| Yarim-Lim I | |
|---|---|
| Great King of Yamhad | |
| Tenure | c. 1780 BC – c. 1764 BC.Middle chronology |
| Predecessor | Sumu-Epuh |
| Successor | Hammurabi I |
| Great King of Yamhad | |
| Wife | Gashera |
| Issue | Hammurabi I Shibtu |
| Father | Sumu-Epuh |
| Mother | Sumunna-Abi |
Yarim-Lim I, also given asYarimlim, (reignedc. 1780 BC – c. 1764 BC) was the second king of the ancientAmorite kingdom ofYamhad in modern-dayAleppo,Syria.
Yarim-Lim was the son and successor of the first kingSumu-Epuh and his queen Sumunna-Abi.
His wife was Gashera, of unknown parents. She outlived her husband and became a strong-willed widow who was part of politics during the reign of Hammurabi.
Their daughterShibtu marriedZimri-Lim of Mari.
The kingdom of Yamhad was being threatened by the Assyrian kingShamshi-Adad I who had surrounded Yamhad through his alliance withCarchemish andUrshu to the north,Qatna to the south, and conqueringMari to the east, appointing his sonYasmah-Adad on its throne.[1] Yarim-Lim ascended the throne after his father was killed in 1780 BC during his campaigns against Shamshi-Adad.[2] He was able to stand up to Shamshi-Adad by surrounding him with deft alliances withHammurabi ofBabylon andIbal-pi-el II ofEshnunna. His alliance with Hammurabi was credited with saving Babylon from an Assyrian attack by attacking their rear.[3]
In 1777 BC, Yarim-Lim conquered the city ofTuttul, on the confluence of the riversBalikh andEuphrates. He appointed his ally,Zimri-Lim, the heir to the throne of Mari who was living in exile at his court, as king. When Shamshi-Adad died in 1776 BC, he helped Zimrilim regain his throne in Mari and oust Yasmah-Adad. The alliance between Mari and Yamhad was cemented with the royal marriage between Zimrilim and Yarim-Lim's daughterShibtu. Two days after the marriage ceremony queen Sumunna-Abi died.[4]
Ibal-pi-el II of Eshnuna exploited the death of Shamshi-Adad to pursuit an expansionist policy, advancing on the account of Assyria and causing stress to the alliance.[5] He later allied himself withElam, the enemy ofHammurabi who was Yarim-Lim's ally.[6]
Zimri-Lim's ascension to the throne with the help of Yarim-Lim I affected the status of Mari, Zimri-Lim referred to Yarim-Lim as his father and acted under the guidance of the Yamhadite main deityHadad, of which Yarim-Lim was the mediator.[7]
The tablets of Mari recorded many events that revealed Zimri-Lim's subordination. On two occasions Zimri-Lim demanded the extradition of his subordinates from Yarim-Lim I. The first case was related to a vassal king of Zimri-Lim who addressed him as a brother instead of a father and the demand was refused,[8] while the second was through the Mariote ambassador in Aleppo Daris-Libur in which Zimri-Lim asked for some fugitives to which Yarim-Lim answered with decline twice before agreeing on the Mariote ambassador's third attempt.[9]
At one instance Nur-Sin the Mariote ambassador in Aleppo wrote to his master for the handing of an estate called Alahtum to Hadad (meaning Aleppo),[10] and in another instance, Ibal-pi-el offered peace and fixing the borders to Zimri-Lim who sent envoys to Yarim-Lim asking for authorization which was not given, leading Zimri-Lim to refuse the treaty on three occasions.[11]
There is no king who is mighty by himself. Ten or fifteen kings followHammurabi the ruler ofBabylon, a like number ofRim-Sin ofLarsa, a like number of Ibal-pi-el ofEshnunna, a like number of Amud-pi-el of Qatanum, but twenty follow Yarim-Lim ofYamhad.
Yarim-Lim extended his influence to several other important city-states in Syria through alliance and vassalage, including Urshu and the rich kingdom ofUgarit.[3] The relationship between Qatna and Yamhad seems to have improved during Yarim-Lim's reign as well.[2] The armies of Aleppo campaigned as far as Elam near the modern southern Iraqi-Iranian borders: a tablet discovered at Mari revealed the extent of those military interventions inMesopotamia; the tablet includes a declaration of war againstDēr andDiniktum in retaliation for their evil deeds, a reminder to the king of Dēr about the military help given to him for fifteen years by Yarim-Lim and the stationing of 500 Aleppanwarships for twelve years in Diniktum.[13] By the time of his death, Yarim-Lim, had more than twenty kings as vassals and allies. According to HistorianWilliam J. Hamblin he was at the time the "mightiest ruler in theNear East outside ofEgypt,"[3] He died c. 1764 BC and was succeeded by his son Hammurabi I.
Yarim-Lim I Died: 1764 BC | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Great King of Yamhad 1780 – 1764 BC | Succeeded by |
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