Puzur-Ashur I

Puzur-Ashur I (Akkadian: 𒁍𒀫𒀸𒋩, romanized: Pu-AMAR-Aš-ŠUR) was an Assyrian king around 2000 BC.

Puzur-Ashur I
Išši’ak Aššur
Reign	fl. c. 2025 BC — c. 1950 BC
Predecessor	Akiya
Successor	Shalim-ahum

He is in the Assyrian King List and is referenced in the inscriptions of later kings (his son and successor Shalim-ahum and the later Ashur-rim-nisheshu and Shalmaneser III.)[1]^:6,8,12,15 These later kings mentioned him among the kings who had renewed the city walls of Assur begun by Kikkia.[2]

Puzur-Ashur I may have started a native Assyrian dynasty that endured for eight generations until Erishum II was overthrown by the Amorite Shamshi-Adad I. Hildegard Levy, writing in the Cambridge Ancient History, rejects this interpretation and sees Puzur-Aššur I as part of a longer dynasty started by one of his predecessors, Sulili.[2] Inscriptions link Puzur-Aššur I to his immediate successors,[1]^:7–8[3] who, according to the Assyrian King List, are related to the following kings down to Erišum II.[1]^:14 The Assyrian King List omits Zariqum, who is known from inscriptions to have been governor (ensí) of Assur for the Third Dynasty of Ur under Amar-Sin; this Zariqum (whose name is Semitic) is sometimes placed by scholars immediately before Puzur-Ashur I, and following Akiya.

Puzur-Ashur I's successors bore the title Išši’ak Aššur, vice regent of Assur, as well as ensí.[4]

See also

• Timeline of the Assyrian Empire
• Early Period of Assyria
• List of Assyrian kings
• Assyrian continuity
• Assyria

References

1. Albert Kirk Grayson (1972). Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Volume 1. Otto Harrassowitz.
2. Hildegard Levy, "Assyria c. 2600-1816 B.C.", Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 1, Part 2: Early History of the Middle East, 729-770, p. 746-747.
3. Albert Kirk Grayson (2002). Assyrian Rulers. Volume 1: 1114 – 859 BC. p. 14.
4. Barbara Cifola (1995). Analysis of variants in the Assyrian royal titulary from the origins to Tiglath-Pileser III. Istituto universitario orientale. p. 8.