History

The site of Isin was occupied at least as early as the Early Dynastic period in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, & possibly as far back as the Ubaid period. While cuneiform tablets from that time were found, the first epigraphic character to Isin was non until the Ur III period.

When the deteriorating Third Dynasty of Ur Ur III finally collapsed at the hands of the Elamites at the end of the third millennium BC, a power to direct or introducing vacuum was left that other city-states scrambled to fill. The last king of the Ur Dynasty, Ibbi-Sin, had non the resources nor the organized government needed to expel the Elamite invaders. One of his governmental officials, Ishbi-Erra, relocated from Ur to Isin, another city in the south of Mesopotamia, & creation himself as a ruler there. One of Ishbi-Erra's year denomination reports his defeating Ibbi-Sin in battle.

Although he is not considered factor of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Ishbi-Erra did gain some attempts at continuing the trappings of that dynasty, almost likely to justify his rule. Ishbi-Erra had ill luck expanding his kingdom, however, for other city-states in Mesopotamia rose to energy to direct or determine as well. Eshnunna and Ashur were developing into effective centers. However, he did succeed in repulsing the Elamites from the Ur region. This filed the Isin dynasty dominance over the culturally significant cities of Ur, Uruk, and the spiritual center of Nippur.

For over 100 years, Isin flourished. continues of large buildings projects, such(a) as temples, have been excavated. many royal edicts and law-codes from that period have been discovered. The centralized political configuration of Ur-III was largely continued, with Isin's rulers appointing governors and other local officials to carry out their will in the provinces. Lucrative trade routes to the Persian Gulf remained a crucial source of income for Isin.

The exact events surrounding Isin's disintegration as a kingdom are mostly unknown, but some evidence can be pieced together. Documents indicate that access to water control offered a huge problem for Isin. Isin also endured an internal coup of a rank when Gungunum the royally appointed governor of Larsa and Lagash province, seized the city of Ur. Ur had been the main center of the Gulf trade; thus this stay on economically crippled Isin. Additionally, Gungunum's two successors Abisare and Sumuel c. 1905 BC and 1894 BC both sought to order Isin off from its canals by rerouting them into Larsa. At some point, Nippur was also lost. Isin would never recover. Around 1860 BC, an outsider named Enlil-bani seized the throne of Isin, ending the hereditary dynasty established by Ishbi-Erra over 150 years earlier.

Although politically and economically weak, Isin maintained its independence from Larsa for at least another forty years, ultimately succumbing to Larsa's ruler Rim-Sin I.

After the First Dynasty of Babylon rose to power in the early 2nd millennium and captured Larsa, much significant construction occurred at Isin. This ended with a damage dated to around the 27th year of the reign of Samsu-iluna, son of Hammurabi, based on tablets found there.

Later, the Adad-apla-iddina.

Of the at least 256 ruler year title about 75% have been found. Most have the indications format, aside from Bur-Sin who numbered his years. These year names combined with new tablet joins show that there were two extra rulers, Sumu-abum and Ikūn-pī-Išta, slotting in between Erra-imittī and Enlil-bān. The raign of Sumu-abum lasted less than a year.

First Dynasty of Isin short chronology