History
Occupied from the Jemdet Nasr period about 3000 BCE, Eshnunna was a major city during the Early Dynastic period. Starting with the rise of the Akkadian Empire, Eshnunna oscillated between times of independence and domination by empires such as the Third Dynasty of Ur and Isin. Because of its control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna did function somewhat as a gateway between Mesopotamian and Elamite culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic sought-after goods such as horses from the north, copper, tin, and other metals and precious stones. In a grave, a pendant made of copal from Zanzibar was found.
After rising to prominence as an independent state in the early second millennium, during the time of Shamshi-Adad, Eshnunna was occupied by Elam, then conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon in the 38th year of his reign, and absorbed within the Old Babylonian Empire (sometimes called the First Babylonian Dynasty). Thereafter, the city appears but rarely in cuneiform textual sources, reflecting a probable decline and eventual disappearance.
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