Karum (trade post) in the context of "Breakwater (structure)"

Kültepe (Turkish: lit. 'ash-hill'), also known under its ancient name Kaneš (Kanesh, sometimes also Kaniš/Kanish) or Neša (Nesha), is an archaeological site in Kayseri Province, Turkey. It was already a major settlement at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC (Early Bronze Age), but it is world-renowned for its significance at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC (Middle Bronze Age). The archaeological site consists of a large mound (also known as höyük, tepe or tell), and a lower city, where a kārum (the Assyrian word for trading district) was established in the beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC. So far, 23,500 cuneiform tablets recovered from private houses constitute the largest collection of private texts in the ancient Near East. In 2014, the archaeological site was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.

Erishum I or Erišu(m) I (inscribed e-ri-šu, or APIN-ìš in later texts but always with an initial i in his own seal, inscriptions, and those of his immediate successors, “he has desired,”) c. 1974–1935 BCE (middle chronology), son of Ilu-shuma, was the thirty-third ruler of Assyria to appear on the Assyrian King List. He reigned for forty years. One of two copies of the Assyrian King List which include him gives his reign length as only 30 years, but this contrasts with a complete list of his limmu, some 40, which are extant from tablets recovered at Karum Kanesh. He had titled himself both as, "Ashur is king, Erishum is vice-regent" and the, “Išši’ak Aššur” (“steward of Assur”), at a time when Assur was controlled by an oligarchy of the patriarchs of the prominent families and subject to the “judgment of the city”, or dīn alim. According to Veenhof, Erishum I’s reign marks the period when the institution of the annually appointed limmu (eponym) was introduced. The Assyrian King List observes of his immediate predecessors, “in all six kings known from bricks, whose limmu have not been marked/found”.

Shalim-ahum or Šalim-ahum (died c. 1991 BC) was a ruler of Assyria in the late 21st century to early 20th century BC. The Assyrian King List records his name as Šallim-aḫḫe, inscribed šal-lim-PAB, meaning, “keep the brothers safe”, and he appears among the six kings “whose eponyms are not found”, meaning that the length of his reign was unknown. He was described as the son of Puzur-Ashur I (dumu Puzu Assur) in his only known inscription. He is the earliest independent ruler to be attested in a contemporary inscription. Carved in curious archaic character mirror-writing in Old Assyrian on an alabaster block found during the German excavations at Assur under Walter Andrae, this sole exemplar of his contemporary inscriptions records that the god Ashur “requested of him” the construction of a temple and that he had “beer vats and storage area” built in the “temple area”.

He ruled during a period when nascent Assyrian merchant companies in karums were branching out into Anatolia to trade textiles and tin from Assur for silver. He was succeeded by his son, Ilu-shuma who died around 1974 BC, as recorded in his brick and limestone inscriptions and he appears in the genealogy of his grandson, Erishum I. His name appears in an inscription of Adad-nirari I and one of Shalmaneser I but only in the context of references to his son, Ilu-shuma. Shalim-ahum and his successors bore the title išši’ak Aššur, vice regent of Assur, as well as ensí.