Ushpia (Akkadian: 𒍑𒉿𒀀, romanized: Uš-pi-a) was according to the Assyrian King List (AKL) the 16th Assyrian monarch, ruling in Assyria's early period during the late 22nd or early 21st century BC,, though he is not attested in any known contemporary artefacts. The list places him as the second last within the section "kings who lived in tents”. According to the Cambridge Ancient History, the conclusion of this section, "marked the end of the nomadic period of the Assyrian people." Ushpia is alleged to have founded the temple for the god Aššur within the city-state of Aššur, according to the much later inscriptions of both of these Assyrian kings: Shalmaneser I (fl. c. 1273 BC) and Esarhaddon (fl. 681 BC). Ushpia is succeeded on the AKL by Apiashal. Arthur Ungnad interpreted both Ushpia's and Kikkia's names as being that of the Hurrian language (as opposed to the Assyrian dialect of the Semitic Akkadian language), but; Arno Poebel was not convinced by this interpretation and more recent research no longer holds Ungnad's thesis as tenable.
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👉 Ushpia in the context of Early Assyrian period
The Early Assyrian period was the earliest stage of Assyrian history, preceding the Old Assyrian period and covering the history of the city of Assur, tge surrounding area of Upper Mesopotamia and its people and culture, prior to the foundation of Assyria as an independent city-state under Ushpia c. 2086 BC. Very little material and textual evidence survives from this period. The earliest archaeological evidence at Assur dates to the Early Dynastic Period, c. 2600 BC, but the city may have been founded even earlier since the area had been inhabited for thousands of years prior and other nearby Assyrian cities, such as Nineveh and Arbela are significantly older.
The archaeological evidence suggests that Assur was originally inhabited by both Semites and Hurrians and was the site of a fertility cult devoted to the Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar. The name "Assur" is not historically attested prior to the age of the Akkadian Empire in the 24th century BC; it is possible that the city was originally named Baltil, used in later times to refer to its oldest portion. In tge centuries before the rise of the Akkadian Empire, the Semitic-speaking ancestors of the Assyrians, Akkadians and Babylonians settled in Assur and the surrounding area, either displacing or assimilating the original population. Founded in a both holy and strategic location, the city itself was gradually deified during the Early Assyrian period and eventually became personified as the god Ashur, firmly established as the Assyrian national deity by the time of Puzur-Ashur I in 2025 BC.
Ushpia in the context of Kikkia
Kikkia (sometimes given as Kikkiya), inscribed Ki-ik-ki-a (fl. c. 2030 BC) was according to the Assyrian King List (AKL) the 28th Assyrian monarch, ruling in Assyria's early period during the 21st century BC. He is listed within a section of the AKL as the second out of the six, "kings whose eponyms are not known." As all the other early rulers listed in the king list and unattested elsewhere, there is dispute among scholars as to whether Kikkia was a real historical figure.
Apart from his appearance in two copies of the Assyrian King List (the Khorsabad and SDAS copies, but not the Nassouhi one which is damaged at the top where he might have appeared), he is only known from two building inscriptions of his successors, moreover; the earliest of these is that of Ashur-rim-nisheshu (c. 1398 BC — c. 1391 BC), who commemorated his reconstruction of the wall of the inner-city of Assur by listing the previous restorers on a commemorative cone, (beginning with Kikkia.) The later king, Shalmaneser II, restored this wall and gave credit to his predecessor in his inscription. The erection of a defensive wall suggests that Kikkia may have won his independence from the waning influence of Ur. An earlier Assyrian šakkanakkum (KIŠ.NITA2) chief magistrate and ruler of Assur, Zariqum, who had been omitted from the extant copies of the Assyrian King Lists, had been a contemporary and vassal of Shulgi and Amar-Sin, so one would suppose that Kikkia must have reigned after this time. Arthur Ungnad interpreted Kikkia's name, and that of Ushpia, as being that of the Hurrian language (BA VI, 5, S. 13), but more recent research no longer holds this thesis as tenable, and Arno Poebel was not convinced by the interpretation.