Adamu (Assyrian king)
King of Assyria
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Adamu (Akkadian: 𒀀𒁕𒈬, romanized: A-da-mu) was, according to the Assyrian King List (AKL), the second Assyrian monarch, who ruled during Assyria's early period. He is not attested in any known contemporary artefacts; he is listed among the "seventeen kings who lived in tents" within the Mesopotamian Chronicles.[1][2] The Mesopotamian Chronicles state that Adamu succeeded Tudiya.[3] The Assyriologist Georges Roux stated that Tudiya would have lived in the 25th century BC. The earliest known use of the name “Adam” as a genuine historical name is Adamu.[4] As in his predecessor's case, Adamu's existence remains unconfirmed archaeologically and uncorroborated by any other source.
Geopolitical context
Adamu is succeeded on the Assyrian King List by Yangi and then a further fourteen rulers: Suhlamu, Harharu, Mandaru, Imsu, Harsu, Didanu, Hana, Zuabu, Nuabu, Abazu, Belu, Azarah, Ushpia and Apiashal. Nothing concrete is yet known about these names, although it has been noted that a much later Babylonian tablet listing the ancestral lineage of Hammurabi of Babylon, seems to have copied the same names from Tudiya through Nuabu, though in a heavily corrupted form. The king lists suggest that the earliest Assyrian kings, who are recorded as, “kings who lived in tents,” had at first been independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers, moreover; Assyria was originally an oligarchy rather than a monarchy. These kings had at some point become fully urbanized and founded the city-state of Assur.[5]