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.The soldiers needed to be home in time to take careof their crops.As in all battles, the deployment of troops and tacticsrequired judgment, thought, and diplomacy.How best to usethe forces available? What is the enemy likely to do and howcan the soldiers be prepared? Earlier, Shamshi Adad had taughthis sons in letters about these matters, including how to pick thebest route for the soldiers to take.He recommended that theytake the advice of more experienced war leaders.But in ancientMesopotamia, decisions about battles, like all important deci-sions, also involved consulting the gods through the reading ofomens.When a spy was able to warn the enemy and an attackinvolving 5,000 soldiers from Mari and Babylon failed, the Marigeneral sent some lambs to the expedition leader so that theomens could be consulted and a decision made when to con-tinue the campaign. The Conquest of Larsa and Eshnunna 67THE FALL OF ELAMFaced with the combined forces of much of the region, Elamwas forced to retreat.The northern kings withdrew their sup-port and their troops from Elam and offered allegiance toHammurabi or Zimri-Lim.This seems partly their reckoningof who was likely to win and partly a return to older loyaltieswithin the region.Elam was an outsider.When the Elamiteslooted the city of Eshnunna, the troops there deserted the suk-kalmah s army.Their royal line had been destroyed, but a mannamed Silli-Sin, a military leader not of royal blood, becamethe new king.(Zimri-Lim suggested that Hammurabi pick thenew king or declare himself king, but Hammurabi did not.Wedo not know if this was a mistake on his part or if Zimri-Limwas giving bad advice.)The region fell into a new pattern of alliances after this war,but they were not stable ones.Although Siwe-palar-huppak saidhe wanted to make peace with Hammurabi, he made promisesto Silli-Sin (in Eshnunna) and Rim-Sin (of Larsa) that he wouldsupport them against Hammurabi.The year name that Hammurabi chose for 1764 b.c.was with the help of the great gods, Hammurabi had defeated thearmies of Elam from as far as Marhashi, of Subartu, Gutium,Eshnunna, and Malgium, which had arisen against him as agreat mass, and he established the foundations of Sumer andAkkad. Author Marc Van De Mieroop says that is a claim tohave defeated everyone east of the Tigris River, which was over-stating the matter somewhat, but it is true that outside forceshad risen up against Hammurabi.He had not started this war.WAR WITH LARSAHammurabi had not begun the war with Elam.Whether hebegan the next one, which began almost immediately, dependson how we read the evidence.Rim-Sin of Larsa was king of the largest region in south-ern Mesopotamia.In 1794 b.c., Rim-Sin had conquered the 68 HAMMURABIcity-state of Isin, his old competition for control in the region.He was so proud of this that he named every year of the restof his reign after it: The first year after the sack of Isin, Thesecond year after the sack of Isin, and so on for the rest of hisreign.With the conquest of Isin he controlled all the land up tothe border of Hammurabi s Babylon.When Siwe-palar-huppak of Elam had asked both Hammu-rabi and Rim-Sin for troops to fight each other, Rim-Sin hadwritten that his troops stood ready to help Hammurabi if Elamattacked, but he never sent the troops.If Elam had conqueredall the rest of Mesopotamia, he would not have been safe either,but instead of helping he seems to have decided to wait and seewhat happened.Who started the war between Babylon and Larsa? A repre-sentative of Mari in Babylon said that Larsa did: He [Rim-Sin]is hostile to Hammurabi.Military squadrons of his continuouslyenter Hammurabi s country to pillage and steal. Diplomaticrelations between the two regions had broken off, said the manfrom Mari.In his declaration of war, Hammurabi also said thatRim-Sin had pillaged his country, but it seems clear that he wasalso angry over Rim-Sin s failure to support him during the warwith Elam.Hammurabi said that he had sought through oraclesthe approval of the gods Shamash (god of justice) and Marduk(patron god of Babylon) and that they gave their approval forthe attack.The kingdom of Larsa (named for its main city, althoughthe region was also called Yambutbal) was not well defended.Rim-Sin was an old man by this time, which may or may nothave affected his ability to lead.The representative of Mari toldhis king, that Rim-Sin s soldiers were worried.They wondered where will the enemy engage us? The man from Mari said thecountry was afraid and ready to rebel.This suggests that Rim-Sin was failing in his role of shepherd-king.His people did notfeel safe, and they did not remain loyal.Most of the country was conquered easily.Mashkan-shapir(where the king s brother was staying) and the old cities of The Conquest of Larsa and Eshnunna 69When his relationship with the ruler Rim-Sin ofLarsa soured, a disgruntled Hammurabi declaredwar on the neighboring kingdom.Hammurabi alsoreached out to oracles in search of approval fromthe gods for the attack.His reverence for the godsled Hammurabi to seek their guidance on manyissues concerning the kingdom. 70 HAMMURABINippur and Isin fell at once.The city of Larsa itself, with Rim-Sinin command, held out during a six-month siege.Even thoughallies helped Hammurabi, they could not breach Larsa s walls,and the siege continued until the people of the city were eat-ing straw and chaff.Although Rim-Sin escaped, Hammurabi ssoldiers were later able to capture him.(We do not know whathappened next to Rim-Sin.)HAMMURABI S NEW LANDSHammurabi s behavior after his victory in Larsa was typical ofhow he dealt with conquered lands, if the people of that landpromised him their loyalty.Although he destroyed the city swalls, he did not destroy or pillage the city.Instead, he set outto establish himself as the legitimate king of the land and torestore order and good rule
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