Guerre e alleanze in epoca paleobabilonese: il peso di Inibšina, figlia di Daduša di Ešnunna

Abstract

Balance weights with royal inscriptions are attested in Mesopotamia since the second half of
the 3rd mill. BC, and especially during the Ur III Period the duck-shaped type should be
considered as an official administrative tool of the royal bureaucracy. Few inscribed specimens
are at present known dating to the Old Babylonian period, although the continuity of the tradition
is testified by some Kassite and Isin II weights. The weight inscribed with the name of Inibšina,
daughter of Daduša, king of Ešnunna, is particularly interesting because it was found at Assur and
could be considered as a clue for an interdynastic marriage between the reigns of Ešnunna and
Assyria/Subartu. This evidence is analyzed taking into account the Old Babylonian and Old
Assyrian metrology and its historical implications are discussed as a contribution for the
reconstruction of the policy of Ešnunna and the complex pattern of political relationships during
the 17th century BC in the ancient Near East.