Note 8 — Chapter III

Knowing that I was engaged upon this volume of my History and that it would probably be printed off before his own work left the press, Professor Clay very kindly sent me a transcript of his Larsa Kings' List with full permission to make use of it. To enable the reader to follow the argument with regard to the dynasty and its chronology, the following transliteration and rendering may be given of the text: "21 MU Na-ap-la-nu-um | 28 MU E-mi-su I 35 MU Sa-mn-um | 9 MU Za-ba-aia | 27 MU Gu-un-gu-nu-um | 11 MU A-bi-sa-ri-e | 29 MU Su-mu-ilum | 16 MU Nu-ur-(ilu)Adad | 7 (?) MU (ilu)Sin-idin-nam | 2 MU (ilu)Sin-i-ri-ba-am | 6(?) MU(ilu)Sin-i-ki-sha-am | 1 MU Sili(li)-(ilu)Adad | 12 MU Warad-(ilu)Sin | 61 MU (ilu)Ri-im-(ilu)Sin | 12 (?) MU (ilu)Ha-am-mu-ra-bi | 12 MU Sa-am-su-i-lu-na sharru | 289 MU-III." In the translation that follows, a semicolon separates each line of the text: "21 years Naplanum; 28 years Emisa; 35 years Samum; 9 years Zabâia; 27 years Gungunum; 11 years Abi-sarê; 29 years Sumu-ilum; 10 years Nûr-Adad; 7(?) years Sin-idinnam; 2 years Sin-iribam; 6(?) years Sin-iḳîsham; 1 year Sili-Adad; 12 years Warad-Sin; 61 years Rîm-Sin; 12(?) years Hammurabi; 12 years Samsu-iluna, the king; 289 the years thereof." From the insertion of the word sharru, "king," after Samsu-iluna's name, we may infer that the list is a contemporaneous document, drawn up in Samsu-iluna's twelfth year. Another point of interest is that the scribe has written the determinative for divinity before the names of Rîm-Sin and Hammurabi, but not before that of Samsu-iluna. The numbers followed by a query are those suggested by Professor Clay for the three broken passages; it will be noted that they make up the total of the figures, which is given by the scribe as two hundred and eighty-nine years.