Indilimma

Indilimma
Indilimma's son Maratewari (left) receiving an ankh from a Yamhadite god
King of Ebla
Reignaround 1600 BCE
Successoroffice abolished
IssueMaratewari

Indilimma, previously read Indilimgur,[1] was likely the last king of Ebla, in modern Syria, reigning around 1600 BCE.

Reign

[edit]

Indilimma was the son of Sir-Damu according to a seal of his discovered in Cilicia.[2] He is also known from several jars bearing the impression of a cylinder seal of his son, the crown prince Maratewari.[1] The seal impressions are of high quality and show inspirations from the art of the kingdom of Yamhad. On the seals, Indilimma's son is depicted while receiving life (in the form of an ancient Egyptian ankh symbol) by the Yamhadite deities Hadad and Hebat.[3]
The fact that these jars were found within the archaeological context of the final destruction of Ebla, which occurred around 1600 BCE by the hands of the Hittite king Mursili I, suggested to Paolo Matthiae that Maratewari had no time to become king and that his father Indilimma was indeed the last ruler of palaeosyrian Ebla.[1] Alfonso Archi argued that Maratewari (whose name reading is not certain and Archi gives it as Memal...arri) was the last king and noted that Maratewari was not mentioned as king on his seal but neither was Indilimma on his seal from Cilicia. For Archi, the lack of the royal title does not mean that both father and son were not kings, but it is just a sign of subordination to Yamhad, the hegemonic kingdom of Northern Syria during the seventeenth century BCE.[2] Indilimma's name also appears on a legal document found in the western palace at Ebla.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Matthiae, Paolo (2010). Ebla. La città del trono (in Italian). Einaudi. pp. 218–19. ISBN 978-88-06-20258-3.
  2. ^ a b Archi, Alfonso (2015). "A Royal Seal from Ebla (17th cent. B.C.) with Hittite Hieroglyphic Symbols". Orientalia. 84 (1): 18–28.
  3. ^ Matthiae (2010), pp. 318-19