Enlil-bani

Enlil-bani (; died 1836 BC) was the 10th king of the 1st Dynasty of Isin and reigned 24 years according to the Ur-Isin kinglist. He is best known for the legendary and perhaps apocryphal manner of his ascendancy: legend claims that he was a gardener selected by Erra-imitti for the "substitute king ritual" to rule during a period of evil omens before being sacrificed. When Erra-imitti unexpectedly died, Enlil-bani remained on the throne and continued to reign for decades.

Biography A certain Ikūn-pî-Ištar is recorded as having ruled for 6 months or a year, between the reigns of Erra-imitti and Enlil-bani according to two variant copies of a chronicle. Another chronicle which might have shed further light on his origins is too broken to translate. A lengthy inscription proclaims:

Hegemony over Nippur was fleeting, with control of the city passing back and forth between Isin and Larsa several times. Uruk, too, seceded during his reign and, as his power crumbled, he may have had the Chronicle of Early Kings redacted to provide a more legendary tale of his accession than the rather mundane act of usurpation that it may well have been.

The colophon of a medical text, "when a man's brain contains fire", from the Library of Ashurbanipal reads: "Proven and tested salves and poultices, fit for use, according to the old sages from before the flood from Šuruppak, which Enlil-muballiṭ, sage (apkallu) of Nippur, left (to posterity) in the second year of Enlil-bāni."

Enlil-bani found it necessary to "build anew the wall of Isin which had become dilapidated," which he recorded on commemorative cones. He named the wall Enlil-bāni-išdam-kīn, "Enlil-bāni is firm as to foundation." In practice, the walls of major cities were probably under continuous repair. He was a prodigious builder, responsible for the construction of the é-ur-gi7-ra, "the dog house", temple of Ninisina, a palace, also the é-ní-dúb-bu, "house of relaxation", for the goddess Nintinugga, "lady who revives the dead", the é-dim-gal-an-na, "house - great mast of heaven", for the tutelary deity of Šuruppak, the goddess Sud, and finally, the é-ki-ág-gá-ni for Ninibgal, the "lady with patient mercy who loves ex-votos, who heeds prayers and entreaties, his shining mother", Two large copper statues were taken to Nippur for dedication to Ningal, which Iddin-Dagān had fashioned 117 years earlier but had been unable to deliver, "on account of this, the goddess Ninlil had the god Enlil lengthen the life span of Enlil-Bāni." He is recorded, in two foundation nails, as having built (or possibly rebuilt) a temple to the goddess Annunitum.

There are perhaps two hymns addressed to this monarch.