RIMSINI

(reigned 1822–1763 B.C.)

Babylonian kingof Larsa. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur, it was at first the cityof Isinthat won supremacy in Mesopotamia. Rim-Sin fought long and hard to challenge Isin’s position from his own power base at Larsa. He defeated a coalition of other cities led by the king of Uruk, and in his 13th year (1796), he captured Isin, leaving him in control over the whole of southern Babylonia (the north was more fragmented into rival polities, such as the kingdom of Babylon). Rim-Sin was thus one of the most powerful rulers in Mesopotamia at this time, and he also enjoyed an unusually long reign of 60 years that allowed him to implement important administrative and legal reforms concerning land ownership. His reluctance to join in a panBabylonian coalition against Elam resulted in Hammurabi’s anger and attack on Larsa in 1764. Rim-Sin was taken prisoner to Babylon, where he presumably died.