Ishme-Dagan II

Ishme-Dagan II or Išme-Dagān II, inscribed ^miš-me ^dda-gan and meaning “(the god) Dagan has heard,” was a rather obscure ruler of Assyria, sometime during the first half of the 16th century BC in the midst of a dark age (Edzard's "dunkles Zeitalter"), succeeding his father, Shamshi-Adad II, and in turn succeeded by Shamshi-Adad III from whose reign extant contemporary inscriptions resume. According to the Assyrian Kinglist, he reigned sixteen years.

Biography

He belonged to the so-called Adasi dynasty, founded by the last of seven usurpers who succeeded in the turmoil following the demise of Shamshi-Adad I’s Amorite dynasty. He is only known from king lists.^[1] The relationship with his successor is uncertain as the copies describe Shamshi-Adad III’s father as Ishme-Dagan, the brother of Sharma-Adad II, who was in turn the son of Shu-Ninua. This Ishme-Dagan, however, has his filiation clearly given as son of Shamshi-Adad II. This led Yamada to suggest that Shamshi-Adad III’s father was a different homonymous individual from a collateral line of descent from Shu-Ninua.^[2]

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