Pithana, an Anatolian ruler in the time of Samsuiluna of Babylon: New data from Tell Rimah (Iraq)

Abstract

A new reading of an Old Babylonian seal from Tell Rimah (ancient Qattara) shows that Ili-Samas was a servant of Pithana. The latter was certainly the Anatolian king of Kuššara, who had taken the city of Kaniš (Kültepe) and is one of the founders of the Hittite empire. The fact that one tablet sealed by Ili-Samas (OBTR 317) is dated by the eponym Uşur-ša-Aššur (KEL G 131) allows us to determine that Pithana was contemporaneous with the years 22/23 of Samsuiluna (1728/1727 B.C. in the "higher Middle Chronology"). We now have a new synchronism between the Anatolian and the Babylonian chronology that makes it possible to see this obscure period in a new light.