael C, "Semites and Hurrians in Northern Transtigris", in vol. 2 of Studies in the Civiliza-tion and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians, ed. D. I. Owen and M. A. Morrison. WinonaLake, Indiana, pp. 3–36, 1987Astour, Michael C., "A Reconstruction of the History of Ebla (Part 2)", Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 4, edited by Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 57-196, 2002 In one text it is called "apqum sa Habür" (source of the Habür).Astour, Michael C., "Reviewed Work(s): Rekonstruktion der Reiserouten zur Zeit der altassyrischen