Yarim-Lim of Alalakh
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| Yarim-Lim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| King of Alalakh | |
| Reign | c. 1735 - c. 1700 BC |
| Successor | Ammitakum |
| Died | c. 1700 BC |
| Issue | Ammitakum |
| Father | Hammurabi I |
Yarim-Lim (died c. 1700 BC) was a king of Alalakh and son of Hammurabi I of Yamhad.[1] He was granted the city of Alalakh by his brother Abba-El I of Yamhad and started a cadet branch of the Yamhadite dynasty that lasted until the conquest of Alalakh by the Hittite king Hattusili I.
The identity of Yarim-Lim is under dispute. Yarim-Lim II of Yamhad was the son and successor of Abba-El I, as his seal inscription mentions,[1] and Yarim-Lim of Alalakh mentions that he is the son of Hammurabi I, therefore Yarim-Lim II's uncle. Moshe Weinfeld suggests that Yarim-Lim II of Yamhad and Yarim-Lim of Alalakh were the same individual, who would have been the natural son of Hammurabi I and subsequently adopted by his brother Abba-El I. This theory has not found wide support in scholarship.[2]
Life and Reign
Hammurabi I appointed Yarim-Lim as the governor of a district in the north with Irridu was the main city.[3] Under his older brother, Abba-El I of Yamhad, Yarim-Lim continued to rule the district. Zitraddu, governor of Irridu, rebelled against Yamhad which caused Abba-El I to destroy the city.[4] As compensation, Abba-El signed a treaty with his brother that gave Yarim-Lim the city of Alalakh as a hereditary kingdom under the suzerainty of Aleppo.[5] This happened 15 years after the beginning of Abba-El I's reign, which would put it around 1735 BC.[6]: 109
Yarim-Lim swore an oath of loyalty to his brother which included that if he or his descendants ever committed treason or revealed Abba-El's secrets to another king, their lands would be forfeited.[7]
Yarim-Lim ruled through the rest of his brother's reign and continued to rule during the reign of his nephew Yarim-Lim II of Yamhad and the first few years of his grand nephew Niqmi-Epuh's reign which lasted from c. 1700 BC to c. 1675 BC. Yarim-Lim was succeeded by his son Ammitakum.[6]: 107
Yarim-Lim II of Alalakh
Nadav Na'aman proposes that Yarim-Lim, son of Hammurabi I was not the only king of Alalakh with that name and that there was a second Yarim-Lim, Yarim-Lim II who ruled Alalakh and was a grandchild of the first. Na'aman bases his theory on the exceptionally long reigns of Yarim-Lim and his successor Ammitakum which span the reigns of five Yamhadite kings. The number of the Kings of Alalakh is a highly debated subject, and Na'aman's theory is supported by several other scholars, such as Dominique Collon and Erno Gaál. However no evidence has been found to prove the existence of a second Yarim-Lim and several other scholars have rejected this theory, including Horst Klengel and Marlies Heinz.[6]: 107–8